Print Solutions July 2006
Cover Story
The Laws of Cold Calling
An industry expert weighs in: How does positive thinking, skill and strong implementation lead to a good cold call?
In Brief
A phone prospecting consultant shares some rules to help reluctant sales reps make successful cold calls. |
 "You need to do your homework and understand why the prospect would want to buy
from you."
Wendy Weiss, sales trainer “The Queen of Cold Calling” New York, N.Y. |
| Wendy Weiss (wendy@wendyweiss.com) offers sales training, wrote “Cold Calling for Women: Opening Doors & Closing Sales,” and does an 8-week intensive training course called “Cold Calling CollegeLive!” at www.wendyweiss.com where sales professionals can learn the art of cold calling. DMIA members can now receive a 20 percent discount for the course. |
Wendy Weiss, a sales coach and the self-proclaimed “Queen of Cold Calling,” says a sales rep has less than 20 seconds to capture the attention of a
prospect during a cold call.
“That's a pretty small window, and what happens in that first 10 to 20 seconds is that
the prospect makes a judgment about you,” she says. “They will determine if what the person on the end of the line is saying is worth
listening to."
Of course, that's only if a sales rep manages to get the prospect on the phone. In addition to
contending with a small window of opportunity to capture a prospect's attention, cold callers face additional challenges like getting past
receptionists, administrative assistants, and voice mail.
“There is a skill set to being able to get past the gatekeepers and leaving a
compelling message so that they will return your call," she says.
Though the challenges are many with cold calling, Weiss says they aren't insurmountable. “Henry Ford once said, ‘Either you think you can or you think you can't and either way, you're right.' It starts with positive thinking and goes to skills and then implementation…whatever you believe about prospecting influences your actions, which influences
your results." Cold calling is a science, and here are some proven theories from Weiss:
1) Don't Wing It!
“You need to do your homework and understand why the prospect would want to buy
from you," Weiss says. She also suggests creating a script ahead of time. “But don't literally write a script. You shouldn't say the same thing for each sales call,” she says. “Just make an outline of what you want to say, what points you want to hit.”
2) Don't Over-Research.
“There is such a thing as too much research,” Weiss says. “You have to have a really good sense of the issues that this prospect has and
you have to understand the target market: What are they buying? What do they
need? Did something happen recently that would affect the market base? But you
don't have to do in-depth research about a particular company. Save that for the
meeting." Weiss says in-depth research can become a stalling technique for some sales
people.
“They do this tremendous amout of research, hours and hours of it. But they're really just avoiding making the call.”
3) Understand the Goal of Your Call.
“Establish what you want from the customer before you make the call,” Weiss says. “For example, a lot of sales reps will call to set up an appointment for a
face-to-face interview, but a rookie mistake is that they sell their product
rather than the appointment. Remember, you're only asking them to give you some of their time. You're not trying to make the sale. That shapes your approach.”
4) Alternate Your Approach Based upon the Prospect.
Knowing which cold call approach is appropriate for which prospect is important.
“The more you can be like the prospect you are talking to without mimicking them,
the more they are receptive to your message," Weiss says. This rule has particular significance for distributors and manufacturers who are
phone prospecting throughout the U.S.
“You want to be warm. You want to be friendly,” Weiss says. “But I'm from New York, and if you're too friendly here – if you use the person's first name, talk too warmly – you will probably have someone hang up on you.” This type of phenomenon can be found throughout the Northeast where an overly
friendly sales call may not be effective.
“There are also regional differences in the speed and rhythm of how people talk.
You have to be aware of that. For instance, in New York we tend to be very
speedy in how we talk. In other parts of the country, they talk slower and you
have to slow down because the person on the other end can't hear you. It's like speaking Chinese to someone who doesn't speak Chinese. They don't understand you.”
5) Know When to Keep Calling and When to Let It Go.
“I had a mentor who said you should stay in touch with a prospect until they buy
or until they die. But I would temper that," she says with a laugh. Weiss says the best way to gauge what prospects to be
more aggressive with is to determine if they are worth the effort.
“Determine if they buy what you sell, if they buy a lot of what you sell and if
they do repeat orders,” she says. “That's my definition of a good prospect. A rookie mistake is not differentiating
among prospects. The rookie sales rep will approach everyone with the same
intensity." Instead, sales teams should break down prospects into A, B and C categories. A's are the best prospects that you definitely want and the ones you should call
often. B's are good prospects. C's are the lowest-ranked prospects “you call only if you have extra time or if you need the practice. They're low stress.”
6) Know When to Stop Talking.
Some cold calls can be ruined at the end of conversation because many rookie
sales people have a tendency to talk too much.
“Depending on the goal of the conversation, once you've met that goal, get off the phone,” Weiss says. “Don't keep talking. If someone says yes to you, that's when you shut up.”
