Cold Calling

[Allan123]

Whats your views? Experiences good and bad?

As a cold caller to the job?
As a customer?

 

[gouldie0]

I haven't done any cold calling and I wouldn't usually cold call but yesterday I thought - why not give it a go?

Was a little worried by the prospect and I'll openly state that I actually got better the more calls I made. Out of around 30 calls I received 3 notes of interest, 1 of which was very keen on my services and hopefully the other 2 will follow suit.

I think as long as your polite and respect the potential customer when they say 'no thank you' then you'll be fine. Just be prepared, get a little script or list of questions together that the customer may ask you and prepare potential answers.

There's also email marketing followed by phone calls as well.....

All the best

Neil

 

[Allan123]

Echo that from a customers perspective, i don't mind a cold call if i'm not interested as long as when i say sorry not for me they accept it first time.

I've been reading a great site with some tips on engaging the propect, finding their needs and wants rather than going in for the kill and keep thinking about closing a sale.

Thought it would be good to see UKBF's thought's before I picked up the phone though!

 

[felix299]

In a previous business venture I did a huge amount of cold calling. I found very very few people were rude. It is important to do your research properly and target the right area. The ones who were rude tended to be outside my target group.

Be polite and professional. I treated it as an introduction to people in my local area. It lead to positive experiences. The most important thing is to set expectation for a future contact. I used to have a general chat about many things, including my business. I then told them I would give them a shout if I found something that interested them.

Done properly its a great way to build up business because people prefer a personal touch as opposed to a leaflet drop etc

 

[Allan123]

This what i'm thinking, plus there's the cost. I have time on my hands, and feel i should be making contact with customers personally rather than waiting for them to come to me or doing the usual mail / email shots etc

 

[MASSEY]

If you take no for an naswer and dont expect debit card details there and then over the phone, im sure most people will be polite, its the ones that badger people that get the rudeness.

 

[Grickey]

I find when cold calling the first 10 seconds are very important, you need you ensure that you make a positive impression of yourself and the company you represent. SMILE WHILE YOU DIAL a term used so much where I work but it genuinely helps and so does standing because effectively your making a pitch to a potential investor and when was the last time you saw some one sit down to make a presentation?

Things i consider before calling?

-Positive mental attitude - resilience is an important part of cold calling every no is not a sign of defeat it is market research ensure to get a genuine reason why they are not interested.
-Vocal impact - speaking to fast/slow or monotone is not good and can completely put a potential client of the product or service even if it would benefit them!
Questioning
-Opening Questions - a question which can be used very effectively for gathering of information using questions why, where, who, when, how?
and its naturally sounds less pushy asking tell me, explain to me? describe to me questions.
- Closed questions - yes no answer "are you male?"
- Leading questions - leading the customer can be useful it allows them to see your point of view.

Your product

Try to establish a need of your product by using questioning as this will give you a foot in the door!

F.A.B

Presenting your product correctly

Feature of a product service
Advantage of that particular product
Benefit to the customer(question to establish this)

(feature) I design websites (advantage) that have built in live chat and a cms system (benefit) you want a website but dont have a large budget and dont want to have to pay a monthly fee for updating content.
ASK FOR THE BUSINESS

So often we establish needs for our products but the killer question spoils it, how does that sound to you? or similar should not be used to close a sale questions such as shall i do that for you now? are much more powerful and will definatly get you more sales!


Hope some of this helps some one