Elevating a small business from its initial stages to a thriving entity is no small feat—especially when securing new business becomes a towering hurdle. What if the key to unlocking a continuous stream of clients lay hidden within a method often viewed with apprehension? Cold calling has proven to be a potent tool for decades, steering numerous businesses towards exponential growth and establishing unwavering customer relations. Yet, the mere mention of it causes many to recoil in fear. Today, let’s dismantle the dread surrounding cold calling and delve into actionable strategies to morph you into a cold calling maestro, amplifying your business prospects tenfold.
Navigating the Chilly Waters of Cold Calls: Explore how, despite the initial discomfort, cold calling can carve out a pipeline of potential business opportunities.
The Case for Cold Calling
First:
Every major corporation cold calls regularly. When I had my waste disposal business I received cold calls from the following enormous corporations:
- Angie’s List
- Home Advisor
- Yelp
- Salesforce
- Verizon
As well a thousands of other calls over the years from smaller businesses that provided B2B services.
These services included:
- Bookkeeping
- Employee Management
- HR solutions
- Payroll Services
- Marketing Services
- Insurance Providers
- Professional Organization (chamber of commerce etc…)
- And many more…
Do you know what most of these corporations had in common? Many successfully secured my business. One of the biggest ones was Google I paid Google over 30k in the course of 12 months in advertising. Why did I choose to invest? Firstly, their strategy was effective; secondly, their proactive and supportive approach from day one in getting my account up and running played a pivotal role.
However, the most important thing is that I had never ran a Google Ads campaign before. If they would not have called and held my hand the entire way this never would have happened. Even though I thought I did not want their help and better yet I did not want to spend 30k in advertising I did, and I did it because they were proactive in their sales methods and called me directly COLD.
Second:
Getting leads is easier than ever with so many people and businesses online you can find your target audience or businesses immediately. The reality is that cold calls are not as cold as they used to be. You can now know a lot about your prospects and the challenges that they face before you ever pick up the phone by looking them up online. This makes your interactions easier to manage and allow you give the conversation some pre planning.
Silencing the Echoes of Rejection: Understand the psychology of apprehension towards cold calling and tactics to build a fortress of confidence.
Cold Calling Prospects: Tips and Tricks to Ace Every Call
Navigating through the realm of cold calling can initially be daunting, but arming yourself with tried-and-tested strategies will amplify your success. Here, we’ll dissect crucial tips that turned my journey into a tale of continuous successes and will morph you into a cold calling maestro:
- Embrace Exposure Therapy:
- Understanding that the fear emanating from social anxiety is common, especially in sales and cold calling scenarios.
- Engaging in exposure therapy by making a set number of calls daily, gradually escalating as you grow comfortable, thereby diminishing the fear factor.
- Research Thoroughly Before Dialing:
- Ensure your calls aren’t entirely ‘cold’ by digging into your prospects’ challenges and scenarios through online research.
- Preplanning conversations based on this research allows for meaningful dialogues that resonate with potential clients.
- Master the Art of Rejection Handling:
- Rejections are inevitable but offer a valuable learning curve.
- Analyzing each rejection to understand what works and what doesn’t, refining your approach each time.
- Have a Structured Call Script But Be Flexible:
- While having a base script is crucial to navigate through the call, the ability to adapt based on the prospect’s responses is equally vital.
- Present an Immediate Value:
- Providing instant value or a tangible benefit, like a free trial or a valuable lead, can be an icebreaker and a compelling reason for them to entertain the call.
- Goal Setting:
- Although the ultimate aim is to make a sale, understanding that the primary objective of a cold call may simply be to establish a connection, schedule a follow-up, or gain a referral.
- Learning from Every Call:
- Treating every call, regardless of the outcome, as a learning experience to continually enhance your approach.
- Refine Your Pitch with Practice:
- Frequent calls will not only alleviate the fear but also steadily enhance your communication and negotiation skills.
Recommended Reads for Polishing Your Communication Skills:
- “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie provides timeless wisdom in navigating through social and business interactions.
- “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss is a guide that will elevate your negotiation skills to new heights, essential in dealing with potential clients.
The Symbiotic Relationship of Fear and Success: A closer look at how embracing the fear of cold calling through exposure therapy can pave the way for triumphant business interactions.
Everyone has some level of social anxiety. I would even dare to say a large fraction of the population has some form of this. It’s the reason at parties we sometimes avoid talking to people we didn’t show up with until much later in the evening. It’s the reason you don’t talk to the cute stranger at the supermarket and start up a conversation even though you wanted to. It’s the reason we are afraid of sales jobs and anything involving talking to someone you have never met before.
What is exposure therapy?
According to the American Psychological Association, In this form of therapy, psychologists create a safe environment in which to “expose” individuals to the things they fear and avoid. The exposure to the feared objects, activities or situations in a safe environment helps reduce fear and decrease avoidance.[1]
Concocting the Perfect Cold Call Strategy: Develop a precise, efficient, and psychologically tuned strategy that not only piques interest but also builds substantial relationships with potential clients.
What to talk about on a cold call?
On a cold call you want to make sure that you have something the customer wants. It would be best if it was free as well. Like a free lead, a 300 dollar ad credit like Google and Yelp or a free month trial of you service. Get creative and give your prospects a reason to trust you and to open the door to you for future business.
My friend Rafael, the owner of Dumpstermaxx.com, recommends having an offer ready that immediately makes the person you call some money. He says if you call someone and tell them I have some money for you, they will always be ready to listen to anything else that you pitch.
The goal of a cold call is not to make the sale right away. It’s to build a relationship and then nurture that relationship to the sale. Sometimes that can all happen in one call if you’re really lucky. Other times it can take several interactions. Sometimes it might never happen. Even with calls that never turned to sales you can learn a lot and those calls can actually lead to other sales or desired outcome with someone else. Many times I’ve been told no by one person I cold called only to get a call from someone else that they had referred to me.
In Conclusion
In an era where digital dominates, cold calling stands resilient, defying the odds and continuously proving its mettle in business growth strategies. Navigating through the frosty paths of cold calling might seem daunting, but the rewards it can unveil are bountiful. It’s not merely a sales strategy; it’s an art of building relationships, gaining insights, and progressively inching towards a consensus, even amidst the rejections. Now, armed with these insights and strategies, it’s your turn to ignite your business growth. Dive into the realm of cold calling, and discover the uncharted business potential that awaits. Share your cold calling victories with us and join the community of fearless marketers transforming their businesses one call at a time.
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