Saturday, November 22, 2008

Cold Calling Mistakes - 8 Things You Should NOT Do!

By Brian McCoy

1) Purpose Of The Call

Before you even pick up the phone, you need to have a clear idea of your intention and goal for the call. Do you have a direction that you want your prospect to head in after speaking to you? If you do not have a vision for your call, you are unlikely to achieve the end result that you want.

2) Don't Give It All Away Too Fast

When your prospect says, "Send me some information," that does not translate into them reading that information. Do not oblige them and send information just as a means to get off of the phone. Find out if they really want the information, or if they are just trying to get rid of you.

3) Bad Telephone Etiquette

We all know what good etiquette is, but sometimes we don't even realize when we're not following it. Avoid smacking your gum, eating, multi-tasking, or having distractions in the background while you're making calls. Not only will it be distracting to the prospect, but also to you.

4) Not Listening To Your Prospect

If you want to get a good idea about what your prospect thinks, you need to listen up. Make sure to ask questions, rather than monopolize the whole conversation. If you don't listen, you won't have success.

5) Making Your Fears The Prospects'

Just because your client is busy at the moment does not mean that they do not ever want to talk to you. Do not read negativity into somewhere that it is not. Just because you are afraid that they don't want to talk to you, doesn't mean that they don't.

6) Not Asking Questions

To find out what you need to know about your prospects, it is critical that you ask enough questions so that you can qualify them. Everyone loves to talk about their own life experiences, their family, and other things that interest them. By asking the right questions, you will build rapport and show interest in what is important to them.

7) Not Being Prepared

You would not go into an important presentation and wing it, and the phone is no different. Spend some time role playing with a friend or your spouse. You want to grab your prospect's attention, not turn them off with you stumbling over your words.

8) Request What You Want

You need to give your prospect a call to action. You want them to follow up with what you're telling them by having them do their own due diligence. By asking them to do something for you, you can then follow up with them and see what their own research turned up. - 15275

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