Tag Archives: cold call sales prospecting

Finding sales prospects: three basic rules for locating the decision maker who can in fact say yes to what you offer

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Finding sales prospects, first basic rule: You can make a sale only if you deal with the person who can say Yes to what you offer.

That’s obvious enough, especially if you’re selling to individuals.

But it’s more difficult if you’re selling to organizations. The selling skills you use in finding prospects within organizations in both the public and private sectors is more complicated, as these organizations are filled with people who have only negative decision-making authority.

That is, they have the authority to say No to you, but, no matter what or how good a deal you offer, they’re just not able to say Yes. Saying yes is just not in their job-description. Continue reading → Finding sales prospects: three basic rules for locating the decision maker who can in fact say yes to what you offer

Cold calling: when you CAN use it as a way to make the sale (and HOW to do it)

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Good sales can flow from cold calls. While cold-calling should NOT be your primary way of approaching new prospects, there will be times when it is appropriate as a selling tool.

For example, if you have open time between scheduled calls, consider using it to “smoke-stack” for other leads. (The term arose when sales people would drive around looking for factory smoke-stacks to guide them to industrial prospects. Now most smoke-stacking is done by scanning the list of tenants at the elevators of office towers and entrances to commercial parks.) Continue reading → Cold calling: when you CAN use it as a way to make the sale (and HOW to do it)

Cold call prospecting: What if the prospect pushes you for more detail, too soon?

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Cold call prospecting: your basic strategy on this first introductory phone call, when you are phoning to get an appointment with the prospect or decision maker, is simple: Avoid getting drawn into too much detail, since you can not make the sale over the phone, but can lose it.

But what if, on this introductory phone call the prospect pushes you for more detail on just what it is you do, or how your approach differs from that of your competition? You can’t very well refuse to answer the question, as this prospect would likely then refuse to see you.

 

Keep in mind that at this point your objective is cold calling prospecting, not to try to make the sale over the phone.

 

In cold call prospecting, and in every aspect of the initial pre-meeting phone contacts with the prospect, the key is to speak in terms of overall concepts — especially end-results — without getting into the technical details.

Continue reading → Cold call prospecting: What if the prospect pushes you for more detail, too soon?