Cold Calling Works Just Fine

Most people connect the phrase “cold calling” with something unpleasant, whether they make or receive the call. Most of the times, agents that don’t like to do cold calling justify their refusal by saying that it doesn’t actually work. But the thing is – cold calling works just fine, you just have to do it right.

And to make it work, you need to follow some basic instructions:

1. Make sure you talk to the decision-maker – most of the cold calls fail because callers can’t reach the person in the company that can actually make decisions. This happens often when agents blindly call a company. If you are not sure who you are looking for, ask to be transferred to the manager’s assistant or the marketing manager, but don’t ask the assistant to transfer you to the manager, because the job of an assistant is to insulate the manager;
2. Research is half the way to success – the most important thing to do before a cold call is to research the company you’re about to call. What do they sell? How did they start? What is the structure of the company? What type of people are their clients? Check out the website of the company and if you know the person you are calling – check his LinkedIn profile. Basically – do your homework. It will help you get on the same page with the prospect and make connection with him;
3. Get to the point – a rule of thumb is to not go over 20 seconds with your first presentation. Introduce yourself, introduce your company and ask for a meeting where you can discuss what your company can do for the prospect. That’s it;
4. Don’t overdo the presentation – it might be tempting to explain your product/service from the beginning to the end with all the benefits, but this will be just a rookie mistake. This is not the purpose of the introductory call. The product presentation is for the meeting that you are trying to schedule on the phone;
5. Put yourself in the prospect’s position – think of yourself as a prospect who has a call from a salesman. What would be interesting to you? What will be a turn off? What will get you excited about the product? Stay away from big sale words and clichés.

Cold calling can lead to success if you do it right. And it is not so difficult once you get the hang of it. All you have to do is overcome the initial frustration from getting rejected and remember that if you follow the instructions – cold calling works just fine.

And if you still need a help with your telemarketing, cold calling and lead generation – contact us, we are experienced professionals that can help your business become more efficient.