Introductory Cold Call Sales Prospecting Tips

cold call mew customer prospecting — George Clay

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of cold call new customer prospecting.

But before you make those calls know that trouble awaits if your cold call has too much talking and not enough listening.
This update from Harvard Business Review On-Line has more info.
It’s about our all too common need to talk too much.
Bottom Line: You learn by listening. And nowhere is that more true (and valuable) than with introductory cold call sales prospecting.
To make your sales prospecting easier and way less stressful here are five tips I think you will find useful.
Cold Call New Customer Prospecting Tips
Give these tips a shot…not all at once, but one here, one there. Be patient… stick with my strategy. You’ll see positive results…especially with your introductory cold call sales prospecting.

OK, let’s get started.

Never “Wing It”. Always use a script. It keeps repetitions, omissions and improper sequencing out of your pitch. They spell trouble when you prospect new customers.

Keep It Short. Make your introduction brief and to the point. How brief? Twenty to thirty seconds! That’s all you get. So be accurate, concise,and persuasive. Are you starting to see why you need a cod call script?

Relax. Dialog and delivery in movies, TV, and plays flows from carefully crafted scripts. Yet these staged conversations sound completely natural and spontaneous. Effective prospecting is no different.Subtle inflections and pauses make your presentation more natural and far more believable.
For my cold call new customer prospecting I use TeleMagic to keep notes on what each prospects tells me during my call.

Prospect Qualify. Good prospects…weak prospects? Find out who’s who by asking specific questions. For example, “Does this interest you?” Or “When would you like me to recontact you”? Make prospect qualify questions part of every prospecting script!

Test,Test,Test —-but control your variables carefully. Be especially careful with key words or phrases. You might think they don’t matter, but they do! So once you find a winning script, stick with every word of it!

There you go, five ways to jump start your sales prospecting. Questions? Email or call me. I’ll do my best to help you. And please…send me your feedback once you give those tips a try.

Improve Your Cold Call New Customer Prospecting

Get updates on cold call phone prospecting to help grow your business —especially in this economy.

Also, go here for DMA 2012 response rate reports for lead generation marketing media. Plus this Advertising Age update on B2B phone marketing.

Also, for further study:

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It’s not Glamorous! But small business owners like the RESULTS they get with my business development phone prospecting.