Cold calling is something a lot of salespeople and small business owners would rather not do. And yet, they find themselves in situations where they have to! The good news is that there is a way to cold call effectively that is more comfortable and effective.
The first step is to decide what the goal is. And I’m going to give you the goal. The goal is to get a meeting. It is NOT to get a sale. Too many small business owners and salespeople think that their job is to get ahold of somebody and convince them to buy. That’s just not the case. Which is part of the reason it’s uncomfortable.
When you understand that the goal is to get the meeting, you change the dynamic of the conversation. So now it isn’t about selling something. Now it’s about having a conversation.
The second step is to do research. You can spend your time dialing for dollars or spend your time researching the companies that are in your target market so you have a better understanding of what’s going on with them. Doing the research is a much better use of time. The value of having an understanding of what’s going on with them is that it gives you something to talk with them about.
The third step is to decide how you want to do your outreach. You can call them. You can send an intro letter and call to follow up on that. You can reach out to connect with them on Linkedin. I would suggest you not use email because it isn’t very effective.
Whatever outreach you do, stay in control of it. If you call them and get voicemail, your message should include that you will follow up with them. Don’t ask them to call you back. Now, this is a great place to use email to reinforce your voicemail message. Send an email reiterating what you said in the voicemail.
And please, make sure you do the follow up you say you are going to do. Use a calendar, a CRM system, or something else that will ensure you do follow up consistently.
So you see, cold calling isn’t as difficult as it seems! Just follow the steps. And if you find you want some help with them, send me an email at diane@seizethisday.co. I’m happy to help! And remember to seize THIS day.
