Sales Prospecting Perspectives

3 Reasons You Didn't Pass That Sales Lead

I’ve always said that cold calling is like trying to pick someone up that is way better looking than you. You have to put yourself out there, be prepared for a lot of rejection and when you get an opportunity, you had damn well better have a good rap or else you’re going to miss out.  The same thing applies to your calling efforts. They are the 10 that gets approached a million times a day and you are the 5 that they shoot down because you’re “like the rest of them”. Let’s look at some of the more common mistakes.

Holy crap he/she is talking to me!
I remember talking to girls that were way out of my league. I assumed that they were going to tell me where to go and how I could get there (sideways), so why not approach them just for a laugh. Then one day one of the girls actually responded cordially to me! My response (I swear this isn’t a lie)…I farted. I don’t know why, but I thought it would be funny. Now the truth is I ended up marrying the girl, but it took me 8 years before she allowed me to do it. (It’s tough to overcome a fart intro) I had always been so wrapped up in just going through the motions of trying to get someone to talk to me that I never actually figured out a game plan of what to do if they did. I see this all the time with cold callers. You make 100 dials a day and on average probably only talk to 10-15 people. Keep yourself alive and fresh in between each call. Think of what you’ll say before the prospect answers the phone. It’s tough to do, but the best thing is to expect that someone is going to answer that phone each time you make a dial. Don’t fart when they do.

You come here often?
To people that get hit on, there are 99% of the people that sound remotely the same and the 1% that are actually interesting. I’m on the receiving end of quite a few cold calls and I hate it when I get,  “Hi I’m John Doe from Blah Blah corporation, companies use our technology to…” Mother of mercy have some consideration. Ask me how I’m doing, give me a chance to say hello, let us have a conversation rather than a lecture. If cold callers were supposed to just hammer out a script and then ask questions; it would all be automated. People take calls from people they connect with. If you sound like a drone you will be hung up on. You want to make your marketing manager go insane? Wait for them to produce a dynamite list and then proceed to drop the ball by sounding like a robot and using the same format that the last 10 people used. Try to be original, for e.g.: “Hey…if a fat man puts you in a bag don’t be alarmed. I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas”.

But enough about me, lets talk about me
What’s worse than getting stuck in an awful conversation with someone that talks to much or not at all? Both issues lead to the same thing, the other person looking for the nearest escape route. The same applies to cold calling. A lot of sales people will give the old adage that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. While I agree with this in the sales process, in cold calling you have to let the prospect know who you are and what you do if you want them to take interest. You can’t just say hello and start hammering out questions in hopes of qualifying a lead. Why would I talk to you if I don’t know what you do and have no interest in you? Conversely, if you get on the phone and put me in a verbal headlock; I will wait until you come up for air and tell you I’m not interested. Practice your conversation flow with coworkers and make sure that you have a give and take dialogue with every prospect you talk to. Give them some info on you and then deliver a question so that you can learn about them. It is my opinion that it can’t be one sided in either direction. A conversation needs at least 2 parties participating.

It’s hard to pass a good lead. If you sound boring, scripted and unprepared it’s a lot harder. Work on the basics above and you’ll find your lead rates going up dramatically.