People are unaccustomed to receiving phone calls from salesmen with a sales pitch. Regardless of how often you may receive cold calls, you will be caught off guard when you answer the phone only to realize that the person on the other end wants to sell you something that you probably don’t want or need. It’s for this reason why it’s important for salesmen to practice and use the right techniques to close a sale. Cold calling is a proven method and is highly effective if the salesman knows what to do.
Your Attitude Determines Your Results
Most people dread the idea of cold calling and as a result, their sales statistics reflect this negative attitude. An unsuccessful cold call can be depressing, embarrassing, exhausting, and a horrible experience all around for everybody involved. It’s a good idea to come to the understanding that there is nothing personal involved with sales. Very few, if any, potential customers will take offense to you giving a sales pitch.
A positive attitude can make all the difference with cold calling. If you’re not excited about making a sale, then the customer probably isn’t excited either. When talking to a customer, act as if this is the sale you’ve been waiting for. Going into a sales pitch with reluctance will usually result in fewer sales.
It’s a Contact Sport
Regardless of what people may believe, cold calling is a contact sport. The more people you contact, the more sales you will make. Telemarketing companies know this so they require employees to make a certain number of calls an hour to stay employed. Realistically, you may only close a sale every twenty to thirty calls. Doing the math, if you wish to sell five items a day, then you should be making at least a hundred calls.
If making the number of calls you need is difficult, then you should consider what is preventing you from achieving this goal. Try limiting the number of breaks you take, talk less to co-workers during calls, and always remember that you’re there to work and not do something else.
Create Your Sales Pitch
A sales pitch sounds outdated, but it’s an important part of cold calling. Take some time to write down what you want to say. Make a couple of different sales pitches if you like. One of the worst things you can do is to call someone and not know what to say.
After a while, your sales pitch may become memorized and you won’t need to read from it, but it’s always a good idea to have a copy in front of you while you call in the event your mind goes blank and you forget what to say. It’s not important to repeat your pitch word for word, but you should have a general idea of what to say to prevent rambling or forgetting important information.
Anticipate Your Rebuttals
A typical customer will give you one reason or another as to why they don’t want to give you any money. Your job as a salesman is to give them a reason why they should. Write down reasons you might get for not buying and come up with some reasons to respond with. If you come across a new reason for not buying while speaking with a customer, then add it to your rebuttals. Most people stick to the same reasons for not buying something so your rebuttal book shouldn’t be too long, certainly not longer than a page. The idea is to anticipate the most common excuses and have a response for each one.
Whatever you decide to respond with, make sure that you’re comfortable with it and that the response works. You may need to try a few different responses to find which one works for you. Train yourself to enjoy cold calling and be prepared, and you will find the experience to be a rewarding and successful method of selling.
Jefferson Hightower - I have written freelance articles on business, personal finance, cooking, parenting, and much more. I've written blogs for various ...
