It’s right up there with the fear of death, the IRS and public speaking: making cold calls. For most entrepreneurs – and even for a lot of sales pros – the last thing they want to do is telephone, e-mail or drop in on a potential customer who has no idea whatsoever they’re about to be pitched.
But cold calling can be a great way to generate business , and in the case of your business, maybe even the best way. It is possible to be good at it through certain cold calling techniques, which can take a lot of the sting away from having to cold call.
Perform due diligence
Before you ever pick up the phone or Mapquest that prospect’s address, it’s crucial that you know as much as possible about your target. At a minimum, that means you’ve got to understand their individual role in the company and just why the business is so interesting to you. There’s nothing worse than wasting someone’s time with a cold call (it doesn’t do you any good, either), and nothing better than impressing a prospect with your knowledge of their business strategy and needs.
Grease the skids
It can’t hurt to send a prospect an e-mail, or deliberately leave them an off-hours voicemail just to let them know that you’re going to be calling. In some strange way, this little ‘wedge message’ can create a low-grade sense of obligation in your target to actually take your call!
Be upfront
There’s no reason to beat around the bush about what the purpose of your call is: you want to this person’s business card.
Copyright 2009 StartupNation, LLC
Click here to read more from StartupNation