Ever had second thoughts about using \t cold calling to find new clients?<\/p>\n
Before you pick up the phone to make a single \t\t cold-call, there are several things you should know. First<\/strong>, \t\t few people are naturally successful at cold calling.<\/p>\n Second<\/strong>, cold calling has a bad \t\t reputation. Most people find cold calls intrusive and obnoxious.<\/p>\n Third<\/strong>, conversion rates for \t\t cold calls are typically about 2%, compared to 20% for solid leads \t\t and 50% for referrals.<\/p>\n With three strikes against cold calling, shouldn\u2019t \t\t you cross this marketing strategy off your list once and for all? \t\t No! The reason most cold calls fail is simply because they\u2019re \t\t done wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re thinking of giving up on using \t\t the phone to generate leads, first ask yourself if it is cold calling \t\t that annoys people, or the way it’s done. Don\u2019t throw the \t\t baby out with the bathwater \u2014 many businesses have been built \t\t on the basis of successful cold-calling campaigns.<\/p>\n One of my clients, Steve, confessed that he didn\u2019t \t\t want to be bothered with most marketing activities. Give him a \t\t list of leads and a phone and in a couple of hours and he could \t\t find a warm prospect. Instead of alienating prospects, his cold \t\t calls resulted in more business.<\/p>\n Cold-calling worked for Steve because he was \t\t a master at it. You too can become a master of cold calling when \t\t you know how to prepare and how to make the calls using the strategy \t\t detailed below.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all assaulted by hundreds of advertising messages each day. Many we choose to ignore, a select few catch our interest. The ones that annoy us the most are the ones we are forced to pay attention to without any choice. If you want to overcome this natural resistance you\u2019ll need to find out how to make your cold-calls less intrusive.<\/p>\n Get Your Prospects\u2019 Permission The traditional approach to small business \t\t marketing and cold calling shoves a\u00a0 \u2018sell\u2019 in \t\t the prospect\u2019s face. Most people don\u2019t respond well \t\t to this. <\/strong><\/p>\n The more effective alternative is to get a prospect\u2019s \t\t attention, ask permission, find out what they want and then give \t\t them what they asked for.<\/p>\n Before you make the call; prepare for \t\t success<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> Don\u2019t blindly pick \t\t up the phone and except to get results. When at all possible, research \t\t your prospects\u2019 needs. The more you know about what they \t\t want the more effective you\u2019ll be on the phone. Depending \t\t on who you\u2019re calling, you can:<\/p>\n – Research the individual company and person \t\t to identify problem areas where you could be of assistance. Send \t\t a letter or a series of postcards in advance of your call.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Use a response form on your web site \t\t or a postcard to prompt your prospects to tell you what they are \t\t looking for. On the form, ask the prospect to tell you what his \t\t biggest or most intractable problem is.<\/p>\n When a prospect completes an inquiry form on \t\t your web site, you\u2019ve got the most important thing to a successful \t\t call; their permission for you to contact them again, to discuss \t\t how you can help them.<\/p>\n – Survey your existing clients to define the \t\t 3-5 reasons they find your products and services valuable.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> Your first objective with \t\t a prospect isn\u2019t to sell to them. Before a sale can take \t\t place you need to establish rapport and find out what they want \t\t and need. If you haven\u2019t already done this with your marketing \t\t then you\u2019ll need to take the first couple of calls to do \t\t this and then you can move towards a sale.<\/p>\n \n 1.<\/strong> State your name and ask the \t\t prospect if they have a moment. (Get their permission to continue \t\t the conversation)<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> If they\u2019re busy, schedule \t\t a time to call back. This way you\u2019ve got their permission \t\t to have the next conversation.<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Give them a reason to listen. \t\t Let them know you\u2019ll be brief and tell them why you are calling. \t\t Tell them what your firm does in terms of the benefits you provide. \t\t For example, \u2018We help hotels like yours increase bookings \t\t and generate more revenue per guest.\u2019<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Tell them you\u2019d like \t\t to ask them a couple of questions and get their permission to proceed. \t\t Then find out what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not and what \t\t types of solutions they are looking for.<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>. Summarize what they\u2019ve \t\t told you about their needs and wants. Then ask them if you could \t\t solve the problems they just told you they wanted solved, whether \t\t it\u2019d be worth schedule at time to talk further. Next, schedule \t\t a meeting or follow-up conversation.<\/p>\n Advertising, web sites, email, and sales letters \t\t are great ways to market your products and services, but picking \t\t up the phone and personally talking to a prospect can get immediate \t\t results when you apply fundamental marketing principles and techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Find out the 2 things you MUST DO before you pick up the phone and 5 ways to make cold calling work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Do People Hate Most Cold Calls?<\/h4>\n
\n<\/strong>One of the most effective ways to generate a lead on your website is to ask a prospect to give you his or her email address and then, with their permission, send them ideas and information they want. The same is true when you pick up the phone to call a prospect. Get a prospect\u2019s permission, give them the information they want, and you can generate a warm lead and a sale.<\/p>\nHow To Generate Leads and Sales \t\t with Your Phone Calls<\/h4>\n
Making the call –\u00a0 partner with \t\t your prospect<\/h4>\n