Hate cold calling prospects? Yeah, me to. But in todays fast moving business environment prospecting either directly or by phone is a must. Gone are the days when you sit back and just wait for your products or service to be sold. Theses days you have prospect daily in order to get your products,service, and Company, out there on customers mind. In my daily work, I call about 100 prospects daily. I wish it could be more but being a small business owner of safety supply company and "wearing a lot of hats" time just does'nt allow me.So what do I do to get into the flow of making "cold calls" and baing effective at it? Well, it pretty simple. First, you must have some sort of contact manager. I work with a very inexpensive one that already comes with my computer bundle of software (Microsoft Outlook). I set up my prospects information and set up times.Second, I use a cordless phone with a headtset. Headsets are great becasue it frees up your hand to write down important information you can use to profile your prospect. Third, I make the call. I ask for the person who makes the buying decision. Also, try to keep it short. "Gatekeepers" usually dont like to hear long, scripted speeches. Besides they are not the ones you want to sell to.When you get the person you want to speak with, be pleasant, direct, and dont SELL them anything. Rather offer them a solution. You do this asking question on what issues they have and you present them how you can help them solve the issue/problem.For example, when I call a prospect and ask them about there operations and the hazards they may have, I pick up (LISTEN) on what they tel! l me an OFFER them a solution. (Dear Mr. Doe, it seems to me your meat cutting line may be in risk of some serious danger from the knive/machine use. I have this HandFortress glove that has been used in similar plants with good result) Get the idea. And last but never never never least...Follow up..Follow up. Follow up even if they say No we dont need your products/service at this time. Always say something like " thank you for the opportunity. Im sorry to hear we cant work together now, but is ok if I call you back in a few months? Remember things chage and (the person who said to you the first time may have Changed his job). Well hope this helps. Remeber every situation is different but the principles remain the same: * organize yourself * make the call (dont be scared of a NO) * ask for the right person and ask how you can help, not sell * follow up follow up. |
