WHEN IT COMES TO COLD CALLING THERE'S REALLY JUST ONE ICON.

• When is the best time to make cold calls?  Anytime is a good time.  If you've been told that there are better days and times to make a cold call then guess what?  That's a myth!  There is no "perfect time."  Once again, what matters the most is the time that you invest prior to making each cold call.  Learn more!
  

• How many calls do I need to make to set an in-person appointment?  Based on Pop Icon's research, it takes about 20 (well-researched) cold calls to set one in-person sales appointment.  The more research and time that you take prior to each cold call will always result in greater cold call appointment setting success!
  

• Rule of thumb:  Immediately after you leave a voice mail message for a prospect send them a sales letter.  All letters sent need to be customized to your prospect's name and company.  One week later, follow up with your prospect and keep following up with them till you actively engage them with dialogue.  Remember that the "money is always in the follow-up" and not on the first contact call made to your sales prospect!
  

• Are you targeting doctors?  Doctors are by far the most difficult prospects to reach.  Why?  They really think that everything in life is ONE BIG SECRET and they know everything and you know absolutely nothing.  It's really true.  I have the most sincere respect for doctors for healing, but for prospecting purposes it's a different ballgame.  If you've tried to target Doctors then you know exactly what I mean here. The great part about Doctors, however, is if you have an "in" with one doctor and they really like you then they will without a doubt spread the word to their "inner-circle" of friends. Their referral will literally take you from zero to hero in a matter of a millisecond.  A few tips to reach Doctors include the following:
  
  1.  Try to strategically locate their email address.
  
  2.  Work with the office manager.
  
  3.  And finally, target Doctors who are specialists in their field of medicine--avoid general practitioners who have waiting rooms full to capacity.
  

• Do you use Microsoft Outlook? Make sure that you actively set up reminder alerts within Outlook that remind you about contacting prospects on a specific day. Even if you use a contact management system Outlook is a great back up software program to use. You can also use Outlook to set up alerts that remind you that you need to ask for referrals from current customers OR use Outlook to remind you that you need to prospect within a certain city, town or county.
  

• Remember this tip: "Just because a prospect says NO today it doesn't mean they will say NO forever!" The first call that you make to a prospect is VERY POWERFUL. Prior to your initial cold call your prospect didn't think about whether or not they had any viable options, but now your introductory call gives them a viable option. You have now created an opportunity for your prospect to think about alternative options and your first contact is just the beginning of what I call the seeding process. The concept of this process is really simple: "Cold calling is not about the first call it's really about the follow-up calls that you make!" Remember that 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12 contact. The secret to successful cold calling is about strategically reaching out to your prospect on a consistent basis. This means you need to contact your prospect over a period of time and not just one time. Your contact frequency (how often you contact your prospect) could be one month, three months, six months or years. A contact doesn't necessarily have to be a phone call it can also be an email or a hand written thank you note for their time. This may sound a bit too much, but it's reality, it's how you generate new business by initially contacting a prospect over the telephone. Here's the bottom line, "You either decide to play the cold call game and build your sales pipeline OR decide that this game is not for you!"
  

• Look up industry information about your prospect's industry before you contact them. Use this newfound information as you speak with your prospect to illustrate that you have a genuine interest in really helping them. The most important reason why you need to "weave" this component into your delivery has to do with the fact that this strategy helps you incrementally build credibility. And credibility is a needed element when people decide to do business with you!
  

• Overloaded with emails? Try creating various folders with specific names labeled to them to store emails for future reading.
  

• Contact your 10 best customers and ask if they would submit a written testimonial. This testimonial should include the reason why they do business with you. With their written testimonial they can include their name, company name and other contact information. Why would they take the time do this for you? Because you are or have delivered a superior product or service that is unmatchable in the marketplace. They will do this for you because they see value in you! Once you have compiled a list you can now create a promotional sales flyer that can used to hand out in meetings with your sales prospects!
  

• DO YOU HAVE A MEMO NOTE BOOK AT YOUR DESK? - This may sound a bit trivial, but it's really a very valuable sales tool to have at your disposal when making cold calls and speaking with sales prospects.
  

• Are you a sales puppet? Before a sales prospect says, "Go ahead and send some information," ask them an additional engaging question or two (this means more open-ended questions). What's really important is that you gain some sort of commitment from your prospect. After you have determined what to send them now it's time to solidify a day, date and time for a follow-up call OR in-person meeting. Remember the following: "Without a clear agreed upon commitment you have significantly reduced your chances of closing a future sale."
  

• Don't know how to respond to a prospect's objection? Caught off-guard? Try responding to your prospect's sales objection with another question. Ask them what chain of events brought them to such a conclusion? Basically, find out why they feel the way that they do? The more engaging questions that you ask will always trigger better answers as to why they may want to do business with you.
  

• How much do you really listen to your prospect? Active listening makes your prospect perceive you more as a consultant rather than just another salesperson trying to push a product.
  

• To build repoire with your prospect send them an industry article that you came across. This article could be about new technology in their industry OR about one of their competitor's. You could email this article to them, but to really STANDOUT you may want to mail them a hard copy or printed version of the article that you came across. Take a highlighter or bright colored pen and highlight a few key points for them. Do what ever you need to do to let your prospect know that you have a genuine interest in earning their business.
  

• If you email your prospect a sales proposal make sure that you also mail them a printed version of your proposal as well. With your mailing include a hand written thank you note for their time and notate that you very much appreciate the opportunity to earn their business.
  

• Limit your target list of prospects to a defined number (i.e. 100) and focus your new business development efforts on these targets. As you convert a prospect to a customer rotate these new prospects into your sales pipeline. This will help to make the best use of your time and create a more manageable sales environment.
  

• "Go back to your database from one year ago and pull up every single sales prospect who told you that they were not interested." Then say the following: "(First name of prospect), I hope that you admire my persistence, this is (Insert your name) calling from (Insert your company here) and I had tried you one year ago and you were not interested. At the time, I was calling to set up a visit to your office to discuss how (Insert a benefit such as how you can help your prospect save time, money or help them do "something better" or "more efficient.") and I know that people change their minds all the time and it really never hurts to see what else might be out there, how does next (Insert one day and time here) or next (Insert another day and time here) to drop off more information? PAUSE.
  

• Sales Proposal Tip #1: First meeting with a sales prospect? Always send a sales proposal right after your first meeting. If you're asking the right sales questions on your call then by the end of your meeting you should have a clearer understanding as to how you can help them. If you don't then you really need to start asking more engaging sales questions.

• Sales Proposal Tip #2: When creating your sales proposal your first line should read, "Customized Sales Proposal for (Insert company name) and then right below this text insert a picture of their Company Logo. Just visit their website, right click on the image, click to copy it and go back to your word document and paste it .

• Sales Proposal Tip #3: At the bottom of your proposal, insert a section called "Added Values." or something along those lines. Insert text that adds value to the "deal." For example, "Dedicated Account Representative to manage and service your account (this account rep is really you)." Try to think out of the box here, what do you offer as an "extra" that you could include as an added value to your proposal? You can even put a price or dollar value to it as well. (i.e. $600 added value)

• Is your boss instructing you to make 50 or more calls a day? Let he or she know that I think they're nuts. I bet you all the vintage phones that I own (except my 1902 Western Electric Non-Dial Candlestick Phone and my 1932 Western Electric "202" with Dial) that they're WRONG and they know NOTHING about sales! If you do just a little bit of online research on the company you're calling prior to your telephone call then all you need to make is 15 to 20 calls a day or less. I guarantee you that you will achieve 10x more results and your closing ratios will increase dramatically. Listen to Jim Cramer and how he conveys his feelings and you will learn how I feel from an emotional point of view - Boss, you know NOTHING about selling and I need you to stop poisoning my subscribers - YOU KNOW NOTHING! Sales Manger - You're fired!
  

• People change their minds constantly and remember that nothing is ever set in stone. Your prospect may say one day that they're happy with their provider, but these feelings are just temporary. Sales is all about planting seeds of information in a very non-intrusive way and then when something does happen with their current vendor,(i.e. not being treated the way that they should be treated) who da ya think their going to call? Who do you think they just might give a chance? Take a good guess?

• How are your dress shoes? Mr. Cold Call always keeps a brown and black shoe polisher in his car and office to shine his shoes.
  

• When meeting with prospects it's always important that you look your best. Have you tried whitening your teeth? Mr. Cold Call recommends Crest White Strips and Rembrandt Whitening Strips
  

• Are you always on the road? Try listening to motivational CD's in your car it will help you to think positively. The more positive you are the more you will sell!
  

• You need to make cold calling fun or you will not last at your job.

• Always look for ways that you can warm up your cold calls. For example, if you are contacting a sales prospect and they say hi but they sound evasive then you could say, "Is that a hi I’m glad you called, or hi why are you calling me?” (smile on the phone, pause then state who you are, your company and the exact reason for your call)
  

• On a notepad write down the type of voicemail message that you leave for your prospect—this is a great way to maximize what voicemails are working and which ones are not!

• If a prospect will not return any of your calls then on your next voicemail message offer to give them a $5 gift card to Starbucks when they call you back.

• Be enthusiastic on the telephone because your enthusiasm is contagious!

• Make sure that you are using contact management software like ACT to keep track of your sales.
  

• Warm up your cold calls by saying, “Hi this is a cold call and you can hang up on me at any point.” (smile on the phone, pause then state who you are, your company and the exact reason for your call)

• Use motivational quotes on your calls to inspire your prospects to take action.

• Remember that 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12 contact ---that stat is from the National Sales Executive Association

• You should never be cold calling 100% of the time, cold calling should just be part of your overall business strategy

• People who are against cold calling say that it doesn’t work. Why do they say such a thing? Because they can’t cold call and for them it's better to put something down than face the reality that they just are not good enough!
  

• Always ask for referrals.

• Find free leads by visiting the online websites of local associations and chambers in your area—many of these organizations list their members online!

• Send hand written thank you notes to potential prospects versus emailing them.

• If you finally get a prospect on the phone that you have left multiple messages for, try saying this, “I hope you don’t mind my persistence in reaching you.” (successful business professionals admire persistence)
  

• If you only call your prospect a few times and then give up then you don’t understand the power of advertising and repetition.

• Be aggressive don’t be assertive.

• Listen to motivational tapes as a means for inspiring your prospects on the telephone.

• If you want to get a callback then inject your personality when leaving a voicemail message for your prospect.
  

• Remember this quote when contacting executives, Pleasant persistence reduces resistance.

• Smile on the phone.

• If you are not excited then how can you expect your prospect to be?

• Send confirmation emails after you have set up an appointment.

• Send a friendly reminder email the day before your sales appointment.

• Be consciously aware of how your attitude affects others.

• Don't let your personal life interrupt your professional life.

• "If you have already made up your mind that you can't, then you won't." For more famous iconic quotes from Pop Icon Mr. Cold Call™
  

• Bring bagels to your prospect's office to spark their interest.

• Try calling on companies that you see advertising on TV, Radio and in Newspaper Ads! As you speak with your prospect mention that you saw their advertisement on a billboard or in the newspaper or heard their radio ad. Advertising is expensive and who doesn't want to know that their message is being seen and heard? This strategy will help you to to warm up your sales call so that you can transition your delivery to the reason for your call (meaning that you have a compelling reason why your prospect should speak with you!)
  

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call™

Mr. Cold Call™ is a worldwide sensation and claims to have made over 80,000 cold calls to date. He has been quoted by numerous national publications such as Selling Power Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, Successful Fund Raising and Advantage Magazine. He has written over 75 articles on cold calling, developed a sales ratio calculator that automatically calculates your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly sales ratios, offers a custom sales script service called "The Script Responder" and finally, is the author of four best-selling ebooks with FREE email support and these titles include:

• 113 Common Sales Objections, 192 Clever and Savvy Responses
  
• How To Have Fun Cold Calling and get your telephone ringing off the HOOK!
• 58 Sales Openers that will WOW your sales prospects
  
• The New Business Idea Sales Generator Workbook

For more information on Mr. Cold Call™ and to sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips visit www.mrcoldcall.com