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Cold Calling Cold Callers: Successful Ones All Do This
Whether they follow through with this practice consciously with pen and paper in hand or they mentally zip through the process reflexively out of the good thinking habits they have developed – all successful cold callers do a Costanza on each and every prospecting call. Some do it alone, others do it with colleagues, but rest assured they do it for ongoing, repeatable, predictable success. There was a TV episode of the sitcom Seinfeld in which the quirky oh-so-neurotic sidekick character George Costanza was insulted by a coworker and did not know how to respond. Throughout the show the camera cut to Costanza where we found him with hands in a white-knuckle lock around the steering wheel of his car, muttering to himself and an invisible sparing partner. With focused determination he let his mind run free, and ranted aloud with lines he should have said, could have said, and would have said to his coworker if only given the chance again. To do a Costanza of your prospecting calls means to review scenes in your cold call prospecting. These scenes will render some of your best Costanza moments. It is no secret that great cold callers do this after each call. They debrief to see where they got stuck and how to get unstuck the next time they run into a similar situation. And they identify how smoothly each call goes and what they do to contribute to the success of a call as well. Do this with a few dozen cold calls and you will discover that you have heard just about every one of the twenty-seven predictable objections that are going to come up, ever. Then, when you figure out what you are going to say when these little objections come up in conversation, you quit dreading them, start smiling and start thinking, bring them on! Many sales professionals search for ways to make cold calling time as efficient and effective as possible. Toward reaching that goal quickly, an honest, Costanza, examination will shine a spotlight on the words that are helping you get the results you want and the results you don't want. Do this.
Even though you have no control of what your prospect will say, you have a great deal of control of what you say. Success will come as you man-up, or Costanza-up, and take responsibility for the words you say and the outcome of each cold call you make. ***** Forward this article to friends. They will thank you for it! For your mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit www.ColdCallingExecutives.com or call New Business Development Coach, Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time) (c) 2008 Leslie Buterin. All Rights Reserved.
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Leslie Buterin, founder Top Dog
Consulting |