6 WAYS TO CHANGE ‘COLD CALLING’ TO ‘WARM CALLING’.
I remember when I started selling life insurance last century, the Sales Manager would say to new recruits that they would have exclusive access to a database with thousands of prospects all waiting to be contacted. When they turned up on their first day, they would find the ‘White Pages’ sitting on the desk!
Fortunately, times have changed. Today it’s more likely to be social media, such as Facebook or LinkedIn.
One thing that hasn’t changed, is the fear of contacting a complete stranger to talk about your offering. It’s called the fear of rejection. All the ‘what ifs’ come into play. What if they don’t like me? What if they slam the phone down? What if … what if … what if. Of course it’s not real, it’s just our ‘monkey mind’ at work.
So how can you switch your calling from COLD to WARM? Here are some tips to get you started…
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Don’t be focussed on the outcome. Some will … some won’t … who cares! This alone will put you in a relaxed state of mind as your focus in on building a rapport. The only ‘sell’ involved is setting up a face-to-face meeting, or scheduling a follow up.
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Have fun! The focus is on a-c-t-i-v-i-t-y goals. The number of times you pick up the phone and made a call. Once you start, don’t stop until you have reached your target. And don’t forget to reward yourself!
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Forget about momentum … you want to work with velocity! Program your calling activities into your diary or calendar and stick to it. This way, it will become a habit.
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Do it anyway! FEAR [False Expectations Appearing Real]. These are all the fears that up till now, have been holding you back i.e. rejection, failure. The trick is, to MAKE the call. Make yourself do this particular thing by repressing, inhibiting or ignoring all the negative thoughts that come up and stop you in your tracks.
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What’s your pretext? This is the reason for your call. Perhaps following up on an email you sent or some information you mailed or maybe you met briefly and swapped business cards at a networking event. My favourite is the latter as you have already met the prospect, albeit fleetingly.
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LinkedIn. If you are not on LinkedIn you need to be. When you get a business card check to see if they are on LinkedIn and send them an invitation. You’ll never lack for someone to have a cup of coffee with!
To summarise, take action and have fun!