Cold calling tips and sales techniques leave most sales-people in the cold.
Most companies and biz owners would rather pretend cold calling doesn’t work than spend time calling freezing cold prospects.
Don’t let yourself (or your business) ignore these cold calling tips while your competitors are (secretly) using it as a bottomless goldmine…
BEST PART: The tips below literally make cold calling so comfortable, your grand mother could do it (and make loads of sales).
Cold Calling Tip #1 – Set Realistic Goals
I’m going to go ahead, be honest and level with you: The “real deal” freezing cold calling will not sell anything directly.
So many entrepreneurs (and wannabe sales-folk) set unrealistic cold calling goals – only to quit (prematurely) when they don’t work out.
Phoning total strangers and asking for credit card numbers is going to win you no friends (and the consolation prize is verbal abuse).
The cold calling “phone and ask for a sale” approach works in very few industries (I’d struggle to name three).
The realistic alternative is to incorporate cold calling as the first point of contact which feeds new prospects into your sales funnel.
When you set a realistic goal for your calling, then it’s easy to be successful. The feeling of achievement itself, for you and your sales reps, is gonna breed more success.
If you want to significantly improve your productivity โ to become superhuman in your ability to set and achieve your cold calling goals โ check out my free video training series over at my other company Commit Action. It’s a detailed tutorial on the psychological advantages elite entrepreneurs use to stay focused and achieve seemingly superhuman results in … you guessed it…. things like cold calling. You can download the whole series for free by clicking here.ย
Here’s a couple of realistic, achievable and profitable cold calling goals:
100 “Permissions” to send info (via post or email) and follow up by phone call
If your product is top notch, you can hit this milestone in less than a week of part-time 8am-12pm calling. Try mailing out something remarkable (like a brochure in the shape of a giant tree – whatever) to ensure it gets opened. The recipient needs to notice it.
10 Sales appointments with qualified prospects
This works well in the B2B market and in industries like Insurance and Finance where cold calling for home appointments is appropriate. A masterful cold caller can convert around ten percent. Beginners can expect around five.
Just a single day of full time calling will net this result. I know Insurance guys who do it all on Sunday evening.
Cold Calling is for selling “the opportunity” to sell another day
These examples show that, when cold calling works really well, it is because it bags an opportunity to contact the prospect and sell to them.
There is a psychological reason this works so well…
People are conditioned to be immediately distrustful of anyone trying to pitch them. Any attempt to accelerate the sales process beyond the comfort zone of the prospect will be met with increased resistance and resentment. Don’t do it.
A couple of points of contact will give your prospects time to warm to you, your company and your pitch. Many effective cold-callers keep a database of numbers from 6 months (or a year ago) to continue “calling back”. Do this.
Cold Calling Tip #2 – You’ve got 3 seconds. No pressure
The crucial element of cold calling (where 95% of the wannabes get it wrong) is the first three seconds after saying hello.
Three seconds is the size of the “window-of-opportunity” you have to get your prospect interested. If they’re not curious after three seconds, it means they’ll dismiss you and your offer. Instead of listening, they’ll start thinking up objections and excuses to hang up the call.
How do you create Cold Call curiosity in under three seconds?
Have a legitimately exceptional product/service: Easier said than done, it really helps if your business is doing something so extraordinarily awesome that people can’t wait to hear more. This is a long term goal for some.
Offer a quick, easy and commitment-free next step: This could be asking for permission to keep talking, or even better, asking for permission to send a free sample.
Make the prospect feel special: If they feel like the 200th prospect you’ve spoken to that day, they’re not going to enjoy the call. In B2B cold-calling you can get immediate interest by mentioning vertical market competitors who you’ve “spoken to”… and explaining why you thought your prospect would be interested.
Have an eloquent, concise scripted three second intro: You’d think this would be obvious, but so many businesses and sales reps fail to recognise the importance of a fluid introduction. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP
A good three second intro that adheres to these principals would look like this:
“Hi <Prospect>! I’m calling for ACME gardening co. We’re doing a crazy promotion in your street by expertly mowing people’s lawns for free. If you’re interested, I just need to get a preferred date and time for your free mow.”
Regardless of how realistic it would be to mow lawns for free, do you see the cold calling principals in action here?
P.S. Secret cold calling tricks
I won’t lie – I added a few extra secret strategies into the example above. Let me know if you spotted them by leaving a comment below…
Hey Pete,
Good Article, and the goal setting is really great. I do think a lot of people expect to turn around more than they do. I have a couple of questions that maybe you could answer here. It is great if you can talk about your company and your promotion in three seconds, but what if is isn’t quite as simple as mowing lawns. Say it is something else? And you want to build credability? Do you do that after that three seconds?
Also, by saying “if you’re interested” aren’t you giving them an easy out, the golden NO rule of selling? Wouldn’t it be better to simply say, “All I need to know from you is a prefered time and date to set up your free mow?”
Hi Chrissy,
Great questions! Here’s a couple of key points:
If your product/service is super complex then you need to simplify the “3 second intro” by communicating across the primary benefit(s) of your offer.
It is unlikely that there will be time to establish credibility or explain much of the “how” – but if your intro is good enough, the interested people should ask you “how” or question your credibility. This is a fantastic way to get a conversation rolling.
The words “if you’re interested” might give an easy out, but remember that cold calling is also about crunching numbers. The faster you can get off the phone to “uninterested prospects” the better.
It’s all about spending as much time as possible talking to the people who are inclined (and ready) to buy.
What you guys at 10 Thousand Trees are doing is an emotive sell – therefor, you’ll benefit from qualifying out all the emotionally dead folks who just don’t give a rats arse about the environment. Enjoy 80% of your time talking to the people who do.
It’s an abundant ol’ universe out there…
– Pete
Hey Pete
Thanks for the mention. Great article and I felt it fit right in with what we’re trying to teach people over at our site.
I like your piece on the script. Having a concise and eloquent script shows great professionalism. Never try to over complicate anything in cold calling.
Terry
Sales is a waste of time. Everybody wants to buy, but nobody wants to be sold anymore. I’m tired of people posting, re-posting superlative articles that reinforce the worldview that sales works. It doesn’t, I’ve tried it. No-one’s interested, or they have no budget, or they want to talk to other providers. Nobody wants to listen to scripts, and will immediately switch off.
No-one will talk about this because sales is an industry that worships itself, it thinks; therefore it is. Let’s be honest — sales doesn’t work anymore.
May I make a suggestion? Call what is not as though it is and it will be possible that it will become, but call what is possible as though it is not, and it will never be. I agree with your statement only because I am looking at the underlying message in what you are saying, and that is that no one wants to be talked into something, manipulated into buying something, and people do not have the time or trust with people to agree to hear their pitch, but, every one wants someone who will share something with them that will make their life easier or better, and no one can say they can not use extra money, so if that one person happens to enter into a prospects life, and uses the tactics involved in selling that reach success, they will ultimately find the same success that their mentors use and have found. Most importantly, asking permission for EVERYTHING helps to get the person used to saying yes, and making appointments and keeping them gets them used to trusting that you will do what you say. It sounds to me like you have tried sales, and have not even been able to break ice, and if you can find out how to break the ice, you will be real successful in sales. You might not see it, but that comment is a SALES PITCH, and you are attempting to sell that sales doesnt work anymore, but you cant sell me on that because i have sold to highly sought after dignitaries, families, and small businesses all over the world for 7+ years, and i have found that people just want to be respected, not bothered, and their needs to be taken care of at a reasonable price as long as there is value in what they are purchasing, and a salesman who cares for their needs instead of pushing something at them they have no need for. That is all.
I see this person who hates sales doesn’t really know that sales is what makes the world go around?
I make a great living in sales. It takes a positive no quit attitude. I now make money that I can retire by 50 years of age and pay off my $500k home in cash.
It is easy if you believe in yourself.
This is just negative opinion talking right here with this guy! Me and my wife love to be sold in fact we will reward it if we can see that a sales person is actively working through the process with us we will buy anything if someone just tries because we love to have someone who knows what they’re doing and can educate us on exactly what we need! I guess I’m a living proof contradiction! Too bad his negative attitude convinced him to quit before he sold me!
Can you email me I’d love to talk about your health care and life insurance policies. ๐
Hahaha, this just made my day. Also, amazing article.
This was an interesting article. I am calling businesses about having them list their cafes, restaurant’s, hotels, accommodation etc on our Eat, Drink ,Dine out and stay network, also looking for people worldwide to work with us. Kris
Nothing in this world happens until somebody sells something. You can thank whatever lifestyle you are living to the industry that makes the world go around ~ sales.
If you desire to obtain much from this article then you
have to apply these strategies to your won website.
We are currently in the double glazing and conseravtory market, we are seeing a rapid rise due to cold calling and marketing and the sales we generate through door to door sales and cold calling on the phone
Cold calling gets results fact!
Why not check out our blog http://www.thehomeimprovementpeople.co.uk
Great cold calling tips! Thanks for posting them.
Hi
I’m quite new to cold calling.
I have tremendous beginners luck but then it seems to run out.
I work for an online business directory so lots of B2B calls
Any tips would be greatly appreciated please ?
Cheers
Ed
Thank you for this article, i found that i did benefit from it some. It is greatly appreciated.
Hey Pete – This is great stuff. Cold calling is tough. I once asked all the receptionist and assistants at our office how they liked to be treated by cold callers. Thought you might be interested in what they had to say:
https://senatorclub.co/i-found-a-way-to-make-cold-calls-feel-warmer-without-lying/
Thanks for all the tips!
Ian
Hey,
Are there any idea’s that would help to get appointment as quick as possible. because I’m facing problems while cold calling. and what is the perfect time to make cold callings.
Regards,
HD
I need this… Thanks for the wonderful article.
Hello Pete,
If you are still receiving email for any comment on this post, then I would like to share my hearty greetings for the day.
Although I got your point regarding “3 Seconds”, I really appreciate this concept and I am sure if anybody is following this concept he/she will get high range of success in cold calling.
But, I have one concern in this concept. I am having a business of Web Development and Web Designing. So can you please give some tips to use your concept of “3 seconds” in my field.
I would really appreciate any input from your side.
Thank you and Warmest Regards,
Ankit Sharma
G’day Pete,
Im from New Zealand and work in door to door sales. I am always online trying to learn something new to improve my results, and I tried your ‘mirroring’ tip yesterday which was fun to practice without trying to be so obvious to the customers ๐ I am going to try the 3 second intro idea today. Really liked your advise to try and get a call back or follow up with qualified prospects as opposed to selling on the spot. I have done this before and one day 70% of my sales were call backs, which i think allowed people to have a good think about it with no pressure. The nature of my sales role we are taught to sell on the door, and you can if you want because it does work, but interestingly just qualifying them and then calling back later in the day or letting them text me by the end of the day works too. Still trying to figure things out as I am only a month into this role, but its fun to play with ideas. I really like your articles, much appreciated. Cheers
Great post, thanks for sharing! A few years ago I incorporated the Six Sigma methodology into an outbound prospecting program (combination of calls and emails). We actually pulled the data which validated which combination works best, and why.
Check it out in the white paper in my blog:
Six Sigma Strategy for Outbound Prospecting
https://www.marketingfox.net/#!blogger-feed/c48e
HI
it’s really interesting thought about Cold Calling. but when is the perfect time to call the people they keep saying i am driving, i am busy.
I have to laugh at the comment from AD above, a few years ago.
I imagine that person is not in business, while those of us doing sales are making tons of money. I suggest “Smart Calling” instead of cold calling… this guy has a system down and changed the way I placed calls, and my results too. https://smart-calling.com
hahaha yeah “Sales isn’t working anymore” …. the entire economy begs to differ.
Hi there Pete, I have new technology that can give you 10 times faster internet. A fantastic way to cut down your phone bill. Who is your current provider?
Working on my pipeline. I’m novice at telesales and beginner cold caller. I’m needing to gain the mutts and bolts of this culture.
Very good article.
Thanks…looking forward to these tips
Im cold calling business to get them to advertise with us! Many times i found that after i introduced myself they hang up or they already made up their mind, like okay she is calling from this advertisement company so I’ll just say no! ๐
Im trying to keep my “speech” as short and as on point as possible , but we can say that in today’s world everyone is so damn full of themselves, like all the business owners seems to think that they perfectly got their business they dont need help from a sales representative.
Im trying to figure out a way to make them see that there is a huge benefit with us, and we definitely worth a shot.
Is there any advice on sales calls selling advertisements? We sell advertisement spots on the internet.
All help and advice is appreciated ๐
Wish the best of luck and lots of sales to everyone ๐๐๐
Hello,
I’ve been cold calling businesses to try to sell them advertisement.
Our prices are awesome and we are the number one in the country. I keep my speech short and on point yet everyone’s answer is a big NO. – After that i go on, i say that we have many visitors or something really good about our service, yet they already decided what’s their answer as soon as they figured out that im offering them something for money. The problem is we are calling businesses that posted a FREE advertising with us, so when we call them and offer a better advertisement that stays on the first page all the time, they just turn as down with a “it is good as it is” , or they say “my business is going good i dont need more advertisements” . I tell them that its not a contract therefore, if we don’t live up to their expectations they can simply cancel, and it’s not like im offering something unplayable. It is only $50, what could they lose? Even if we get them only one client, the $50 is covered and they can cancel the service.
What possibly could i do?
I feel like in today’s world everyone is so full of themselves that when we offer to help, they get defensive and say thay they are good and dont need anything else. They don’t even give me one chance to explain! As soon as I introduce myself they decided the answer because they think they dont need any help, specially not when it’s offered. It has to be their idea otherwise its not their idea….
I am just looking for some ideas and advice, so please do share them it’ll be very appreciated โค๏ธ
Thank you ๐
cold calling is an art form not everyone can master. I’m still struggling to get comfortable with it.
Hi there! Quick question that’s completely off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when browsing from my iphone4.
I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be
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Thanks!
Thank you for posting such a useful article on sales calls.
Appreciate and all the best for your good work.
Best Regards,
Kimberly L Robbins