Can Cold Calling Be Enjoyable?

The question whether Cold Calling can be enjoyable is a paradigm breaker just by it’s being brought up as a possibility.

Sales people as well as Entrepreneurs working to expand their business all know the horrors that typical Cold Calling brings to mind.

The prospect hang-ups, the curt/short answers, the ‘I’m not interested’, etc. The sad fact is that people who are engaged in Cold Calling see the absolute worst in people.

This in turn either results in one or more things:

· The sales person quits because they get too much grief compared to the rewards

· The sales person becomes hard and cynical and ends up abusing prospects

· The business suffers because their message is not being delivered to prospects

To understand why sales people who cold call are treated so poorly we need to take a quick look the issue. Simply ignoring it or running away from it is like trying to run away from your own shadow; it not going to get you anywhere…

The truth is people have been contacted too many times by poorly trained Cold Callers. People have been tricked, taken advantage of, badgered, and disrespected by telephone sales people for three decades now.

The tone is either pumped up with fake enthusiasm or a lifeless monotone from somebody who has been hung up a 1,000 times too many. This person heart is not engaged because they’ve had to build a wall around it just to get thru the day!

Both the language used by the caller and the posture they try to employ are dead giveaways starting with the very first sentence. “Hello Mr. Jones, how are you today?

Mr. Jones knows you neither know him nor really care about him so your asking the ‘How are you?’ question sets a bad tone for the conversation right from the start

Prospects are now ‘street smart’ in that practically everyone recognizes a sales call within the first five seconds of answering the phone.

And since the good nature of these prospects has been taken advantage of in the past they now feel justified being rude to the sales person currently on the phone.

Their ‘wall’ goes up instantly, and once that’s the situation any notion that you’re going to have a fun and productive call is pretty much toast. I liken this situation to a sword fight with each party striking and defending every step of the way.

Although I’m not telling you anything you likely don’t already know - its always important to know your current ‘location’ in order to move to where you WANT to be effectively

That ‘place’ is where you actually ENJOY making cold calls and its working EFFECTIVELY for you.

All the great Trainers I’ve ever known seem to have a knack for presenting their solutions in a way. That ‘way’ is not by offering advice that makes incremental changes. The most effective way to bring about a major shift is to literally break the student’s existing paradigm.

The information below should do exactly that for you look and react to Cold Calling from this day forward. Since reaching out to new prospective customers is literally the life blood of 98% of all business you should find the following material of huge importance.

My favorite Sales Coach is Ari Galper. He has summed up the following  highly effective check list of turning Cold Calling from a dreaded task into one that you’ll actually start enjoying. If what you see below makes sense - you’ll want to visit Ari’s website ‘Unlock The Game’ because he’s taken the Sales Game up to an art form.

Mind ‘Shift’ Number One:

Rather than starting the call with the intention of ‘making the sale/appointment’, go into the call with the genuine intention of helping another person. That means an open and willing frame of mind and a genuine desire to advance the other person and ‘do no harm’.

This one shift in your cold calling approach will be greeted in a way different manner than the ‘old school’ and tired tact of a brute force fontal attack - which is the perceived communication by your prospect no matter how slick your sales script is.

Ari does teach some specifics on the type of words and structure to use but it is never reduced to a ‘script’.

Mind shift Number Two:

Be open and honest. In an earlier post (Magical Sales Script Part Two) I explained why building Trust with your prospect pays off multiple times better than anything else you can do.

Everything from accelerating the sales process, to receiving tons of referrals, to the having your sales job rally feeling fulfilling, and more.

I believe everyone enjoys being honest and helpful –especially when is also creates win-win situation between you and your prospects (soon to be clients).

Mind Shift Number Three:

I remember discovering a Sales Pro from California who focused on hiring low key and unassuming newbie’s to become sale people. This fly in the face of what I was used to encountering (brash, egotistical jerks).

This gentleman taught (key word) these newbie’s some basic principals which Ari has perfected, including asking the client what their unique problems were before spewing out about how great my company/product/service was.

Unless your prospect feels you understand what their problem is why in the world would they think you could offer a solution? Guess what – they don’t; and once again the sales process becomes a push-pull shoving match rather than a meeting of the minds.

Mind shift Number Four:

Get into your Prospect’s World.

If you are being yourself and not applying the typical ‘sales pressure’, your prospects will most likely open up to you. Take the time to calmly ask truly pertinent open ended questions.

This process can actually help the prospect crystallize what their problem and or potential solution may be. If – and only if –your company / product / service ‘fits the bill’ the prospect will ASK to purchase it.

That’s the way to ‘close’ a sale!

Mind Shift Number Five:

Let go of expectations. Tony Robbins taught me an analogy about expectations that blew me away (because I saw the truth in it). He explained that ‘expectations’ can be extremely damaging for the following reason.

When we form an expectation we actually feel that it’s already ours. The problem is if it doesn’t work out the way we expected we feel something akin to being robbed!

It’s not a good feeling and that feeling lingers – therefore it effects our attitude and forthcoming Cold Calling behavior (and not in a good way).

The worldwide networking organization B.N.I. has a saying: ‘Giver’s Gain’. Adopt these Mind shifts noted above and you’ll see an absolutely huge difference in how you feel about Cold Calling as well as the results you experience.