Saturday, November 29, 2008

Cold Calling Mistakes - 8 Things You Should NOT Do!

By Brian McCoy

1) Know Your Call's Goal

Before you even pick up the phone, you need to have a clear idea of your intention and goal for the call. Do you have a direction that you want your prospect to head in after speaking to you? If you do not have a vision for your call, you are unlikely to achieve the end result that you want.

2) Giving Away The Goods

This goal is simple. Do not give away all of your goods without knowing if the person will even take the time to look at them. If they want you to just send them the information so that they can get you off of the phone, don't do it. Do some digging to see what their level of interest is, or if they're just trying to get rid of you.

3) Poor Telephone Manners

Good phone etiquette seems simple enough to achieve. However, when you are in a stressful situation, you might not even realize what you are doing. Do not chew gum, snack, or attempt to multi-task while you are making a call. Your prospect will be distracted by your poor manners and they may get the wrong impression of you.

4) Not Listening To Your Prospect

If you are struggling to get a read on your prospect, just listen to them. It is easy to monopolize a conversation without even knowing that you are doing it. To get the best insight into your prospect, listen to them. If you don't, you are unlikely to be successful.

5) Making Your Fears The Prospects'

Although you might think that someone is pushing you off because they are busy at the moment does not mean that they don't want to speak to you. Request a better time to reach them and then call them back at that time.

6) Not Asking Enough Questions

There are certain things that you want to find out about a person to know whether or not you would even want to do business with them. So ask some questions. People love to discuss themselves, their families, and other areas of interest to them. People will respond more favorably to you if you show an interest in them.

7) Preparation In Key

You would not go into an important presentation and wing it, and the phone is no different. Spend some time role playing with a friend or your spouse. You want to grab your prospect's attention, not turn them off with you stumbling over your words.

8) Request What You Want

You need to give your prospect a call to action. You want them to follow up with what you're telling them by having them do their own due diligence. By asking them to do something for you, you can then follow up with them and see what their own research turned up. - 15433

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