Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham» no fear cold calling

Cold Calling Sucks & It’s Only Going To Get Worse…

Gavin Ingham — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:26:27 +0000

I was the motivational speaker at a sales conference the other day and one of the Sales Directors came up to me to ask about the future of cold calling. He explained that he had a sales team of some 100+ salespeople and that they all had to set up their own appointments and that one of the primary ways of doing this was on the phone. He went on to describe what a nightmare this was and how it was seemingly getting harder every day.

I won’t bore you with the whole conversation but I am sure just a few snatches of it will feel familiar…

“… changing markets… increased competition… no names policies… voicemail… gatekeepers… competition from abroad… clients getting too many calls… client indifference… inability to distinguish calls… just a numbers game… necessary evil… falling conversion levels… more calls required to stand still… demotivated staff…”

In frustration, he had searched the internet high and low looking for an answer but, far from finding one, all he had found was oodles of expert opinion and networks of websites dedicated to tolling the bell for the death of cold calling, gurus explaining how it would not / could not / will not work and explanations for why social media, new marketing and sales 3.0 were the only way forward…

Sheesh! Cold calling is one of the most divisive subjects in selling. You cannot start a conversation on cold calling in any sales training forum without igniting the age old debate… Does it work, doesn’t it work, is it dying…? Lah! Lah! Lah! You might as well argue about chickens and eggs but I have my metaphorical fingers firmly in my metaphorical ears because I don’t care…

Truth 1! Cold calling doesn’t work and is a fruitless activity for most sales and business people. They might as well give up as it does not get them results.
Truth 2! Cold calling is an incredibly powerful strategy that many top salespeople utilise ALONGSIDE other lead generation strategies to acquire new prospects, clients and business.

Difficult to reconcile? Not really. The more flexible you are in your approach to sales and marketing and the more options you have at your disposal, all the better. As with many things in life, you can choose to believe whatever truth you want to believe so my question to you is simple…

Would it be more useful for you to have some really good reasons and argument for why cold calling doesn’t work anymore or would it be better if you had proven, cold calling strategies that win new business in any economy?

If your answer is the first one then good luck and goodbye to you but if it is the latter then that is what I’m going to help you to attain… AND I am going to do it in a way that even the most phone shy, nervous cold callers can understand and implement. The world has changed, the economy has changed, your market has probably changed and so too your sales approach and sales habits should have changed.

If you work with a sales team or friends who would benefit from these awesome tips and strategies then email them now and tell them to sign up to my sales success newsletter to ensure that they get cold calling secrets right into their email box. Here are what just two delegates had to say after one of my half day seminars last month…

“It was realistic, motivational, client focused and entertaining. Result: 4 very significant meetings booked, doors opening and winning more business. I would recommend Gavin and his product without question. Do it!”

“Brilliant day with Gavin, with immediate results. Meetings booked immediately after going to the course.”

Here’s a thought to get you thinking about things for next week…

Why do most cold calls fail?

I’ll start to answer this next week but in the meantime, and if you already know how much impact my unique sales seminars have then you can book on the first full day open cold calling sales seminar I have run in several years now.

Cold Calling For New Business

Gavin Ingham — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:58:43 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows what I think about cold calling as part of a balanced diet of lead generation strategies… it’s not for everybody, nor is it for every business, few people know how to do it properly BUT done well, with the right mindset, skills and strategies and when focused on being client centric it can form a powerful and effective way of bringing in new business. I have more than enough stats and examples to prove this and I also believe that the more divorced mediocre sales wanabes become from how to do it properly, the more effective and impactful it will be for those who do it well.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my readers, who is in recruitment, said that he was going to focus on cold calling, recording his stats and noting his successes and his feelings about it. He is breaking into a new market so these are pure cold calls. Now, I have no idea about the skill levels of this reader nor of the approach he is using but when he sent his initial stats and thoughts through I thought that you might be interested in seeing them. I am going to add nothing, so here is exactly what he sent me…

Here’s a brief synopsis of the weeks so far.

10/02 – 10 calls
11/02 – 10 calls
Comments: Just warming up.

14/02 – 10 calls
15/02 – 10 calls
16/02 – 10 calls
17/02 – 10 calls
18/02 – 8 calls
Comments: 3 jobs picked up, one interview. Starting to find my groove.

21/02 – 10 calls
22/02 – 10 calls
23/02 – 10 calls
24/02 – 14 calls
25/02 – 8 calls
Comments: Another interview arranged for the following week. More jobs pulled in. Starting to get a swagger and be confident, fearless and polished on the phone. Finding that cold calling relentlessly and consistently lifts my game in every other area of recruitment and that I’m walking down the street with a spring in my step.

28/02 – Day off (annual leave)
01/03 – 0 calls
02/03 – 0 calls
03/03 – 0 calls
04/03 – 7 calls
Comments: Felt very sluggish and brain still on holiday at the start of the week. Experienced “deal paralysis” when an offer came through, trying my damndest to close it. Initially closed it but I fear the worst for that placement, small though it is. Interview arranged for a CEO opening I’m working on. Lots of candidate calling (cold) for CEO role but I haven’t counted this as candidates don’t pay us – the employer does, hence I’m measuring client calls only.

Lessons: It’s very easy to get distracted from sales calls, the best thing to do is to get them done as early as possible in the day. Getting straight back onto the wagon on 07/03.

Now Is The Time For Sales Heroes

Gavin Ingham — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:26:06 +0000

“It’s not affected me yet!” That’s what most salespeople and busines owners were saying to me about their sales results, when booking motivational speeches and sales training programmes, until a few months ago, “It’s not affected me yet!” Few clients or business people that I meet are saying that now. Far from it. 6 months ago most were hoping that this “correction” (“credit crunch”, “recession”… call it what you will) was going to pass them by if they kept their heads down. They figured that they’d heard doom and gloom from the media before and that it would all blow over and everything would be back to business as normal.

It seems that may not be the case and that with every passing day things keep seeming to get worse. Banks seem to be failing with alarming regularity, no financial institutions seem to be safe and many companies are making redundancies and cost-savings. Everyone seems to be battening down the hatches preparing for the worst.

On a personal level many people are worried about their savings, their investments and their jobs. And don’t even get me started on pensions! This lack of confidence is being carried back into the workplace and is affecting many salespeople, business people and entrepreneurs in the way that they act, how they behave and how they sell – in work and out of it.

Companies are acting the same way and are being cautious; very cautious. And rightly so. It’s right for companies to be pulling in their belts and preparing for what could well be tough times ahead. It’s right for companies to be prudent in how they spend their money. It’s right that we all reassess what we spend our hard earned cash on.

The times of credit, credit , credit are over… probably for good… and this is going to make the job of a professional salesperson harder in the future, potentially much harder, but also very, very important.

In the boom times that we have been experiencing, many salespeople didn’t need to be very good at what they did. I have long said that many so called salespeople in many supposedly high-end industries were little more than order takers. Well if there ‘aint no easy orders, there ‘aint going to be much for them to do in the future.

I have privately, and to my inner circle, predicted that many salespeople had a rude awakening coming when their markets changed and that failing to invest in themselves, their own personal development, their sales career and failing to learn to sell properly was like sleep walking into a furnace – lethal if you don’t realise you have before the door shuts behind you!

This is serious. This isn’t no X-Factor, fantasy football or fairy tale; this is real life and real life doesn’t rely on one good song to make your fortune and get you out of the smelly stuff. Real life requires consistent work to improve and better yourself and your business. Real life requires consistent effort and motivation. Real life requires you to have the ability to get up again when all around you give up.

Real life requires sales heroes.

Sales heroes know that they have to keep getting up when all around them fall. Sales heroes know that they have to keep persisting when all around them give up. Sales heroes know that they need to be 100% on top of their game.

Let’s get one thing straight, there is still business out there. You may have to work harder to get it. You may have to work smarter to get it. You may have to be a better salesperson than you are today to get it. But get it you can, if you want to and if you’re prepared to put the effort in.

One area that deserves more effort and energy in today’s markets is prospecting. Prospecting is the very life blood of salespeople and is essential in all markets and critical in tough markets like the ones that we currently face. Prospecting is the very air that you and your business require to breathe. But it’s an area that many sales and business people do not do consistently enough. And one area of prospecting that is avoided studiously by many is cold calling…

Many salespeople believe that cold calling doesn’t work – they don’t know how to do it properly.
Many salespeople don’t get the results that they deserve when cold calling – they don’t know the correct skills.
Many salespeople aren’t consistent enough cold callers – they don’t know the mindsets and strategies of sales superstars.
Many salespeople do no prospecting other than cold calling – they’re one-trick-ponies and no-one likes that!

Cold calling may not be right for every industry and for every product, service or solution but in many industries and situations cold calling is a proven, measurable and cost-effective strategy for creating new leads, new opportunities and new clients. As part of your lead generation strategy, cold calling more than likely will have an important role to play.

I recently recorded some short video clips on various sales training and business development subjects which were going to be sold as bitesize sales training and development clips but I have decided that special times require special actions so on my website you will find a short, snappy 10 minute video on how to become a confident and effective cold caller.

Its’ yours to watch for free, all I ask is that when you have benefited from this clip, please forward it to a salesperson colleague, a sales manager or a friend who will also benefit and encourage them to join my Sales Success newsletter too. I have embedded the video from Youtube so that it is easy for you to forward the video or you can just forward the link to the free sales training, cold calling webpage.

http://www.gaviningham.com/2008/10/10/10-tips-for-confident-cold-calling-sales-training-video-1/.

I suspect there are going to be some more bad news headlines this week and plenty more doom and gloom from the media. Why not join me and swim against the current this week? It’s time for us salespeople to take a hold of this economy… watch and enjoy my video and then get out there and make things happen for you and for your business. I know that’s what I am going to do.

Have a great week and sell with passion.