PCold Calling The Old Way Is A Painful Struggle.ppBut You Can Make It A Productive And Positive Experience By Changing Your Mindset And Cold Calling The New Way.ppTo Show You What I Mean, Here Are 7 Cold Calling Ideas That Even The Sales Gurus Don't Know.pp1. Change Your Mental Objective Before You Make The CallppIf Youre Like Most People Who Make Cold Calls, Youre Hoping To Make A Sale -- Or At Least An Appointment -- Before You Even Pick Up The Phone.ppThe Problem Is, The People You Call Somehow Always Pick Up On Your Mindset Immediately.ppThey Sense That Youre Focused On Your Goals And Interests, Rather Than On Finding Out What They Might Need Or Want.ppThis Short-circuits The Whole Process Of Communication And Trust-building.ppHeres The Benefit Of Changing Your Mental Objective Before You Make The Call: It Takes Away The Frenzy Of Working Yourself Up Mentally To Pick Up The Phone.ppAll The Feelings Of Rejection And Fear Come From Us Getting Wrapped Up In Our Expectations And Hoping For An Outcome When Its Premature To Even Be Thinking About An Outcome.ppSo Try This. Practice Shifting Your Mental Focus To Thinking, "When I Make This Call, Im Going To Build A Conversation So That A Level Of Trust Can Emerge Allowing Us To Exchange Information Back And Forth So We Can Both Determine If Theres A Fit Or Not."pp2. Understand The Mindset Of The Person Youre CallingppLets Say Youre At Your Office And Youre Working Away.ppYour Phone Rings And Someone Says, "Hello, My Names Mark. Im With Financial Solutions International. We Offer A Broad Array Of Financial Solutions. Do You Have A Few Minutes?"ppWhat Would Go Through Your Mind?ppProbably Something Like This: "Uh-oh, Another Salesperson. Im About To Be Sold Something. How Fast Can I Get This Person Off The Phone?"ppIn Other Words, Its Basically Over At "Hello," And You End Up Rejected.ppThe Moment You Use The Old Cold Calling Approach -- The Traditional Pitch About Who You Are And What You Have To Offer, Which All The Sales Gurus Have Been Teaching For Years -- You Trigger The Negative "salesperson" Stereotype In The Mind Of The Person Youve Called, And That Means Immediate Rejection.ppI Call It "The Wall."ppThe Problem Is With How Youre Selling, Not What Youre Selling.ppThis Is An Area Thats Been Ignored In The World Of Selling.ppWeve All Been Trained To Try To Push Prospects Into A "yes" Response On The First Call. But That Creates Sales Pressure.ppBut, If You Learn To Really Understand And Put Yourself In The Mindset Of The Person You Call, Youll Find It Easier To Avoid Triggering The Wall.ppIts That Fear Of Rejection That Makes Cold Calling So Frightening.ppInstead, Start Thinking About Language That Will Engage People And Not Language That Willpptrigger Rejection.pp3. Identify A Core Problem That You Can SolveppWeve All Learned That When We Begin A Conversation With A Prospect, We Should Talk About Ourselves, Our Product, And Our Solution. Then We Sort Of Hope That The Person Connects With What Weve Just Told Them. Right?ppBut When You Offer Your Pitch Or Your Solution Without First Involving Your Prospect By Talking About A Core Problem That They Might Be Having, Youre Talking About Yourself, Not Them.ppAnd Thats A Problem.ppProspects Connect When They Feel That You Understand Their Issues Before You Start To Talk About Your Solutions.ppWhen People Feel Understood, They Dont Put Up The Wall. They Remain Open To Talking With You.ppHeres An Example Based On My Own Experience. I Offer Unlock The Game As A New Approach In Selling. When I Call A Vice President Of Sales, I Would Never Start Out With, "Hi, My Name Is Ari, I'm With Unlock The Game, And I Offer The Newest Technique In Selling, And I Wonder If You Have A Few Minutes To Talk Now."ppInstead, I Wouldnt Even Pick Up The Phone Without First Identifying One Or More Problems That I Know VPs Often Have With Their Sales Teams. Problems That Unlock The Game Can Solve.ppFor Example, One Common Problem Is When Sales Teams And Salespeople Spend Time Chasing Prospects Who Have No Intention Of Buying.ppSo I Would Start By Asking, "Are You Grappling With Issues Around Your Sales Team Chasing Prospects Who Lead Them On Without Any Intention Of Buying?"ppSo, Come Up With Two Or Three Specific Core Problems That Your Product Or Service Solves. (Avoid Generic Problem Phrases Like "cut Costs" Or "increase Revenue." Theyre Too Vague.)pp4. Start With A Dialogue, Not A PresentationppLets Return To The Goal Of A Cold Call, Which Is To Create A Two-way Dialogue Engaging Prospects In A Conversation.ppWere Not Trying To Set The Person Up For A Yes Or No. Thats The Old Way Of Cold Calling.ppThis New Cold Calling Approach Is Designed To Engage People In A Natural Conversation. The Kind You Might Have With A Friend. This Lets You Both Of You Decide Whether Its Worth Your Time To Pursue The Conversation Further.ppThe Key Here Is Never To Assume Beforehand That Your Prospect Should Buy What You Have To Offer, Even If Theyre A 100 Percent Fit With The Profile Of The "perfect Customer."ppIf You Go Into The Call With That Assumption, Prospects Will Pick Up On It And The Wall Will Go Up, No Matter How Sincere You Are.ppAvoid Assuming Anything About Making A Sale Before You Make A Call.ppFor One Thing, You Have No Idea Whether Prospects Can Buy What You Have Because You Know Nothing About Their Priorities, Their Decisionmaking Process, Their Budget, Etc.ppIf You Assume That Youre Going To Sell Them Something On That First Call, Youre Setting Yourself Up For Failure. Thats The Core Problem With Traditional Old-style Cold Calling.ppStay Focused On Opening A Dialogue And Determining If It Makes Sense To Continue The Conversation.pp5. Start With Your Core Problem QuestionppOnce You Know What Problems You Solve, You Also Know Exactly What To Say When You Make A Call. Its Simple. You Begin With, "Hi, My Name Is Ari. Maybe You Can Help Me Out For A Moment."ppHow Would You Respond If Someone Said That To You?ppProbably, "Sure, How Can I Help You?" Or "Sure, What Do You Need?" Thats How Most People Would Respond To A Relaxed Opening Phrase Like That. Its A Natural Reaction.ppThe Thing Is, When You Ask For Help, Youre Also Telling The Truth Because You Dont Have Any Idea Whether You Can Help Them Or Not.ppThats Why This New Approach Is Based On Honesty And Truthfulness. Thats Why Youre In A Very Good Place To Begin With.ppWhen They Reply, "Sure, How Can I Help You?," You Dont Respond By Launching Into A Pitch About What You Have To Offer. Instead, You Go Right Into Talking About The Core Problem To Find Out Whether Its A Problem For The Prospect.ppSo You Say, "Im Just Giving You A Call To See If You Folks Are Grappling (and The Key Word Here Is Grappling) With Any Issues Around Your Sales Team Chasing Prospects Who Turn Out To Never Have Any Intention Of Buying?"ppNo Pitch, No Introduction, Nothing About Me. I Just Step Directly Into Their World.ppThe Purpose Of My Question Is To Open The Conversation And Develop Enough Trust So Theyll Feel Comfortable Having A Conversation.ppThe Old Way Of Cold Calling Advises Asking Lots Of Questions To Learn About The Prospects Business And To "connect." The Problem Is That People See Right Through That. They Know That You Have An Ulterior Motive, And Then Youre Right Back Up Against The Wall.ppThese Ideas May Be Hard For You To Apply To Your Own Situation At First Because Trying To Leverage Calls Based On What We Know About Our Solution Is So Engrained In Our Thinking.ppIf You Stay With It, Though, You Can Learn To Step Out Of Your Own Solution And Convert It Into A Problem That You Can Articulate Using Your Prospects Language.ppAnd Thats The Secret Of Building Trust On Calls. Its The Missing Link In The Whole Process Of Cold Calling.pp6. Recognize And Diffuse Hidden PressuresppHidden Sales Pressures That Makes The Wall Go Up Can Take A Lot Of Forms.ppFor Example, "enthusiasm" Can Send The Message That Youre Assuming That What You Have Is The Right Fit For The Prospect. That Can Send Pressure Over The Phone To Your Prospect.ppYou Must Be Able To Engage People In A Natural Conversation. Think Of It As Calling A Friend. Let Your Voice Be Natural, Calm, Relaxedeasy-going. If You Show Enthusiasm On Your Initial Call, Youll Probably Trigger The Hidden Sales Pressure That Triggers Your Prospect To Reject You.ppAnother Element Of Hidden Pressure Is Trying To Control The Call And Move It To A "next Step".ppThe Moment You Begin Trying To Direct Your Prospect Into Your "sales Process", There Is A Very High Likelihood That You Can "turn Off" Your Prospect's Willingness To Share With You The Details Of Their Situation.ppIt's Important To Allow The Conversation To Evolve Naturally And To Have Milestones Or Checkpoints Throughout Your Call So You Can Assess If There Is A Fit Between You And The Person You Are Speaking With.pp7. Determine A FitppNow, Suppose That Youre On A Call And Its Going Well, With Good Dialogue Going Back And Forth. Youre Reaching A Natural Conclusionand What Happens?ppIn The Old Way Of Cold Calling, We Panic. We Feel Were Going To Lose The Opportunity, So We Try To Close The Sale Or At Least To Book An Appointment. But This Puts Pressure On The Prospect, And You Run The Risk Of The Wall Going Up Again.ppHeres A Step That Most People Miss When They Cold Call. As Soon As They Realize That Prospects Have A Need For Their Solution, They Start Thinking, "Great, That Means Theyre Interested."ppWhat They Dont Ask Is, "Is This Need A Top Priority For You Or Your Organization To Solve, Or Is It Something Thats On The Back Burner For A While?"ppIn Other Words, Even If You Both Determine That There Ia A Problem You Can Solve, You Have To Ask Whether Solving It Is A Priority. Sometimes Theres No Budget, Or It Isnt The Right Time. Its Important That You Find This Out, Because Months Later You'll Regret Not Knowing This Earlier.ppPutting The Pieces TogetherppHave You Ever Wondered Where The "numbers Game" Concept Came From?ppIt Came From Someone Making A Call, Getting Rejected, And The Boss Saying, "Call Someone Else."ppBut With The New Way Of Cold Calling, Its Not About How Many People You Call. Its About What You Say And How You Come Across.ppDo You Remember The Definition Of Insanitycontinuing To Do The Same Thing But Expecting Different Results?ppIf You Go On Using The Same Old Cold Calling Methods, Youll Go On Experiencing The Ever-increasing Pain Of Selling.ppBut If You Adopt A New Approach And Learn How To Remove Pressure From Your Initial Cold Calls, Youll Experience So Much Success And Satisfaction That Itll Really Change The Way You Do Business, Bring You Sales Success Beyond Your Imaginationand Eliminate "rejection" From Your Vocabulary For Good.p
