The first key is to identify specific problems prospects are dealing with before you make your presentation. Unless this is done, you’re flying blind. Your presentation may hit the target in terms of offering solutions that meet the company’s needs and problems. On the other hand, it may not. Success is entirely a matter of chance.

This may seem like a time-consuming task, but all you really need to do is make sure you understand what your potential clients’ problems are. This way, the conversation can focus on those problems or issues. Just as in your initial cold call, you’ll no longer be forced to pitch your solution, which is probably what your audience has experienced with virtually all the presentations they’ve witnessed.

If you don’t have a solid grasp of the problems that your prospects are hoping to solve, how can you do your very best to meet their needs? You may miss the mark entirely. As a result, your presentation would be a waste of their time — and yours.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

Let go of thinking “buyer-seller,” and view the person you’re calling as another person, not as a “prospect.”The traditional cold calling mindset teaches us to polarize our roles. We’re trying to sell something, and we aren’t seeing the whole picture which includes the other person’s thinking. The old cold calling approach has become so artificial that potential clients put up their guards almost immediately. It’s denigrated the sales process into a painful “push and pull” process.

Shift your mindset into seeing your potential clients as people first. This will help you relate to them better. And the broader picture will allow you find out whether your product or service can be of help to them without being pushy or artificial.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

Here’s something very surprising. Allow the conversation to end without chasing other person into an sales appointment or commitment, and the other person will often be the one who initiates further contact. So when you feel as if the conversation is coming to a natural conclusion, you can simply say, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?”

This question reassures potential clients that you’re not using the conversation to fulfill your own hidden agenda during your cold call. It invites the other person to take charge of where things are going, and all you need do is follow along. When you stop chasing the sale, you’ll be truly surprised at how often the sale gently awaits you within a friendly conversation focusing on the needs of others.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

If you’ve been selling for a while, you’ve probably used a sales script. Perhaps using a script is the only way you know to start a cold call. But people can almost always tell when you’re reading from a script, even if you think you’re pretty good at it. There’s just nothing personal about it, and people pick up on that.

A script isn’t a conversation. It’s a linear process designed to move the other person toward a sale. You’re not having a real dialogue when you’re using a script. So nothing is “real” about the whole encounter. A conversation, on the other hand, is a living, breathing relationship. You’re two real people, talking normally and naturally.

So when you’re just being yourself, the other person’s walls can come down. Because you’re not coming at them with one-way sales strategy. So your cold calls typically last longer. You’ll make fewer calls, and have better results.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

In the old approach, you introduce yourself, explain what you do, and suggest a benefit or feature of your product. And then you close your eyes and pray that the other person will be interested. Unfortunately, the moment you stop talking you usually hear, “Sorry, I’m busy,” or “Sorry, I’m not interested.”

You see, you’ve started your cold call by talking about your world and what you have to offer. But realistically, most people aren’t all that interested in you. When you talk about your company and your product, it’s just another advertisement to them. You haven’t engaged them, so they often just “turn the page.”

Prospects are much more interested in themselves and what’s important to them. So if you start the conversation by focusing on their world, they’re more likely to interact with you. So instead, talk about an issue or problem they may need solving. Focus on them rather than on what you have to offer. And see where it takes you.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

Most selling programs are designed to coax the client into buying before you have trust and connection with them. But strategies and “forward moving” techniques are based on your world, not the potential client’s.

This usually causes an immediate negative reaction during your cold calls. People don’t like being pushed by someone else’s agenda, especially someone they don’t know. So let go of “driving” a conversation forward. Instead, open your cold call with a statement focused on a problem they probably have, and one that will invite a question from them.

And also allow your ending comment to be more inviting than directing. For example, end with the phrase, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?” This lets the conversation move on its own without your herding things into pre-planned box.

Practicing this will take your ability to communicate with potential clients to a level you never thought possible. You’ll avoid situations that turn into a buyer and seller role and the sales pressure this creates. You’ll also find yourself speaking in a gracious manner, and your potential clients will be comfortable with the interaction. This translates into more clients and revenue, plain and simple.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

Let’s be honest. Cold calling isn’t easy. So there are probably lots of times when you’ve actually been relieved that you didn’t reach a prospect personally. You weren’t really thrilled to leave a voicemail message, but you “had” to. You know that leaving voicemails means you probably won’t get a return call. But it feels better than going back to the receptionist, who is likely to challenge you.

The Receptionist Gatekeeper

Receptionists are often expected to act as gatekeepers to protect employees from sales calls. So they often do challenge callers with questions like, “Who is this?” or “What is this in reference to?” or “Is he expecting your call?”

With the traditional cold calling mindset, you probably dread these challenges as much as you dread actually reaching your prospect directly on the phone. It’s no wonder you tend to choose the path of least stress by leaving a voicemail. And then you go on to the next call on your list.

It’s almost as if you feel relieved when you can leave voicemails because you avoid having to deal with the other person’s suspicion that you’re trying to sell them something. And by not going back to receptionists, you avoid being challenged by them as well. So by the time the day is over, you might feel good because you’ve played the “numbers game.” You’ve made a lot of calls. The need for “activity” has been satisfied. But you haven’t really connected with anyone.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

How can we make cold calls “work” when we’re talking to someone we haven’t met, about something they may not need? Well, it’s really simple. First we look at how to relate to them rather than hoping they’ll relate to us and our solution.

When we approach cold calling with a question about what their needs are, potential clients respond much more readily to the idea of talking with us. In the software industry you might sell software to improve the productivity of an organization. What you want to do is focus on the problem that you solve specifically.

What most software salespeople do in cold calling is say, “Hi, we sell software to help improve productivity.” But that doesn’t really identify the problem it solves. You have to focus specifically on an issue. So, for instance, the software might solve a problem with lost paper-based documents. That’s a very specific issue. In this case, I might call and say,

“I’m just calling to see if your company is having issues with lost paperwork because of manual paper-based filing systems.” See how specific that is? It’s very directed to the problem in their world. This is in contrast to, “I want to see if your company is looking to buy some software or looking to improve productivity,” or something similar.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

Our objective is not to pursue people to make a sale in this new way of cold calling. It is to uncover the truth of their situation and to be okay with the outcome, whether it’s a “yes” or a “no.” So we can begin to feel more comfortable hitting “0” when we get someone’s voice-mail. Because we then have an opportunity to go back to the receptionist and begin a dialogue based on asking for help.

Here’s how the dialogue might go:

“Hi, maybe you can help me out for a second? I’m trying to get hold of Mike and I got his voice-mail. Would you happen to know if he’s at lunch, or on vacation, or in a meeting by any chance?” Here, you aren’t just asking to find Mike. And you’re also providing possible solutions to finding Mike. This helps the receptionist feel as if he or she is part of the problem-solving process. The receptionist is likely to offer one of two responses.

The first is,

“Yes, he’s in a meeting (or at lunch or on vacation) and I’m not sure when he’ll be back at his desk.”

This answer has just given you a lot more information than you would have if you had just left a voice-mail. Now you know your contact’s whereabouts in real time and you can call back at a more appropriate time.

The second response is,

“No, I don’t know where he is.”

In this case, you would reply,

“That’s not a problem…”

This low-key statement diffuses any possible pressure that the receptionist might be feeling about not being able to answer your question. Try this way of approaching the situation of voice mails, and you’ll be surprised and pleased at how often it becomes a highway instead of a dead end.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com

In the old traditional cold calling techniques, you usually start cold calls by talking about yourself and what you have to offer. But that’s an approach that quickly introduces sales pressure into the conversation. Why? Because whenever someone hears your mini-pitch, it’s clear that you want to make a sale.

And now they have to respond to that expectation, which means there’s a push-pull feel to the interaction.  So instead, try starting your conversation by focusing on a need or issue you know the other person is likely facing. Step into their world and invite them to share whether they’re open to exploring possible solutions with you.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com