Making the dreaded cold call....

“Cold Calling” or calling on a facility without an appointment, often without even a contact, is the most uncomfortable thing I do as a Salesman.? Often, this is your first contact with this facility and usually involves stopping at the front desk, or the security guard shack, and talking to someone who really doesn’t understand who you are or what you do.? Most times you will walk away empty handed, but hopefully you have a name or contact to follow up with and call on next time you are in the area.

More often or not, you are considered just another salesman trying to find out who the Facility Maintenance Manager or Engineering Equipment Manager is.? The Administrative Assistants or Security Guards have been given direction not to give this information out to anyone, no matter what.? If you are lucky, they will take your card and brochure with a promise to give it to the right person.? But more than likely you end up walking away dejected and no better off than before you stopped.

As I leave these plants, I have often wondered what equipment problem they are encountering that I may have the solution to?? How much money are they spending on a work around to keep the process moving instead of letting me talk to their maintenance group for thirty minutes to understand the issue and start formulating a plan to resolve it.? I also understand that I am one of tens, maybe hundreds of people vying for the Engineers/Procurement professional’s time.????

Do not quit, do not give up, eventually you will learn not to take it personal and understand that you just need to keep digging to find out who you need to get to.? Search the internet, go to trade shows, and get a list of attendees, ask others in the industry if they know anyone there.? Eventually you will find the right person and then the journey really starts.?

I can give you a real-life scenario where I was stopped cold at the guard shack by the security guard and turned away because I didn’t have a name to give them of my contact.? Of course I didn’t have a name, this is a cold call, I’m trying to get a name!? I didn’t let that deter me and I stopped by this plant every time I was in the area and had time.? Eventually, I was given the name and phone number of the Reliability Engineer.? I was able to set up a meeting with him and his team and determined that at that time they really didn’t have a need for any of the products or services I had to offer.? No problem, we parted company with me promising to touch base every now and then just to check in and see if there was anything they needed, which I did.? Usually, a quick email before I was travelling in that area again on my normal sales territory rotation.? Years went by and I would check in only to be told everything was fine, no need to stop.? I respected their honesty in not wasting my time and I was glad to not waste their time.? Then, one Friday evening I got a call from their Reliability Engineer, a compressor had gone down, and they needed someone there immediately to get it up.? I had a team on the road headed to their plant within 24 hours, my best team!? They worked with the local team and had the equipment back up and running keeping the process going.? It was a win-win for everyone, and I was able to prove my value-added proposition to the facilities management team.? They are one of my best customers to this day.

This was a journey that took years to come to fruition.? When cold calling, you just can’t give up, until it is time to give up.? It will become apparent at some point that they are happy with what is going on, with who they are using, and the team they have in place.? Then the only thing you can do is be available should things change, as they often do.? Keep your name in front of the potential customer.? If they need you be ready to answer the call, even if it comes after hours or on weekends.?

Cold calling is tough, no doubt about it.? To some people it comes naturally and easy.? To others, like me, you must force yourself to do it no matter how much you dread it.? It is necessary.? You need thick skin when cold calling, the more you do it, the thicker your skin becomes.? Be prepared for rejection, lots of rejection and do not take it personally.? I will tell you, when you are finally successful, there is something special about that order (big or small) that is a little different than the others.? That one is the fruit of your labor.? Your efforts were instrumental in your company’s success in obtaining that order.? Once you have that order from that new customer execution is paramount.? This is your shot, if you execute poorly, that may be your only shot.? If your company executes as they should, professionally, and supply your parts or services on time, be prepared for future orders to follow.