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I do not think cold calling is controversial. I think it is hard, disagreeable, demanding, work that most of us avoid religiously.
I do not think cold calling is controversial. I think it is hard, disagreeable, demanding, work that most of us avoid religiously.
Welcome to the forum Mike!Cold calling is only controversial to those who have to make the calls are are terrified of doing it. The person receiving the call can hear your nervous shady sounding voice and they instant feel negative toward you. That's why most calls result in a negative outcome. Even the positive calls where you some how manage to set an appointment are actually negative because they only set it to get you off the phone. Never mind the fact that they conveniently won't be home when you show up to sell them insurance. They didn't forget your appointment, they are hiding.
This is why experienced callers outsell newcomers. They aren't as nervous an when they make the calls they don't need auto dialers to get the job done. It's all about one customer at a time. Take it slow and make as few calls as possible. Terrible companies want you to make thousands of calls a week. No, slow down and have a real conversation with every single person you talk with on the phone. Stop asking about the weather and get real.
Cold calling is so controversial. Some people swear by it, some people hate it. I specialize in B2B so it is not alot of calling Joe Schmos at their houses saying hey you want some health insurance. It is calling on specific companies. I think cold calling is a very necessary thing! But has to be done right, not spam'y. Too many slick talking salesy types calling is a real put off! But have a really good person do it, pay more money for this, and it pays off. What do you guys think?
I haven't been around awhile. Was caught up working a "real job", you know, punching a clock, at a hospital in my field of education.
I still cold call. I refuse to pay for leads. I do not even care if I have lists these days. I call straight up out of the yellow pages. And do quite well with it.
I agree. If it's done right it's a gold mine. I use a script similar to what Josh has around here. I just personalize it a bit more. Call a person (small business owner) up and start a dialogue. Open a discussion. Really listen to what they want. Ask questions. Build Rapport, set the appointment, make it clear to them what to expect when you get there, then go get it done. Oh, and do your homework, go armed with quotes relevant to what you know they want. Show two choices in the end, ask which one looks best to them, slide the app over, or in my case these days open the laptop, and get it done. Win/Win. They have more coverage and you have a new client.
Of course, the numbers still do not lie. The averages are always the same. every 20 people you talk to, even if your new, you should get 2 new clients. I think my averages are a little higher, but not much when it's averaged over the course of a 6 month period.
What does seem to have changed over the past decade is only one thing, at least in my opinion, is when I used to call 100 numbers, I almost always talked to at least 20 people. Now, it seems this number is getting lower and lower as to how many people will actually answer the phone out of 100 calls. But doesn't matter. What matters is how many people I actually talk to, NOT how many dials. I haven't actually calculated this out yet, but I might if i get interested enough. I also get more people from my target market on the phone when it's raining.
Cold calling doesn't bother me in the least, although it surely used to when I was newer.
Ask for referrals at every appointment. While I do cold call still often, it's not a necessity as much as it once was when I was a newbie. I do get a good share of referrals today...seems it's a side effect of cold calling. How can that be a bad thing.
That's all I have for today.
Chow