Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Warm Up to Cold Calling

A cold call is an unsolicited phone call made by a sales representative to a potential customer. Despite the negative reputation, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Believe it or not, but telemarketing is a very effective way of closing a sale. Last year, companies made more than a billion dollars through transactions over the phone.

The key, though, is to target your audience. Contact people who have a similar interest in your industry. For instance, if you're selling car parts - don't call people who don't have a car. If you're selling refinance mortgage loans, don't call people who don't own homes.

Instead, find people who will realistically consider what it is that you are selling. If it's relevant to them, you can at least get their attention.

Know who you're calling, even if they don't know you. Understand what their buying habits are, and what their overall needs are. If you can figure out how to match your product to what they desire, you can close the sale.

Author and sales expert Ray Silverstein once said that "the worst that can happen [when making cold calls] is you get a 'no'. But if you don’t call, you have an automatic no."

Almost everybody I know hates cold calling, but if you can figure out the pieces to the puzzle - you'll learn to love it.

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