7 tips on how to make cold calls. Need to make cold calls, but after some tips?
Making cold calls is an integral and therefore important part of growing your business. If you want new customers, you have to approach them for the first time (at some point !) If they come through advertising great, but if not, you’re going to have to pick the phone up and make that call. OK, so here’s some ideas on how to do it …….
Cold calling is an integral part of generating new business
1. Remove the stigma of thinking of it as a cold call. It is just another business call that’s all. And remember everybody is your customer, it’s just that some of them haven’t bought from you yet.
2. Don’t have a script to use verbatim, but do have a call guide. A list of questions you ideally want to ask, and some words for the key message or messages you want to get across.
3. Your main focus initially on the call should be to engage with the decision-maker on a human level, forget “trying to sell” for a moment and work to build a rapport, just as you would socially. Your first aim is to get them to warm to you.
4. Make sure your call is relevant to the target person, or make it relevant. If you can’t – don’t make the call, you’ll be wasting your time.
5. Be aware that as little as 5-20% of the impact of your communication comes from the words you use. The rest comes from the way you say it. So make sure you sound enthusiastic and believe in what you do. Refer to Jamie Oliver, Gok Wan and Mary Portas for details!
6. Learn from every call you make. You’ll find phrases that people seem to respond well to, and perhaps benefits that don’t light people up. Change your approach as you learn.
7. Keep a record of all your call activity. So this includes number of calls, how many you get through to, and who you need to diarise for future contact. This will motivate you more even when you’re not getting the results. “At least I can see I’ve made 100 calls today ……..” Not every call gets you the perfect result, but sure as eggs is eggs, if you don’t make those 100 calls, you won’t get any of the perfect results!
The best of luck.
