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Overview

Most of us have heard about cold calls. This is when you contact someone out of the blue to sell them something or get hired for a job, for example. Many people don’t like this because they’ve had bad experiences with it in the past and are afraid that their future encounters will be just as unpleasant.

However, there are ways to make cold calls warm. This article offers a practical guide for making and executing cold calls in business.

In this post, you will discover some unconventional ways of grabbing people’s attention in the business world. You might be surprised to learn that you don’t always have to talk with the CEO about your company and why digital research tools are so important.

Big Idea #1: Master cold calling and make your calls smart by planning well and avoiding common mistakes.

Cold-calling is considered a difficult and painful process by many people. However, it doesn’t have to be so bad if you’re aware of the mistakes that most people make when cold-calling.

Cold calling is more than just talking on the phone. We should avoid some common mistakes when conducting cold calls by addressing people with their proper names, not nicknames. Rather than focusing on ourselves right away, we should create interest in our callers by introducing an interesting idea to them. And be specific! If you’re too vague, they’ll lose interest. A bad example of a cold call sounds like this: “Hello Sander, this is George Barkley from Gold Insurance and I’d like to take 20 minutes to offer you a deal.”

In general, it is best to avoid cliches like “I’d like to introduce myself and my company.” It also sounds better if you don’t use the word ‘just’ because it makes your speech sound weaker and less confident. You should also avoid stating obvious facts such as “You sure were hard to reach!” That may be true, but it isn’t really useful information for your prospect so there’s no point in saying that.

Big Idea #2: Plan your calls in advance, strive to be empathetic and aim to help your prospect fulfill a need.

Planning a phone call is important because it’s more than just talking on the phone. You’re trying to achieve something, so you need to know what your goals are in order to plan accordingly. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and remember that everyone has their own unique worldview. They’ll only be interested if they can relate to what you have to say.

So, think about what this person needs and how you can help. Maybe they need to reduce their workload or maybe they need to increase sales revenue. Keep them happy by telling them only what’s relevant to them.

Customers want to know how your product or service works. They don’t want to be confused by complicated installation processes, so make it easy for them.

If you’re selling a vacuum cleaner, focus on the details of how it’s assembled. If you’re speaking to an executive, however, don’t focus on those details. Instead, talk about long-term benefits and price and reliability issues.

Big Idea #3: Research your contact before you speak with them, and be sensitive to their unique needs and situation.

A lot of sales representatives expect cold calling to be routine and repetitive. But that’s not the case, because each person on the other end is a human being with fears and responsibilities who are influenced by what’s going on around them. Therefore, as a cold caller you need to know what those influences might be in order to have success.

The economy and culture have an impact on people’s lives. So, when you’re creating a product or service for your target market, think about how the economy is doing and what cultural changes are happening in society.