Your First Cold Call

5 Tips for Cold Calling

1. Be Positive
   Cold calling isn’t a chore, it’s a powerful business opportunity. Be positive with yourself, your colleagues, and especially the people you’re cold calling. If you’re not enthusiastic and positive about what you offer, people are going to know right away.

2. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
   It can’t be said enough: preparation is the key to effective cold calls. Know who you’re calling, what they do, how they do it, how they differentiate themselves, and most importantly, how your offering fits their business. This point can’t be overstated. Preparation will take you far in developing business from a cold call.

3. Be Yourself
   While this might sound obvious, just be yourself on the phone. Don’t try to be something you’re not, in the hope that it will help you get in the door. You want to develop a long term relationship with the prospective customer. You’re going to talk with that person again and again, so work to develop an authentic relationship.

4. Don’t Take It Personally
   You will get rejected. Period. It’s hard at first, especially if you take it personally. Don’t! Let that rejection roll off your back, and move on. For every call you make, there are plenty more you can make. Be persistent and learn from your experience. Your dedication will pay off in the long run. If it doesn’t, you need to change your strategy and figure out what does work.

5. Ask The Right Questions
   You can’t just cold call someone, ramble on about what your company does, and expect them to sign up right away. You need to ask the right questions. Learn what they do and what they can use help with.

   A favorite question I use to open a conversation is “I was wondering if you could help me out?” People typically want to help other people and this lowers their guard. Try it – you’ll be surprised at how well it works. Once you have someone helping you, ask questions that are going to elicit an emotional response. Not yes or no questions for which the answer can be terse, but questions that require a valuable response you can use.

Good Online Resources

For more information on cold calling and business development, check out the plethora of resources available online. Here are four great online resources that can help you develop your skills:

• Inc.com - The Inc Magazine Guide to Cold Calls Inc.com provides many professional articles to help you perfect the art of cold calling. The Web page is actually a collection of articles and has some of the best resources and information available online.
• American Express Guide to Making Cold Calls (No longer available) American Express publishes a short guide to cold calls. The guide covers the major points and provides a couple of handy tips and tricks. Be sure to use the site as you prepare for your first cold call.
• Wemmers Consulting Sales Articles Rick Wemmers is a well known sales consultant who has many years of experience. He publishes his own articles and newsletter that provide great ideas and information on improving sales for any company, via cold calls and other tested methods.
• SitePoint Bundle Up for Cold Calling – Parts 1 and 2 Chris Yeh provides a well thought-out article on cold calling where he focuses on the preparation and script aspect of developing new business on the phone. The article is essential reading for those who are about to make their first call.

Onward and Upward with Cold Calling

Cold calling should be incorporated into the daily life of every business.

Once we understood the value of cold calling, we hired a person to do business development cold calls full time, in an effort to introduce ourselves and develop relationships with Web design firms across the United States. This was one of the best decisions we’ve made. Cold calls are a powerful mechanism that shouldn’t be overlooked by growing businesses.

Do your research, and start cold calling today!