It’s Time You Warmed Up to Cold Calling

In order to succeed at selling, you must get in front of prospective buyers and pursue qualified opportunities. Both activities sound fine in theory but tend to fall short in practice. Too often plans to call on someone fall through, either because we let time get away from us or allow fear of failure to take hold.

I see why that is. Today’s buyers are busier than ever and demanding you meet them on their terms, whether it’s face-to-face on very short notice or through emails or texts during airport downtime. It can be hard to simply get through all of the noise of daily life, let alone ignite quality conversations that drive sales deals.

But someone has to get things off the ground, and it likely isn’t that over-scheduled executive. You need to pick up the phone and make the first move. Such cold calls often elicit eye rolls from sales reps, who will do anything to dodge this critical component of the sales process. But what if it didn’t have to be this way?

At ValueSelling Associates, we refer to cold calling as “goal calling” and have a tool to make the process effective and efficient. When done well, this sales tactic also reduces rejection rates that are at the heart of a reluctance to initiate engagement.

Using a cadence-based approach, a sales professional more purposefully moves from landing leads to qualifying prospects and ultimately closing deals. Creating a sales cadence too often is ignored in everyday sales life. Some don’t take the time to calendar outreach efforts in advance, or they fail to honor the time blocked off for outbound communications. Those who do, however, quickly notice improvements. The initial anxiety is reduced through repeated practice, productive days and greater accountability. These sales professionals become more confident in their communications, which translates to more callbacks and replies. They also become more adept at social media interactions, which raises their professional profile. Executives start coming to them to discuss business issues. Before they know it, these sales reps are among the highest performing at their company, maybe even the highest performing within their region or industry.

It all starts with planning what to say and when, and maybe a little self-pep talk. Not every effort will lead to a sale, but your odds improve significantly when you put in any effort. So, go ahead and make time to make those calls.

Need help setting up a cadence-based approach to prospecting, especially cold calling?

Join our newsletter and webinar email list and listen to our recorded webinar on How to Create a Sales Cadence to Drive Top-of-Funnel Growth, presented by Associate, Chad Sanderson.

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