Cold Calling Tip: Getting Off To A Flying Start!

I’ve been selling on the phone, or helping others to cold call on the phone, pretty much my whole adult life.

And here is one thing that I know from experience is absolute fact:

If you can find a way to relate to them in the first 30 seconds of a call, then you’re off to a flying start.

Customers need to know they aren’t another random number, script or half-hearted attempt.

They want to know that you have looked in to their world, and that you might have an insight or two about how to make their working environment a better place.

So, how do you naturally relate to people when you cold call?

Well the first thing to know is that you don’t need to know a prospective customer intimately to be able to relate to them.  In fact, you can relate to them after just a couple of minutes of research.

To do this, take a look at their website.  Here are my top 5 list of places to check out to find an angle with which to relate, in no particular order:  People Page, About Us, News, Blog & Annual Report (Executive Summary).

Then, when you have found an angle, begin it with the following three simple words:

“I noticed that…”

I have put together two examples for you.  The website page is listed for each client, so you can see where I developed the angle.

Example 1:  Selling website consultancy to recruitment consultants.

Tired/usual approach:  “John who do you use for your strategic website consultancy?”

Better approach:  (http://news.reed.co.uk/) – “John, I noticed that your website attracted 3 million visitors for the first time ever in January.  How many people are you managing to convert into clients?”

Example 2:  Selling marketing services to service industries.

Tired/usual approach:  “Anne-Marie, are you in the market for a brand new really dynamic marketing company?”

http://uk.westfield.com/london/  “Anne Marie I noticed that you are opening up the new VUE Cinema soon at Westfield London.  Would you be interested in a proven, cost effective way to fill your cinemas every night for the first year?”

Do you see in both of the above examples that the prospect will be much more likely to warm to you?  Plus you are distinguishing yourself from the other 5 calls that they might receive every day.

The point is, if we can relate to customers early on and naturally in the conversation then we have a much better chance of success.  Try to get into the discipline of using those three magic words –I noticed that – at the beginning of your call.

It will help to provide you with much more success in your sales!

If you would like me to come and assist your team with loads of other relevant sales advice to engage customers and win more new business, please call me and I’ll ask you a few questions about your environment and see if I can help!