Right Attitude, Wrong Question
On just about every sales related group on Linkedin, the Focus Expert Network, Quora and Namesake I have seen the question: “Is Cold Calling Dead?” Of course the answers range from hell yes, to hell no and everywhere in between. Unfortunately, this question does not take into consideration the most important factor in sales: the customer.
The question should not be “Is Cold Calling Dead.” The question we should be asking is: “Does calling my customers create value for them?” Because if I’m calling them, emailing them or driving over and knocking on their door and not providing value – this is dead, or at least our customers wish it was.
Sales Done Right Is Always About Value Creation
I was at an electric fence workshop where a buffalo farmer was teaching us how to install and use electric fence. About 10 minutes in a man asked him: “how do you get a 1,200 lb. buffalo to go where you want it to go?” He smiled and said: “You have to make the place where you want them to go look like a place where they would want to be.” If you create value for customers, they will want what you have. Leave the pushy salesman at home.
Make It a Conversation, Not a Sales Call
People really don’t want to hear about your products, but they usually love to talk about their businesses. Engage them in a valuable and interesting two-way exchange of ideas, and few people will turn you away. Ask questions about THEM, their business, their goals, their interests. Your goal in the early days of the relationship should be to have more valuable conversation, forget about making a sale for now. Put it out of your head completely. Early conversations should be about earning trust, building relationship and understanding the business landscape. Death to the “cold call.” Long live the conversation that adds value and helps me grow my business.
- When you get calls from salespeople, do you ever listen and talk with them? Why? Why not?
- Are you interesting, knowledgeable, sincere and engaging?
- How do you create value for your customers? How do you make the place you want them to be look like the place where they want to be?
Check out these related posts:
“Is Cold Calling Dead?” by Tibor Shanto
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The question isn’t whether cold calling still is apropos; The question is Do you know how to engage the prospect, arouse her interest so she’ll value the precious time shared with you? As I said in another comment I made this morning: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Salespeople make calls, give presentations; the point of providing value to the prospect as the focus of the call has always been, and continues to be, right on. Article was short but pithy; a worthy read.
Of course cold-calling isn’t dead. It’s how I’ve been starting every work day this month. And it isn’t easy–getting a calling list, qualifying leads, not sounding like a schmuck on the phone, offering a service that people want to buy.
I would much rather be redesigning PowerPoint presentations (really, I would!) than picking up the phone, but people aren’t exactly beating my door down looking to hire me.
As a sole proprietor making my own calls, it’s tricky not feeling personally rejected when people say “no.” But I know that not everybody is going to need my services all of the time, and it’s important to keep my name out there and start conversations with likely prospects for those times when they do.
I still have to be comfortable with cold calling. I am the shy type and is not easy for me to communicate to people I don’t know.
That’s ironic, given that your business is door-to-door solicitation.. but I believe this is a struggle for most of us, for our own reasons. One way I have developed confidence is to remember that the reason I’m calling is important and valuable, not to everyone, but definitely to the right people. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called someone and they have said: “I’m glad you called. You’re timing is perfect!”