Cold Calling Is Not Dead

One of my competitors often writes about how "Cold Calling is Dead." Oddly, I still receive plenty of phone calls in my business. How about you? Therefore, Cold Calling is NOT dead!

However, I will point out that if you start blindly calling people without a plan, you are likely to run into frustration. In addition, frustration leads to anger, which builds resentment, and creates an unhappy employee. We do not ever want to be unhappy in our job, right? Therefore, you ought to call from a PLAN.

One of the ways I improve my cold calls through a plan is to turn cold calls into  WARM CALLS. The best way to do that is to find out information about the person or company you are calling. It is much like using a "prop" when a single man approaches a single girl. One of my friends is a master at this technique of what dating experts call "The Approach". He uses props to open the conversation. For example: "How is the food here? Good? I love that dish! I make a similar recipe... have you tried that, too?" and bingo, he is in a conversation with a pretty brunette about gourmet cooking. It happens most women love a man who can cook, so at the same time he opened one of his own favorite convesations. That creates passion. If you can create conversations where both parties are PASSIONATE about the topic, both will likely walk away stronger friends.

I tried it the following day at a bookstore. I noticed a cute woman thumbing through a book. I stop and asked her "How is the book? Any good?" and we were immediately talking about something SHE was interested in discussing. The book sounded interesting, and I love reading, too, so it was easy to talk about the book with her. The reason this works is because you are aligning yourself iwth your prospect's interests.

The business world is a LITTLE different than dating, but not much. I will tell you why: forming conversations with ANY person always starts with what THEY are interested in discussing. So, you must learn about your prospect's interests in order to RELATE to them. And, more importantly, for them to RELATE to you.

Try this technique the next time you make a cold call to attempt to turn it into a warm call. Do enough research to feel like you know something interesting about the person you call. Look them up at LinkedIn. Look up their company and read their last five press releases, annual report, and product descriptions. Start to identify with them, and you will find that your opportunity to cold call is not dead, but in fact that opportunity is alive and well. Cold calling is never dead if you can relate to your prospect.

Find ways to relate to your prospect and your prospect will likely RELATE back with you.

You'll gain training like this and information of this caliber, and much more, when you sign up for Cold to Gold: Mind Spark SessionTM sales training workshops. These communication workshops help sales executives and others who wish to "get in the door" to learn how to open doors more successfully and build long lasting business relationships. Learn more at ColdtoGold.com.
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