Every Sale is Different
One mistake many sales people make is thinking every sale will be the same. Every customer will have the same needs. They have an ‘approach’ or ‘pitch’ they are good at and try to make it work for every customer.
This is understandable if you are a new sales person but as you grow you have to realize that just like all people are different, so are all customers.
When you are developing your cold calling strategy you have to remember who you are dealing with and be attentive to the differences between your customers.
When you begin your prospecting be sure you have a firm grasp on who the person you are speaking with is and what their needs are. This is critical to your cold calling strategy.
You can only do this if you have a firm understanding of your product or services so you can quickly adjust your sales pitch as your determine your customer’s need through probing questions.
Although we are not going to get into it today, the art of asking questions is a critical cold calling technique.
Before you begin your sales call make sure you have gathered enough data on your prospect to identify their
needs. This can be done a variety of ways. You can check their website. You can ask other departments of you company if they have done business with this prospect before or a number of other things. The big thing to remember is do not let yourself get the dreaded ‘analysis paralysis’ where you spend your entire day researching instead of just making the cold call.
I saw a statistic not too long ago that said 43% of sales people spent half their day preparing for a sales call. Don’t waste time, spend a few minutes, 15 at most then make the call. If you ask good questions you can find out what you need from the prospect themselves.
Admittedly, it is common for newer sales people to need more time to prepare but as you improve your preparation time should substantially decrease.
Don’t rely on just one method to reach your prospects. Vary your approach throughout the day and week. Vary your approach each time you reach out to a particular prospect. Go through your arsenal of cold calling, networking events, email and social media.
This gives you the a little bit of a break and also allows you to approach the prospect from different angles. Different prospects have different ways they prefer to be contacted, especially ‘upkeep’ calls. I admit, it is very hard to close a deal by email. It typically takes a face to face meeting or at the very least a good phone call. However, keeping in touch and even trying to make that initial contact can be done through a variety of needs. Vary and see what works best for each prospect.
Rarely will you close a deal with one call or visit. It takes persistence; it takes a sustained and many times multilevel approach. Move your cold calls to warm leads to hot prospects to closed deals.
But…don’t stop once the deal is closed. It is easier to keep your existing customers than it is to find new ones. Keep the relationship going and stay in contact on a regular basis.
Read Next: What are the Keys to Developing an Inside Sales Strategy?
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