Sometimes we put in a lot of time creating relationships with prospects who seem interested in what we have to offer. We’ve “qualified” them. And we’ve also given a great presentation of our product or service. But it doesn’t go anywhere, and we just don’t understand why.

In the traditional sales approaches, we’re taught that we have to control our cold calling interactions. We’re trained that communication should be one-way, and that our first focus should be on finding out whether the prospect is “qualified” to buy.

“Fitting” vs. “Qualifying”:

Rather than using the term “qualifying,” I’d like to talk about “determining a fit” or “seeing if we’re a match for each other.”

This simple wording emphasizes the personal connection. Whereas the very term “qualifying” has a mechanical, impersonal feel to it.

So what we try to do is share a relaxed conversation, rather than asking a pressure-filled series of probing questions.

Your only purpose in cold calling conversation is to make clear to them that you aren’t sure you have a match, and to assure them that you’re really okay if you don’t. Rather than grilling people with questions, you just engage them in a conversation about the truth of their situation. You’re essentially saying, “Let’s just talk and see if it’s a fit.”

When you do this, you’ll learn what you need to know, naturally and comfortably, without forcing anything. And potential clients will feel more comfortable sharing the truth of their situation with you.

Until next time,

Keep calling and Keep it conversational…

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

What’s the most common reason prospects stop communicating with you when you cold call? They think your going to pressure them. They’re afraid that, even if it’s subtle, we’ll apply pressure to close the sale. So how do we reassure them we aren’t going to pressure them? By staying focused on the truth of the situation rather than on getting the sale. And by using language that clearly reflects this.

Let Go-

You may find it useful to just sit silently for a few minutes with your eyes closed, breathing deeply and consciously, accepting that this sale is probably gone.

Let it go, so that when you call, there’s no part of you hoping or pushing for it. You need to decide that it’s really not about the sale – it’s about learning for next time. And that’s a big leap, isn’t 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 free cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit: http://www.UnlockTheGame.com. 

Remember to use a very natural tone of voice that shows you’re not hungry for the sale. Very simply, we’re talking about the kind of communication that most of us use in our personal life, and applying it to the people we deal with in our business life.

If you approach them in a natural, human way, they’ll probably explain the situation. Prospects will most likely respond with something like, “Well, let me explain what’s going on.” When you’re not pressuring them to move the sale forward during the cold call, they feel comfortable revealing to you what’s happening.

You may want to spend a little extra time letting them know that you really are okay with whatever happens. You can’t probe for the truth or force it to appear, any more than you can force a tree to grow faster. All you can do is create a safe space that allows trust and truth to emerge.

This lets you re-build a bridge of trust so that you can reconnect at the level of human beings – not in the artificial roles of buyer and seller.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

Recognize that enthusiasm can feel overbearing, so try to speak normally. Many of us think that enthusiasm is helpful in cold calling. But it often feels so overbearing to the other person that they immediately wish we would go away.

Enthusiasm with someone who doesn’t know you just doesn’t sound natural. It’s not the way we do conversations in regular life. And when we’re trying to carry a potential client along with our enthusiasm, this feels like manipulation to them.

So my suggestion is very simple. Just be yourself. Most folks respond well to another human being, being human. A normal speaking voice while cold calling is less off-putting to the other person and invites a real connection.

When you try your cold calls this way you can better understand the person you’re cold calling, the rewards will be significant. You’ll be less reluctant to make cold calls. And you’ll find that potential clients generally respond in a more positive way.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

There are lots of ways a cold call can feel intrusive to the other person. The way you begin the conversation is a big one.

When you begin a cold call by immediately talking about yourself and what you have to offer, this forces the other person to step out of their world and relate to you in your world. And this feels like an intrusion, or at least an interruption.

So stop for a moment and think about how to begin your cold call in a way that invites a real conversation. You might use the phrase, “Maybe you can help me out for a moment?”

The response is almost always is something like, “Sure, how can I help you?”

Now you’ve avoided the intrusive feeling of hearing an uninvited sales pitch. And now the rest of your cold call can relate directly to them.

Here’s a good example, “I’m just calling to see if you’re still having difficulties with unpaid invoices, and if you’d be open to exploring new ways to solve this problem.”

When you’re talking about them right at the beginning, it feels less demanding to them. You see, most people find it easy and natural to talk about themselves. When you’re relating to the other person and his or her issues, this is what you’re inviting.

Also people tend to respond well to genuine interest. You’re not just using phrases to convey an interest in them, you are interested in them and how you might be able to help them. So your cold call becomes less of an intrusion and more of a welcome conversation.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

Whenever our aim is to “get the sale,” we can’t relax and let the other person move things forward. We’re high energy and full of pressure. This means our potential client is always responding or reacting, rather than initiating anything in your cold calls.

This type of sharing will generate open and truthful conversations; that can last a lifetime.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

From the traditional point of view, cold calling conversations should constantly lead towards making sale. We’ve been given only one path to follow, and that’s getting a “yes.”

Most cold calls break down the moment potential clients feel a lot of “forward energy momentum.” That’s because it brings a feeling of being pressured. No one likes to feel even a little manipulated, and that’s what pressure is all about.

Sales pressure is a mighty saboteur that comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Making any cold call with the anticipation of a sale puts the whole conversation under pressure. This doesn’t normally create good outcomes. It triggers resistance and tension.

When you’re not focused exclusively on making the sale, then you can close with the phrase, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?”

This gives the green light for your potential clients to share clearly where they stand with you. You’ll be amazed at how often you prospect is the one who sets the appointment.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his free 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’re always focused just on making the sale in cold calling, then you’ll miss the signals that a prospect isn’t really going to buy from you. You find yourself chasing phantom sales and wasting a lot of energy.

You can diffuse this by first determining whether you and the potential client are a good fit. Invite the other person to focus on this with you. And determine together whether a good business relationship might genuinely be possible.

When our honest objective is not to make a sale but rather discover the truth of the situation, we’re less likely to get carried away with “possibilities and potentials,” and more likely to hear the truth of what’s being said.

We can disengage from people who really don’t intend to buy from us, and focus instead on potential clients who have a problem we can solve.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his free 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 mindset our goal is to push the call forward and get the sales. In the new mindset our goal it to open lines of communication and build trust in cold calling.

Don’t worry about driving the cold calling conversation forward. Instead, open your call with a statement that focuses on a problem you can solve and invites a response like, “What do you mean?” or “Tell me more.”

When you start tapping into the power of your right brain while cold calling, you’ll start to have fun. And you’ll be amazed at how people respond to you. What’s more, at the end of the day you won’t be burned out. You’ll be energized and truly happy.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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

Most people who still use the traditional cold calling mindset look at voicemail as a dead end. They say to themselves, “Oh well, I may as well leave a message and hope he calls me back.” This almost never happens, and we know it. But we’re often so relieved not to have to talk with someone, that we leave a message anyway. We avoid dealing with another person’s potential negative response to us and we avoid being challenged by the receptionist as well.

By the time the day is over, we might feel good because we’ve played the “numbers game” and made a lot of calls. But our productivity has been minimal. And over time that can make us feel frustrated by our experiences in cold calling.

With the new approach to cold calling, voicemail is an opportunity for discovery. It leads us beyond voicemail. Voice mail becomes a starting point for you begin the process of locating the person you’re trying to contact.

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 voicemail. Because we then have an opportunity to go back to the receptionist and begin a dialogue based on asking for help.

Example:

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 voicemail. 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 voicemail. Now you know your contact’s whereabouts in real time and you can call back at a more appropriate time.

Until next time,

Keep calling and keep it conversational…

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