Make cold calls without affecting your soul
Traditional old-school cold calling can affect a person’s self-esteem over time. It’s just not natural for someone to hang up on us, or for us to experience rejection over and over again every day.
Because of this, many of us tend to back down even from the idea of cold calling. It is a scary experience that is often depressing.
You see, most of us have a mental block around cold calling. We associate cold calling with the worst selling is all about: the concept of “going to war” in which we put on armor and play a mind game with someone we’ve never met.
All of this can be avoided by simply changing your frame of reference. Once you do this, you will be looking forward to the cold calling adventure. You will get through those moments when you find yourself sitting in front of the phone physically unable to make a cold call because “burnout” has robbed you of your energy.
I suggest you cold call in a new way, in a conversational way. And without thinking of making a sale.
In order not to focus on “getting the sale,” you must first surrender to the outcome of your call. From this place and only this place, you can finally connect with your prospect on a human level.
When you do this, you will feel more relaxed. And the person on the other end of the phone won’t feel like you’re there to make a sale, but just to have a conversation with them to see if you can help in any way.
So the way to do it is to become someone genuine and useful. You will be surprised how people respond to you. What’s more, at the end of the day you won’t be exhausted. You will be full of energy and truly happy.
So how do sales happen when you are not thinking of making them? It’s about a new human-to-human mindset. Here are 4 important steps to freeing your focus on “making the sale” so that you can invite new business relationships without having to be calculating or manipulative.
1. Set your cold calling goal
Before making a cold call, think, “My goal is not to make the sale, but to create a conversation based on how I can help the other person.”
So with this in mind, you start cold calling by stepping into the other person’s world. Instead of starting with a small sales pitch, you ask a question based on what problem your product or service can solve.
For example, if you offer computer programming, you might say, “I’m just calling to see if your business is having a problem with data loss due to paper-based filing systems.”
2. Avoid changing who you are when you cold call.
Remain without hiding behind the “salesperson” personality. You don’t need to be on the “stage” or sound enthusiastic. Be your everyday laid back self, like you’re calling a friend. People know when you are genuine and when you are not.
When you are simply being a real person rather than adopting a salesperson personality, you will find that people respond to you much more affectionately. It’s amazing how being “real” generates a real interest in others.
3. Stop trying to steer the conversation to a sale.
Instead, open your cold calls with a problem statement that generates a response such as “What do you mean?” or “Tell me more.” And end the conversation with a phrase like, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?”
This keeps you from having “tunnel vision” about making a sale. And it opens up a whole world of person-to-person connection. This is not only fun, it has a positive effect on your bottom line. You’ll hear great responses like, “I enjoyed talking to you, thank you for your help.”
4. Stop thinking about “buyer-seller”
View the person you are cold calling as someone else, not a “prospect.” Acknowledge your problems and your goals. It fits into their world. And help them.
If the service or product you offer doesn’t help people in any way, you will soon be out of business. So, determine exactly what kinds of problems you have a solution for and share it from there. And if you don’t get a sale, it feels good because you are focusing on helping rather than securing a sale.
What I am suggesting is a mindset shift from all the old ideas of manipulating, turning, guiding, playing, and shutting down. Turn your cold calling into a simple human act: build a relationship. When you make friends and do business with people you like and like, cold calling can become a really enjoyable part of your day.