Cold Calling 101: How To Get More Sales Reps To Cold Call You
Busy business executives like yourself don't have time to pick up the phone book or yellow pages to find products and services that you need for your business. You want sales reps to call YOU! Being on the receiving end of cold calls makes your valuable time more productive. After all, picking up the phone book to find what you are looking for takes a few minutes; receiving a cold call only takes a few seconds. You are industrious; that is why you will do anything to become more productive.
Alas, there are tips, techniques, and strategies that you can implement to get more sales reps to cold call you. You must know what the mind set of the cold caller is and understand his motivation to be able to use that to your advantage.
Here are 5 strategies that you can implement immediately to watch your inbound cold calls soar through the roof:
1. Many times, cold callers are stopped dead in their tracks at the gates. The gatekeeper (receptionist or secretary) is usually programmed to filter out unsolicited phone calls so that they never get through to you, the decision maker. Tell your secretary to interrupt any meeting, lunch, or appointment that you are in the middle of to put those calls through to you. Your meetings are not as important as receiving a call from a salesperson that wants to sell you something like a new software program, a copier, a CRM system, a cutting edge way to advertise your business, etc.
2. Understand that cold calling consultants suggest that sales professionals are advised to make cold calls at off hours when there are no secretaries available to filter their calls. This would be before 9am or after 5 pm. This is the time when there are no nine to fivers and the only people working are the owners, principals, CEOs, executives, and decision makers. Sales reps love this time of day because their success rate of getting through to the right person increases dramatically. If you understand that there are significantly more calls during these hours, you must get to the office early and leave late to be able to field these calls.
3. Cold Calling is a numbers game. Sales consultants love to talk about the numbers. Based on their experience, it takes fifteen no's until you get one yes. In other words, you need to make fifteen cold calls, on average, before you will make one appointment. That is, you will hear the word “no” fourteen time before you hear the word “yes.” This is crucial to understand. Although, you would love to make an appointment with every sales rep that cold calls you, YOU MUST NOT! This will skew their numbers. You must only make an appointment with every 15th cold caller that wants to sell you something. Don't be discouraged that you must reject fourteen out of fifteen cold callers; they love rejection.
4. Understand that you are not the expert of your business. Sales reps know better what you and your business needs. When a sales rep visits you, they will try to sell you their goods and services. NEVER agree to buy immediately. First, throw out some objections. Sales reps are trained to counter your objections. Next ask questions. When you ask questions, this indicates to the sales rep that you are interested and it is their job to show you how their product or service is what you and your company need. After you propose five objections and questions the sales rep will proceed and undertake to “close” you. The sales rep comes equipped with an arsenal of closing techniques to finish the deal.
5. What you didn't realize is that during your sales meeting with the rep, he had been sizing you up the entire time to choose the best sales closing technique to use on you to increase the odds of closing the sale. He will, then, dig into his arsenal of closes and choose the one that's best for you. Sales reps are experts in psychology and they will choose the close that best fits your profile. When you hear the close, BUY. Buy immediately. When you hear the sales close, it means that the sales rep has decided that it is the right time for you to buy. The sales rep is a lot smarter than you are, so you must do whatever he suggests. After all, he knows your business and industry better than you.
If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to receive many more cold calls than you do now. Maybe even 20 per day (if you're lucky). Receiving cold calls is an art, not a science. Good luck!
About the Author:
Visit TradePals to receive free sales leads without
cold calling. Tino Buntic created TradePals to provide free advertising to business professionals across North America.
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2128
Date Published :
Sep 2 2006