Cold calling does suck. I have been on both sides of it. I started eons ago cold calling, and have owned a call center for 15 years. Called, managed, trained, mentored, etc etc. I is a grind, both calling and managing agents. We call it the windmill or revolving door. Each year we used to go through 200 people, turn em and burn em.
One thing that works well for me, ( I cold call to this day) love it and hate it.
-Have a script or outline - keeps you on point
-Get organized
-Have a clean quiet environment
-Automate as much as possible, there are a slew of dialers or ways to semi automate.
-Play a game, chunk your time
-From 9-10:30 pound the phones - as many owners you can talk to
-Dont fuck around with the gatekeeper, shes a number
-Think of every call as a number, they are numbers until they have an interest.
-Ask....Whats the owners name there. What works well for me forever is ... pretend like you are a customer that has concerns...works 90% of the time....act unsmooth. ahhhhh, yes....I was just wondering....whats the name ....ahhh. of the owner there. If she says whos this....say this is Bob. Pause. I love intentional pauses, it puts the gatekeeper or prospect on the defense and you have the upper hand. Its their move, most of the time she will put you through. If not, she will say whats your company...you say I dont have a company or whats this call in regards to .... you say...I just have some questions...pause. etcetc
there are a ton of methods...this is just what works for me and everyone I have trained. unimportant, just as long as you get the owners name to follow up.
-Have a goal on every call, Get the owners name or talk to the owner
-Dont fuck around with managers, receptionists, marketing managers, really anyone that doen not write the checks.
-Common mistake that drives me crazy is hearing people ask, how handles the marketing and advertising...Its useless and is a waste of time, unless it is a large corporation, then its really a waste of time. Or Drs office other than Chiropractor. Ten ask office manager name and talk to her. You will never get a Doc on the phone.
-Grind that phone for 1.5 hours then take a break, make as many phone calls as you can. I can make about 100 per hour, unless I get into a convo with an owner.
-Dont wate time, get on get off. Dont fax or email anything...its just a blow off. My take on this is, if an owner cant take 5 minutes out of his day to listen to something that will make him money, he is not interested. If you email something he will just say upon call back....ahhh yea, I didnt get that, can you resend it.
we used to have a line at the fax machine of agents faxing shit that never sold. I eventually took the fax out of the room.
-Game of numbers
Once you get the owner on the phone, he spends time with you and has a genuine interest, then feel free to email anything.
-Dont be a walking brochure either, get everything out on the phone. Price, product points, benefits, features etc etc....Go to sell him not to drop of info, make sure his time frame is now to advertise, make sure he has the budget, and for GODS sake find out if he has a partner, spouse, silent partner, manager anyone that will need to be at the meeting to make a yes or no when you go out. Remember this is your time, time where you can make 300 more phone calls. I see about 1 out of 100 calls has a genuine interest....Not someone that says yea email me something, one that is a buyer. and that 1 person will close about 25-50% of the time.
-you absolutely have to know how many failures you need to have to get the success. THis way you know exactly what you need to do to make you goals.
-set goals, and dont end your day or week until you have it, period.
I can go on and on about this topic, it excites me. Sorry for the rambled sentences. I have tons of cold calling tip and tricks that I have written. If there is interest I would be glad to post a more organized thread about it...I just never thought that cold calling was that popular here. I would love to help anyone that need it in this arena.
