4 Ways To Improve Your Cold (or Warm) Call

Over my years as sales trainer I have consistently observed specific mistakes many salespeople and business owners make when attempting to convert meetings from phone calls.

Here are four of the biggest mistakes I see and how we can avoid them:

Jumping too quickly to "Are you interested in my product?" or "Are you interested in a meeting?"

One of my greatest past sales mentors used to always remind me: it's not a race.

When selling, it's helpful to remember the analogy of a romantic relationship in that we don’t go straight to "Will you marry me?" or even, "Let’s get coffee."

Or, to use a simple medical analogy, we would never accept a prescription from a doctor who did not ask at least a few exploratory questions before making his diagnosis.

The key is to slow down and show real interest in our prospect by asking 3-5 *pre-planned* open ended questions that will get the prospect thinking and talking about the relevance of our specific value proposition.

Match and mirror the tone, energy, and speed of the prospect.

It’s important to remember that up to 95% of communication is non-verbal - probably even more so when we are on the phone.

Being in sync with our prospect’s non-verbal communication will help us establish better rapport and avoid unnecessary personality-based friction.

So, if they are firm and short, we move in that direction. On the other hand, if they are warm and friendly, we follow suit.

PS - As someone who has made many sales calls it's usually the former!

Positively reinforce their responses - good or bad.

This is one very consistent mistake you will often not hear about.

Countless times I hear sales reps immediately sound disappointed or defeated when the prospect says no, is short, or does not immediately show enthusiasm about a question or offer.

When this happens, the salesperson often deflates like a pin-pricked balloon, never again regaining their confidence.

Unfortunately, when a salesperson wears their emotion on their sleeve it makes the call even more awkward and transparently salesy.

Instead, we should positively reinforce every response from the prospect, with phrases like: “Awesome”, “Excellent", “Great”, “No worries”, "Wonderful', “Fair enough”, etc. Further, we should do so with an affirmative, upbeat, and accepting tone in our voice.

When we do this, we create a safer space for the prospect in that we are signaling our neutrality and not trying to force a specific outcome.

Finally, use "Social Proof".

Social proof is one of the most powerful laws of influence according to Dr. Robert Cialdini and many others.

Further, according to marketing-guru Seth Godin, we can summarize much of marketing and sales into one simple sentence that goes as follows:

People like us, do things like this.

I’ll say it again.

People like us, *do* or *buy* things like this.

This is especially important if our prospect is unfamiliar with our product or service, and should be communicated directly in relation to our value proposition.

Ultimately, we want to make it clear we are reaching out because others who are *just like you* have greatly benefited from what we offer.

And, since people feel strongly compelled to receive the same rewards and status as those they identify with it is my experience they tend to be slightly more receptive to listening further.

In summary:

• Ask questions to build value before asking for a meeting
• Match and mirror communication in their direction
• Positively reinforce all of their responses
• Use social proof to build value in your offer

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For more information on this topic DM here on LinkedIn or visit our KO Advantage Group company page:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/koadvantage

@mike_mac on Clubhuouse