Effective cold calls: Making the first contact with potential customers may be a difficult task, but its importance should not be overlooked.

Feb 1, 1998 12:00 PM, Ted Tate

If I were to list the biggest problems in my many years of managing salespeople in business, getting them to make effective cold calls would just about top the list. Even those who don't normally use cold calls should be able to do so when an opportunity presents itself.

In our economy, the actual cost to a company for a salesperson to make a physical sales call is quite high. It is frequently bypassed for direct mail promotions and telemarketing (or the more recent buzz word, telesales). Some firms today use the telephone to call on their smaller customers and have salespeople focus on the large-volume accounts.

The downside is when outside salespeople are focused only on large accounts, they are usually working by appointment and often have large blocks of unused time because of such things as appointment cancellations and buyers being very brief. In just about all businesses, there are prime selling hours when salespeople need to focus on nothing but selling.

I can recall walking into my offices to see them filled with salespeople sitting around bored, killing time. "Why are you here in the middle of the day?" I'd ask. "I ran out of appointments," they would reply, feeling fully justified to kill prime selling time shooting rubber bands across the office and collecting a salary.

"Did you call on the people next door to your appointment? Did you go out in your territory and work some of those prime industrial accounts we talked about?" I'd inquire.

"Well, no, I have reports to do (a doctor's appointment to go to, price quotes to finish, phone calls to make), so I'll be busy this afternoon. I plan to do some prospecting tomorrow. See, it's right here on my worksheet." Of course, some other excuse takes over tomorrow .

For some people, going to a stranger and talking to them, let alone trying to sell them something, is unsettling. For some, it comes from childhood. For others, it is a self-esteem issue. Salespeople won't tell you that. They know it's part of their job, yet deep inside, some cringe at the very thought of cold calls. Why do sales experts feel cold calls, in this day of communication miracles, still produce the very best prospects? Why are your closing ratios on cold- call prospects higher than other lead sources?

When cold calling and qualifying face-to-face, you can very quickly determine how serious a prospect someone is. You can determine needs, ability to pay and interest level in a few brief minutes with a few well-chosen questions. If they don't qualify, you have not invested a lot of time. Those that do qualify can be brought close to closing in a very short period of time. It's not unusual in some cases to complete a sale on the spot.

Another big advantage is the ability to show or demonstrate something. Many people have no interest until they find out how they benefit.

Direct mail, referrals, telemarketing leads and every other lead source do not come close. Only on a cold call can the salesperson complete or get close to completing the sales process.

I love to hear the argument that you need appointments to see buyers. Although I agree that with the larger firms this is true, territories are loaded with smaller accounts where salespeople can productively spend unexpected free time calling on people readily available.

Why are cold calls resisted so? Because when all the excuses are dealt with, when all the baloney is sliced, some people simply fear it. The term used by professional trainers is call reluctance.

One of the ways you can avoid problems with cold calling is by recruiting well. When interviewing for sales, I have a list of job duties I show the candidates with cold calling at the top. I explain my expectations. Only a few outright say they wouldn't cold call. Some will start explaining reasons they probably won't have to. I listen, then explain it is mandatory, no matter what the excuse or level of business they sell and that we monitor for that. The look on their face and their answer determine if we consider them further. I know it's much harder to hire salespeople doing that, but what a difference having real sales prospectors makes, especially in a highly competitive business.

Also, have a solid, written work plan for salespeople, supported by good reports that let you know what they are doing, where they are doing it and when. Anyone who hires salespeople and then tells them to go out and bring in some business deserves everything they get. Have a time-management plan in place that allows off-hours for writing reports, quotes, phone calls and the like and leaves valuable prime selling hours open for face-to-face contact with prospects.

Determine your prime selling times and make it a rule salespeople must not perform non-selling tasks (reports, proposals, working on prospect lists in the office) during these hours. Those hours should be considered untouchable.

Train constantly. Selling is a profession, and as with any other profession, it requires constant study to be truly effective. Good salespeople always study new ways to do their jobs better. I get very uncomfortable when salespeople tell me they don't need any additional training because they already know how to sell. I've been selling for a lot more years than I'll admit, and I'm still learning new ideas almost daily. Encourage salespeople to attend sales seminars, read books on selling, listen to audio tapes on selling in their cars and post sales motivational posters in the office.

Good luck and good selling!