DOES COLD CALLING LEAVE YOU COLD?
Di McLanachan share her view about Cold Calling as a marketing tool that is available to any business, small or large.
The Fear of Rejection or Failure
Imagine the scene – you’ve decided that today’s the day you really are going to ring some potential clients that you’ve never contacted before. In other words, you’re going to make some cold calls. You sit at your desk, you have a list of names and numbers to call, you look at the phone and just as you’re about to reach out and dial, you hear a familiar ‘ping’ from your PC and decide to check your inbox instead. A sense of relief washes over you as your attention switches to this task. Fifteen minutes later, you realise it’s coffee time and as you’re certain that your voice will sound far more confident on the phone after it’s been lubricated, you head for the kettle. And so it goes on……..
You are not alone. Most small business owners hate making cold calls and the fundamental reason is that it invokes two top fears – fear of rejection and fear of failure. These two combined can easily push you right out of your ‘comfort zone’.
Overcoming the fear
So what can you do to overcome this? Take a sheet of paper, head it “What’s the worst that could happen?” and write down the ten most horrific outcomes that you can think of. Include all your worst nightmares, from the phone being slammed down on you, to the person on the other end turning up on your doorstep wielding a machete! Now look at your list. How bad are these really? Apart from the machete option, are any of them life-threatening or could you handle them? Probably the worst that can happen is that the other person says “No”, you eliminate them from your list of ‘possibles’ and move on to the next one.
Cold Calling is effective as a marketing tool
The fact is, cold calling is more effective than sending out a mail shot – whether electronically or by post. Unsolicited and unexpected mail is more likely to be considered ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ and discarded, sometimes before it even gets read. If printing, stationery and postage costs have been incurred, then this can be an expensive waste of time. A phone call provides an opportunity to make personal contact with a potential client, build rapport, gather information and start to generate their interest in your product or service. Follow through with a information ‘pack’ of some kind, which this time will get read because the recipient is expecting it, then call again to book an appointment or close the sale, whichever is more appropriate.
Compliance
Sounds simple, however there is a little more to it than that. Firstly, once you have decided who you want to call, make sure they are not TPS registered. The Telephone Preference System was first introduced in 1999 making it unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls. It was amended in 2003 to include limited companies and corporations, and since 2004, mobile phones can also be registered. A heavy financial penalty can be incurred as a result of calling a TPS registered number so your best option in this situation is to apologise profusely, get off the line and never ring that number again! However, as they say on Crimewatch, don’t have nightmares about this. For more information on TPS, check out www.tpsonline.org.uk
Planning your call
Secondly, before making a call, be clear on the outcome you want to achieve. Making a sale from the first contact is unlikely and if you are intent on achieving this outcome, you may come across as pushy. It is better to focus on establishing who you need to talk to, whether they currently use or have a need for your product or service and ask if you may send them an ‘update’ on what you can offer them. If you have developed a good rapport, you can even ask whether they know of anyone else who might be interested in what you have to offer and this may result in a referral.
How to present yourself
Be aware that on the phone, 80% of your message is conveyed in your tone of voice and only 20% in the actual words you speak. This means that if you speak in a flat monotone, sounding bored, or you speak too quickly, as if you just want to get the call over with, then the person on the other end is unlikely to become very interested in what you have to say. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this type of call from a Call Centre, especially when you suspect that the caller is reading from a script, then I’m sure you know what I mean. Quality rather than quantity delivers much better results. Inject enthusiasm into your voice, after all, if you’re not enthusiastic about what you’re offering, why should anyone else be? Ask questions, really listen to responses and build a conversation from there.
Getting help from the professionals
However, if you still feel that cold calling really isn’t for you but that it would benefit your business, then you could consider using a professional telemarketer to make the calls for you. Unlike most telemarketing companies, Learning Curves does not charge a set-up fee or tie you into a three-month contract. Instead, you decide on a weekly basis how many hours or calls you would like to have made, book a time slot for these and then receive daily e-mail reports of progress, including any requests for information to be sent out. Any database cleanups that are required are included at no extra cost.
For further information about this service, call Di McLanachan on 023-9247-3699