Cold Calling – The Essential Truth
Steve Mulch
Veritas Group

“I hate to make cold calls.” Well, join the club. Who doesn’t? Over the last five years I’ve taught hundreds of sales people how to make cold calls, and I’ve found very few who enjoyed making them. I even question those who say they do. It’s tough to pick up the phone and call people you don’t know, and ask them to give you some of their precious time to meet with you. Most of us know all too well that the answer is normally “NO,” and just how much rejection does a body need?

I’ve read a number of articles over the years that proclaim cold calling as a lost cause, an ancient ritual in the world of sales. My position is that if you can get all the appointments you need through referrals, in-bound calls, marketing, networking, and never need to make another cold call in your life, then more power to you. The problem for many of us is that we can’t network our way to success.

I’ve been a sales trainer for over five years and spent twenty-five years in corporate sales before starting my sales training company. After training and working with thousands of sales people, I’ve recognized that most people fail to get in front of enough new prospects. Too many sales people rely on either their existing accounts or customers who “just show up,” and they often fall short of making their goals. Don’t get me wrong; I love it when the phone rings, but it doesn’t ring often enough for me the make the living I want to make. Therefore, to make appointments I have to pick up the phone and call people I don’t know.

If I accept the fact that cold calling is a hard reality, then I might as well figure out the best way to do it. Twenty-five years ago Stephen Schiffman wrote Cold Calling Techniques that Really Work. Last year, U.S. News and World Report listed the top fifty business books ever written, and Schiffman’s book was included. If you think about it, for many of us nothing happens until we get in front of a potential buyer, and we can’t get an appointment, we can’t get a sale.

In his book Schiffman outlines a proven process for making cold calls. The steps are relatively simple and straightforward. First, you need to develop a set of lyrics that will establish the basis of your call; get the prospect’s attention, identify yourself, give the reason for the call, and ask for the appointment. That last item is so important. You can’t believe how many people make a cold call but never really ask for the appointment. The mistake many people make is that they start selling over the phone and then hope that someone will invite them in. The purpose of the call is not to start selling – the purpose is to get an appointment – that’s it!

After you’ve started the call and asked for an appointment, you need to be ready for what happens next. Most people are not. You’re going to get a response to your request, many times it’s “no.” There you sit, flat-footed, pretending you’ve never heard it before, and what do you do? You give up. Mr. Schiffman contends that there’s no reason to give up, and there’s certainly no reason to be surprised by the “no.” People tell us “no” all the time, but we pretend we’ve never heard it before. Instead, let’s anticipate the “no” and take that opportunity to turn it around and still go for the appointment. What do you have to lose? Schiffman teaches an extremely effective way to move around the “no” to get a “yes” by anticipating and knowing what to say next. The key is preparation.

Cold calling is never fun, but it’s necessary, and if it’s critical to success, why not learn how to do it well? With confidence comes consistency, and with consistency comes success.