For most entrepreneurs and sales people, cold-calling leaves them with a feeling of dread.  

Many do everything possible to avoid picking up the phone or knocking on doors.  

 

So why do people fear cold-calling when it is such an important factor of most businesses?  We know there is only so much social networking you can do…eventually  you have to face your prospects.

My clients remind me all the time just how much they fear cold-calling.  Once we begin to discuss how they go about it, it is easy to understand why they feel that way.

The first mistake I see commonly made is they are so focused on the benefits and features they don’t understand their prospects needs.

 

Mistake #1 – Focusing on Benefits and Features rather than Value

If you talk more than you listen…if you ask the wrong questions…if you don’t ask open questions…if you haven’t done your research, you won’t have the information you need to understand the problems of your clients. I mean the deep-seeded problems that keep them up at night.  How can your product or service solve these?

Unless you understand the problems of your prospect, you won’t be able to interest them of the benefits of using your product in a way that will create a sense of need.

Ask yourself this question.  Why would they want to buy your product?  When you have your answer…ask why again…and again.  If you do this a few times, you will have much greater insight into how to influence a buying decision.

 

Mistake #2 – Thinking it is a Numbers Game

It is no wonder people fear cold-calling so much when they believe the old sales adage ‘It’s a numbers game’.

It doesn’t matter how many times we are told to find our niche and focus on marketing to that niche, we still worry that if we do, we might be missing out on a larger audience.

Many people in business waste a lot of time, effort and money targeting the wrong audience. When you target specific industries or market groups that need and want your product then use warm calling techniques, the ‘numbers game’ them becomes more fruitful.

The most successful entrepreneurs understand that only a limited number of people will buy their product or service. The task then becomes determining, as closely as possible, exactly who those people are, and targeting the business’s marketing efforts and dollars toward them.

 

Mistake #3 – Not Expecting Success

It is important to understand the power of the mind and how what we focus on is what we get.  If you think about what would happen if you fail rather than succeed it will sap your energy and your confidence.

When you go into a selling situation visualise what success would look like.  Set goals and imagine achieving them and how that would feel.  Do the same thing at every appointment you attend and every call you make.  Imagine every interaction is successful and you feel inspired with confidence.  You may not necessarily win every deal; no one does; but you will feel great.

To discover the techniques of Authentic Selling order your copy of ‘Good Girls do Sell – The Modern Business Women’s Guide to Authentic Selling’