Tag Archives: cold calling

Dignity, Irreverence, Loving Life, Performance, Winning, Wisdom

Vampires Can’t – Neither Can You. Get Invited In.

VampireI was recently talking with a friend of mine who does phone sales and she told me that her company says they are NOT ALLOWED to ask the prospect on the other end of the line if it is a good time to talk.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

She tells me her team is getting clobbered and is truly underperforming and that the job is demoralizing (I think she’ll be leaving soon), but her management INSISTS that they should never ask this question.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

So, it’s time for the Vampire article.

VAMPIRES AND SALES? WHAT?
Yes. Indeed.

In the time-honored tradition of Vampire-lore, it is well-known that Vampires cannot cross the threshold into your home, until they get invited in. The barrier is considered “sacred” and “holy”.

It is the SAME THING with your prospect’s time! You MUST be invited in before you are allowed to start selling – or you will be left bleeding out of your eyes (the sales equivalent is BEING SHUT DOWN and demoralized).

What does this look like?

Continue reading Vampires Can’t – Neither Can You. Get Invited In. →

Authenticity, Creativity, Dignity, Irreverence, Loving Life, Purpose, Top Ten Principles of Selling, Winning

Watch your language!

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Watch your language! I was giving a cold-calling training yesterday and my participant told me that her boss wants her to come up with two scripts….one for talking to a GATEKEEPER and the other for talking to the DECISION MAKER.

Oh, those words he is using! Gatekeeper? Decision Maker? Seriously?

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Let’s talk about Star Wars for a second.

Remember those Storm Troopers – dressed from head to toe in armor and tinted face masks? (If you don’t I’ve included a picture).

Know why they dressed them this way? Well, I might not really know why, but what I’ve HEARD is so that the audience didn’t HUMANIZE them. So, it was OK to kill them. No one would feel a shred of conscience about rooting for the Rebellion to take them all out! Dead!

Watch your language!  Now look.

What does this have to do with my revulsion to the words GATEKEEPER and DECISION MAKER? 

Yup! It takes the HUMAN out of the mix. So, NOW, when you are talking with one of these people, you sound like a GREAT BIG DORK, because the foul language you are using automatically puts you at cross purposes with the HUMAN on the other end of the phone.

See, if you call the person who can connect you to the person you really want to reach, and you call them the gatekeeper….right away you start strategizing ways to get past this nasty person. Kind of like trying to get past the bouncer at a popular club. And, all of your efforts sound disingenuous and HUMANS can smell the stink of  disingenuous from about a mile away!

DECISION MAKER is a little more subtle, but it still conjures up images of a person who is going to pass judgment on high about whether you are going to meet your goals or not. It’s brutal!

So, what language could you use instead? 

Well, for starters, you MIGHT get interested in their name. I’m just sayin’. Then, you might get interested in the role that person plays in the company and why they would even want to talk to you.

If you can’t figure out why they would want to talk to you, then I suggest you don’t pick up the phone in the first place. You will just embarrass everyone in the process (YOU, mostly).

The people who answer the phone are your best friends. They KNOW what the company is up to and they know how to get your call through to the right person … if they care enough to. And, keep in mind, they are interested in doing a good job! They want to do the right thing. Those people have a big fat sniffer for someone who is trying to GET PAST them. Wouldn’t you?

The people who make the decisions are your access to a green light. Right?

So, NOW what do you see? 

All of the people you talk to in your sales process care about something. If you are relating to them as the enemy, they will do their best to keep you out … and out you shall be!

Your job is to leave everyone you speak with feeling that you added value to their day and, even better, feel like a ROCK STAR because they talked to you.

This is where “cold-calling” becomes fun! 

You now are someone that EVERYONE wants to talk to because you care about what makes them successful.

It takes relating to a human being on the other side of the call and making their day.

Now, YOU get to be a DAY-MAKER (instead of a nasty ol’ salesperson) and THEY get to be ROCK STARS!

Think you can do it? 

Love ’em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Creativity, Customer Service, Dignity, Goals, Irreverence, Loving Life, Performance, Purpose, Top Ten Principles of Selling, Winning

Do you have to be COLD to make COLD calls?

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You do not have to be cold to cold call
Cold Calling Myths

Today I was doing my cold calls.

I think about cold calls a lot, the more I talk with solopreneurs and budding salespeople.

Here’s what I realized.

There is a lot of mythology about cold-calling.

There are two visions that people conjure up when they think about cold-calling:

Either they imagine the frustrated cold-caller: locking his jaw, picking up the phone with a clenched fist, hoping that someone won’t actually answer the phone, “Please GOD Please, let it go to voice mail”. Then (when they answer) “Please GOD Please, let them be nice”.

OR

They imagine the Monster Cold-Caller: fangs dripping with the blood she anticipates from her victim.Going for it. Driving and driving and driving – like a machine mowing down everything in her path.

(Genders made up).

It’s not like that for me, and it doesn’t have to be that way

I am not going to pretend that calling on someone I do not know is ever easy. We have a natural resistance to being a pest and feeling like we are wasting someone’s time! THANK GOD for that resistance! It is not something to overcome. It is a reminder that you are an AWESOME human being.

Which brings me to the next mythology:

If you want to be a great cold-caller, you must have a thick skin

People imagine that the great cold-caller can take a “rejection – kick-in-the-teeth” call and move on. Not true.

It doesn’t work to have a thin skin, either, but perhaps the thickness of your skin has nothing to do with it.

A new paradigm

Imagine this. If you were a person who was passionate about your product. You had done as much research as possible about who you are calling to make a conversation about THEM (this takes about 2 minutes, tops!) and you are willilng to consider that there is another person on the other end of the line who has priorities in their day and their lives. And you KNEW that 3 out of every 10 people were going to respond to you favorably.

NOW, how does cold-calling look?

It starts to look like an interesting conversation. An opportunity to connect. A thought about how YOU can make a difference in someone else’s day.

Here’s the rub

There are four muscles YOU MUST develop as a ‘cold-caller’.

1) Creativity – get creative about how to reach the people who will care
2) Emotional Radar – learn to get in “someone else’s world” FAST
3) Vulnerability with Confidence – the ‘hardest’ of all, but the most rewarding
4) A system that you stick to – you’ve gotta do the work. Every week. Sorry!

If you can do those, the world is your oyster

And they are simple skills to build. And trainable. I have trained my sales staff to LOVE outreach. I have a hard time calling my cold-calling “cold”, ‘cuz it rarely is.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Just know that there are ways that you will be LIT UP by your cold calling. AND YOU WILL RULE!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Love your work UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Creativity, Dignity, Guest Posts, Irreverence, Performance, Top Ten Principles of Selling, Winning

A great story! Please join me to listen to the One-Call Close Master tell his stories!

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Selling Fearlessly
Announcing the VaVaVaVoom Selling Fearlessly Book Release Interview

I am excited to announce a special 45-minute telephone event that will ENTERTAIN you on November 8th (and give you some great sales tips, too).

Ever wanted to know how to walk into a COMPLETELY COLD sales call and “BE” the equal to your prospect,  GUIDE  the conversation, while you CONTROL  the environment?  (And,  get the close the first time?)

ME TOO! That is exactly what we are talking about!

On November 8th at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, join me for the VaVaVaVoom (Voyeuristic, Vicarious, Virtual) Selling Fearlessly Book Release Interview with the renowned Robert Terson!

You WILL walk away with stuff no one else is ever likely to tell you (‘cuz, frankly, they don’t know).

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

The great part is, that it’s MOSTLY free. We are offering admission if you’re willing to Pay With A Tweet or simply Opt-In to Irreverent Sales Girl’s email list (don’t worry — I have a strict “I Hate Spam” policy). There will be a surprise give-away at the end to a lucky caller, too!

We’re having a ton of fun putting this event together, and we hope you’ll join us.

Just go to The Irreverent Sales Girl’s Homepage to sign up: http://www.irreverentsalesgirl.com/. You’ll learn all the details there!

Let’s ROCK THIS THING. And don’t keep it to yourself. If you think YOU ARE going to love it, think of a someone else who will, too, and send them along to sign up. (We’re not selling ONE SINGLE THING – just putting together loads of value for you and your career).

Love it UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl