Cold Calling Advice

Have You Used Cold Calling – Here Is Some Advice

Cold calling is a tough job; however it is an essential part of many businesses.  

We at Marketing Quotes have put together some cold calling advice for UK businesses.

Cold calling is an outbound telemarketing service, the hardest part has to be making the first call on that Monday morning. 

Something every telemarketing person fears (no matter what their level of experience) and what every secretary fears receiving at the other end.  The only thing to do to get through it is to crack on and do it. 

The sooner you make the first call, the sooner it will be over with and you are on to your next.

Cold calling takes some getting into, the first few calls are warm ups as you find your feet and get into the swing.  This is the case at the start of every week for any telemarketer.

Coping With Rejection

Every cold caller gets told no, it is a natural part of life and will happen every day.  One thing to bear in mind is that it is not you that is being rejected, but what you are selling. 

Every day people will say no, however you just need to shrug it off and get on with the next cal – they very well may say yes.

Why Do People Say NO

When some people say no, they do not really mean no.  They may mean the time is not right, or the call is at the wrong time, or they have not got time to listen. 

A ‘no’ does not always mean no, just not yet. The important thing is to never give in; if you give in you will fail.  

One of the quality traits of a good telemarketer is tenacity.

Learn About Open And Closed Questions

An essential piece of cold calling advice!  In cold calling you need to learn how to steer a conversation in the direction you want it to go. 

The way that you do this is to learn when to used closed questions (questions that can only be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’) and open questions.  

Closed questions are questions that can only be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  Open questions are What, when why, where, who and how. 

This is taken from Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Just So Stories’ called ‘The Elephant’s Child‘.  Which opens: I Keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew) Their names were What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.  

Knowing how to steer the conversation to the solution you want is a big part of cold calling.

Getting The Name Of the Contact

A key piece of cold calling advice!  

Sometimes, getting the name of a contact and getting past a reluctant secretary can be difficult.  Sometimes without having the name it is impossible to get hold fo the contact.  

There are a few things you can do in order to get round the system:

• If the secretary knows your voice, get a colleague to call instead
• Find out when the secretary is at lunch or on holiday and call then
• Contact a colleague of your contact and get the name from them (as a referral)
• Listen to background chatter – you may hear their name being spoken

Using The Name Of The Contact

A great piece of cold calling advice is to use the contacts name.  Using a name gives power.  If you use the contacts name in a sentence then you are displaying authority. 

You do need to be careful with this as it can be overwhelming so does need to be controlled.

Final Thoughts

We hope that the cold calling advice has been helpful.  It is always hard work and the secret behind it is to be hard nosed and not take things personally.  

Telemarketing has always demanded a level of tenacity and confidence, with these in mind you should be successful.

Should you be looking for telemarketing, we can help you get quotes to compare.  Telemarketing prices do range from agency to agency, so shopping around is wise.

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