You know, one of the reasons cold calling is so difficult is that sometimes you may not be very familiar with the other person and their business. When you make that first call, you don’t know very much about their issues, problems, budget, and time constraints. Chances are, not everyone is going to benefit by your product or service.

So realistically, your company or product isn’t going to be a match for everyone. And yet, when someone brings up an objection (“we don’t have the budget for that,” etc.), the old cold calling mindset trains you to “overcome,” “bypass,” or “override.”

But when you do that, you put the other person on the defensive. Something they’ve said is being dismissed. And here’s where rejection can happen very suddenly.

So it’s much better to listen to their concerns and continue to explore whether what you’re offering makes sense for them. There are some wonderful phrases you can use that validate their viewpoint without closing the conversation.

So now you’ve discovered the major cold calling mistakes people often make. See if you can shift away from those old self-sabotaging mindsets. When you do, you’ll notice that people will engage you much more, and the immediate rejection you’ve grown so accustomed to will happen much less.

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

Haven’t you had the experience of talking with someone who’s already made up their mind about something? Maybe you didn’t know it right away. But eventually it becomes clear that you aren’t having a real conversation. You’re only being invited to hear what the other person has to say. And so it goes in the old way of cold calling. In the old mindset, you’ve already formed an opinion before you pick up the phone. You believe – really believe – that the other person should buy what you have to offer. You’re enthusiastic, persuasive, and focused on your goal.

But you can’t truly listen when you’re in this place. If you have an agenda, you’re not really open to what’s important to the other person. And they can always sense that. So you won’t be regarded as someone who’s concerned about your prospect’s well being. They’ll feel they have to protect themselves, because they sense you’re only out to make a sale.

What makes this new cold calling mindset so different is that you let go – entirely – of the desire to get a sale. You’re not hiding a sales agenda. You’re not even interested in shaping a sales event. Rather, you’re listening to discover whether you can help someone. As listening becomes more and more important in your cold calling, you’ll be regarded as someone who’s trustworthy. It’s a profound shift. You’ll be surprised at how easily prospects welcome you into their world and share the truth of where they stand.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The 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

As you begin to release your focus on making the sale in your cold calling, and allow conversations to unfold more naturally, you’ll probably find yourself spending more time with people. You’re operating within their time frame, and that’s good. You accept that any conversation is going to wander a bit. In fact, you enjoy it because you like what you’re learning about the other person.

So how do you refocus when the conversation starts diverting both of you from the purpose of your call? By returning to your core goal, which is always to see whether there are any problems or issues you can help them solve. Keep in mind that you have only one focus for your cold calling, which is to identify the truth about the problems you can help people solve.

When you feel things are moving too far off the topic, or that you’ve been off it for too long, then you simply bring the focus back. It’s natural for conversations to wander, and it’s also natural for conversations to come back to their original purpose.

Remember, your whole focus is to identify whether there are problems you can help them solve. So if you find yourself talking with someone during a cold call, and the conversation moves well away from this focus, then all you have to do is bring the focus back to their problems and issues.

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

We’ve all learned that when we begin a conversation with a potential client, we should talk about ourselves, our product, and our solution in traditional cold calling techniques. But this self-focus almost always feels intrusive to the other person and shuts down the possibility of a genuine conversation.

Instead, step directly into their world. Open the conversation with a question rather than a sales pitch. For example, “I’m just giving you a call to see if your company is grappling with unpaid invoices issues?” Never let the person feel that your focused on your own needs, goals, or agenda. Communicate that we’re calling with 100 percent of your thoughts and energy focused on their needs.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

People feel pushed along by artificial enthusiasm when we make our cold calls. This triggers rejection because it feels very intrusive to be pushed by someone they don’t know.Artificial enthusiasm includes some expectation that our product or service is a great fit for them.

Yet, we’ve never spoken with them before, much less had a full conversation with them. We can’t possibly know much about them or their needs. And so to them, we are simply someone who wants to sell them something.

 It is better to modestly assume you know very little about them. Invite them to share with you some of their concerns and difficulties. And allow them to guide the conversation, even when it means getting “off track” a bit.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

When we’re being real people in our cold calling treating others as real people, the difference is amazing. Both people are both more at ease. We anticipate talking with someone who may possibly have an interest in what we have to offer. And if they don’t, we’ve enjoyed our time with him or her.

When others feel this relaxed mindset from you, they are much more likely to welcome you into their day. But if you rigidly follow a script or launch into a mini-presentation, then your call is immediately pegged as something initiated primarily for your own gain. And that puts most people into resistance.

Here are 8 keys to building relationships in cold calling:

1. Focus on the other person’s needs rather than on securing a sale

2. Surrender to the outcome of your cold call so you can connect with your potential client at a human level

3. View the human connection as an exciting journey in which you encounter new and interesting people

4. Speak graciously and naturally as you would with any new acquaintance

5. Remember it’s about how you come across, not about how many people you call

6. Allow the conversation to evolve naturally

7. Invite both of you to decide together whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further

8. Use phrases that are non-aggressive yet very effective

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus from salesmanship into a place of relationship. You’ll find that your genuine enjoyment of the conversation rubs off on the other person. They’ll be less defensive and more likely to share with you truthfully.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

When you place a call and hear “Hello?,” consider replying by saying in a very relaxed, casual tone of voice, “Hi, my name is, and maybe you can help me out for a second?” Remember, there’s no trust between the two of you yet, so it’s important for you to sound — and be — relaxed and low-key.

This may sound a bit awkward for typical cold call. But hopefully you can be open to trying something new during your cold calling. The point is that when you ask someone for help, it’s not a sales “technique” — it’s the literal truth.

After you say, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?,” the person you called will almost always respond by saying, “Sure. How can I help you?” Why? It’s because our normal human reaction when someone asks us for help is to offer it.

Eventually, you’ll find that asking, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” feels easy and relaxed because you’re humanizing your call by being your genuine self. You’re not using the canned phrases that every other salesperson that day has used.

Most importantly, this simple exchange helps you to create a two-way dialogue with the person you’ve called. How different that feels from the standard one-way pitch, “Hi! My name is…I’m from…We do…” Try making the mental transition to this new mindset by asking for help, and see whether your calls don’t start feeling easier and more relaxed. This one simple question opens the door to conversation rather than closing it.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows.

Most of us dislike putting on our “salesperson persona” when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is.

This artificial role puts a great stress on us, and sabotages our cold calling conversations. When we aren’t genuine, it’s a red flag to the other person that we have a sales agenda. This puts nearly everyone “on guard.” They’ve never met us and are wary of possibly being manipulated. Have you ever noticed that most cold calls break down the moment we try to “move” things along towards a sale? It’s as if we’re getting ready for battle, and the tension pushes us along.

But the person we’ve called doesn’t know us. The momentum we’re trying to impose puts him or her in a defensive position. They’re protecting themselves from a potential “intruder” who might have a self-serving agenda. So how can we to shift into something more positive? We begin by focusing on the relationship rather than salesmanship. We call with the anticipation of meeting someone new, and looking forward to a pleasant conversation to find out whether we can be of service. This mindset is subtle but powerfully felt by the other person.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

In the old cold calling mindset, you’re taught to focus on the sale and be completely confident that what you’re offering is something the other person should buy. The problem with this approach is that you haven’t asked them to determine this along with you. So think about it – in the old mindset, you’re really deciding for someone else what’s good for them. I know this isn’t intended, but that’s exactly what comes across to your prospects.

So rather than being full of confidence and enthusiasm, stop for a minute and think about the other individual. Relax into a real conversation instead of moving into a persuasive strategy or sales pitch. Put yourself in their shoes and invite them to explore along with you whether what you have to offer is a match for them.

Others really can distinguish the difference. You’re inviting them to see if you might be able to help them solve a problem. This makes for a much better connection right at the beginning, and you’ll get that immediate rejection reaction much less.

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

It’s ironic to think that potential clients might be afraid that you’ll reject them. They’re afraid you might not like them personally. Or that you’ll be upset with them if they tell you, for example, that they’re going with your competition. Most people are terrified of conflict and will do almost anything to avoid it. So the more they understand that your primary commitment is to the truth, not to the sale, the safer they’ll feel to trust you with the truth.

The key phrase here is, “Not a problem.” The more you use this phrase, the less frightened people will be. But you really do have to believe it yourself, and reflect this in everything you say and do. If you’re caring about what’s going on with the other person. Because of this, trust is built and relationships are deepened. That’s a very good place to be during every phase of your cold calling process.

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