Cold calling tips can help small business sales people to make effective sales appointment calls, and grow their business. Anyone can build basic cold calling scripts in just a few minutes and start making sales appointments today. Many sales people fear or hate making cold calls, but with these basic appointment setting tips you'll gain confidence and soon become skilled at making sales appointments
Think of your cold calls in three stages: The introduction where you present you, and your small business. Sales questions to qualify the prospect as someone you could sell to, and the third stage is where you ask for their agreement to meet with you. Now look at these cold calling tips for each stage of the call and add them to your cold calling scripts for making sales appointments.
Cold calling tips for the Introduction stage of the calls
When you introduce yourself and your product or your small business, keep it brief. Only use the necessary information to communicate who you are and what your small business sells. They don't need your life story or the full history of your company. If your small business sales have something unique to offer then make sure you include it. Phrase it as a benefit to the prospect. Write down your own cold calling scripts for each stage of the call and stick to only the information you need to include. Practice how you will present you and your business to the prospect. Then, when your introduction sounds right, add it to your cold calling script.
The most important of all the cold calling tips is to include a really good reason for your cold call. Take your time developing this line for your sales appointments calls. It is the line that will motivate the prospect to listen to you. If you get this wrong you can lose the chance of making any sales appointments. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and ask yourself what would you want to hear? What potential benefits can your small business offer a buyer that will make them want to meet with you?
Cold calling tips on how to ask qualifying sales questions
Don't make the mistake of writing a list of sales questions to ask the prospect. When you ask questions from a list you lose the relationship with the buyer. People soon tire of having to think of a new answer between each question they are asked. Instead of a list of questions, use this cold calling tip. Write a list of the information you require from the customer. This is the information you need to decide if you can sell to this customer and that you want to make a sales appointment with them.
Then use your list of information as a checklist while using normal conversation skills to gather the information that you need. Start by asking wide open questions such as, 'Tell me about... or, Explain to me...' Then use more specific questions to pin point the detail. This sales questioning technique works really well in cold calling scripts because it keeps the prospect talking and uses the questions to direct the conversation.
Asking for commitment to the sales appointment
Getting the customer's attention during the introduction stage of a cold call is important and sales people invest in learning sales skills for that stage of the call. But many people fail to build an effective cold calling script for the agreement gaining stage of the sales appointment call. When setting appointments by telephone you have to have an agreement gaining strategy that will work. Try these cold calling tips on asking for the appointment.
Don't ask if they will agree to a sales appointment with you. Instead ask when they are available to meet with you, or if they are available on a specific day or at a certain time. When making sales appointments give the buyer a great reason why they should meet with you. Explain about the possible benefits to them that your small business could offer. But do not get further into the sale than you want to. If your product or service is better sold face to face then hold back on the selling until you meet with them. I've always found it a bad idea to get into conversations about price on the sales appointment call. Use the price as a reason to meet with the buyer. Tell them you need to meet to discuss price and think of a good reason why.
What you are saying to the prospect is, so that I can show you the full benefits, we should meet and I can give you all the information you need to make a decision on whether to take it further. As with all good sales appointment training you should put that last sentence into your own words and write it into your cold calling script. You are not asking for a buying decision on your appointment cold call. You are only looking to secure the appointment. When you have given a good reason for meeting with you, ask them if they are available at a specific time. You are not asking if they will meet with you, you are presuming that because there is a potential benefit for them, the sales appointment is the next logical step.
I'm Stephen Craine and I'm a working sales manager. These cold calling tips are the basics of building effective sales appointment scripts. To add more sales skills to your calls, and grow your small business sales, you can get a free sales training workbook course on how to cold call to make sales appointments at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/free-sales-training.html
There's no cost, no need to register or leave any details, just open it, start using it today, and you can even save it and pass it on to others. For more sales training on all other stages of the sales process you can click around my website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com
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