« Mental Break: Innovation Thoughts (Good and Bad!) | Main | On Good Vs. Great and Other Tips In Channel Sales Motivation »
March 11, 2007
Cold Calling: Some Sage Advice
I hate cold-calling. I don't like to have my day interrupted, so I cringe when I have to interrupt another busy executive. But, cold-calling is part of business. The other day, I was stunned when I succeeded in reaching a C-level executive of a $16-billion company who actually picked up a call (I wasn't even calling to sell him something...I was seeking to use them as a supplier!)
Understanding most people's hatred of the cold-call process, I saw a great posting today on making cold calls by John Caddell, a contributor on the Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog. His tips, culled from a book by Jeff Thull (another contributor) Exceptional Selling, are great advice. The fact is that personal contact remains crucial to kick-starting the sales process in many B2B markets as contacts become overwhelmed with product/service options. A professional approach to cold-calling is essential if you are to make ANY headway with senior managers.
The short version of John's posting:
- Professionally identify yourself and your company.
- Give the prospect an easy way out.
- Demonstrate relevance for companies like the prospect's.
- Reference a generic problem they might be facing.
- Ask for permission to continue!
I especially like the last bullet, since it is the ultimate sign of respect to ask for permission to continue to invade the person's time. As obvious as these tips sound, I am continually amazed at how few salespeople consistently apply all the steps.
I encourage you to click through to John's posting or his personal blog site, Shop Talk - Innovation, Marketing and Alliances.
Posted by jcioban at March 11, 2007 5:34 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.freshsqueezedmarketing.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/47.
