Video: Cold Calling
Video: Module 3 – Cold Calling
Presenter: Pamela Clausen
Depending on the type of business you own, you may not always be able to make your sales call or presentation in person. As a business owner, you will probably spend a lot of time on the phone, trying to find people or prospects to sell your product or service to. If you're calling a prospect whom you've not had prior contact with, or they call you for more information about your product or service. It's called a cold call.
Most people don't like making cold calls; they avoid them. They fear the perceived rejection they're going to experience. It's true; not everybody will buy your product or service; not everyone will need it. But it's not very often they just hang up on you. And if they do, don't worry about it; they haven't known you long enough to dislike you. It's probably an issue on their end. Remember, you're selling a valuable product or service, and it's a buyer's job to see what's out there and to see if it may be something that they think they can use in their business or sell. So chances are they'll be looking forward to hearing from you and to see what you have to offer.
Here is a few tips to help make your sales calls run smoothly. Most people are very busy these days, so after your introduction, always ask for permission to speak. Not many people do, and it will impress your prospect. "Hi, Mr. Jones, it's Pamela from XYZ Company. Are you in the middle of something or do you have a quick minute to chat?" There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a huge deadline, and then having a salesperson launch into their spiel.
Give a quick introduction of your product and its benefit. "Mr. Jones, our product, The Buffer 1000, when used in the manufacturing process, saves our customers an average of 7 to 9 per cent per year." Remember, consumers buy the benefit of your product or service, not its features. They need to buy what it can do for them.
State the reason you're calling: "The purpose of my call today, Mr. Jones, is to find out a little bit about your business and your needs, tell you briefly about our product, and then see if you're interested in receiving some further information via e mail," so the prospect knows exactly what you're calling about.
After you've had further discussion and overcome some of their objections, summarize the call and don't forget to always determine the next step, the step that you both agree on. There always needs to be further action taking place so you can keep up with the sales process with that particular prospect.
"I'm going to send you some information, Mr. Jones, via e mail to your address, which is rjones@xyz.com, and I'd like to call you back necessary week. What generally works better for you, mornings or afternoons? Afternoon? Great. How about Thursday at two o'clock?"
There, you've set your next step; you both know what you've committed to. Basically, cold calling is like anything in life. If you're not good at it, with some few tools and some practice, you can be. You can even learn to like it, and it's always more fun when you're doing it for your own business.
Transcript provided by: Accurate Realtime Reporting Inc.
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada.
