Part Two The How-To’s of Cold Calling

We have covered the fundamentals. It’s time to move on.

The chapters in this next section will look at some tools that

can help you become a true Knock Your Socks Off prospecting

machine.

To develop a style and procedure that will improve your

cold-calling success in a consistent and lasting way, you have to

break down the process into bite-size pieces and practice them.

Following the “prospecting is an art, not a science” philosophy,

the more colors available in your palette, the more types of

painting surfaces you have to work with, and the more styles of

art with which you’re comfortable, the more flexible and successful

you will be. To put it another way, you’re better off with a

lot of tools in the box than with only a few.

Remember, you’re an artist. You don’t have to do any of this

“exactly by the book.” However, we recommend that you take

the following tools and start by trying them as we describe. Try to

modify your style to work with the tool as it is presented. Then, after

you have some practice time under you belt, feel free to

modify the tool to suit your individual style.

It’s like taking voice lessons. On the first day of class, everyone

will try to imitate their favorite singer—Frank Sinatra, Cher,

Nora Jones, Pavarotti. Some of them are even pretty good at it.

But the instructor puts a stop to this nonsense right away. The

voice coach tells the students to sing the notes and scales as

they are written, with no ad libs and nobody else’s “style.” The

coach knows that after students have sung the scales and exercises

a number of times, their own natural style will emerge. Once

the student has incorporated his or her own style with the basics,

that’s when real music is created.

Everyone has their own style, and in selling, being comfortable

is important. But even if you have to move a little outside

your comfort range at first with any of these tools, please give it

a try. Then move back into your comfort zone, taking the technique

with you.

We’ll present the tools by walking through a cold call. What

do you do at the start of a cold call? What do you do in the middle?

And what do you do at the end?

We have covered the fundamentals. It’s time to move on.

The chapters in this next section will look at some tools that

can help you become a true Knock Your Socks Off prospecting

machine.

To develop a style and procedure that will improve your

cold-calling success in a consistent and lasting way, you have to

break down the process into bite-size pieces and practice them.

Following the “prospecting is an art, not a science” philosophy,

the more colors available in your palette, the more types of

painting surfaces you have to work with, and the more styles of

art with which you’re comfortable, the more flexible and successful

you will be. To put it another way, you’re better off with a

lot of tools in the box than with only a few.

Remember, you’re an artist. You don’t have to do any of this

“exactly by the book.” However, we recommend that you take

the following tools and start by trying them as we describe. Try to

modify your style to work with the tool as it is presented. Then, after

you have some practice time under you belt, feel free to

modify the tool to suit your individual style.

It’s like taking voice lessons. On the first day of class, everyone

will try to imitate their favorite singer—Frank Sinatra, Cher,

Nora Jones, Pavarotti. Some of them are even pretty good at it.

But the instructor puts a stop to this nonsense right away. The

voice coach tells the students to sing the notes and scales as

they are written, with no ad libs and nobody else’s “style.” The

coach knows that after students have sung the scales and exercises

a number of times, their own natural style will emerge. Once

the student has incorporated his or her own style with the basics,

that’s when real music is created.

Everyone has their own style, and in selling, being comfortable

is important. But even if you have to move a little outside

your comfort range at first with any of these tools, please give it

a try. Then move back into your comfort zone, taking the technique

with you.

We’ll present the tools by walking through a cold call. What

do you do at the start of a cold call? What do you do in the middle?

And what do you do at the end?