It’s a cold, cold world in cold calling. The success rate of a cold call is…not promising at a mere 1-3%, but there is hope. Can cold calling still work in these modern times? The answer is ‘yes! Of course!’ Yes, the stats say it’s a 1-3% chance, but there’s more to that. The stats also say this: 50% of sales actually go towards the businesses that take the initiative and make the first move, which is reaching out. It’s not the other way around.
But the days of nervously dialing a stranger and hoping for the best, with a ‘did we catch you at a bad time?’ on your lips are over.
Influence
by Robert Cialdini
⏱ 14 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Buy Time– and Don’t Rush to Close Deals
This is a ‘focus on the journey, not the destination’ sort of technique. Some people are ready to hang up as soon as they realize they’re being cold-called. Here’s where a talented salesperson will arise. Don’t rush through your script and hurry to close the deal. Customers don’t want to feel forced. Instead, you want to concentrate on buying extra time on the phone with the potential buyer.
You have– what: five seconds? when your potential buyer picks up the phone. We want to turn that into five minutes. It’s another statistic: the longer a cold call is, the more likely you are to land a deal.
Talk About Them
There’s a stark difference between every other cold caller and you. A technique that has the best chance of working is genuinely showing that you care about your potential buyer.
This works by showing an interest in them and in their needs. Instead of trying to blurt out every detail about the product or service, talk with them, and then show them how much you care about making their life easier.
Have a Script Ready
A cold calling script is exactly as it sounds: it’s a pre-written spiel that you follow. This spiel should include all the information and details about the product that you need to present to potential customers.
Memorize your script, sear it into your memory…and then try to act like it’s not there. That’s the trick with this strategy. You want to sound sincere. By extension, you want to make this script your own. Practice until it sounds smooth and natural.
You also don’t want to follow a traditional script format to the letter. Gone are the days of ‘did we catch at a bad time’ that leave an opportunity for someone to say ‘yes’ and end the call before it starts. Instead, studies show that opening the conversation with a ‘how have you been’ works much better.
Don’t Just Say It– Mean It
This is the follow-up technique to twisting the script until it sounds like your own. Whatever it is you’re saying, whichever product you’re selling, don’t just recite the script, mean it. You can’t sell something you don’t believe in.
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