Saturday, November 29, 2008

Cold Calling Mistakes - 8 Things You Should NOT Do!

By Brian McCoy

1) Purpose Of The Call

Before you even make the call, identify the purpose and end goal of your call. What action do you want your prospects to take after the call? If you don't have a goal, you won't get the result that you want in the end.

2) Don't Give It All Away Too Fast

This task is simple. You have to be a little insight in this step. You do not want to just spew all of your information out on a potential prospect. You need to gauge their level of interest and then go from there. Someone might tell you that they want you to send them information, when in reality, they are just trying to get rid of you.

3) Poor Telephone Manners

We all know what good etiquette is, but sometimes we don't even realize when we're not following it. Avoid smacking your gum, eating, multi-tasking, or having distractions in the background while you're making calls. Not only will it be distracting to the prospect, but also to you.

4) Not Listening To Your Prospect

If you want to know what your prospect is thinking, just listen to them. Make sure that you do not monopolize the conversation. Poor listening skills will lead to failure.

5) Making Your Fears The Prospects'

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

There are things that you need to know about your prospect to qualify them, but also make sure to find out about what they want you to know. People love to talk about themselves, their families, and things of interest to them. You will build rapport with them by being interested in what interests them.

7) Preparation In Key

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) Ask For It

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. - 16738

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