For all those people that would rather get their teeth drilled than make cold calls, listen up. I don’t know many people who enjoy making cold calls. But if you want your business to be successful you will have to get used to the fact that you are going to have to do it. You’ll have to learn to love cold calling.
I know what you’re thinking, “I’ll just hire someone to do that”. Well, you could do that, but you also need to learn how to do it yourself. Nobody can sell your company, products, or services, like you.
Instead of dreading it, learn to love it. “No way!” you’re saying. “I will never learn to love cold calling”. It is especially hard when the economy is down. People are less likely to want to talk to you, and definitely not in the mood to be spending money. But that is why you need to be doing it now. If you can succeed at cold calling when things are tough it will only get easier.
If you start to look at cold calling as a way of gathering information and making contacts, you’ll see it in a different way. For example, today I ran into a few people that didn’t want to put me through to their bosses and were a little snappy on the phone. But honestly, it’s usually not that way, especially if you treat them well and can crack a joke or make a connection with them. Maybe they’re having a bad day. Brighten it up for them. Keep it positive.
I also got a couple of people that gave me very detailed information about their company and how they operate. We made a connection about a similar business issue that we both had gone through. Instant connection. He also told me about some of the events they had coming up and some insider information that wasn’t on their website yet.
This is why you need to be calling. There is only so much you can figure out about a company from their website. What you won’t get from a cold, hard computer monitor is the human factor. This is your opportunity to let your personality shine through. Just be yourself. Even the crankiest, toughest person can be brought out of their shell by an uplifting soul. Make it your job to put a smile on every face, even when you can’t see them.
I know it’s a cliche to say that cold calling is a numbers game, but I don’t know any better way of putting it. If you can treat it like a game where the object is to make people happy, you will at least make it pleasurable for yourself.
Are you someone that enjoys cold calling? If you are, tell us why. And if you’re not, what are you afraid of when it comes to cold calling?