Sales calls that you control are what all salespeople want. I am a big believer that questioning is the most important skill for sales professionals. In order to stay in control of your sales calls, whether by phone or in person, you need to be the one asking questions most of the time.

To be the one asking questions most of the time, you have to get to questioning right from the start of your sales calls. This issue’s tip is about how to make this transition quickly with finesse, whether you are calling by phone or are in person.

To accomplish this, you will need to eliminate beginning your sales calls with long-winded “presentations” about your company. This may seem counter-intuitive. You may have reasoned that your prospect doesn’t know who you are, and needs your introductory “presentation” as background for a sales discussion.

Although this is the mode many of us are used to, the reality is different. If you politely give your customer a valid business reason for you to ask questions from the start, you will find that virtually all of your customers will let you do this. You will then be able to spend most of your valuable time investigating what your customer wants and needs.

OK so here’s how you do this. Once your sales calls have started and you have established rapport, you say something like the following:

“Mr. Jones, I am with XYZ Company, and we help companies to [insert your benefit here]. What I would like to do today is ask you a few questions to see if it makes sense for our companies to do business together. How does that sound to you?”

You can modify the above

to your own style, but let me first show you what makes this opening work. In reverse order, you are asking permission to ask questions, you are stating that your purpose is to see if it makes sense to do business together, and you are suggesting a common benefit of doing business with your company.

By asking permission to ask questions, you establish the format of your sales calls, and put yourself firmly in charge. In stating that you want to see if it makes sense to do business together, you are saying that this is a mutual decision, and that you aren’t just out to sell them something that they may not need. By suggesting a common benefit of doing business with you, you are giving a prospect, who may not know much about you, a reason to continue with the sales call.

Until a prospect has decided that you understand their business problems, a simple benefit of doing business with you suffices to get your sales calls started. If your company is a known quantity in your market or to your prospect, you can skip the benefit completely as the prospect already has a reason and context for the discussion.

There’s no need for long-winded openers on your sales calls.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

“Hello. I’m looking for Sharon Morgen?”

“Sharon DREW Morgen.”

“What? Sharon Morgen?”

“No. Sharon DREW”

“Um. Hello. Are you Mrs. Drew?”

“Ms. Morgen. That’s me. Is this a sales call?”

“Um. Hello. No. I’m with XYZ bank and I’m giving you a service call.”

“Regarding what? I don’t do business with you. And you’re not supposed to be making a telemarketing call on me. So what type of service are you offering for free?”

“Well, it’s not for free. But we thought you’d like to know about our new banking services.”

“Ah. So it IS a sales call.”

“We’re not allowed to say that.”

This call really happened.

Years ago I lost a large piece of business because I advocated telling prospects, “This is a sales call.” For some reason, the Sales Director was appalled that I would announce it was a sales call. Who would prospects think they were speaking with? Their wife? Their mother? A relative? A friend? I’m a stranger, obviously. And why would I be calling them? Would I be from their child’s school, announcing a problem? Or from the neighborhood, with a report of a house on fire? How about a person from the cleaner’s, telling them I’d lost their new suit?

What is wrong with telling prospects that you’re placing a sales call? They’ll guess it anyway when they don’t recognize your voice. It will also be obvious because your opening remarks will probably sound uncomfortable – like a stranger placing a call to another stranger.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

NO NAME, NO TIME

Let’s start with the name game. Dale Carnegie used to recommend that sales people repeat the prospect’s name because he thought people loved hearing their own name spoken. Whether that was because the phone systems in 1937 weren’t that great, or because that was a commonly accepted belief, it’s no longer the case. When we really know someone, we rarely use their name. Intimacy means never have to say someone’s name – there’s just this eye contact people have, or a special way of saying ‘Hi. It’s ME.”

Of course you use people’s names – I’m being slightly facetious here – but not repeatedly during the same conversation, and not often, when you know someone well.

When you over-use a prospect’s name, it becomes a ploy to manipulate them into liking you so you can fantasize that you’re their friend, and convince this person that you want or have A RELATIONSHIP.

But it’s not true. Hearing their name spoken repeatedly by a stranger makes prospects feel even more detached.

And what about the assumption that they’re sitting there, waiting for this call, with nothing else to do but take the call – even if it’s a bank they do business with, or a charity they donate to?

What is it about a sales call that makes it about the sales person anyway? What makes it about the product? Why is it even about a sale?

Why not make a sales call – even a prospecting call – an aspect of your brand? A way of showing your prospects that you are supporting them and your product, through a collaboration (rather than a sale)?

FEAR OF COLD CALLS

Let me back track for a moment. I’ve trained many thousands of sales people; I can name on one hand the number of people who have eagerly sought out cold calling (and I’m one of them. I LOVE it – what fun! What a neat way to get to know people!). Why? Because sellers don’t want to impose themselves on strangers. Because you believe the prospects don’t have the time or care. Because you get rejected. Because your ego says prospects should call you.

But none of that has to be true. Let’s look at the pieces, and then proceed to understand how they can each be mitigated with Buying Facilitation.

Imposing on strangersWhen you make a call to a stranger (either prospects, or clients who have been handed over to you from a previous sales person) they don’t know who you are, naturally, and you have no rapport with them. By definition you are imposing. Additionally, you are placing a call to get something for yourself and actually attempting to take something from them. Whether it’s to ‘make them’ listen to you, or buy something from you, or do something for you. It’s not like you’re calling to give them a million bucks: you want them to do something, like listen to you, or buy from you, or make a change for you in some way. So you want something from this person.

But this person is a stranger. Why should this person give you anything, unless they are already predisposed to want what you have anyway? Remember that before someone does anything (different or otherwise) they must make a decision to do it. And all decisions are based on specific, unique, criteria – not information. So all the information in the world that you might have to share is immaterial if the person doesn’t know how to decide what to do with it.

TimeYour prospect is obviously not sitting next to the phone waiting for a

call from you. S/he is doing something. Whatever it is, s/he’s doing something. In order to earn the right to use some of this person’s time, you’ve got to ask for it and announce why you should be using their time. Asking if it’s a good time to speak (not the same as saying ‘Do you have a few moments?’ – the implication here is, ‘do you have a few moments FOR ME.’) will help here.

RejectionWhy do you get rejected? Because you’re trying to get something from this person that YOU want to get. And they say no.

What does ‘no’ do? It causes a Stop Action. There is no possibility of forward movement when ‘no’ is uttered; the person who is the naysayer holds the power in any relationship.

As long as you continue to attempt to get your needs met from a cold call, attempt to get someone to listen to what you wish to say, try to get someone to buy something – even an idea – you will continue to get rejected by all of those people who don’t consciously recognize a need for what you’re pushing.

When you get lucky and receive a positive response, it will be from those who already have determined a need and you then become a commodity. You better have a ‘good price’ for those people who will accept your call, because they won’t know how else to choose you once you join the ranks of similar suppliers.

USE BUYING FACILITATION TO SUPPORT MUTUAL AGREEMENT

Using Buying Facilitation as the basis for the call won’t be to take anything, sell anything, push anything, or even find out anything. Your job is to:

1. support the other person in recognizing if anything is missing in the category your product can support, and if so, how to start the process of designing a solution that will fix their problem (yes, even on a cold call, you can help the prospect begin the process of a complex sale);

2. help them discover their criteria for considering whether it’s time to fill in a gap by doing something they haven’t done before now.

It’s not about you, not about your product, and not about what you’re offering. Until or unless a buyer recognizes that what they’re doing isn’t working, and until they are ready to do something different to fix/change the status quo, nothing you say will be heard. Remember: people do not make decisions based on information.

Using Buying Facilitation, your job is to help people make the necessary decisions that will support the change they’d need to go through to do something different from what they’re already doing.

Use your cold call to help people decide. And start the call by getting into rapport and inviting people into a collaboration with you:

Caller: “Hello. My name is Sharon Drew Morgen. This is a sales call, and I’m selling sales training. Is this a good time to speak?”

By using this opening, you are telling people who you are and why you’re calling, telling people you’re respectful of their time, letting them know you are an honest person, saying exactly what you’re calling for, and not mangling their name (somehow the name you have in front of you is either never the right person or never the right name). And, just something I have found to be true: unless you are calling from a company with a recognized brand name, saying the name of your company is unnecessary – they won’t recognize it or remember it.

If the person says it’s not a good time, ask if there is a better time to call back. Don’t try to throw a quick pitch in – just ask if there is a better time. If the person says they have a few minutes, say:

“I appreciate the time. And if the call goes on longer than you have time to complete, we can end whenever it’s good for you and pick it up at another time.”

In this way, you are giving the person permission to have control over the call. After all, they’re in control anyway. By using this opening – actually, it’s the first step in the Buying Facilitation Method® – you will have already dealt with the time and imposition issues, and the rejection won’t be about you.And remember: make your call about helping them make discoveries and decisions. Don’t use your time to push anything. Otherwise, you’re wasting a great opportunity to find a new client and introduce your brand of integrity.

Sharon Drew Morgen is the author of New York Times bestseller Selling with Integrity. She is the visionary and thought leader behind a wholly original sales model based on the systems of how people change and decide. She has taught this system to 13,000 people in the fields of sales, customer service, negotiating, coaching, and change management. Sharon Drew is a keynote speaker and decision strategist, helping companies change their internal practices to embrace collaborative decision making, ethics, values, and integrity. She can be reached at 512-457-0246 and http://www.sharondrewmorgen.com and http://www.newsalesparadigm.com

It happens all the time, you hear someone over the telephone and you make a generalization about the person you are speaking with. It may not be fair and it is akin to judging a book by its cover, but it’s true nevertheless.

Within 60 seconds, people will make assumptions about one’s education, background, ability and personality based on their voice alone.

What type of impression is your “phone” voice making? Indeed there are two areas you should be aware of when speaking. One is “what’ you say, the other the “how” you say it. Studies show that as much as 87% of the listener’s opinion of you is based on your voice alone. That leaves only 13% allocated to what we are saying to make a positive impression. With numbers like these it is easy to see why your voice is so important in your career and personal life.

Today we live in a “voice mail” environment. We are playing “phone tag”, leaving messages and listening to voice mails left by others. It may take as many as 3-4 tries before actual contact is made and you have a conversation. By the time you do connect, you can be assured that other party already has formed an impression about you.

The following are some tips that will help you improve your phone voice and technique.

1. THIRD RING RULE: Answer the phone by the third ring or make sure you voice mail is set to pick up by the third ring. Today people are not inclined to wait much longer and will assume you are not available and hang up. Remember, as much as we think we don’t like voice mail, we like the option of leaving a message.

2. PROFESSIONAL GREETING: Remember the 87% rule above and make a good impression. Be aware of what you are going to say in the greeting. Then practice and rehearse BEFORE you leave the greeting on your answering machine. Be short and to the point. Don’t drag out the greeting. It is obvious you are “Out of the office or away from your desk” otherwise you would answer your phone. Consider leaving such statements out of your greeting unless you are actually away from the office, then say so and leave a date for your return. I recommend that you leave clear instructions as to what information you need from the caller. Reminder the caller to leave their phone number, best time to return the call and a brief subject.

3. PREPARE THEN ANSWER: Have a note pad and pen by your phone at all times. Write down the caller’s name and use it during the conversation.

4. BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER: Take notes, ask for correct spelling, etc.

5. PROMPTLY RETURN CALLS: Make it your personal goal that you will be one that returns phone calls. This may very well be the most professional characteristic of all you can develop. Set a goal to return phone calls within 4 hours, it will make a positive statement about you and your image.

6. CHECK YOU MESSAGES: Check your messages several times a day. Learn how to dial in from a remote phone to get your voice mails. Many times the caller is facing a deadline and your information may be crucial for them to complete their assignment.

IT’S A TWO WAY STREET. When You Leave Messages For Others Remember These Tips:

1. SLOW DOWN: Don’t speak too fast. Slow down when you are leaving a message, especially if you have an accent. If you make your message hard to understand or if the listener has to replay it several times to get your message your reputation is slipping in their mind.

2. CLEARLY SAY YOUR NAME: Make absolutely sure the caller will understand your name. Consider spelling your name if hard to pronounce or is not a common name.

3. S-L-O-W DOWN: When leaving your phone number go slow. Most likely the listener is writing down your number, make it easy for them to do so. Repeat the number. Consider saying your number at the beginning and end of your voice mail. People will appreciate this.

4. LEAVE YOUR NAME, COMPANY NAME AND REASON: Leave the listener with all the information they will need to know about you. Don’t make them guess. Always leave the reason you are calling. It is very unprofessional to just leave a message simply saying “give me a call”

5. MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO RETURN YOUR CALL: Tell them a good time to return your call. Give them a date, time and phone number.

6. BE PROFESSIONAL: People do judge you by the tone of your voice. Increase your image by sounding professional in everything you do over the phone

Remember that you won’t be able to avoid phone tag, but you can definitely put things in your favor by doing several small things that will make a BIG difference in your image.

For more details on Business Communications, including effective email and voice mail use contact www.TrainingConnections.ORG.

(c) 2004 TrainingConnections.ORG

All rights reserved

About The Author

John Robertson is a Professional Trainer with over 20 years experience in Mid to Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your company. TrainingConnections.Org focuses on three major categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more information or check our web site.

mailto:info@trainingconnections.org

We do not advocate cold calling in High Probability Selling.However, cold calling is necessary at times.

You do need prospective clients and customers: If you don’t havea customer list from which to solicit referrals, and you also lack an advertising/marketing budget, cold-calling to a highly targeted list is the fastest route to finding High Probability Prospects.

A High Probability Prospect is one who wants, needs, can afford,and is ready to buy your product or service- now. Those who onlywant, need, and can afford- but are not ready to buy now- areprospects that you’ll continue to contact in the future.

How does Cold Calling fit into High Probability Prospecting?

When you start to call your list, initial contacts will be cold calls: Only first-time calls are cold calls in High Probability Prospecting. A truly effective prospecting campaign requires that you call the same list every 3 to 4 weeks, so after a short period of time, most of your calls will be warm calls. A higher percentage of the people on your list will say “Yes” to your prospecting offer

with each successive call.

5 Simple rules for maximum effectiveness and maximum efficiency:

1. Don’t repeat the same prospecting offer more frequently than every third call.
2. Your offer must be no longer than 45 words, describing yourproduct/service and mentioning two if its features.
3. Your prospecting offer must clearly request a “Yes” or “No”answer.
4. When prospects say “No,” you say, “Okay, good-bye.”
5. When prospects say “Yes,” you say, “Why?”

With practice, you should be able to make at least 50 dials per hour. You’ll find an increasing number of High Probability Prospects with each pass through your list. You’ll be on your way to making appointments with people who are ready to buy what you’re selling- right now.

High Probability Prospecting won’t eliminate cold-calling entirely. You will, however, be making relatively fewer Cold Calls. You’ll also eliminate most of the Rejection associate with cold-calling.

High Probability® Selling©All Rights Reserved

Jacques Werth is co-author of “High Probability Selling” and President of High Probability Selling, a Sales Training and Consulting firm. More articles, as well as the first four chapters of the book are available at http://www.highprobsell.com.

In sales, one of the things you will be doing a lot of, is making phone calls. You can’t escape it. It just comes with the territory.

Making phone calls is really not all that bad. The thought of having to do it, is actually much worse than having to physically sit down and do it, and once you get on a roll, it’s never as bad as it seemed.

The part of making cold calling sales calls that you will find to be most painful are the objections you will be faced with, such as, and most annoying, is the hang up, which doesn’t happen as often as people think.In this particular case, I have no answer on how to meet this challenge, my suggestion would be, not to stress over it, just move onto the next phone call.

Another objection you will be faced with is:I’m not sure. I have to think about it.

My suggested response to this objection would be:

I understand that you need to think about it, but perhaps there is something I did not explain clearly enough, is there anything you would like to go over one more time?

Or . . .

I know when it comes to making a commitment over the phone that it is easy to become lost in the confusion of everything that has to be done and understood, is there anything I can go over with you one more time.

If that doesn’t get them talking again, then let them go by politely asking for their permission to follow up with them in a

few days, and, if you could possibly send them out some literature, along with your business card.

Another common objection is:

I have to ask my spouse.

A good response to this objection would be:

Is your spouse available at this time? I would be happy to speak with him/her.

Again, if this does not work, then let them go, and politely ask to send out literature, and follow up with a phone call.

And one other objection you may run into . . .

I have already taken care of that, or I am working with someone else.

If you are hit with this objection, it is most likely your prospects way of telling you they are not interested.

On the other hand, if they tell you they are working with someone else, it never hurts to take a chance, and ask your customer if they would like to see if you could get them a better price, or even a better product. It can’t hurt, and if they are interested than go for it! If not, than let it go right there, and move onto your next prospect.

And remember, challenges are nothing but obstacles on your path to greatness!

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of sales and marketing experience in the banking and mortgage industry, and is the owner of J. Conners, Mortgage leads reviews – a mortgage resource center for mortgage brokers, loan officers, and lenders. He is also the owner of Www.callprospect.com a mortgage lead company, specializing in fresh leads.

Jay Conners can be contacted via e-mail at conn1229@yahoo.com

Predictive dialers are many steps removed from their predessors, the automatic dialers of the past. Whereas automatic dialing allowed callcenter agencies to dial numbers quickly and efficiently, predictive dialing also processes and makes use of a whole range of information, linking callers to live voices every single time. In fact, with predictive dialing, agents’ ‘talk time’ has increased from an average of twenty minutes per hour to fifty minutes per hour. This is a fabulous rate of improvement – instead of wasting more than half of their time on listening to busy signals and answering machine messages, agents now spend the majority of their time engaged in producting interaction. The dialer also manages the line to agent ratio by pacing the call rate at the desired level. In this way, quotas are met, and agents are neither idle nor overwhelmed. In other words, because the hardware and software does its job, agents are able to spend much more time doing theirs. And of course, increased contact time means that the center’s goals are reached much more quickly.

In many ways, it is still true that the real value of a call center depends on its ‘human capital’ – the agents who interact with clients and potential clients. The more the center’s human capital is brought to the forefront, the more everyone benefits. The aim of technology, therefore, is to maximize the time that agents are able to spend doing what only they can do – conversing, communicating, interacting. Predictive dialing and other call center technology represents a perfect symbiosis between person and machine.

A predictive dialing system is able to keep track of which agents are available, while monitoring the responses to the outgoing calls that it makes. Numbers that are busy, disconnected, fax lines, or calls that are answered by machines or voicemail systems are not connected to an agent. Only the calls that are answered by a live voice are put through to an agent, which means that the agent spends almost all of his or her time on the line with a live person. Facilitating and maximizing talk time is the goal of every call center.

The hidden

benefit in all this is the fact that the agent is much less likely to get bored or disheartened. Human contact is important to everybody, and particularly to those who select careers that highlight communication. Many of the agents who choose to work in call centers are there precisely because they are attracted to the work due to the fact that they have excellent communication skills and enjoy interacting with people. An endless stream of answering machines or busy signals is bound to frustrate them. When they are able to spend fifty minutes out of each hour actually interacting with clients, however, the agents find that time goes by much faster and their workday is more varied and interesting. Furthermore, they know that their skills are valued, and that their company supports them by investing in the appropriate technology.

Predictive dialing technology is improving all the time. One problem that we occasionally still encounter is a short lag between the time the outgoing call is answered and the time the agent gets on the line. Generally, this is only a matter of a few seconds, and some systems play a short recorded message during this time. Nevertheless, any sort of lag time increases the possibility that the potential client will become confused, and that part of the agent’s talk time will be spent sorting out the confusion. There is also the chance that the client may hang up. Therefore, measures are being taken to speed up voice connects and minimize this lag time to the point where it may become imperceptible.

Predictive dialing has revolutionized call centers, and has the potential to continue doing so. Calls are made much more efficiently, employees are happier, and the goals of the call center are likely to be me much faster. Now that this technology is readily available (and improving all the time) it would be almost unthinkable for any sizable call center not to invest in predictive dialers.

Prodialing strives to provide concise information concerning the high tech arena of callcenters, including predictive dialers, inbound/outbound, IVR and much, much more. See our website at ProDialing.com (http://www.prodialing.com).

4 steps to warm up cold calling conversations

Our thoughts are always at the basis of our behaviors. If our thoughts are fixed on the goal of making a sale, then we’re not really being forthright. We’re not focused on the conversation or the truth of a situation. We’re chasing people — or at least chasing the sale.

Here are 4 important steps to help end the “chasing game” in our cold calling efforts.

1. Avoid reading from a script

Life is not a script, nor are normal conversations. When we read from a script, we’re not being natural. We’re playing a role. And that means we’re chasing a sale rather than enjoying an opportunity to meet someone new and find out if we can help them. Allowing a conversation to naturally flow helps you enter into a dialogue based on trust, which lets your potential client’s real issues emerge. Formal scripts, on the other hand, don’t give you the freedom to take conversations in the direction they may naturally want to go. And this feels stilted and awkward.

If you begin to view your cold calls as conversations or dialogues, you’ll find it easy to let go of the idea of scripts. And you’ll sense the shift of the energy in your conversation when the emphasis of the call is about the person you’re talking with and not about your making a sale.

So generate a spontaneous conversation, based on the problems you can help the other person solve. This will diffuse your feelings of being awkward and artificial, and allow you to enjoy the journey.

2. Address a Core Problem

People connect with you when they feel you understand their issues before you focus on yourself and your solutions. Come up with two or three specific problems that your product or service solves. And talk about it with the potential client first, before offering your sales pitch. When you offer your presentation or solution without first involving the other person by talking about a core problem they might be having, you are focused on the sale rather than the conversation. And your whole energy tends to drive the interaction into a sales mode. Remember, whenever someone feels “chased,” they usually run.

So stop for a moment. Convey that you’re a problem solver. Invite a mutual exchange of information that explores whether there’s a possibility that the two of you might work together. Help them understand that your thoughts and goals

are not focused on selling them anything at all.

Most people will welcome your interest in their problem as long as you’re not operating out of the hidden agenda of making a sale. So overcome the temptation to discuss what you have to offer and move into focusing on your caller’s world. Invite discussion, express interest, and stop chasing the sale.

3. Uncover the Truth of the Situation

Make your objective to uncover the truth of the potential client’s situation and to be okay with the outcome, whether it’s a yes or a no. We can do this by checking in at various times in the conversation to make sure it makes sense to continue the dialogue. If we just move ahead without doing this, we’re in “chase mode.” And in this case, we may be chasing something very unrealistic for this particular potential client. So we ask important questions such as, “Is this a top priority for you to solve right now?” We may find that the potential client is very interested in working with us, but the budget or staffing may simply be too thin at this time. We stop at various checkpoints in our conversation to make sure we’re moving ahead together. If our thoughts are fixed only on our own goal of eventually securing the sale, we can miss very important signals that the other person may actually have no intention of following through.

4. Where do We Go From Here?

Here’s something very surprising. Allow the conversation to end without chasing other person into an sales appointment or commitment, and the other person will often be the one who initiates further contact. So when you feel as if the conversation is coming to a natural conclusion, you can simply say, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?” This question reassures potential clients that you’re not using the conversation to fulfill your own hidden agenda. It invites the other person to take charge of where things are going, and all you need do is follow along.

When you stop chasing the sale, you’ll be truly surprised at how often the sale gently awaits you within a friendly conversation focusing on the needs of others.

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.Unlock-The-Cold-Calling-Game.com

In her book, The Introvert Advantage, Marty Olsen Laney talks about the defining moment when she embraced the fact that she was an introvert. It came in the form of a statement, “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m just an introvert!”

According to her research only 25% of people are introverted which leaves us the daunting task of dealing with the 75% extroverts of the world. And surprising as it seems, there are those of us who have, for one reason or another, chosen to make our living in sales.

Being in sales poses many problems for introverts but probably the biggest is the idea of making cold calls. Now before we look at cold calling for introverts let’s look at the concept of cold calling itself a bit closer.

Sales guru, Jeffry Gitomer, says that cold calling is the least effective method of generating new sales. It interrupts the prospect, probably irritating them, and has a fairly low rate of return. Having said all that, cold calling is still needed and sometimes required of those of us in sales.

As an introvert I have always looked with envy at the ease with which an extrovert approaches cold calling. Because they dwell in the outside world (while many introverts find their reality in the inner world) they find it easier to pick up the phone and call. They are usually more outgoing naturally so conversation with strangers is easier. And, darn it, they also don’t seem as affected by the inevitable rejection; seemingly able to shrug it off and move on to the next call.

Introverts will sometimes go to great lengths to avoid cold calling. First we have to plan who to call – who is most likely to be positive or at least neutral about our call? Then we have to make sure we have all our information together to handle any contingency that might come up – files, literature, scripts and anything else that might take 5 or 10 more minutes to find. Then we have to think about our prospect’s schedule – we don’t want to call too early or too late and, you know, everyone is too busy on Mondays and Fridays aren’t a good day to call either.

Once we’ve exhausted every excuse we’re left sitting looking at the phone. It’s time to pick it up and call. Short of drugs, there’s probably no way to completely eliminate the stress cold calling causes introverts. But let me lay out a technique that works for me; both reducing my stress and, surprisingly, producing good contacts and prospects.

As a caveat there is one aspect to this technique that may bother some people but give me until the end of the article to provide some explanation. The underlying assumption here is that someone in the business or company you are about to cold call could have requested information about your product or service. This assumption could include Internet inquiries, “bingo” cards in magazines, inbound 800 number calls, or any other way to request information. It doesn’t mean that they actually did ask for information, only that they could have.

We begin by at least knowing what department or area of a business or company would usually be interested in our product. If you sell forms, which department uses those forms? If you sell advertising, would the marketing department be the logical place to start? If you’re in industrial sales, which department mainly uses your goods or services?

Take a deep breath, pick up the phone and dial. If you get an automated attendant you can usually raise a “real” person by hitting “0” on your phone. When you get that real person say something like this, “Hello, my name is Joan Smith with ABC Company. I need to speak with someone in your ___ department (that department name being the one you previously identified). In 90% of calls they will connect you without comment. We’ll deal with the other 10% in just a minute.

The phone will ring and your stress level will peak. Will someone answer or will you end up in voice mail – what you say next remains the same either way. When someone (or the message machine) answers say something like this. “Hello, my name is Bill Jones with ABC Company. I’m new in this position and as I was going through my predecessor’s files I found a request for information from your company but it doesn’t have a name on it. I didn’t want to throw it away without at least trying to see if the information had been sent. Do you know of anyone who would have requested information on (your product or service)?”

And wait. They may ask for your company name again. They may ask for more information on the product

or service you just mentioned in passing. But most of the time their reply takes one of the following forms.

“Well, that would have been (a name). Let me connect you to him – make sure you have a pen ready during this call.” When you’re connected to Bob (or his voice mail) repeat the thread above, that is, you’ve found a request for information with no name and you want to make sure that whoever requested the information got what they needed.

Sometimes, the person will say, “Well, that would have been me but I don’t remember asking for information.” No hostility, just puzzlement. Your response at that time is “As I said, this request doesn’t have a name on it so it may not have come from you.” Then you can give an abbreviated sales pitch by asking, “Are you already using (your product or service)?” A positive answer gives you the opportunity to ask if they are satisfied. A negative answer lets you ask if they would like to see information.

A third response you might get would be this, “Well, that would have probably come from Anne Adams and she’s not here. Would you like her voice mail?” Your reply something like this, “Yes, please, but do you mind giving me Anne’s email address as well? That way I can send her a link to our website just to be sure she gets the information requested.” Again in most cases the person on the phone will give you their name, their email address, and maybe even this most coveted of responses, “You know, this is a timely call. We just brought a project off the back burner that uses (your product or service). Can you come by to meet with us?” For an introvert, this is the Holy Grail.

Let’s back up a minute to the 10% of operators or receptionists that don’t put you right through. They may ask, “Can I ask what this is concerning?” At this point I give a short version of my original thread, that I have a request for information from my company but no contact name and that I don’t want to simply throw the request away. This will usually disarm the screener and get you a name or at least a ringing phone.

Those few that you get through to who say, “nope, wasn’t me and we have no need for that” are the ones you let go with a brief apology and thanks. Don’t let it rattle you.

Now back to the ethical question that this may raise for some of you. “I’m really telling a lie – no one asked for this information” and that is true. For some of you that point may eliminate you using this technique but first ask yourself this question. If you believe in your product or service, then you feel that the companies you call on can benefit from what you sell. If they knew they could benefit would they ask you for information? If they could and should have asked for this information that could benefit them AND if they were aware of your company, they would have asked, wouldn’t they?

So using this line of reasoning you can make the jump to the idea that they would have asked if they’d known to ask. So you are simply making them aware by your call.

I realize this is rationalizing – but 90% of the people with whom I have used this technique are polite, interested, and give me excellent information. And many of them have benefited from the information I give them. And the alternative is to grit your teeth, call a receptionist, stumble through an explanation of who you are and what you’re selling, hope they don’t tell you to call purchasing, or put you through to someone who doesn’t want to talk to a sales person AND who is in an irritable mood today.

What makes this approach less stressful to the introvert? For whatever reason it is easier for me to call someone who first called me. If they called me first then they must be open to talking with me and I find this an easier call to make. This technique simply assumes that the person you’re talking to would have called you if they had known of the benefits of your product or service.

So give it a try – call a couple of people who might have asked for your information. Offer them the chance to really see your information. Then go lie down for about 10 minutes to let the stress go away. After all, we still are introverts!

Hal Warfield is a speaker, teacher and coach. Write him at warfield@midsouth.rr.com. Or read additional self-development and business articles at http://www.halwarfield.com

Telemarketing is one of the most common ways that a business can generate leads. It is a versatile approach. Lead generation telemarketing can be inbound or outbound, meaning that systems use prerecorded messages and can dial either random numbers or numbers from an imported list.

Telemarketing is one of the few lead generation techniques that is flexible enough to be immediately adaptable to new situations. The telemarketer can answer questions or provide additional information as needed in response to the potential customer’s comments. Also, while prospective buyers may ignore direct mail or advertisements, they will not ignore a ringing telephone. Once the person answers the phone, a good telemarketer can generate a lead.

Inbound lead generation telemarketing involves the prospective customer calling the company to find out about their products or services. This is the best kind of lead generation telemarketing because the potential buyer has already shown interest by making the call. It is then up to the telemarketer to say the right things in order to retain the prospective buyer’s interest. Often, people will call for information about certain products or to see if there are any sales or discounts available. It is up to the telemarketer to be able to provide the caller with all of the necessary facts that the caller asks for.

Outbound telemarketing is less successful than taking inbound calls.

It is difficult because it often involves what is called cold calling. This is when a lead generator makes an unsolicited call to a potential customer. The person has no idea who is calling them or why. A high percentage of people react badly to being cold called. It takes someone with great communication skills and the ability to handle rejection to make a successful cold caller. Other times, the callers are equipped with a list of potential leads. The caller’s responsibility is then to verify that the person is indeed interested.

Another option for lead generation telemarketing is to use a lead generation system. Lead generation systems are machines programmed to dial phone numbers and deliver a recorded message when the phone is answered. Many people hang up on these machines, but they are a cost effective way to generate leads. Some lead generation systems can be given a list of potential leads to call, thus increasing the chance of success.

Lead generation telemarketing is a great, flexible, adaptable way to gain new customers. People with good communication skills are often very good at this type of work.

Lead Generation Info provides detailed information about sales, mortage, MLM, business-to-business, internet, and insurance lead generation, lead generation telemarketing, and more. Lead Generation Info is the sister site of MLM Leads Web.

There it is again. Your biggest hurdle to getting appointments. The telephone seems to be sitting there on your desk mocking you as if it knows you just hate to pick it up and use it to ask for an appointment with your prospects. You wish you had some way to make the experience of lead generation more enjoyable by sending something out to your prospect first and yet you know that most of your efforts have been costly, time-consuming, and ineffective. It’s now another Monday and you have to fill your week with appointments or else you’re out of a job or out of business

Guess what? There is a way to make those cold calls warmer, enjoyable, and more productive. It just takes a little creativity to warm up the coldest prospect and get them talking to you on the phone. It doesn’t cost much to do and if done correctly can earn you as high as a 40-50-60% appointment ratio or higher.

Today’s business prospects are hungry for information, but they are just too busy from job demands that most just want to eliminate you as quickly as possible. That’s why the “Prospect Release” fits the bill when it comes to lead generation. Getting the attention of your prospect and getting them to meet with you will become much easier.

The “Prospect Release” is simply an adaptation of the press release along with a few other pages of attention-grabbing material. The idea is to deliver enough interesting and stimulating information to your prospect that they actually look forward to your call for an appointment.

Striking Gold

So what is a “Prospect Release” and how do you use it?

The “Prospect Release” is comprised of 4 pages that are either mailed or faxed to your prospect. They are: the prospect/press release; a biography; a question and answer sheet, and a cover page which is optional. Each one serves an important purpose that shows how much you understand your prospect and how well you can deliver a knock-out solution for them and their company.

• Hook them with a WOW headline. One of the pages you will be sending is a prospect/press release. This page should look like a regular press release only from the standpoint of having your name and contact information appearing at the top of the page – that’s it. The key is to include a headline that captivates your prospect and shows how another client in your prospect’s industry solved a problem. Make it interesting and about something that your prospect wants. The rest of the release should really be a story about one of your customers and how your product/service solved a problem. The key is to not make it sound like a sales pitch – it has to be about your client. Make sure that you double space the complete release. Almost all busy prospects want to know what you can do for them quickly. Less is more. If you can’t tell a story in 3 double-spaced paragraphs that makes them want what you sell, then they won’t want to

meet you.

• Tell a story about yourself. Now it’s time to sell you in a small way. Ever notice how much you like to read the short biography that’s located in the inset cover page of books in general? Even if you don’t skim the contents of the book you just can’t help but read the biography. This page should be about your expertise and why you are qualified to be speaking about your product/service. In it you should communicate to your prospect that you are not just another salesperson but someone that can bring great value to them. Explain your credentials, but more importantly tell a little history of how you came about working in your industry, and make it as personable as you possibly can. Be humble, speak softly but carry a big stick, or be prepared for this technique not to work. No one really wants a conceited BMOC (big man or woman on campus) as their sales rep.

To see a sample of my bio go to: www.emdco.com/mediaroom.html

• Move your prospect to YES. The Q&A page. Here’s where you list the 10 most common questions and give them the answers. You can even address some common objections by rephrasing them as questions and providing the answer. Let’s face it all your prospect really cares about at this stage of the game is that they can disqualify you so they don’t have to waste their time. You will be much better off if you can address what is really on their minds right from the beginning. And the Q&A can actually save you time in the sales cycle. It shows that you have nothing to hide and can be trusted.

• Make them feel even more important. The cover sheet (optional). Use this page when you’re trying to be even more personal when faxing out your prospect release. A short hand-written note with the prospect’s name and a signature communicates that this is not a mass mailing. I usually write a note that says something like, “Ms. Jones, I thought you might be interested in how a fellow technology company was able to increase their b2b lead generation by 43%.” Sincerely, David

Don’t use company letterhead. My research shows that plain vanilla is the way to go. Any logos or corporate names will defeat the significance of your message. The idea is to be different. How many of your prospects get handed a press release with a personalized cover letter?

Now that you have the essentials down, work on writing your copy. It should be all about your prospect and their industry. When it comes time to follow-through with a call, all you have to do is introduce yourself as the one that sent the fax and ask for the appointment.

David Wells is a business development expert, speaker, trainer, consultant and founder of http://www.emdco.com a provider of business-to-business lead creation, data confirmation and integrated marketing solutions. You can subscribe to “The Business Promoter’s Tips of the Week” ezine at subscribe@emdco.com.