How You Can Avoid The Worst Cold Calling Mistake Made By Sales Pros
July 31, 2008
Sales pros frequently ask, Whats the #1 change I need to make, as I prospect by phone instead of face-to-face?
Heres the emotional truth behind this seemingly innocent question
Most sales pros confess theyd rather have their toenails pulled out with pliers than cold call prospects by phone. Took me a couple of years to figure out for myself why my stomach knotted up into a queasy ball every time I glanced at that gray lump of plastic on my desk and thought about dialing-for-dollars.
How do you make sense of it? Youre bigger than the phone, smarter than the phone. So, how can a talented sales professional be totally paralyzed by the thought of using the darned thing to prospect?
Heres what I finally figured out. When on the phone, you no longer see the whites of their eyes.
Before you roll your eyes, shake your head and say, Duh!
Think about it. The phone keeps us from reading the prospects body language. For folks like us who take pride in our ability to quickly glance at and assess a situation, overturn every objection, and close a sale on the spot the loss of visual input is quite frankly, unnerving.
This does not compute unless you know that ...
More than half of face-to-face conversation is communicated through the eyes. So, as funny as it sounds, during an in-person sales presentation youll quickly hear" your prospect with your ears AND your eyesat the speed of light.
According to Roger Ailes, in his book You Are the Message 55% of an interpretation of face-to-face conversation is determined by nonverbal cues, 38% by our voice and 7% by the words themselves."
Whats important to you about these statistics is
When youre prospecting by phone, you and your prospect "slowly hear" only with your ears at the speed of sound. This is a very big deal.
Why? Because, a whopping 55% of the information you normally take in and process in the blink of an eyeis gone, unavailable, poof. Critical information vanishes the instant you transition from face-to-face to phone communication! And immediate loss of that much information, my friend, would disorient anyone.
So, how do you compensate for the loss of visual cues when youre on the phone talking blind to a blind prospect doing your best to sell-ice-to-an-Eskimo?
Lets start with what not to do
Dont do what most folks do when talking to unsighted people talk loud and fast as though the person was deaf instead of blind!
If youre like me, youll function from one of two extremes. Your brain will freeze and leave you speechless or youll spray hundreds of words at the prospect and pray that some comment will compel them to invite you in to see them.
This may come as a shock but, prospects on the receiving end of spray and pray calls report in focus groups their incredible frustration and irritation with the assault of words coming through the phone, directly toward them, in rapid-fire succession. They admit they never really hear the sales pro and generally hang-up rather than do the work to make sense of the call.
The worst cold calling mistake youll make is to
Talk too fast and shut down your prospects ability to hear you. For a smooth transition from in-person to telephone prospecting youre going to have to do an unnatural act. Youre gonna have to talk slowly excruciatingly slowly, so your prospect can hear, register, and process your words. Even though youll feel awkward and uncomfortable, if successful cold call prospecting is your goal, you must make this adjustment.
How can you get objective feedback as to whether or not you articulate well, you articulate clearly, and give a compelling benefit statement on the phone?
An inexpensive, private way to observe yourself is to dial your voice mail: leave your name, phone number, and state the purpose of your call. Then, listen to your message and ask yourself, "Based on your ability to clearly understand what you said, would you do business with you?"
Forward this article to friendstheyll thank you for it!
For your FREE mini-course Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (thats Kansas City/Chicago Time).
Cold Calling Script Death - How to Generate Sales Leads with Ease
Cold calling scripts are dead and they have been for quite some time now. Im here to tell you that its a good thing and you shouldnt be worried at all. But first lets look at why its dead.To begin with a cold calling script makes you sound like a rob...
Cold Calling and Charting Progress
If you are in sales cold calling is a great way to get sales appointments and quickly weed thru those who are interested and excited about what you are selling and those who are not interested.Some people believe because cold calling is a percentage ...
Cold Calling Scripts are Worthless - You Need Marketing
Cold calling scripts are often looked for by people who are frustrated with their cold calling. But do you know why they are frustrated? Because cold calling no longer works!Cold calling scripts are thought to be magical phrases to get you past the g...
Most Effective Cold Calling Tip
If you are looking for the one piece of advice that will help, you propel yourself into cold calling record books for success you should only look to your phone for help. After all, it is only you, the phone involved in the transaction, and all that...
Cold Calling Methods to Radically Increase Sales
Cold calling methods that are new and effective are hard to come by. Why? Well because there is only so much you can do on the phone and cold calling methods have been around so long that most people are immune to them. But there is a solution.Consum...
Cold Calling Tips - Top Tips To Increase Sales
Cold Calling Tips are a great way to improve your cold calling. But let me ask you this; why would you care to improve upon a method that doesnt work anymore and is outdated?I could give you cold calling tips till Im blue in the face but it wouldnt d...
Sales Training Top Tip - Improving Cold Calling Performance
COLD CALLING! The very words are enough to send shivers down the spine for most of us. And the weather has nothing to do with it. There are people who postpone the making these calls till they cant postpone it any more and they dont have any other op...
Effective Cold Calling Techniques How to Supplement Cold Calling
Effective cold calling techniques are usually tips on how to do better on the phone. For example it may be things like how to get past the gatekeeper and how to effectively communicate your message quickly. But have you thought about supplementing yo...
Cold Calling Rapidly Disappearing
As more and more people enter the sales profession, less and less are utilizing cold calling as their prospecting technique of choice.Why is this happening? Why is cold calling going away?There are several reasons. First of all, prospects have beco...
Cold Calling Warm Ups and Practice
If you are finding yourself somewhat challenged by cold calling and you have convinced yourself that you just hate it, then you may need to do a little cold calling warm up practice. Many cold-calling salesmen will set a big goal of cold-calling 20-3...