Personally, I don’t think the purpose of a cold call is to make a sale - especially if you are selling a high-ticket item. So, the primary purpose of a cold call is to progress the conversation to the next step. For example, your goal might be to get the prospect to...

If we think about making phone calls to suspects (individuals who are not expecting a phone call) - even if they are qualified because they are in the right position and in the right type of organisation we are trying to reach, we know that it could take multiple...

Regardless of what you sell, one of the most important lessons in professional selling and especially cold calling is that not everyone either needs or wants your products or services. For example, take Apple computers. Although there are tens of thousands of...

When you are about to make cold calls, say at 10 AM on Friday morning, it is important that you are not distracted by anything on your computer. While I would argue that you should not have social media tabs open anyway, if they are, then turn them off or close them...

  Ask someone good at cold calling to listen to you make 20 to 30 minutes worth of calls and then give you feedback and offer you some suggestions. That doesn’t mean to say that you have to change everything that you’re doing (unless you’re doing it all wrong),...

One way you can get your prospect to pay attention to you for the next 20 to 30 seconds when you’re making your first introductory cold call is to name drop an organisation that is a customer of yours from their industry and that they would know about. For example, if...

Let me put it bluntly. If a customer does not like the sound of your voice or what you are saying in the first 10 seconds of an introductory cold call, the chances are very high they won’t be interested in learning more. Even though the script is critical, let me say...

I’m often asked how to write cold calling scripts. We spent a fair bit of time doing this during a cold calling training program across Australia. In saying that, let me share them with you the three parts of a well-planned introductory script. 1. The first part of...

There are only two things that motivate people in any aspect in life. They are, pleasure and pain. In other words, when we pursue pleasure, we try to move toward something. When we avoid pain, we try to move away from something. For example, when it’s time to buy a...

  I’ve seen many well-meaning sales professionals completely blow the opportunity for a meeting with the prospect because they spent way too much time bragging about their organisation or the organisation’s achievements. Most prospects probably don’t know your...

  There has been a lot of research conducted over the last few decades to answer that question, let me share some statistics from the National Sales Executive Association. 2% of sales were made after the first phone call 3% of sales were made after the second...

  The short answer is yes. However, you can increase the odds in your favour by cold calling intelligently. For example, speaking to the right person in the organisation will increase the likelihood of him or her being interested in learning more about what you...