One of the biggest challenges in cold calling I have to say is finding the truth in the prospects. It is hard for many of the prospects to open up to a stranger on the other end of the phone and without that trust quite often you are not getting the truth from them but hearing what they think you want them to say. This leads to chasing the prospect later in the sales process.
Cold calling should be about determining whether or not your product is a fit and often we get side track with traditional sales techniques and we treat cold calling as a way to make additional sales. However how can you initially make a sale without knowing what problem the prospect is facing?
This is the purpose for cold calling. It gives you a way to open up with the prospect and find out what the true problem is as well as build trust in the initial call. Showing the prospect you are sincere in your call will allow them to feel more comfortable talking to you.
3 Ways to determine a fit-
1. Find out what the prospects problem is: You must find out the pending issues that are holding them back or that they are willing to address now.
2. You must determine if your product or service can help: It is ok for your product to not be a fit, and it is ok to let the prospect say no.
3. Find out when they are looking to solve their problem: It is important to find out how soon the prospect is looking to solve their problem. Sometimes circumstance come up that don’t allow the prospect to fix their problem at that time. But building trust will allow you to get the truth from them and address the problem at a later date.
Remember conversation is the key to cold calling and it will help you get to the bottom of things. Letting your natural flow of conversation come out when cold calling will give you positive responses. Learning to let go of your traditional sales training will get you farther then you realize. Learn to hold a good two-way conversation and let it flow which ever way necessary to get to the truth. Conversation leads you to finding a fit and after all isn’t that what we all want to know?
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