Many people advise that when cold calling potential customers to be weary of their time and their schedules. For instance most marketing consultants say not to call on restaurants during lunch or dinner times if you want to sell them something.

Best to make a personal visit or call for an appointment prior to lunch at 10:30 Am or at 2:30 Pm when the business is slow and the manager or owner/manager actually has time to talk, as this makes the most sense to get a meaningful visit, discuss doing business or phone call in.

When calling on different industries or small businesses you need to consider this time factor; for instance do not call on Hair Salons on Tuesdays, because Monday is a holiday for them and they are busy on Tuesday. Thursdays are busy and so are Fridays and Saturdays, Sundays closed generally, so it is best to call on Wednesdays.

If you will consider your customer when calling you can generally set up a meeting thru a sales call without them giving you the cold shoulder or simply saying; We are not interested, do not call back.

Many businesses have peak hours and days and you need to be cognizant of the customer’s business model as not to disrupt their cash flow or operations. Always remember if you are selling something that you are an expense and their job to increase profits is to cut down on expenses and unless you have something to deliver which helps them make more money they will not be interested.

Have you ever considered why a business advertising model like telemarketing died? Sure we know that the Senate and US Congress Passed a Bill for Do Not Call Lists and that the President of the United States signed it into law right? And we know that the Federal Trade Commission fined a few companies a lot of money and like FAX Marketing; telemarketing died on the vine. But why did this happen?

Well, telemarketing became too efficient and too many companies hired too many firms to cold call targeted lists and often random phone numbers too. Some marketing consultants who have written books on the subject say that it conflicted with people’s lives; such as phone calls at dinner time and actually turned off customers and it did not really help folks get the information in the way they needed at the appropriate time to assist them in their decision making process for the product or service.

In fact many of us have simply been very upset by pushy telemarketers calling at our dinner hour. When you are busy and not interested they waste your time and will not take no for an answer and some of these persuasive folks indeed are paid commission and try every manipulative trick in the book. It is for these reasons telemarketing lost favor and indeed has been literally slaughtered.

During the 2005 Atlantic tropical hurricane season we saw many areas, which were struck by large category hurricanes and the power was out for weeks on end, gasoline supplies were short and for the most part non-existence. Worse off all the cell phone power lines were down and all land line phone lines were out also.

Imagine if you were in telephone sales and you were trying to cold call prospects to generate leads. Well, that indeed would be the challenge indeed and it would completely tax all your abilities and skills as a salesperson. In fact it might be such a tough market that it would behoove you to get up your belongings and move to a better area away from a potential future strike of the hurricane that season.

Many salesmen have moved areas since the 2005 Atlantic tropical hurricane season and even some of the others are worried this year that they are in areas and cities, which might be struck by a 2006 Atlantic tropical hurricane of a large category.

When the phone lines are out telephone sales for any business or any salesperson are literally impossible. Additionally, you cannot get enough gasoline in your car to drive out to do the selling and many of the business executives who make the decision may actually still be out of town on evacuations making it impossible for anyone to make the decision.

You can imagine the hardships that hurricanes have on those who are in the sales professional business or do business telephone sales. Even outside sales reps will find detours, roads washed out and some businesses and potential clientele leveled to the ground and gone, literally. Consider always a 2006 Bird.

If your company sells to other companies then you will need to occasionally do some cold calling. What is so interesting about cold calling is that sometimes you can literally close a sale on the phone, simply because you were Johnny on the Spot at that exact lucky time that they were looking for exactly what you were selling; how cool is that?

Well in my many years setting up franchises for our company we often did cold calling and each time one or more of our “Bonzai and Blitz Marketing Team Members” would hook, line and sinker a sale right then and there on the phone. It was only a matter then of sending our service units to start the account.

We sold most contract cleaning services cleaning fleets of vehicles for trucking companies, car lots, fleets and washed vehicles at Corporations. Sometimes we would be selling concrete cleaning and other cleaning services using pressure washing.

Since cold calling to generate leads is mostly about the numbers of it, we always found it surprising that much of our competition never did cold calling. Cold calling works when you get the decision maker on the phone for 2-3 minutes, explain what you do and listen a lot to his or her needs and what they say.

I hope you will consider cold calling as part of your marketing, often it is serves everyone more, as you are not stopping in and wasting their time or yours to get there if you show up out of the blue. The telephone in this case makes an excellent business tool. Consider all this in 2006.

The first thing a marketing campaign planning team should consider when going into Virgin Territory to expand their business; is cold calling accepted in this industry? If it is then it pays to make large lists of the most potential prospects and which are best for your company.

Then cluster these accounts and consider the servicing or delivering to that area. Many customers all together make a lot of sense and keep your deliveries or service units efficient in routing. It just makes everything so much better to cluster and think like that from the very beginning of a marketing campaign.

If cold calling is acceptable in your industry, then by all means pick up that phone and start dialing and attempt to get a Yes or No from the decision maker. It saves both your company’s sales team time from calling rather than wasting a visit and the companies you are trying to sell to from having their time wasted as well.

By doing this you can get to people who make decisions that your other marketing may not have. For instance advertising on the radio on the way to work, well that may be heard by their employees but not the boss who is listening to his favorite CDs or already on his cell phone on the way into the office.

Cold Calling may seem like a horrible job, but it is also the most efficient and makes the most sense from a business standpoint. Keep it simple, get to the decision maker, open the door to a sales call, or written proposal by fax, drop off or mail. Please consider all this in 2006.

I have recently received several questions that relate to telecommunications. These questions are not only geared toward the unwanted and bothersome phone calls we receive from telecommunicators trying to sell us something - although we can certainly learn what not to do from them - but also are concerned with how we can present effectively and powerfully over the telephone.

Telephone impressions are as important as in-person impressions. the first impression we make over the telephone will be lasting and will set the tone for the present and/or any upcoming interaction we will have with that person. Opportunities abound. We may be recording our own answering device message, leaving a voice mail message on someone else's device, speaking to an assistant, answering a call, making an order, asking a question or trying to establish a relationship with a potential client, What kind of impression are you making?

Remember that the person on the other end of the phone can't see you, so your voice, pacing, and words are all important. Therefore, it is imperative that you practice your telephone voice and tone as carefully as you would practice a speech in front of an audience. Use vocal variety, with tonal inflection. Add enthusiasm to your voice. Pace your words and speak clearly. And, people can hear a smile, so be sure to act and smile as if you were speaking face to face, eyeball to eyeball.

This is where we can learn from those unfortunate people who are employed by telecommunications firms and have to make calls to the unsuspecting. First of all, they seem distracted. When I answer, it usually takes them a few minutes to start their spiel. Then when they do start speaking, it is in a monotone, too quickly with no pauses or pacing (probably because they don't want us to get a chance to say, "no”). They are prepared with a written speech which is delivered poorly. This leads me to my next point.

It is important, as always, to be well prepared. The more prepared you are for any presentation, the more smoothly it will progress and the more professional you will appear. Before you record a message on your answering device, take the time to consider the impression you are trying to make. When I receive a canned message - especially one that comes with the answering system, right away I form the picture of someone rather unimaginative.

How do you want the caller to react? For a business, I don't suggest (and this has happened to me) that you have your five or six-year old leave a cute, giggly message or record a joke or wild music, etc. But, I do suggest adding some personality to your recording. Take the time to review what you have recorded and then call yourself from somewhere else to hear what you sound like. My message usually gets a "WOW!" and an answer, because one of the phrases I use is that "I am excellent at returning phone calls, so leave an interesting message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible." And, I do, which to me is telecommunications' etiquette.

Treat all your telephone exchanges with care. You will make a lasting impression to be proud of.

Be prepared when you leave a message or speak to another over the telephone. Before making any call - even a personal one - know what the purpose of that phone call is. Most people do not appreciate rambling any more than they would if you were presenting to them as a member of an audience. I suggest jotting down the main points you want to cover, have any phone numbers and/or details handy, and have a pen and paper ready for taking notes.

If you are leaving a message on someone else's recording device, be clear and succinct, say your name clearly along with slowly and clearly saying your phone number, a short reason you are calling, and then repeat your name and number. This may seem obvious, but you and I know the frustration of trying to decipher a mumbled message.

Politeness goes a long way when it comes to telephones. Personally, I hate being put "on hold" but realize that it will happen. If there is any way you can avoid putting others on hold, do it. If we are put on hold, we must just accept graciously with a, "no problem."

I also feel that it is imperative to identify yourself, When we do reach a live person, I suggest always checking to make sure the time is opportune for them. It usually is if they answered, but they may say, "Yes, but I only have a few minutes before I need to leave for a meeting." Be sure to honor this request, and if you have more to say than can be said in a few minutes, it is better to ask what would be a better time to call back and set a phone date on your calendar.

Even if someone extremely important walks in and tries to get your attention while you are on the phone, don't let their rudeness affect your complete attention to the person with whom you are speaking. It is important for them to know that they are more important to you at the moment than anyone or anything else that is attempting to interrupt. While we are on the subject of politeness, let me follow with my reactions to cell phones.

Even though cell phones are the "rage" and may be necessary I implore you to consider others who are in your vicinity when you take and/or make a call. Not only have I heard unpleasant and loud personal calls during my fitness classes, in line at the grocery store and post office, at the next table in a restaurant, on public transportation and walking down the street, my enjoyment of a program or presentation also has been compromised by the ringing of and even answering of cell phones.

It has become so unusual to be greeted, when making a call, with a pleasant voice by someone who sounds delighted that you called and is there for you, that when this occurs I always compliment them on their voice and their civility. I am sure that you are one of those people too. And, if you haven't been, I hope you'll start right now.

Remember, anytime we surprise others by our special uniqueness and style by going beyond their expectations, we will seldom be forgotten. It is likely they will remember us for the next job they need done or will recommend us to others.

Sometimes making cold calls gives us a strange feeling in our gut. We become stuck, flustered and the phone turns into the heaviest dumbell you are ever likely to pick up. Unless you combat this feeling I'm afraid it only gets worse, even getting to the point where we are a nervous and hate the phone.

However, practice makes perfect and such reluctance is normally more evident in people that are new to cold calling and telemarketing in general. Well here's the good news, cold calling doesn't have to be the nerve tingling dreadful experience we all know it can be.

In telemarketing we tend to create our own fears. For example we may be put off making a call to a prospect because he'll be offended if he's busy, or if we call during lunch he'll be upset, or he has probably been called a thousand times before about this particular product, deal or service. It is human nature to make matters seem worse than what they actually are, thereby creating our own fears.

As human beings we have great tendancies to make excuses, and this is especially so in the telemarketing profession. This can become a sticking point when it comes to cold calling or even when calling warm leads. We subconciously tell ourselves that we don't have the correct resources to get the job done without some other form of external help. We may feel that we should send some more information first or ask them to fill in yet another survey.

Three tips for cold calling success

Don't care what anyone else thinks - Separate yourself from that part of your personality that thinks cold calling is wrong and a bad way to find new business. Stop kidding yourself and telling yourself that there is a better way to drum up new prospects and business which suits your personality better, such as email, media advertising or direct mail. The real truth of the fact is that nothing is as effective as telemarketing when it comes to winning new business.

Define your reluctancies - decide that your call reluctancies can be managed effectively by highlighting tendancies and excuses outlined above. Use an approach that seeks to gain feedback from your calls, and will hopefully show that your fears are totally unfounded.

Tell yourself you CAN - in telemarketing it is necessary to tell yourself that you CAN make those calls, and when you do more new business will follow. Most tendancies and fears are based on a projection of what you think a prospect will say to you when you call. This fear builds to the point where one part of your personality tries to protect the other from what is only presumed harm, and in actual fact will more than likely prove to be a falicy.

If you are a telemarketer and cold call consumers to solicit their business, there is information that you must know about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the "Do Not Call Registry," lest you get in trouble with the law for cold calling somebody that is registered on the list. For the past two and a half years it has been illegal to call someone that is listed on the registry. Here are some of the most important details of the Do Not Call Registry:

Existing Business Relationships: A telemarketer may call on a consumer with which it has an existing business relationship for eighteen months after their last business transaction, even if that consumer is listed on the registry. However, if the consumer asks not to be called anymore the telemarketer must cease his calls.

Political Organizations, Charities, And Telephone Surveyors: The registry does not cover calls made from political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors. So, for example, Someone that is cold calling to sell his personal services for profit cannot call someone listed on the registry, but someone calling to solicit money for a charity may call people listed on the registry. Again, just as in existing business relationships, people have the right to ask not to be called and even political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors must adhere to such requests.

Accessing The Registry: If you are a telemarketer you must access the registry and update your "do not call" list at least once every thirty one days. You can access the registry at the website, www.telemarketing.donotcall.gov.

Penalties: It is against the law to call any phone number that is listed on the "do not call registry." So, it is your responsibility to check the registry and be sure to adhere to the proper telemarketing guidelines. Violators can be charged $11,000 for EACH bad phone call.

I was invited to be a panelist at a recent contact center trade association meeting, and I prepared a list of 20 do’s and don’ts that I shared.

One of them, something that I take for granted, having risen through the ranks as a telemarketer, a trainer, a manager, and as a consultant is the fact that each and every job applicant MUST be screened by phone before being invited to an interview.

Imagine how surprised I was to be asked to elaborate on that point by at least a few people in the audience.

It seems they never heard of this idea, having undoubtedly earned their stripes during the age of the Internet.

Many of today’s recruiters hire from pieces of paper, from resumes, however resumes don’t speak. Only people can do that, and some of course, are much better at it than others.

The capable ones speak clearly, without distracting verbal mannerisms. They don’t use a lot of “uhs” and “okays.” The best candidates are also effective listeners.

Call center work is largely PHONE work, and that’s communication work.

How can we know who will make a good phone worker if we don’t assess their phone behaviors?

I’d rather cut out the resume step altogether, and invite the best communicators to “Come on down!”

If you’d like more information about the telephone measures I use to objectively judge suitability for phone work, give me a holler!

How can you get return phone calls from cold calling? Well it is not as difficult as you might think if you are very careful to leave a brief explanation of your products or service on the their voice mail and do it in such a way which is professional, to the point, and upbeat. Enthusiasm will help a lot and so will key words and phrases about how you wish to help them by offering your product or service.

It is very important when leaving voice mails to prospects not to go into a bragging session of how great you are or your company or on and on about how your product was rated number one or how you are the greatest service known to mankind. All this is highly irrelevant and this is telling rather than selling. You must briefly as in Bullet Type presentation explain the benefits of what you and more specifically you company will offer. It is also to important to let the prospect know of several best times to call you back, as you are busy, but need to make sure they are taken care of.

Here are some "Telephone Tips" from Art Sobczak, a guy who knows more about the telephone than anyone else I know.

Avoid saying, "Hi, I'm just calling to check in with you." Parolees out on probation need to do that.

Art says, "Have a reason for calling. Have something of interest. Search your notes from previous calls and make that the reason for this call.

Jim Domanski, who contributes articles to Art's newsletter, says "The first tip in managing voice mail is NOT to leave a voice mail message. With this in mind Domanski says you should prepare a list of 50 prospects. Try calling them earlier in the morning and later in the day. Just keep dialing and talking to people who answer the phone.

Here's another tip from Art. Learn as much as possible about the company and individual you're calling so you can address issues they are facing right now and not sound ignorant, and like a smiling and dialing telemarketer.

Here's one more tip for you. Prepare a value statement that addresses possible results you can deliver (cutting costs, increasing revenue) and don't talk about selling your product or service.

Would you like even more on stuff on How To Make Awesome Telephone Calls?

Would you like to see practical examples of how to use the phone for prospecting, dealing with objections, following-up and how about some conversational ways to close the sale?

Come visit my website for even more good stuff on how to use the telphone to get more business.

Jim Meisenheimer publishes The No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter, a fresh and high content newsletter dedicated to helping you grow your business and multiply your income.

In classic sales training which has been entrenched for over 60 years, we learn that there are five simple steps to selling. If you followed the steps, you get the sale.

Open the Call
Investigate needs
Give benefits
Handle Objectives
Close the Sale

But as small business owners have been vocal about, they need to grow their business, yet they aren’t getting the sales using this approach. So what’s happening? If you are selling a big ticket item, like a year-long support contract, an infrastructure installation, or a long-term training program for a corporate management team, your selling cycle doesn’t fit the traditional model any more.

What am I supposed to do instead?

The selling cycle for larger/longer products/programs/services has four characteristics that make traditional selling techniques ineffective.

1. Length of Selling Cycle

The selling cycle may require many calls or connections over a period of months. Multiple sales calls have a completely different psychology from a simple product sale that you close on the first appointment or their first visit to your website.

2. Size of Customer Commitment

Large purchases involve bigger decisions. This alters the strategy of the sale. As the size of the sale increases, successful salespeople must build the perceived value of the service.

3. Relationships

Most large sales involve an ongoing relationship with the customer. This is where multiple offerings that represent different pricing levels, what some call your ‘marketing funnel,’ come in. Why? They must get to know, trust and respect you before they will invest greater time and money in your offer.

To the customer, the larger the decision, the harder it becomes to separate the seller and the product. So it is important to keep in mind, that as the sale grows larger, the customer puts more emphasis on the salesperson/service provider (you) as a factor in the decision to do business with you.

4. Risk/Return/Resistance

In small sales, customers can afford to take more risks and try something new on the spot, like your e-book or tele-class, for less than $50 on your Web site. The consequence of that risk is relatively low.

Each larger purchase represents a bigger decision and more significant risk. The perceived value of a $250 program package and the pain it will solve must be more explicit. It must be targeted and it must promise greater results. When you expand that to a $999 package or a retainer of $5,000 or $10,000, the customer becomes more cautious with each increase in the size of the decision you are asking them to make.

You Need Different Selling Skills For These Major Sales

There are four distinct stages of a sales call when dealing with the large sale. Neil Rackham developed this model in the book SPIN Selling: Preliminaries --> Investigating --> Demonstrating Capability --> Obtaining Commitment

Preliminaries

In large sales, preliminaries do NOT have the influence on success that they do in small sales. The more senior the people you sell your services to, the more they feel their time is at a premium. So your objective in the preliminaries is simply to get the customer’s permission to move to the next stage of the call. That means your traditional questions and comments to build rapport around personal interests do not apply.

Investigating

Investigating involves asking lots of questions, collecting data, uncovering needs, and understanding the customer and their organization. In fact, for higher value selling, investigating is the most important of all selling skills and can increase the overall sales volume by more than 20%.

Success in larger sales, be it personnel placement, commercial development or technology installation, depends on how you handle this stage. Successful calls entail asking a lot more questions than we were trained to ask in traditional selling. Uncovering implicit and explicit needs is the sole objective of the Investigating stage of the call. This is where you build the relationship before the sale is made.

Demonstrating Capability

There is no surprise here – you must demonstrate to each prospect that you have something worthwhile to offer. You must prove that your solution will address each customer’s unique problems. Selling a solution is not the same as rattling off a list of features and benefits. You must connect with their pain and offer a solution that makes you exceptionally qualified to meet their need.

Obtaining Commitment

Obtaining commitment is not the same as your classic closing script. Remember, the bigger the decision and the more sophisticated the buyer, the more negatively they generally react to pressure and closing techniques.

In larger sales, there may be a whole range of other commitments and other decision makers, you must obtain before you reach the order stage for your program or service. In seeking the next step, your call objective may be to get the customer’s agreement to attend a seminar, or to identify the next decision maker. Larger sales always contain a number of intermediate steps – advancing the customer’s commitment toward the final decision.

Next Steps to Get it Right

These steps are only theory until you put them into practice. Here are four rules for learning any new sales skills:
1. Practice Only One Behavior at a Time - Focus on one new thing at a time.
2. Try the New Behavior at Least Three Times – Don’t knock it, until you try it.
3. Quantity before Quality - Use it often enough and the quality will look after itself.
4. Practice in Safe Situations – not on your biggest client

If you apply these distinctive strategies to approach major sales in your market, you will see more doors open and more clients moving deeper into your marketing funnel. The more they engage with you and the more you build the relationship, the easier and more successful will be the sale and delivery of your offering.