You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. Mo

Sign up for our Email Newsletter The following is an approach that will enable you to put the right proposition, to the right person, at the right time, and achieve the right results. Planning

Initially you need to establish the list of companies you would like to call, but don’t worry if you don’t have contact names at this point. Next, plan when you will carry out the session. This is important as it will help you to get mentally prepared for it, but you must also make sure you won’t get interrupted. I used to stick a note to the back of my chair that read: ‘Warm calling in progress please do not disturb until 12 noon’! I do have other tips to help you deal with the physiology and psychology of cold calling that I will cover in another article.

Qualification

Asking the right qualification questions can save you an awful lot of time and money if done properly. You or your marketing department may believe that the companies on your database are the right size, in the right geographic region and in the right sectors, but bought in data is often out of date. No database I have ever seen or worked has been up-to-date. In fact, I strongly believe that all data, information, and knowledge – has a shelf life!

So, what you need to do initially, is check the facts and make sure none of your potential customers have gone into sheep farming (unless, of course you supply sheep farmers with wellies). Other things change, companies downsize, right size, specialise, and unfortunately, sometimes go out of business! Direct these questions to the receptionist, general admin or maybe PA to the person you may ultimately want to speak with. Why? At this stage you could only pitch a generic proposition – just like the 15 callers that failed before you and you may not know who in the company has a problem you can solve.

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. Mor

Initially you need to establish the list of companies you would like to call, but don’t worry if you don’t have contact names at this point. Next, plan when you will carry out the session. This is important as it will help you to get mentally prepared for it, but you must also make sure you won’t get interrupted. I used to stick a note to the back of my chair that read: ‘Warm calling in progress please do not disturb until 12 noon’! I do have other tips to help you deal with the physiology and psychology of cold calling that I will cover in another article.

Qualification

Asking the right qualification questions can save you an awful lot of time and money if done properly. You or your marketing department may believe that the companies on your database are the right size, in the right geographic region and in the right sectors, but bought in data is often out of date. No database I have ever seen or worked has been up-to-date. In fact, I strongly believe that all data, information, and knowledge – has a shelf life!

So, what you need to do initially, is check the facts and make sure none of your potential customers have gone into sheep farming (unless, of course you supply sheep farmers with wellies). Other things change, companies downsize, right size, specialise, and unfortunately, sometimes go out of business! Direct these questions to the receptionist, general admin or maybe PA to the person you may ultimately want to speak with. Why? At this stage you could only pitch a generic proposition – just like the 15 callers that failed before you and you may not know who in the company has a problem you can solve.

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. Mo

Qualification

Asking the right qualification questions can save you an awful lot of time and money if done properly. You or your marketing department may believe that the companies on your database are the right size, in the right geographic region and in the right sectors, but bought in data is often out of date. No database I have ever seen or worked has been up-to-date. In fact, I strongly believe that all data, information, and knowledge – has a shelf life!

So, what you need to do initially, is check the facts and make sure none of your potential customers have gone into sheep farming (unless, of course you supply sheep farmers with wellies). Other things change, companies downsize, right size, specialise, and unfortunately, sometimes go out of business! Direct these questions to the receptionist, general admin or maybe PA to the person you may ultimately want to speak with. Why? At this stage you could only pitch a generic proposition – just like the 15 callers that failed before you and you may not know who in the company has a problem you can solve.

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. Mo

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. Mo

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. More often than not, sales people will ask about the competition when it is too late, or you find out that you have been used so that the customer could get a better price from the incumbent. How often have you asked about competition at proposal stage and the buyer/decision maker won’t tell you?

Being armed with some key questions that you can ask, as well as, knowing that you probably won’t have to pitch to a buyer at this stage, should give you the confidence to pick up the telephone.

I struggle with the ‘elevator pitch’ idea, as you can’t get thrown out of a moving elevator going up 20 floors, but somebody can put the telephone down in just 3 seconds! What I do believe, more so in today’s fast paced society, that a series of adapted sound bites work best. So, at this early stage of calling, you will need to have a sound bite outlining what you offer, you need to give something to get something in return. An example of what I might say is, ‘We help companies to improve their business performance, through the implementation of practical programmes, which achieve more predictable sales results’. Could you help me by telling me how many sales people you have, and whether or not you sell direct?

Once you have confirmed, by asking a series of key questions, that the company could become a customer at some stage you then move on to the next stage in the process.

Gathering Information

Knowledge is power!

Wow, what a statement. But, knowledge is only power if you use it quickly and wisely, before it goes out of date or somebody uses it before you! So, you now know that ABC Company could potentially buy from you, but how do they engage with suppliers? Do they have a need right now? What is the process they go through to buy? What is the organisation structure? Who is feeling a pain that you can solve? All good questions, but don’t go straight to the potential decision maker to ask these type of questions. You need to identify who else in the companies that you sell to could answer these questions and then get asking. As you move around the organisation you will start to get a better of picture of what is going on. By