Take the Pressure Off of the Cold Call!
The cold call. OK, I’ll admit it. I feel a rock in the pit of my stomach when I hear the words. As with any other challenges, it’s always the anticipation that is worse than the actual experience. Oh sure, there is the once in a blue moon when you might get hung up on or kicked out of the office, but if you are real, sincere and honest going in, that sort of experience is rare.
So let’s focus on the positive. That person on the other end of the phone is just like you. They have a business to run, a workload to sort through, a life to balance and they may even have cold calls of their own to make! In most sales roles, your point isn’t to land the sale upon the first meeting. So take a deep breath and take the pressure off. Just take this cold call thing one step at a time and end up with the sale!
First, do a little research before you walk in. Know something about the business or the person you are looking for. Maybe they won an award for some community service or are launching a new product. Find one little bit of information that you can relate to going in that doesn’t have to do with selling them something. Take their mind away from the fact that a sales person just walked through their door.
Second, walk in the door or dial their number. It’s that simple. Have an idea about what you want to say and don’t rehearse or over think it. Just take the steps through the door.
Third, treat everyone you meet as though they are buying from you. Most likely your first contact will be a gatekeeper. The decision maker will rarely be the one to greet you at the front door. It’s very common that on that first cold call, you may not even get to the decision maker and that’s OK. This is a process. The key is to not treat the gatekeeper like they are less than the decision maker. Ultimately the gatekeeper will get you where you need to be. The gatekeeper is every bit as important as the decision maker!
Last, be yourself! Be friendly, be respectful, be conversational, be aware of their body language and keep it short. These people are busy. Let them know who you are, where you work and why you are there. Take notice of the surroundings. You may want to comment on a photo, an award or bring up the one fact that you had ready to connect with them on. Once you feel you’ve established yourself with the person you’ve just met, ask for the contact you should be dealing with or if you can schedule a time to come back to discuss business. Answer any questions. If they aren’t warming up, you may need to be more consistent in making several pop-ins before getting down to business. The point of this first call is to establish contact, make an impression and feel them out. If they have a smile on their face when you leave, then you are in good shape. They will remember you when you come back!
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