So, here we are again, everyone’s least favorite subject, cold calling. It’s not going away, and if you’re trying to be successful in a B2B sales career these days, you better master it, because with Covid, it’s never been more important.
Face to face meetings, the gold standard to beginning new client relationships have become even more difficult to arrange. Many prospects aren’t even comfortable meeting with colleagues as well as those they already engage with, or even their own clients/customers for that matter, which is why being effective on the phone has become exponentially more important.
The thing to remember though, forgotten or ignored, is that an initial phone call should never be a forum to exchange substantive information. Let me explain …
The Good: You’ve worked hard, likely spent years learning your business. The hours, days, months and years you’ve spent becoming an expert on your product or service embodies value and substance far beyond any one subject, and significantly more than one could ever hope to share in an initial short conversation. The kind of discussion you want to have should never be only about a specific single thing, or the subject you’ve declared as the purpose of your initial call. Meaningful discussions need to take place in an appropriate forum that fully allows you to communicate the expansiveness of your expertise. So the good is that you have much more than can be shared in one quick initial phone call
The Bad: You get sucked in. The prospect starts asking questions. You’re so pumped by the fact that you actually have a “live one” one on the line - after being repeatedly rebuffed all day - that you go into puke mode, puking out everything and anything that comes to mind before the prospect says something else. They ask a question, you give an answer. They ask more questions, you provide more answers. You think the conversation is going in the right direction, but think again…
The Ugly: You’ve now talked yourself out of a meeting. Anything the prospect thought you might be able to provide guidance or bearing on has been met; they no longer feel the need to meet with you. You’ve now talked your way out of the most important and necessary step in generating a new client relationship, a face to face meeting; you’re just another cold caller. It’s ugly...
Phone calls are easily forgotten, as are those who make them. Phone calls are linear, providing none of the valuable connectivity that takes place when someone can see you, look you in the eye, and experience your body language, and you theirs, etc.
Virtual calls are the next best thing. They are Covid appropriate, provide a significantly better environment and the kind of setting that is so vitally important when one seeks to connect in a meaningful and durable way.
Don’t expect your prospects to be initially amenable to a virtual meeting, and make sure you have a visual component to share that justifies the video component.
Pick a video conferencing service you’re comfortable with, especially in how to use the screen share feature.
Never use the web based/video service for both visual and audio. Conduct the audio portion on a phone so that if the prospect has issues logging on, you can provide help that isn’t dependent on a successful web connection.
And finally, practise, practise, practise. Make sure you’re totally competent with the web service you’ll be using before attempting to meet with the first prospect.
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