How can you use emotional intelligence to improve your cold calling success?

A way to emphasize the soft skills mentioned here is through preparation. Preparation before a call adds a layer of confidence to help keep composed, and should be done when possible. Bring to the cold call not just a value prop but also specific reasons for the call. Recent findings, news, etc. If you aren’t wasting anyone’s time, your pitch will be more confident.

En mi experiencia, al momento de realizar llamadas en frío, nuestra mente debe estar enfocada en el objetivo, pero sobre todo positiva. Esto se transmite incluso a través del teléfono. Adicional, conocer a qué se dedica, el puesto ó los intereses de la persona/empresa al otro lado del telefono, siempre es de ayuda para poder iniciar la charla. Por ultimo, hablar claramente y presentarte de manera concisa y puntual en menos de 1 minuto, siempre ayuda a captar la atención de la persona del otro lado.

Before you start making the call, know that you are the one in control. The direction of the call depends on the first 5 seconds of the call so you must be prepared. You must also be aware of the fact that the callee is not on the other side waiting for your call, so it is important that you are emotionally ready for any turn of event. You must be comfortably seated at a serene place and visualize your how your service or product will solve the prospect's problem.

At its fundamental core sales is a numbers game, so go into it remembering that most cold calls only have about a 6% conversion rate, the vast majority of your calls will be unsuccessful. This will help you keep perspective on your efforts, you aren't doing a bad job.

Absolutely agree with all of the above. However, I would say that nothing beats sound basic experience. In the early part of my career cold calling was 'in at the deep end' and it was nervy and adrenaline fueled at times. Much later, I was way more experienced, and I'd learned the techniques and skills required. This then meant I didn't need to calm myself or prepare as much as before, due to experience.

Paraphrasing is a great way to practice active listening. By saying back what the prospect just told you, you are able to gather your thoughts before responding and/or pick up anything you may have missed or maybe remind the prospect of something they forgot to tell you in the first place.

The purpose for making the call is to make sales, but you can only make sales when you listen attentively to what your prospect is saying. Some may share their pain-points with you, others may give you reasons why they cannot purchase your service or product immediately. Others may inadvertently tell you the name of the product or service they are using, and you can make better research on the product or service before your follow up call. Use words of endearment to draw the prospect to you, i.e., "okay, John", "I understand you Rose", "I will call you again in a week's time as you suggested Mr. Henry" etc. Empathy is a direct product of active listening. So, devote your time to listen.

100%. Active listening is a real skill. Some people have it naturally, but many sales people don't. I never had it, but I learned it. So that again, with experience I could listen much better than before.

Listening and recognizing people's problems, showing them you understand them and want to help them goes a long way. Things shouldn't be purely transactional with the only goal being selling your product or service immediately.

Cold calls are made to new prospects. Most often salespeople may use sales pitches that have already been crafted by their managers. Sales pitch are baseline communication tools that introduce a product or service. The salesperson must quickly adjust to the prospect when he or she analyzes the knowledge level of the prospect. If the prospect has prior experience with the product or service facts and figures must be his game plan. On the other hand, if the prospect is a first-time user, then the features or benefits of the product or service must be highlighted. Keep the phone away from your nose, you don't want the prospect to hear every breathe you take and inflect your voice for correctly. Finally, smile because it can be felt.

Absolutely. This is vital and unbelievably effective. I didn't know this until many years later. I was always outgoing, verbal, friendly, chatty, a visual person. Later I learned about personality types and elements like auditory and kinetic etc. It was a game changer. Also 'mirroring' and 'projection/reflection' were also great lessons and tools. Adapting style is huge and really elevates the skillset.

Definitely mirroring a person's tone and communication style seems important. However if a person is too serious it doesn't hurt to throw a joke or anecdote into a conversation, it helps both sides to relax and establish some connection.

Validating the objection and branching off of it is key to objection handling. Instead of jumping from a prospects objection to a quick solution pitch, validate the objection. Recognize that from the prospects point of view there is truly a reason not to continue, so respect that and look for mutual ground. Collaboration and consultation comes first. Objection handling not objection rejection.

Sophrosyne is an ancient Greek concept which is hinged on soundness of mind and excellence of character. It is believed that when these two qualities are combines well in an individual, it produces other qualities such as temperance, moderation, prudence, decorum etc. Before a salesperson makes a cold call, he should be in the right frame of mind. You are not reaching out to prospective client to argue or be-little another product or service out there. Always remember the concept "sophrosyne". Be moderate in your speech, exercise self-control when being verbally abused. Prospects always make a U-turn, so you should exercise restraints. These techniques should be employed when resolving conflict or overcoming an objection. You got this!

There are only ever REAL objections that need handling. Everything else is just a fob off and not genuine. For instance, having no budget/funding/spending capability is genuine. Not being the actual decision maker, ok again, that's genuine. There's not much else that counts as a true objection. Conflicts can be dealt with by nipping them in the bud, getting them dealt with early etc. Also by providing clear solutions, so that conflicts won't arise.

Important of course but sometimes people are just not interested and it is important to distinguish things. Sometimes people just don't have the need and sometimes they are not aware that some things are even possible with your service or product.

I think tone and being a human are two of the most important aspects to cold calling. Leading with empathy and calling with a purpose will help the flow of the conversation. I find that prospects are more willing to open up to you and be your receptive to your message if you sound authentic, many people will try to change their voice and this can be spotted easily. If you are respectful and mindful you are interrupting someone’s day, more often than not prospects will hear you out. Be confident and know what problem you solve, and you will and can find success.