We are getting into Spring, and I want to encourage you to rediscover the benefits of cold calling. It’s the perfect time of year to start a new campaign or uncover growth.
It’s been my experience that the meaning of a cold call can change depending on who you talk to and their experience. The Cambridge dictionary defines it as “the activity of calling or visiting a possible customer to try to sell them something without being asked by the customer to do so.”
I fully believe my initial introduction to cold calling led to great success for me. I’ll explain, and you will see my point of view and hopefully take on the challenge of adding a little cold calling to warm up your Spring.
I would define a cold call as a visit, call, or email to anyone who is not yet a customer or client. What is different about my definition is that I am not usually selling or attempting to sell on a cold call.
I’ve, on rare occasions, been caught off guard on a cold call that uncovered an immediate need to sell. I almost felt like waving my hands to say slow it down here. It’s much too soon. We don’t even know each other.
For me, cold calls are an opportunity to get out and about to see who’s out there and what they have going on.
My initial introduction to in-person cold calls was just a hand full of someone else’s business cards and the instructions to go to every office in a downtown office building to hand them out.
It meant a break from my typical day of making phone calls to 100 random businesses to make appointments for other people to get the opportunity to go out and meet them.
No one said to sell something. I didn’t expect to sell anything. My goal was to leave a card and collect a card of theirs. Simple and easy. No one said no because I didn’t ask. I just smiled and left a card.
I’ve shared with you before that I did get escorted out of the building for soliciting. I went back after my manager’s encouragement in the afternoon armed with a customer’s name in the building. The theory is that if you supply the security guard with a person, you are there to see you aren’t soliciting.
He had no idea I wasn’t about to try to sell anything; I just wanted to leave a card and collect a card. It was a game for me. I had nothing to lose and nothing to gain of value from others. But, I was then, as I am now, curious about what was behind each new office door. It was a real blessing to have a day out of the office to see new things.
Because on that one day, I had left so many cards and collected so many cards, I was offered a job in outside sales.
The Spring of 1995 proved to be perfect for cold calling. I went out visiting office after office. Every day was full of cold calls. In about 30 days, I began to get a bit discouraged as it felt like I wasn’t making progress. I was gathering cards, locations, and decision-maker notes, but I hadn’t made a sell from cold calls yet.
The days were long but fun. I saw new places and new people. The evenings were long and gruesome as I spent hours entering the contact information in the CRM on my laptop.
My frustration led me to do some more studying on cold calling. I had by this point been introduced to quota expectations and bonus opportunities. However, I discovered that gathering information wasn’t enough. I need to uncover some possible needs while making the calls.
The cold calls were just a point to start. There was so much more work to do to get a sale.
This month I’ll be sharing about cold calls. I’ll share some of what I learned to make my days not only fun but effective.
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