How Do I Escape The Fear of Cold Calling?

Cold calling is a gigantic deterrent when pondering starting a career in sales. It takes a rare personality to really want to pick that phone up or knock on that door.

So how come there are so many people doing it?

Just like anything, cold calling is a skill that requires a lot of practice, persistence and in this case... rejection.

From the minute you start your introduction there is a science to taking your prospect from cold to hot. The process starts with the introduction, your reason for being there and an opportunity for your prospect. You then start your investigation, asking open ended questions (who, what, when, where, why, how?) to qualify your prospect. This is extremely important as this information usually includes the “hot button(s)” necessary to close the deal.

Hot Button: Something that elicits a strong emotional response or reaction

Once you uncover these hot buttons, you can use a “trial close” or tie down question on your prospect. For example, you’re selling home security and your customer has said that he is too financially unstable to pay for the first two months of monitoring. You would respond with: “Mr. Smith if I could take care of the first two months of monitoring, would you sign up with us today?”. To a salesman this question looks like, “Mr. Customer if I handle your objection for you now, will you do business with me today?” which is a perfect example of a “trial close”.

If the customer says no, you have to revert back to the investigation process and uncover more hot buttons. This is the common direct sales process and is a lot less intimidating when it’s laid out in front of you.

Tips on Escaping the FEAR!

Step 1: Practice – The more you practice, the more you learn. The more you learn, the easier it becomes!

Step 2: Persistence – Trust me, I’ve been there. It’s hard to hear “no” all day and stay motivated but you have to in order to overcome your fear of cold calling. Sometimes your deal of the day comes on the last call, which never would have happened if you quit early.

Step 3: MAKE IT FUN! – Have fun with your prospects. People get knocked and called all day by salespeople. Humour is the key to the heart, so break the ice with a tasteful joke! Set yourself apart from the rest and keep a smile on your face as well.

Next Week's Nugget: Shut up!

Weekly Reading Recommendation - The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer

"The Sales Bible" by Jeffrey Gitomer is an excellent read whether you're new to sales or a sales guru! Jeffrey doesn't beat around the bush, he delivers excellent selling tips on virtually every concern you could have. Best of all, it's an easy read!

Also, some interesting media... Enjoy :)

Does the lowest price always win?

Nugget #1) Does the lowest price always win?

In short, NO! It's a common mistake among new salespeople to assume that giving someone a rock bottom price is going to make the sale. It's usually a nervous response to rejection, a very noticeable nervous response that is made far too early in the selling process. The common mistake is that you have shown someone what your product/service is, but you haven't built any value into it. In fact, you've skipped a large portion of the selling process and jumped right to the close. Uh oh!

As a customer, I'm not emotionally or physically drawn to the product or service... yet. No need has been created and I will not feel any loss in rejecting the sale. This is a big problem for someone who's about to ask me to hand him a lump sum of my hard earned money. Now the salesperson panics and frantically spits out a much lower asking price (without phoning anyone to "verify" with your Sales Manager that it could be done, this would have made me think they were really working for me and warmed me up). I now refuse to purchase the product for two reasons, I'm feeling toyed with and you (and your product) have lost all of your credibility.

Remember to keep your price firm and build the value in your product, no one buys from a desperate salesperson. You have to stand behind what you're selling, even walk away from a presentation because of a cheap prospect. Sometimes that will even close the deal! Build the value in your product to create the need, if you do this properly you'll be a closing machine.

Next Week's Nugget: How to Escape the Fear of Cold Calling.

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