Q: ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH COLD CALLING?

The thought of calling a random person and trying to sell something might make your skin crawl… but it’s a key skill often required when working within sales.

If you are interviewing for your next sales job, you will likely get asked about how you would go about cold calling to see if you’re suitable for the role.

Sales Managers will know that a lot of people are resistant to cold calling - ultimately not being successful at it. They probably want to whittle down the competition to those that are show experience or willingness.

PERSERVERANCE, PERSERVERANCE, PERSERVERANCE

Sales can be tough, and without perseverance - there’s no chance of long-term success.

Cold calling comes hand in hand with rejections, voicemails, and angry people on the other line telling you to stop calling. It’s not a job for the weak.

Interviewers will be looking out for things that deem you to be hard-working and resilient, regardless of what gets thrown your way. It’s easy to get down about unsuccessful calls, causing you to want to give up… which is why you have to prove yourself to be the complete opposite.

And don’t forget to explain why you will persevere. Being goal orientated means structuring your work around setting and completing goals. As a result, you’re more likely to stick at hard tasks (like cold calling), work on your skills, and be successful.

Whether your goal is to bring on 10 clients, beat a personal record, or make X amount of money - showing that to an employer proves that you’re willing to put in significant effort to benefit yourself and the company.

SHOW YOU CAN HANDLE REJECTION

Want to know what it’s like to get rejected constantly? Get a job in sales.

But seriously, you’re bound to get rejected with cold calling and how you handle it means everything. Sales Managers won’t want to hire someone who takes everything personally, gets upset and demotivated after one rejection. Or even someone who gets passive aggressive with people on the phone after rejection.

Nobody enjoys being rejected of course, so be genuine in your answers - but be positive and discuss how you don’t take rejection personally. Instead, explain that you use knockbacks as a motivator to keep going and try new strategies.

GIVE EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL COLD CALLING

Being comfortable with cold calling is one thing but being successful at it is another. If it has already been a part of one of your previous roles, then you will have lots of examples to your statements up with.

For instance, you could say that: “I have proved in my previous roles that I am more than capable at cold calling. During my most previous role, X percentage of my sales were the result of cold calling”.

Or: “I have a passion for converting people into clients that are initially unsure on whether they desire the products, or services I am selling”.

MENTALITY OVER EXPERIENCE

Don’t have experience with cold calling and worried you’ll be overlooked? Well, good news is, you can still prove yourself to be an awesome salesperson if you have the right mentality.

I recently did a blog called Mastering The Sales Mentality and if you take your time to digest the points and show them off to an employer - it may even impress them more than your experience. This is because you’re proving to have a long-term passion and dedication to sales, which makes you more trustworthy and likely to bring effort and innovation into the company.

- Written by Shannon Matthews