A Good Attitude Towards Cold Calling Yields Results

I manage an organization that assists IT and Professional Services organizations optimize their sales organizations through lead generation and business development, www.coldclosers.com and we are consistently successful implementing and maintaining cold calling programs for our client partners.
Cold calling has been a very rewarding function of the sales process for me, and I do want to emphasize that it is an important component of the sales process. Someone has to call and qualify raw leads at some point.

Have you ever pumped water from one of those old water pumps. The old steel (or iron) pumps with the big lever on the side; usually near a well. I have, and let me say it is not easy, but back in the day; that was the only way you were going to get water on a hot day if you were out at the park or something like that. Nevertheless, childhood adventures aside- the idea was that you had to really prime the pump for a good while, exerting a lot of energy to build up the pressure necessary to get the water flowing smoothly and consistently.

This is how I see cold calling. As I mentioned, someone (at some level) has to call on raw prospects and qualify them to a certain extent. This can be achieved in a variety of ways: surveys, market intelligence gathering, contact identification, event recruitment, canvassing, etc., The goal should not be to close tons of sales, but to qualify interest at a basic level in order to determine further fit. Using this methodology creates a "Win, Win" attitude, because you are accomplishing the goal as long as you are making the calls. The trick is to keep making the calls, with the right attitude, and good sales scripting. I want to disclaim that sales scripting has to sound mechanical right up front. I simply mean the right questions and guidelines for a good conversation.

The call should always start with a Big SMILE(whether in person or on the phone) and an attitude of courtesy. Intruding on a business persons day can be offensive to some, so being courteous helps. "Did I catch you at a good time..." always works for me, and I usually get a couple minutes unless the person is really busy or is having a bad day, week, year, or life. Once I have permission to continue, I establish my identity and question the prospect regarding the company brand. (name recognition, awareness, etc.,) If we have relationships to reference that they may be familiar with I use them to establish commonality and rapport. Sets people at ease if you know someone they know. From there, it is just a matter of mentioning something compelling in the short amount of time you have that will encourage them to speak with you again. Typically, after you have shared more detailed information with them. (email fulfillment, direct mail, web links, demonstrations, events, etc.,)

I do not think there are any high level tricks, or tactics that must be employed for cold calling success; just a willingness to do it with a positive attitude- to start with.

So let's review: Start with a smile and a positive, willing attitude; add a consistent, persistent, tenacious attitude and action habit; develop a high level of sales competency; and culminate with a diverse sales & marketing program utilizing effective and efficient automation tools for sales force automation or customer relationship management. I threw in the last part because I use the insidesales.com CRM application, and it has proven to be an invaluable tool to capture, analyze, measure, and report, throughout the entire sales process. All in all, there is not one best way to approach the sales process, and cold calling can be very redundant and impractical when it is conducted ineffectively, and is not integrated with a complete sales, marketing, and business development program; so smile, have fun, and keep a good attitude. Happy Hunting!