Sunday, November 16, 2008

Cold Calling Mistakes - 8 Tips To NOT Do!

By Brian McCoy

1) Understand The Call Goal

Before you even pick up the phone, you need to have a clear idea of your intention and goal for the call. Do you have a direction that you want your prospect to head in after speaking to you? If you do not have a vision for your call, you are unlikely to achieve the end result that you want.

2) Find Out Their True Interest Level

When your prospect says, "Send me some information," that does not translate into them reading that information. Do not oblige them and send information just as a means to get off of the phone. Find out if they really want the information, or if they are just trying to get rid of you.

3) Bad Telephone Etiquette

Good phone etiquette seems simple enough to achieve. However, when you are in a stressful situation, you might not even realize what you are doing. Do not chew gum, snack, or attempt to multi-task while you are making a call. Your prospect will be distracted by your poor manners and they may get the wrong impression of you.

4) Listen To Your Prospect

If you are struggling to get a read on your prospect, just listen to them. It is easy to monopolize a conversation without even knowing that you are doing it. To get the best insight into your prospect, listen to them. If you don't, you are unlikely to be successful.

5) Avoid Making Your Fears Theirs

Although you might think that someone is pushing you off because they are busy at the moment does not mean that they don't want to speak to you. Request a better time to reach them and then call them back at that time.

6) Not Asking Questions

To find out what you need to know about your prospects, it is critical that you ask enough questions so that you can qualify them. Everyone loves to talk about their own life experiences, their family, and other things that interest them. By asking the right questions, you will build rapport and show interest in what is important to them.

7) Be Prepared

You would not go into an important presentation and wing it, and the phone is no different. Spend some time role playing with a friend or your spouse. You want to grab your prospect's attention, not turn them off with you stumbling over your words.

8) Request What You Want

You want to compel your prospect to action. It's not good enough to tell them, you want them to do their due diligence and look into what you're telling them. If you ask them to do something for you, then you have an opportunity to follow up with them and make sure that they did what you requested of them. - 16755

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