How to End the Cold Calling Game of Chasing a Sale
by Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game ®

4 steps to warm up cold calling conversations

Our thoughts are always at the basis of our behaviors. If our thoughts are fixed on the goal of making a sale, then we’re not really being forthright. We’re not focused on the conversation or the truth of a situation. We’re chasing people -- or at least chasing the sale. 

Here are 5 important steps to help end the “chasing game” in our cold calling efforts. 
           
1.  Avoid reading from a script

Life is not a script, nor are normal conversations. When we read from a script, we’re not being natural. We’re playing a role. And that means we’re chasing a sale rather than enjoying an opportunity to meet someone new and find out if we can help them. 

Allowing a conversation to naturally flow helps you enter into a dialogue based on trust, which lets your potential client’s real issues emerge. 

Formal scripts, on the other hand, don’t give you the freedom to take conversations in the direction they may naturally want to go. And this feels stilted and awkward. 

If you begin to view your cold calls as conversations or dialogues, you’ll find it easy to let go of the idea of scripts. And you’ll sense the shift of the energy in your conversation when the emphasis of the call is about the person you’re talking with and not about your making a sale. 

So generate a spontaneous conversation, based on the problems you can help the other person solve. This will diffuse your feelings of being awkward and artificial, and allow you to enjoy the journey. 

2.  Address a Core Problem

People connect with you when they feel you understand their issues before you focus on yourself and your solutions. Come up with two or three specific problems that your product or service solves. And talk about it with the potential client first, before offering your sales pitch. 

When you offer your presentation or solution without first involving the other person by talking about a core problem they might be having, you are focused on the sale rather than the conversation. And your whole energy tends to drive the interaction into a sales mode. Remember, whenever someone feels “chased,” they usually run.

So stop for a moment. Convey that you’re a problem solver.  Invite a mutual exchange of information that explores whether there’s a possibility that the two of you might work together. Help them understand that your thoughts and goals are not focused on selling them anything at all. 

Most people will welcome your interest in their problem as long as you’re not operating out of the hidden agenda of making a sale. So overcome the temptation to discuss what you have to offer and move into focusing on your caller’s world. Invite discussion, express interest, and stop chasing the sale. 

3.  Uncover the Truth of the Situation

Make your objective to uncover the truth of the potential client’s situation and to be okay with the outcome, whether it’s a yes or a no.

We can do this by checking in at various times in the conversation to make sure it makes sense to continue the dialogue. If we just move ahead without doing this, we’re in “chase mode.” And in this case, we may be chasing something very unrealistic for this particular potential client. 

So we ask important questions such as, “Is this a top priority for you to solve right now?”  We may find that the potential client is very interested in working with us, but the budget or staffing may simply be too thin at this time. 

We stop at various checkpoints in our conversation to make sure we’re moving ahead together. If our thoughts are fixed only on our own goal of eventually securing the sale, we can miss very important signals that the other person may actually have no intention of following through.

4.  Where do We Go From Here?

Here’s something very surprising. Allow the conversation to end without chasing other person into an sales appointment or commitment, and the other person will often be the one who initiates further contact. 

So when you feel as if the conversation is coming to a natural conclusion, you can simply say, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?” 

This question reassures potential clients that you’re not using the conversation to fulfill your own hidden agenda. It invites the other person to take charge of where things are going, and all you need do is follow along. 

When you stop chasing the sale, you’ll be truly surprised at how often the sale gently awaits you within a friendly conversation focusing on the needs of others. 

Is Selling Painful For You?  It's not your fault -- and there is a better way  Is this how selling is starting to feel like for you? Old "tried and true" cold calling and sales techniques that were once successful have completely lost their effectiveness over the years. That's why I developed a new sales mindset and cold calling approach that will quickly and automatically put you ahead of the game and instantly in a league above your competition. OLD SALES GURU MYTH # 1  - "Cold calling is a numbers game."  But, sales is only a numbers game when all you know is traditional selling. Yes, you can call people over and over, chase them until they listen to you so that you just go away. However there is a better - easier method of building trust and getting your product or service message across - all on one call. Simply by changing your sales approach you'll make FEWER CALLS and MORE SALES. OLD SALES GURU MYTH # 2 - "Use a sales script to cold call." People can tell when you're reading from a script, even if you think you're pretty good at it and getting away with it. There's nothing personal about it and people can pick that up. Being artificial just puts you into the typical "Salesperson" category. If you can learn to get your message across in a different way, you'll eliminate the negative triggers that can lose your sale within seconds. OLD SALES GURU MYTH # 3 - "Focus on closing the sale." Are you "going in for the kill" with your closing sale technique? - If you are, you could end up killing your deal instead. Old sales techniques do nothing more than pressure the client or prospect, and as a result they naturally want to retreat away from that pressure - and that pressure is you. By learning to avoid the "push and pull" dynamic between you and your prospect, you'll be able to move the sales process forward to get the result you want. Welcome to Unlock The Game™ Unlock The Game is a radically honest sales and cold calling approach based on integrity and common sense. It challenges traditional sales thinking and helps you achieve better sales results. It's the missing link -- a new mindset and language that converts selling into a natural conversation between you and your prospect. It offers you a new way of thinking about selling, from cold calling -- the most dreaded selling experience of all -- to the end of the sales process. You don't have to abandon the selling skills you already know -- Unlock The Game gives you a new approach and new tools to help you let go of old behaviors that bring you negative results. It's incredibly effective. Best of all, it's easy to learn.   "Unlock The Game is a breakthrough that takes the rejection out of selling"   "In a new age of frustrating and difficult selling challenges, more specifically the fear of cold calling, and starting new conversations without feeling rejected, Unlock The Game gives us all the answers to a natural way of engaging new prospects over the phone. Keep up the good work Ari!" Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and business success. As Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, he is the best-selling author of 17 books and over 300 audio and video learning programs.        Brian Tracy  Want to learn more? Get FREE Access to The Teleseminar That Put the Old 'Sales Gurus'  Back Into Sales Pre-School!      Learn how to:   Make less cold calls - and get better results   Rip up your sales script and easily get your message across    Change from the "Dreaded Salesperson" to a trusted advisor in a matter of minutes    Get rid of your "Fear of Phone" once and for all    Stop chasing prospects and gain the respect you deserve  Take The Free Test Drive:  Enter your First Name, Last Name, Primary Email, Phone Number, Industry, Country below to get the first of your 10 free Unlock The Game cold calling audio mini-lessons: Country AustraliaUnited StatesCanadaFrance Germany Ireland IsraelThe Netherlands New Zealand SingaporeSouth Africa United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma (Myanmar) Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Columbia Comoros Congo Democratic Republic Costa Rica Cote d'lvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador East Timor Egypt El Salvador England Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland Gabon The Gambia Georgia Ghana Great Britain Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Italy Jamacia Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati North Korea South Korea Kosovo Kuwait Kyruyzstan Laos Latvia Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Lebanon Libya Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands AntillesNicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Northern Ireland Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian State Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda St. Kitts & Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent & The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome & Principe Saudi Arabia Scotland Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad & Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine Unated Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Wales Yemen Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe  To your success,    Email to a Friend   Print this Page