Keeping Cold Calls Simple & Effective

Monday, July 26, 2010

Keeping Cold Calls Simple & Effective

A great piece from Jim Meisenheimer:

Cold Calling Sales Tips

Cold calling sales tips is something I decided to write about
after reading an article in Inc. Magazine.

The article was about David Rosen. He sells $500,000 worth of
wine a year to private individuals across the country.

This guy loves and lives on making cold calls.

David is extremely enthusiastic about his work and about the
wine he sells.

Aside from his enthusiasm I really like the simplicity of his
approach and that's what I want to share with you.

Now get this, his first question to his sales prospect is, "Do
you like wine?" It's elegant simplicity - isn't it?

Look, I realize unless you sell wine, you can't use this question.
What you can do is create a question that works like David's
question in your business.

Among other things, I sell sales training programs emphasizing
No-brainer selling skills. If I am talking with the sales prospect
I certainly wouldn't ask a question, "Do you like wine?"

However, I could ask, "Are your salespeople overtrained?" Another
way to ask this question is, "How many of your salespeople are
overtrained?"

It took me five minutes to create these questions. I'm sure I
can think of even better questions to ask and the point is so
can you.

Where do you find your leads in your business? You should give
this serious thought and maybe even take a page from David Rosen's
book.

Rosen reads the letters columns of wine magazines, searches wine
blogs, and does creative Google searches for new leads. He's good
at doing his homework which the Internet makes a lot easier.

Another cold calling sales tip from David Rosen involves
gatekeepers. He says, "Don't feel the need to get past the
gatekeeper the first time."

He uses this first call to collect information. After several
attempts to reach a person you might leave a voicemail message
introducing himself as that "persistently optimistic wine guy"
before leaving his elevator speech and his telephone number.

I believe this next sales tip is extremely important. Rosen says
"You should learn your script then ditch it." It's impossible
to sound professional when you're rambling.

Here's something else Rosen does that you might be able to adapt
to your business. He promises to send an e-mail follow-up restating
his services. He also tells the prospect it will come from "David
your wine guy!" That's a clever way to brand yourself during the
first phone call.

He also knows how to get referrals from his customers. He must
because 81% of his sales in 2009 came from referrals.

He knows exactly how to ask for referrals. He simply says, "Now
that you've got a feel for what I do and my style, who else do
you think might be interested in The Wine Guy?"

Here are a few more cold calling sales tips for you.

Imagine just before your next cold call you turned on the switch.

=> You turned on the switch to smiling.

=> You turned on the switch to positive thinking.

=> You turned on the switch to positive expectations.

=> You turned on the switch to solving your customer's problems.

=> You turned on the switch to high energy and lots of enthusiasm.

You see it's because very few people are always smiling, always
thinking positively, always have positive expectations, always
focused on solving problems, and always have high energy and
lots of enthusiasm - that you have to turn it on, you have to
turn the switch on.

This switch is not automatic - it's manual and you have to turn
it on. Using this switch turns cold calling into warm calling.

The secret to attracting more business is as easy as A, B, C!

The next time you're cold calling, try saying "SHOW TIME" before
you pick up the phone and see what a difference it makes.

It's "SHOW TIME!"

You'll have success written all over your face - as soon as you
say "SHOW TIME."

Do this and you'll discover how cold calling can be fun and
profitable for you.

Remember - you gotta look good and you gotta sound good too!

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Announcing Jim Meisenheimer's 15th No-brainer Selling
Skills Boot Camp scheduled for october 6-7, 2010.

Go here for details:

http://www.meisenheimer.com/info/bootcamp.htm

Please do me a big favor and share this link with
all your sales buddies.

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eBooks Are Here To Stay

During the last three months Amazon.com achieved a milestone
because they sold more e-books than hardbacks.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, said that Kindle sales have reached
a tipping point because sales have tripled during the last month
following a price decrease.

It looks like e-books are here to stay.

I'll bet at least 75% of my newsletter subscribers have never
purchased an e-book.

You don't know what you're missing.

Why not give it a try - here are two you might want to check out.

57 Ways To Take Control Of Your Time And Your Life

http://www.meisenheimer.com/products/57ways-nl.htm

The 12 Best Questions To Ask Customers

http://www.meisenheimer.com/products/salesquestions-2.htm

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