October 19, 2017
10 Tips on Getting Customers to Accept Your Cold Calls:
Perhaps the only thing more nerve-wracking to business professionals than cold emailing is cold calling. Cold emailing allows you hide behind typed, written words whereas cold-calling requires you to use your physical voice to reach out to potential clients who never reached out to you in the first place. Even for the most seasoned professionals, cold calling is an oftentimes scary experience As a businessperson you want the client to accept your call and discuss doing possible business with you in the future, however, getting people to answer the phone unless they know who is calling and what they want can be an entirely different challenge.
The following ideas are some of the ideas that can help you as a seller with your cold calling techniques and make it more likely that you will get responses rather than hang-ups:
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- Follow a Script: The best way to do cold calling is to have a general idea of what you will say each time someone picks up the phone. While it doesn't have to be verbatim, it helps you not have to struggle for words every time someone picks up. The longer you stammer or stutter, the more likely the annoyed person on the other end is to hang up before you even make your pitch. Having a general idea of what you will say can help you avoid this from happening.
- Practice Your Words: Practice saying the line to people in your office or at your business as a practice run before using it when doing cold calls. Once you are comfortable saying it you will be less likely to botch the delivery when doing your calls.
- Ask the 3 Questions - Why? What? How?: The customer wants to know the answer to these three questions a) Why are you calling, b) What are you offering, & c) How does it benefit them. Answer these questions to keep the client engaged and active on the line for longer.
- Come Up with Questions the Client May Ask: Come up with some potential questions the client may ask when you are speaking to them. If a client takes interest you want to have answers to their questions to help convince them that you have their best interests in mind and know the information you are talking about. Come up with these answers to these questions before cold calling. While you cannot possibly dream up every question, having some basic answers can help you provide the client with quality information right at the moment they ask for it.
- Captivate the Listener's Attention: Figure out a way to get the attention of the person you ware talking to on the other end of the phone line. This will be a different technique in every single business but something related to the client and their personal business needs and how you may be able to assist in those needs. Showing personal interest in the client's business shows that you are there to serve the client, not the other way around.
- Recognize the Moment: Make sure you are pitching at the right time and that it's not too soon or too late to get the client's optimal attention and responses. A trial-and-error process will help you recognize when the right time to pitch your product to your specific clients is. Heed the moment and pitch at the optimal time to get optimal business.
- NEVER Multitask While On Calls: Not only does this take your attention away from the person on the other end of the phone but it leads to more chances of giving incorrect information or fumbling a sales opportunity if your attention is not solely on the conversation at hand. Even worse are activities that can be heard by the client on the other end showing they don't have your full attention. One of the worst offenders might be chewing while on the phone. Not only is it rude, it's showing the client that their time is not valuable to you.
- Avoid Leaving Messages: The average message a sales rep leaves lasts 60 seconds and the average rep leaves over 70 voicemails per day. This eats up 25 hours of working time each month. If someone is not home, leave a note to call back later and move on to the next possible call.
- Respond to the "I Don't Have Time" Line: This is a classic line that most people will use to politely tell a caller to "Go Away" or "Quit Calling Me". You may hear this line quite often and the best way to respond to keep the person on the line longer is to realize that this person is on the outs with their patients and that it's time to drive the sales pitch home. It's now or never because they will hang up and likely not pick up if you call again.
- Remember Your P's and Q's: Be sure to use "please" and "thank you" when speaking to customers on the phone. This is simple respect and shows the customer that you appreciate their time and their interest, whether you do make a sale or not. Using this helps you look polished, professional, and humane. It's likely that this person will be more apt to listen if you ever call again, even if its for a different reason.
For more information about improving your cold pitches and getting clients to respond to your calls please feel free to contact us.