Most people, even seasoned salespeople are uncomfortable when it comes to cold calling. As with all anxiety, it's due to the unknown. Your reception inside the store is unknown. Will you be welcomed? Will you be rudely rejected before you can say your name? You have no way to know.Really, cold calling success is all in your approach -- your angle, so to speak. And your angle is to not have an angle but more of a goal -- the goal of becoming a valued supporter of your prospect's business. If you enter that store with the sincere intent of being a support and asset to your prospect, you'll increase your odds of success dramatically. It's a given that you plan on making money from a relationhip with the prospect, but overtly advertising that is a turn-off to your prospect. A sales posture of "how can I help you" is far more appealing to your prospect than the often-sensed "what can I get out of dealing with you" approach.In order to be more successful as a cold-caller, you must understand what your potential customers are likely looking for in a supplier. That's easy. Your prospect is looking for the same thing you are looking for in a supplier -- honesty, reliability, an ability to keep them competitive, and an understanding of the problems and issues they face on a regular basis.You can remove much of the anxiety of the cold call and endear yourself to your customer by using a few simple strategies.1. Use proper sales etiquette. Never park in the nearest parking spots to the store's entrance. Also, while waiting to speak to the owner/manager, allow their customers to be taken care of first. Standing in line at the checkout ahead of paying customers in a no-no. Always show complete respect of the owner's business. After all, you are there with a purpose of being a supportive asset.2. Develop a standard greeting for all cold calls. Take a little time and develop a standard greeting. It is so important to have a couple of sentences you can rattle off smoothly which lay out the features of doing business with you and the benefits the prospect could gain by giving you a little of their time. Keep in mind how important first impressions are. You don't want to stutter and stammer your way through you first 15 seconds of face time -- you'll lose the prospect's interest and will be likely turned away.An example may be "Hello, I'm John from LMO Distributing, we're wholesalers out of Vendor City expanding in this area. We carry a wide variety of products as well as several exclusive items at discount prices. We have Zig Zags for $XX.XX, Slim Jim's for $XX.XX..."From my experience, giving quick examples of some of your most attractively priced products goes a long way toward gaining interest and more face time.3. Be prepared for objections. Rarely will the customer immediately want to place an order after completing steps 1 and 2 -- although I have had it happen many times. Usually, you're still going to have to jump a few hurdles on you way to your first order. As you travel cold call to cold call, keep track of the objections you hear and spend a little time coming up with reasonable, respectful responses. As in politics, being able to spin objections in your favor is the most valuable trait you'll be able to attain.You'll find most cold calls will share the same objections -- so, you likely only have to come up with a few responses.4. Keep going back. Statistics show it takes an averages of six sales calls to open an account. Keep in mind you're asking this prospect to change how they currently do business. For example, in order to buy from you, they have to not order from someone else. Obviously, they are not going to want to take a chance of running out of product by betting you'll show up again. Prove you're reliable by showing up consistently and on the same day every time.As with anything else, the more prepared you are, the more comfortable and confident you'll be. This alone will calm your anxieties.
Original :: cold calling 4 key steps to success
No comments:
Post a Comment