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One of the worst pieces of advice for business owners and salespeople is don’t cold call. That’s a very short-sighted idea. Cold calling is very effective in footwork to generate revenue.
Cold calling is just as important as networking at business functions and asking customers for referrals.
Why? Cold calling is the best way to get face time. And when you get face time, your odds for success will improve dramatically.
Are you lacking in sales? Do you get enough face time with the right prospects?
There’s an old axiom in business: If prospects aren’t coming to you, you must go to them.
Cold calling should be an important part of marketing/sales strategy for many people. Accomplished cold callers have three characteristics:
— Sales ability
— Thick skin
— Self confidence
Unfortunately, the latter is an obstacle for many folks. It’s important not to let nervousness keep you from making the effort.
Lest you think I don’t understand, I get it.
One question I used to ask myself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” I soon learned that the worst that could happen was that I’d be turned down – only to be a step closer to my next sale.
Yes, there have been occasions when anxiety raised its ugly head in my career. So I used strategies to cope with the fear and to overcome my shyness.
After all, the term, fear, is actually a pertinent acronym for the words: Frantic effort to Avoid Responsibility. And if revenue is important, cold calling is a responsibility.
Here’s how to overcome your cold calling anxiety:
1. Breathing
If you think about it, when you have stress, your breathing is out of whack. You need to control your breathing.
Close your eyes and place your hand on your stomach and breathe in slowly. You’ll feel your stomach expanding. Breathe out slowly – actually slower than when you breathe in.
This process will help calm you.
2. Visualization
Visualize you being successful. Imagine how you’ll want to appear in making your sales calls – confident, smiling and relaxed in making your elevator pitch.
“Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
-Norman Vincent Peale
3. Affirmations
Change your perspective from negative to positive. Instead of focusing with negative thoughts, use positive thoughts.
Think of positive affirmations, such as “I’m great at cold calling” and “I’m offering outstanding value.”
Write them down. Post them where you’ll see them often. Repeat them aloud while watching yourself in front of a mirror.
4. Practice
Practice cold calls in front of a mirror: “Hi, I’m ____________“ followed by your elevator pitch with your value proposition.
Use a tape recorder or video smartphone to record yourself. Grade yourself. Are you speaking with confidence and passion or are you being tentative?
5. Make cold calling a habit
Keep a positive mindset by making cold calls a priority every day. Never let up. Remember the Nike slogan, “Just do it.”
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related tips:
6 Tips to Create New Sales with Successful Cold Calling — For most businesspeople in a lackluster economy, it’s important to create new opportunities with successful cold calling. Yes, it’s necessary to concentrate more efforts to create new sales. Attending mere networking events or depending on a high marketing budget aren’t sufficient for strong sales. OK, cold calling isn’t always easy, but you must if you want to dramatically increase sales in double-digit percentages.
8 Tips for Cold Calling By E-mail and Telephone — Since the advent of the digital age, cold calling went out of vogue. But in the lingering tepid economic recovery – whether you’re in advertising or staffing services – cold calling has become the logical tool to use to generate clients or business customers. For most businesspeople, cold calling isn’t the easiest route but it is a proven way of getting clients and customers.
B2B Telemarketing: Building Trust Should Be Your Goal…Here’s How — Telemarketing is, of course, a challenge. You must create a favorable first impression in your initial approach. This means building trust should be your primary goal. Sure, it’s a nerve-wracking process, especially because you have just a few fleeting moments to engage your prospects. Yes, you’re calling to make sales. Again, you’ll greatly enhance your chances if you focus on building trust.
7 Tips for Setting B2B Appointments with CEOs — As every salesperson knows, face time with B2B prospects gives you a foundation for sales success. Execution in the appointment-setting process is, of course, is key to being successful. The ideal situation is to get sales leads via networking and referrals.
The 7 Steps to Higher Sales — Secrets for sales success – seven steps to higher sales, five value perceptions that motivate customers to buy, and the three-step process for overcoming sales objections.
11 Sales Strategies to Outsell Your Big Competitors — Big companies have obvious advantages over small businesses. Their brands are well-known. They can afford sales training, sales-support staff and customer-relationship management software. On the other hand, there are good reasons why Cyber Monday has become big.
“Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
-Norman Vincent Peale
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