10 Cold Calling Tips for Effective Telemarketing

We may want to start by helping you understand the concept behind cold calling. In simple terms, cold calling is the art of calling somebody who is not expecting your call. In today’s business world, it has become an integral part of business model, especially as it relates to marketing. In, fact some companies relies solely on cold calling to get their products and services across to potential clients. It is simply telemarketing in action- that is making contacts with potential customers over the phone line. And bearing in mind the intricacies involved in the proper use of telephone, especially the beyond-the-border kind, it dawns on us that, cold calling if not handled well and in a professional manner, can have a damaging effect to the image of the company, resulting to loss of potential customers. Hence, to gain the best out of telemarketing, every sales person must know as well as apply the following cold calling tips: 1. Prepare before Hand: As a sales person trying to engage potential customers over the phone line, your first weapon of conquest should be thorough preparation; otherwise, you’ve already prepared to fail. How do you prepare? Know and figure out what you want to achieve from a call and note it down, with possible questions you expect from your prospect. Experience and intuition helps you to be accurate in this area. Having captured these, rehearse them so as to internalize them before engaging your prospect. Never try to read from your script. Besides, you would need a plan ‘B’ should your initial approach fails to work. 2. Set Realistic Goals: if you’re new to telemarketing, the best advice for you is to start small and work up from there. Never engage the whole day cold calling on potential clients. With as little as 5 calls a day, you are doing great as a starter. As you learn the rope, you can then move to a higher scale. 3. Talk Slowly, Clearly, but Confidently: Mind you, stage freight is not limited to physical presentation before an audience, in telemarketing, you can face that too. Usually, with a high quest to convince your potential client, there is always this tendency to speak so fast, to get all the information over as quick as possible. When you do that, you lose confidence, and be sure the man over the other end will definitely notice that. And of he hangs it on you. You’ve lost him! 4. Listen to your Potential Client: This is probably the most important, but the least often used tip by many telemarketers. You have to understand that people generally hate being talked at. Give your potential client time to express himself. In fact, you can get more by just listening to him/her, as that might help you understand his/her preferences, prejudice and general value system- great information you really need to scale through successfully. 5. Talk to the Right Person: Don’t waste your whole day calling the wrong persons- in this case, those who are not in position of making decision on an offer. The moment you initiate a call, one thing you should always do without wasting time is to verify if you’re really speaking to the right person- that is the ultimate decision maker. Quickly ask if there is someone else they recommend you to talk with, or else reschedule the call.

6. Use Open Question: By employing the use of words like What? When? Where? Who? Etc, you come up with relevant questions to get your prospective client talking and participating in the conversation, thereby making it possible for you to speak more confidently. 7. Smile and be Cheerful: Remember miserable and awkward feeling can show through your voice, the same goes for a great and cheerful feeling. And you have to know that it is not just what you say that get you sales, but how you say it. It is quite obvious nobody wants to buy from a miserable fellow. So be cheerful and smile while prospecting. 8. Don’t Argue: Be sure to meet some hard people as prospective clients. However, you don’t need to be scared about their harsh approach to your offer. The only thing you should avoid is argument. Remember to go with the mentality that customers are always right, even when they are not. Remain calm and polite amidst tense situation. If you’re constantly coming up against a brick wall, think of different ways to obtain the information you need. 9. Don’t Take it Personal: Remember you’re just a sales person representing a company. So, don’t overtly react to harsh treatment from your prospective client as if you’re desperate to tie him down to your offer. If a call goes bad, the person on the other end of the phone may simply be having a bad day. Losing him today may not be the end of the road; you can win him over tomorrow. 10. Try to always get something out of a Call: You’re not engaged in cold calling to practice ‘trial and error’. Make sure that at the end of the day, you get something out of every call you put across. For instance, if the ultimate aim is to get a face to face meeting with your prospective client, make sure you have a secondary objective, should the primary objective fails to realize. Example could be sending out information and getting commitment to call and follow up, or simply getting an email address.