Cold Calling

Get over the fear and improve your success

Most sales people hate to cold call. It is frequently considered by many to be the single most stressful part of selling. So much so that many people have given up this noble and proud profession for non-selling positions. There are actually several reasons why sales reps consider cold calling one step below getting a root canal.

Fear of rejection is one of the biggest reasons reps dislike cold calling. After all, who wants to be told “no” all day long? However, there are other reasons that add to the disdain, including not wanting to bother anyone (the “telemarketing” syndrome), gatekeeper resistance, lack of confidence (in themselves, their product, their company, etc.), or they just don’t know how to do it. While these reason are understandable, they are all symptoms rather than causes.

In understanding that we don’t like to cold call, we also have to understand why we have call reluctance. For instance, we may not like rejection, but the reason we are rejected is that we are not approaching it the right way. Or, we get resistance from the gatekeeper or feel like we are bothering people because, again, we aren’t equipped with the skills to perform the duty properly so that we don’t get rejected or bother people.

It comes down to Will and Skill.....Read More

"In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman." David M. Ogilvy

Don't Lose Focus on Your Customers

How to keep up with your customer retention activities

With today's busy schedules and workloads it is easy to lose track of, and focus on, your customers and prospects. The result, however, could mean your clients get ignored and feel unwanted, which could cause them to move to your competition. Even though you are busy, it doesn't mean you can't deploy certain techniques to optimize your time and still take care of your customers. Here are some tips:

• Write down your schedule, calendar, task lists, etc. It is often times better to actually write down, and physically visualize, what you are doing than to just enter them into a computer program. This “hands-on” approach helps some people to be more aware of their activities.

• Prioritize your time. Set aside specific times of the day and/or week to perform certain tasks, like calling your customers first thing in the morning, or doing your paperwork mid-day during the quite lunch hour with your door closed, or spending time in the field every Tuesday.

• Be sure to periodically re-prioritize your lists. Don’t assume that just because those items were important to do a couple weeks ago, that they still are. Things and situations change, so adjust your priorities accordingly.

• Do certain tasks off-hours, such as paperwork. Don’t perform administrative tasks when you could be on the phone or visiting your clients.

• If the problem is caused by having too much work or from working on large, long-term projects, be sure to identify at least 1 item to do per day until you catch up. The momentum of this often gets you to actually do 2, 3, or more items per day.

• You can follow up by phone or email instead of a personal visit. While this is not necessarily as effective, it is better than not following up at all. You can also send letters or emails to your clients just to stay in touch (i.e., newsletters, announcements, press releases, etc.), which lets them know you are still involved even if you haven’t been able to call or visit as much as you need to.

• Understand that there are things you don’t want to do but need to get done anyway. Do not procrastinate. Make a promise to yourself to do those things you need to do and just do it. Be disciplined!

• Use tools to help you to get organized, to prioritize, and to follow up, such as a paper-based system (i.e., Daytimer), computer-based applications (i.e., GoldMine), or Personal Digital Assistant (i.e., Palm Pilot). Yes, these tools cost money, but how much are you spending on lost productivity (What is your time worth?) and how much is it costing you on lost revenue and customers? The return-on-investment for productivity tools can be enormous.

•  Learn to juggle. Learn to multi-task by doing more than one thing at a time. For instance, forward your office phone to your cell phone while traveling so you can receive calls while on the road to your next client or while waiting in the lobby for a meeting. Bring work with you that you can work on while waiting for a meeting or for your airplane to depart. For instance, you can return phone calls, write proposals, write follow-up letters, update your calendar, catch up on industry or business reading, and more. Use your “down time” efficiently and effectively. This will help prevent you from getting backed up while doing all those other things you need to do. Obviously, if you plan ahead to do this, you will be able to juggle. Thinking about doing this after you already left your office behind, along with all the work you have to do, is too late. Be prepared!

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