{"id":1057,"date":"2020-02-06T13:13:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T18:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2020-02-06T22:47:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T03:47:38","slug":"4-classic-cold-calling-mistakes-danger-will-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/4-classic-cold-calling-mistakes-danger-will-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Classic Cold Calling Mistakes – Danger Will Robinson!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a salesperson, perhaps you’ve noticed that the old “tried and true” cold calling techniques which were once successful have completely lost their effectiveness over the years. They flat out just don\u2019t work anymore. But many salespeople still use them because that\u2019s all they know. They\u2019re working from an old, ineffective cold calling mindset. And they\u2019re making the same mistakes over and over again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to talk about 4 classic cold calling mistakes from the old traditional approach that will put you on the wrong path if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

1. Delivering a strong, enthusiastic sales pitch
\n<\/strong>People almost always feel “pushed” by sales enthusiasm, especially when it\u2019s coming from someone they don\u2019t know. You see, a strong sales pitch includes the unspoken assumption that your product or service is a great fit for the other person. But think about it. You\u2019ve never spoken with them before, much less had a full conversation. You can\u2019t possibly know much about them at this point.<\/p>\n

So to them, you\u2019re just another salesperson who wants them to buy something. And so the walls go up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s much better to modestly assume you know very little about your prospect. Invite them to share some of their concerns and difficulties with you. And allow them to guide the conversation, rather than your pre-ordained, scripted strategy or pitch.<\/p>\n

2. Your goal is to always make the sale
\n<\/strong>When your target in cold calling is to always make the sale, prospects are aware of your agenda. And almost immediately, they\u2019re on the defensive. After all, you\u2019re primarily focused on yourself and the sale \u2013 not on them. In the old traditional mindset, you forge ahead with the hope of getting a sale. You\u2019re coaxing, persuading, and pushing things forward.<\/p>\n

But most cold calls break down the moment the other person feels this sales pressure. Why? Because they don\u2019t know you, and they don\u2019t trust you.<\/p>\n

So the sales momentum you\u2019re trying to create actually triggers a backlash of suspicion and resistance. They\u2019re trying to protect themselves from a potential “intruder” with what appears to them as a self-serving agenda.<\/p>\n

Instead, you can approach cold calling with a different goal. Your focus can be on discovering whether you\u2019re able to solve a problem for the other person. When you become a problem-solver, this feels vastly different to the person you\u2019re talking to. You\u2019re not triggering rejection. You\u2019re calling with 100 percent of your thoughts and energy focused on their needs, rather than on making a sale.<\/p>\n

3. Focus on the end of the conversation \u2013 that\u2019s when sales are lost
\n<\/strong>If you believe that you lose sales because you\u2019ve made a mistake at the end of the process, you\u2019re looking in the wrong direction. Most mistakes are made at the beginning of a cold calling conversation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s at the beginning that you convey whether you\u2019re honest and trustworthy. If you\u2019ve started out your cold call with a high-pressured sales conversation, then you\u2019ve probably lost the other person in just a few seconds.<\/p>\n

When you follow a sales script, strategy, or presentation, then you\u2019re not allowing a natural, trusting conversation to evolve. So the “problem” has been put into motion by your very first words. So the place to put all your focus is at the beginning of the cold call, not at the end.<\/p>\n

4. Overcome and counter all objections
\n<\/strong>Most traditional sales programs spend a lot of time focusing on overcoming objections. But these tactics only put more sales pressure on your prospect, which triggers resistance. And you also fail to explore or understand the truth behind what\u2019s being said.<\/p>\n

When you hear, “We don’t have the budget,” or, “Call me in a few months,” you can uncover the truth by replying, “That’s not a problem.”<\/p>\n

And then using gentle, dignified language, you can invite them to reveal the truth about their situation.<\/p>\n

So move away from the old sales mindset and try this better way of approaching your cold calling. You\u2019ll find yourself being more natural, and others will respond to you in a much more positive way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you found this post useful, please like and share. Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you! And subscribe to my blog so you’ll be notified of new posts. Thanks.<\/p>\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n

Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a salesperson, perhaps you’ve noticed that the old “tried and true” cold calling techniques which were once successful have completely lost their effectiveness over the years. They flat out just don\u2019t work anymore. But many salespeople still use them because that\u2019s all they know. They\u2019re working from an old, ineffective cold calling mindset. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,23,17,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-customers","category-leadstra-engage-differently","category-sales"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/robot-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5EOVe-h3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions\/1066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lee-cornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}