|
Should You Use Sales Letters Before You Cold Call
by Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game®
Remember the numbers game? Well, that is the same thought behind sending out sales letters. The hope is that with every hundred or so letters, a few sales will result.
If you don’t know how to make a call from scratch and build trust, it seems to make sense to rely on a letter, brochure, or e-mail to do the job. But once you learn how to cold call the right way – with the new mindset – you’ll realize that sales letters really aren’t any help at all.
Here are four reasons to consider making cold calls without referring to a sales letter:
1. You get pegged as a traditional salesperson right away
When you start your cold call by referring to a sales letter, you’re following a traditional sale and marketing technique. This indicates to potential clients that you’re a traditional salesperson.
Do you really want to be associated with something that brings up painful memories of sales pressure? Better to break out of that negative salesperson stereotype entirely, and offer something new.
2. People just don’t read sales letters all that much
The hope is that potential clients have seen your sales letter before you call. From among all the other letters that arrived on their desk that day, you hope they’ve read yours (which is unlikely), and remembered it (even more unlikely).
The idea is that when you call, they already know what the call is about. However almost no one reads sales letters. If they do, they remember them only vaguely.
3. Cold calling conversations are harder to initiate
Most people take it for granted that it makes sense to send out a letter before cold calling. They think this gives them something to start speaking about. They can say, “I sent you a letter, did you get that?”
Nevertheless, when you call, these are the reactions you typically get:
• What letter/e-mail?
• What was it about?
• Sorry – I don’t remember seeing it. What are you selling?
You may as well not have sent out the letter at all. Saying, “Hi, I’m just calling to see if you got my letter?” does nothing to move the conversation forward or to generate two-way dialogue. You’re still at square one.
4. A sales letter makes you talk about yourself first
When you start your cold call by explaining what a sales letter was about, you’re talking about yourself, your product, and your company. This is exactly what we’re trying to avoid in the new cold calling mindset. We want to talk about how to solve their problems first, not about what we’re selling.
Isn’t it true that sales letters, brochures, and e-mails focus entirely on your company and your product or service, rather than on solving a particular client’s specific, individual problems? It’s essentially just an advertisement that you’re referring to. Moreover, you’ve lost the opportunity to be seen by your potential client now as a problem solver. You’re just another salesperson who’s only interested in making a sale.
So what do we do?
Suppose your marketing manager sent out several letters or e-mails and you need to follow up. How would you open that conversation? By simply making your cold call without mentioning the letter. Just because your company sent out the letters or e-mails doesn’t mean you have to refer to them. In most cases, the letters are only going to hurt you, not help you.
Basically, if you have to follow up on a sales letter, then treat the cold call as usual and don’t refer to the letter at all. You’ll find that you won’t be tagged with the “telemarketer” stigma, and you avoid being pulled into the numbers game. At the end of the day, you’ll feel much more satisfied with your cold calling approach. You’ll be able to continue moving forward, firmly anchored in the new cold calling mindset.
To your success,
|
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 cold calling"
 |
|
"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:
Take The Free Test Drive: Enter your First Name, Primary Email, Phone Number and Your Selling Challenge below to get the first of your 10 free Unlock The Game cold calling audio mini-lessons:
(Your email address will be 100% protected and will never, ever be shared.)
To your success,
|
|
Email to a Friend
Print this Page
