The majority who are in sales has an indifferent relationship with it. Those who do so for a living at times don’t like it, but will tolerate it. It can at times be the hardest way to make an easy living.
There are those who absolutely despise the profession of selling, most notably needing to make cold calls.
But there are others who just love the glamor and the spotlight of landing that big client, but don’t enjoy the work which is involved in the process.
If you yourself have chosen this occupation as a career, you know that the majority of your business will come from repeat customers, established clients, and the odd referral.
You may also be thinking that it’s time to go beyond just getting by, and decide to ramp up the process a bit. But we all know what that means, and that’s the salesman’s biggest nightmare, having to make cold calls.
Why is making a simple phone call to someone you don’t know to tell them about the goods that you represent so frightening. Why is cold calling a new client so feared.
Most salesman just don’t want to feel the pain of rejection. They’re more comfortable with how things are, and like the way that their business is, so why change.
But if you’re wanting new and improved results including more income, what you’re required to do is move out of your comfort zone to drive more business for your company.
So the question remains, how much are you wanting to increase your results this year, what percentage of an increase do you want. Regardless of how much, you need to find new ways to do so to meet these goals.
Cold Calling Can Be Scary
We all know to increase sales, cold calling is a necessity, which means going door to door, business to business, or phone call to phone call, attempting to persuade others to buy what you’re selling, knowing that you’re a nuisance and an inconvenience.
When you hear “cold calling,” what you envision is a vacuum cleaner salesman going door to door, up and down the block. Cold calling appears completely outdated because of the high-tech world that we live in.
You may be saying to yourself, “I’ve been with this firm for over 20 years now, so I don’t and shouldn’t need to cold call,” or “cold calling is for newbies.”
Cold calling is an evil yet necessary step which you need to do to get new business. So listed are ways on how you can contact new prospects more successfully, increase sales and make more commission.
Ways To Increase Your Sales
• Changing Your Selling Mindset – Cold calling for new clients that you’ve never seen or spoken to before has a lot of value. What you need to realize is how much value it has by shifting your mindset.
Rapidly cold calling, saying your canned spiel as fast as you can are for rookies. Make each and every one of these calls important and strategic, and treat it as a numbers game, then the new accounts will then begin to appear.
• Remain As Professional As Possible – What you need to do is learn and then know your product or service that you’re selling inside out. You also need to know your competition as well.
Think of yourself more as a trusted adviser and then earn the right to be able to do just that. Consider it a honor and a service to be a sales professional, and that any new business that you get is key for you and your company.
• Remain Committed And Focused – If you genuinely believe that the product or service which you represent and provide can serve and support your new prospective client, then stay committed by reaching the person who has the buying authority and then introduce yourself to them.
• Be As Persistent As Possible – Be tenacious and don’t let up. Remain on the call as long as possible until you get your message across. Make sure that you earn that yes or no without leaving doubt on the table.
On an emotional level, be as bull headed as possible until you finally make contact with the executive who can decide to buy your product or not. So it’s always best to start at the very top and talk to the President, if possible, and then work your way down.
• Provide As Much Value As Possible – Make sure that you frame some type of a value statement which has substance to the company that you’re pitching to. Have a strategic plan when contacting any new account by knowing exactly what their corporate initiative is, which then allows you to be present your value statement which should be able to make a connection.
• Do As Much Research As Possible – Know by learning exactly what the prospective company’s corporate initiatives are. Know why they’re in business, and what their philosophies are as this shows commitment on your behalf to the person you’re calling on.
You can now easily find this type of information on their website, usually on their “About Us” page. For each of the different organization’s corporate initiatives, you should be uncovering what their plans are for the near future. If you’re able to reach and then support this company in whatever their objectives are, you’ll then be thought of as a valuable resource.
• Reaching New Levels Of Success – Sales can be the greatest and most lucrative profession in the world. What you need to do is lose the love/hate relationship with it, and then this chosen career will improve.
Keep in mind that the only way you’ll be able to change your outcome is by committing yourself to a dedicated approach.