Tag: Top Ten

Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 10).

Mistake #10 – Calling the same day and / or time of day over and over again, or calling the same person over and over again the same day.

D'ohAlbert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is “…doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”

 

One of the basic tenets behind The Appointment Making Formula™ is having a plan (we call them Best Practices) and then employing technology (we use a specialized tool—the Science of the Art, Science and Best Practice of Appointment Making), called PROSPECTING from Contact Science. it works as a front end to CRMs) to  enable the efficient application of the Best Practices and track what you do so that you can leverage what works and change what doesn’t.  Continue reading “Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 10).”

Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 9).

Mistake #9 – Not letting the target know when this attempt is the last one.

D'ohMany participants in our Prospector’s Academies™ say is that no one returns voicemails anyway, so why bother leaving them?  Well, here’s the biggest reason of them all to do so! Continue reading “Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 9).”

Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 8).

Mistake #8 – When leaving voicemails, not saying our phone number s-l-o-w-l-y and repeating it. 

D'ohIf you’re old enough to remember who Andy Rooney was, you might recall he would whine things like, “Have you ever gotten a voicemail with a telephone number left so rapidly that you had to listen to it multiple times before you got the whole number?”  Well, I have and I know you have as well because it is all too common.  Continue reading “Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 8).”

Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 7).

Mistake #7 – Not leaving voicemails, or leaving long winded ones.

D'ohThe advertising industry says that it takes seven to nine touches for someone to even remember our name, let alone our message, so why waste the opportunity for two of those touch points (a voicemail and a complementary email) each time you dial.   Continue reading “Top 10 mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 7).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 6).

Mistake #6 – Asking leading questions.

D'oh“You would like to save money wouldn’t you?”  Remember, less than five percent of the people we call think they are in the market for what we’re selling when we call.  If they don’t think they need us and don’t want to talk to us (because we’re also interrupting them), this kind of question backs them into a corner (how can they say no to that question without sounding like an idiot). It is offensive and does nothing but annoy them even more at the interruption. The result: We’ve just made our own job more difficult. Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 6).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#5).

Mistake #5 – Winging it on each call.

D'ohMistake number four talked about not internalizing our message so that we sound like we’re reading it.  The alternative to internalizing the message is just to wing it on each call thinking that this makes us sound more ‘natural’.

The problem with doing it that way is that if we deliver a different message each time, we can’t predict, and therefore, limit the number and types of responses we’ll get.  That makes the task of handling those Negative Conditioned Responses even more difficult. Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#5).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#4).

Mistake #4 – Not internalizing the message so we sound conversational and confident.

D'ohOne of the biggest excuses I hear sales professionals use when they say they don’t want internalize (or memorize) what they are going to say on a cold call is they don’t want to sound like the proverbial telemarketer.  They complain that those callers just seem to be reading their scripts in a monotone voice.

Actually, I couldn’t agree more.  That occurs when we don’t take ownership of our message and internalize it until we sound conversational.  If we’re reading a script, we do sound like the proverbial telemarketer.  Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#4).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#3).

Mistake #3 – Assuming we can help them improve what they are currently doing.

D'oh“I can save you money over what you’re paying today!”  or “I can make you more productive and save you time!”  Have you ever had someone call you with a message like these? Or worse than that, do you say it yourself?  If it’s not in the opening message as the reason we’re calling, a lot of us trying to set an Initial Appointment resort to this approach as we try to talk the person we’re calling into meeting with us.  When someone calls me and I hear that, I get even more annoyed at the interruption than I was when I realized this was a cold call. Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (#3).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 2).

Mistake #2 – Telling the target all about what we can do for them.

D'ohAs we discussed in the first Blog in this series, too few of our targets think they need what we’re selling when we call them, so why do we think telling them all about what we can do for them will work? They are not listening to the message at this point. They are concentrating on how to get rid of us.

Instead, we should offer to share with them the results someone else in their position received from using what we sell.  Why? Because psychologists tell us that most of us (even the most successful) have a basic insecurity, so we think that others know some little secret we don’t—and that is making them more successful than us.) Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 2).”

Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 1).

Mistake #1 – Believe the first Negative Response we hear is true and attempt to counter it with logic.

D'ohThere are two ground rules our targets play by when they receive an appointment setting call of any kind.  Discounting this reality simply makes our job more difficult. Ignore them at your peril.

When we place an appointment making call, we must understand that the person we’re calling really doesn’t think they need to talk to us.  Our surveys show that less than 5% of the targets in any sales professional’s universe of potential customers believes they are in the market for what we’re selling when we call them. Continue reading “Top 10 Mistakes cold callers make on the phone (# 1).”