Have you ever had to pick up the phone and make cold calls? Did your palms get sweaty? Did your mouth get extremely dry all of a sudden? Did the phone seem like it weighed 200 pounds and you couldn’t possibly pick it up? If you have suffered any of these anxieties about making cold calls, here are a few tips and some suggested questions to get the person on the other end of the line to open up and start talking…
1) Figure out who the decision maker is….bank manager, hr manager, etc.. Anyone else is a waste of time. Quickly explain who you are and why you are calling. Avoid asking yes / no questions as this will not build rapport and you may find yourself struggling to keep the conversation going. Try to ask open ended questions to get them to start talking.
2) Use LinkedIN to research company you are calling…send an intro email, sometimes that works.
3) This sounds silly, but smile when you talk on the phone, it carries over in your tone.
4) Sales is hard and selling a service is tougher. What conversion rate are you looking for?
And remember, you can do this! Just stay positive and keep at it!