Gain customers by cold calling

Gaining customers from cold calling is one of the hardest jobs for any small business, but if you can be successful at it, gaining business from warm leads is relatively easy. Here’s how to get your foot in the door.

By Ross Brice, managing director of Spencer Brice

Preparation

People put off things they don’t like doing, this is the same with cold calling, and it ends up never being done. Do it on a Tuesday morning for an hour and a half (Monday’s are bad as people are busy sorting out the week).

Do it alongside somebody else, it makes it easier, and you can challenge each other, and discuss problems such as difficult objections etc. It is better if you stand up when making the calls, you are more focused and you have more oxygen going to the brain, which means you are sharper.

Get past the gatekeeper

Do you see the secretary as an enemy? If you do then they will be. They have a job to do just like you, and that is to keep people like you away from the person you want to speak to.

You should not do the following “Can I speak to X?” Reply “I’m sorry he is in an appointment can I help?” “No I will phone back later”. That blanks the secretary, and they will end up blanking you!!

Always get their name, it is so much warmer when you ask them a question. If they say, “Sorry she is in a meeting, can I help at all?”, reply, “Yes please Veronica”
 
Overcome the gatekeeper’s objections

The best technique to deal with the objections is to use the technique of ‘statement question’. For example

Receptionist: “Sorry he is in meetings all day”.
You: “Sorry I didn’t get your name?”
Receptionist: “It’s Ruth”
You: “It is really important that I speak to Mr. X, when do you suggest would be the best time to phone back Ruth, tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon?”

The statement was “it is really important” followed immediately by the question when to phone back. Do not leave a gap between the statement and question. There are numerous objections that the gatekeeper uses and the technique still applies. For example:

Objection: “It is not a sales call is it?”
Reply: “No, it is to gain some information, so with that in mind could you put me through to Mr. X”?

Statement/Question again.

Objection: “Sorry I have never heard of your business.”
Reply: “I understand that but I am sure you have heard of one of our customers XYZ, with that in mind could you please put me through to Mr. X please Ruth?”

How to start the call with the main person

If you do not start the call well you will never get the business, the start dictates the end, and is the most important part of the call. Start by introducing yourself and your business, I tend to be informal and use my first name only. I refer to all my customers by their surname.

If you have a complicated name use an abridged version, so they don’t say “Sorry what did you say?” I say, “Good morning it is Ross from Spencer Brice, am I right in saying that you deal with training in your company?”

The next thing you do is to give them the reason for your call. Make it as important as possible, not “I found you name in Yellow Pages” but “John from XYZ suggested I contact you”. The better the reason for the call, the more chance you have of success!

You now have to get them interested, refrain from going into too much detail, as it gives them control. For example “We have been able to save John both time and money on his printing requirements, hence he suggested we ring you”. Is this something that may interest you?” If you have pitched it right you have a good chance of getting a “yes”.

Finally you finish you introduction by asking permission to proceed. “With this in mind can I ask you a couple of questions to see if we can help you?” Given that they have just said ‘yes’, unless they are busy, they’re likely to say yes again.             
         
So to summarise the start of the call:-

•    Introduce yourself
•    Reason for call
•    Give them an overall benefit statement
•    Ask permission to proceed

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By Ross Brice  on   Jul 09,2008

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Keywords

sales    cold calling    communication    customers   

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