Gavin Ingham published 2 great posts on confident cold calling and I’ve combined them into this list of 15 tips… Gavin says there are another 8 on the way, so stay tuned for the rest.
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The challenging markets of today many salespeople and business owners are focusing more and more of their efforts on cold calling to secure sales appointments and to win new business. Cold calling is an area of selling that many sales and business people can be very uncomfortable with.
To help you to get and maintain the right sales attitude here are 15 tips (of 23) that will help you to be a more confident and successful cold caller!
1. Know why cold calling is important to you and remind yourself constantly.
Stick pictures that remind you why cold calling is important to you on your PC. Make notes in your diary to remind yourself why cold calling and the results that you get from cold calling are important to you. Spend time focusing on your reasons for taking positive cold calling action every morning.
2. Cold call consistently, even when you have enough business.
Make cold calling one of your sales success habits. Cold calling is something that you should do all of the time not just when you don’t have enough business.
3. Cold call every day (or every week.)
Ten cold calls every day of the month is easier than saving them all up and trying to make 230 calls on the final day of the month! 10 calls every day means positive sales habits and positive sales habits mean consistent sales success.
4. Keep a sales log book and record your cold calling successes.
The most important things in your life are worth recording. That’s why many top salespeople keep a sales success logbook. Record what works, what doesn’t, what you learnt, what you’re proud of, how you are going to do things differently next time…
5. Know your cold calling ratios…
Keep a record of your dials to conversations, conversations to meetings, meetings to opportunities, opportunities to deals etc. Knowing this powerful information will enable you to measure your progress and your skills.
6. Get your (motivated) colleagues involved in “inter-mate” competitions.
Don’t wait for your manager to organize competitions to get you fired up; organize them yourself and set your own expectations and standards higher than anyone else could ever set for you. It’s your sales results that will benefit.
7. Reward yourself for activities completed and maintaining a positive attitude, not just when you get results.
Many salespeople only reward themselves for results. You should reward yourself for displaying the right sales behaviours and doing the right sales activities also. These positive behaviours and activities will ultimately bring top sales results so it is these superstar behaviours and activities that you need to reinforce.
8. Don’t put the phone down between calls.
Putting the phone down between calls can slow you down and impede your motivation. Keep the energy going by keeping the phone in your hand once you start your cold calling sessions.
9. Wear a headset if at all possible.
Wireless ones are the best. Holding the phone to your ear can impede your movements and impact your ability to communicate naturally. By using a headset you allow yourself more freedom of movement. The more freedom of movement you have, the more you can express yourself.
10. Sit up, or better still, stand up, when on the phone.
This is a particularly useful tactic at the start of cold calling sessions or when you are feeling your enthusiasm beginning to cool off. Sitting up or standing up will inject much needed energy and vitality into your calls.
11. Keep your head up and breathe naturally.
Maintain the correct physiology by keeping your head up and breathing naturally. This helps to improve your focus, your attention and your motivation.
12. Be well prepared.
Being well prepared not only enables you to make more targeted and more professional calls but it also increases confidence because it helps you to know that you are going to make a great call.
13. Learn from your mistakes.
Everyone makes mistakes. The real question is not whether you make any missteaks mistakes but whether you learn from them or not.
14. Remind yourself of past successes.
Think of a time when you achieved success through cold calling; maybe when you won a piece of new business or secured a sales appointment with an important decision maker. This will help to get you thinking positively and feeling more confident.
15. Accept that you can’t win them all.
So stop beating yourself up when you don’t! Even the best cold callers don’t get that appointment or close that deal every time so get over it already!
via 7 Tips for Confident Cold Calling | 8 More Tips for Confident Cold Calling | GavinIngham.com
Photo credit: loungelistener
