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You've heard the story about the salesperson that postponed having a dreaded route canal at the dentist's office--until his manager scheduled him to make cold calls one morning.
Suddenly, dental health shot up to the top spot on this chap's agenda.
What he didn't appreciate is that cold calling can be amazingly easy, providing you use the following six techniques.
(1) Revalue this activity. Unconsciously, many sellers demean cold calling as being beneath them, or of use mainly to beginners or to the poorly paid. It is a supremely successful mode of contact, actually superior to most alternatives. For one thing dialing is nearly instantaneous, unlike flying or driving to see a prospect. It is interactive and flexible. You have the ability to adjust your message, on the spot, to suit individual buyers. Conversations can be designed to be as long or short as they need to be. And you can actually hear how the prospect is reacting, her authentic responses. Email and messaging can't accomplish these things, nearly as well.
(2) Get over yourself! Most sellers place undue emphasis on their own feelings and discomforts, projecting them onto prospects, which may not feel the same way. YOU may hate cold calls, but recipients might find them welcomed breaks in the routine, especially if you banter a little about the weather and their environs. Expect a negative response and you'll produce one!
(3) Accept the fact that a bad calling script succeeds more often than improvisation. By its nature, a script cuts to the chase, and often it will contain just what you need, a beginning, middle, and an end. You don't have to use a script jot-for-jot, unless, and this is important, it has demonstrated that doing so yields better results. Why reinvent the wheel with every conversation?
(4) Study success! I'm currently on a consulting assignment where fifteen people are succeeding, all with different conversational styles and selling techniques. Each of these sellers has strengths to offer to the observant student. I'm trying various tactics, melding together what I believe are the best practices of the group. Moreover, I'm getting on the phones to prove or to disprove the applicability of these areas of distinctiveness to all. A huge occupational hazard successful cold callers face is that they stop growing and learning, and above all, improving.
(5) Appreciate that the benefits of cold calling can be indirect, but still significant. Use cold calling as a baseball hitter uses a "doughnut" to take practice swings. This device, which slides over the barrel of the bat, purposely makes swinging harder to do. When coming to the plate, the doughnut is removed, and the batter's bat-speed is enhanced. After cold calling, believe me, you'll be an utter tiger in pouncing on any warm leads that come your way, making them far easier to close.
(6) Tune-out the naysayers that say cold calling doesn't work, or that it must be hopelessly inefficient. I tell the story about the financial services seller that cold called for nine months before earning his first sale. It didn't get him down, because he knew the rewards were there. Sure enough, his first sale RESULTED IN A MILLION DOLLAR COMMISSION!
Keep these six points in mind as you cold call, and you'll boost your results!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top speaker, sales, service, and negotiation consultant, TV and radio commentator and the best-selling author of 13 books, including perennial favorites YOU CAN SELL ANYTHING BY TELEPHONE and REACH OUT & SELL SOMEONE. He conducts seminars and speaks at convention programs around the world. His new audio program is Nightingale-Conant's "Crystal Clear Communication: How to Explain Anything Clearly in Speech & Writing." He can be contacted at gary@customersatisfaction.com.
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