My previous sales experience was pretty much destination; the customers found me. Even when I went out into the field, the prospects heard of my company and knew of us and who we were. After changing careers for a couple years, I'm back in the sales game in a straight up commission gig. And I'm in a new market where no one knows of us or what we do. Sure it's wide open, but I've gotta do cold calling. Corporate recommends face-to-face, and I know I'm better at it, but until I get some money in my wallet, I can't afford to get out there; I don't have the gas and I can't buy the materials. So I've gotta work the phone, and it's out of my comfort zone. Is it just a numbers thing? Do I just keep calling until I hit pay dirt? How can I tweek things to make it more effective? I've changed the phone script to focus on the client rather than my company, but I'm still having trouble setting meetings. How do I change the odds?? I need help!! And quick!!
Average Joe
One Salesman's Idea
Posted 5:19 PM on 01/11/12 -
Reply to this postPat, i was in the exact same situation you are now. Now we all know Jeffrey doesn’t believe in cold calling but sometimes we have to do it because of our situation. Now i don’t know how gitomer.com feels about promoting someone else's work on his site, but a book that really helped me was "Cold Calling Techniques" by Stephan Schiffman. In a nut shell he walks you through what not to say and different approaches that work for your situation. My current standing being making cold calls, would i rather be working with referrals? Of course, who wouldn’t, but like you said being a new company with a new market product makes its hard. And yes it’s a number game, but you control ratio, with your attitude, your persuasion, and your ability to turn a cold call into a warm call. Everyone hates getting a sales call, so try not to make it one. You have to get in the mindset that you are not yourself; i pretend i make 2 million a year, drive a Mercedes, etc., you get the idea. And i try to make it like i don’t need this potential customers business, I’m just trying to show them value with my product and that it’s really all about them and not yourself. Most people don’t realize that if you’re after an appointment, just ask for one.
Ex. Good afternoon, my name is Average Joe, I’m with XYZ company and we provide services that no one else does on the market right now. I’d like to sit down and talk with you about our services. How does tomorrow at 3:00 sound?
Now this can go a lot of different ways. If they say yes that’s fantastic, but most times they no, or not interested, and if they say no thanks where already working with someone, you can reply with "that’s fantastic, is it abc company?" 9 times out 10 they will correct you, customers love to correct you, trust me. Than whatever company they name off you reply with "that’s even better because we can accommodate with those services. Let’s sit down and talk about it, how does tomorrow at 3:00 sound?"
Hope this helps,
