The school holidays are starting, and this means that not only are many people in a good mood, but the slow time of year also means things aren’t quite as hectic at the office. This is the ideal time to pick up the phone and call potential customers: you’ll be more likely to get them on the phone this time of year! 

Cold calling: the ingredients
Telephone acquisition is still part of the sales profession. Is it really that hard to recruit new customers using this sales technique? I don’t think so. The most important ingredients for achieving success are good preparation, putting yourself in other person’s place, concentration, good listening skills, and a whole lot of perseverance. And it doesn’t hurt to practise, of course. The summer period provides an excellent opportunity for this last ingredient. 

PreparationLike many other things, proper preparation is also half the battle when it comes to telephone acquisition. Telephone acquisition tends to be something entrepreneurs and salespeople often ‘just quickly’ do between other tasks. This is neither very wise nor effective. You will meet with resistance from the person you’re calling, your call comes at a bad time for them, they’re not interested or tell you ‘we’ve already got someone for that’ when you introduce your product or service. Doing acquisition in between other activities is counterproductive; it doesn’t yield many results and your resistance to doing it will only grow if you strike out on a regular basis. It really is a waste of your time in this case. If you want your telephone acquisition to be effective, proper preparation is an absolute must. 

Put yourself in their place!
You have to be genuinely interested in your potential customer if you want the call to be successful. Good preparation is also necessary for this, and you have to learn more about the person you’re going to call before you pick up the phone. Studying the person’s LinkedIn profile is a good start. 

Concentration
Concentration is a key precondition for success. Only focus on calling your prospects. Don’t check your email, social media news feeds or other things in between calls. Dedication and concentration will increase your chances of having successful telephone calls that yield results.

Listening
The most important part about cold calling is the ability to listen. Listening carefully to what your potential customer says will help you enter into a dialogue with him or her. You will learn more about your prospect’s company, and the stumbling blocks they are struggling with. Once you have identified these, you can capitalise on them. It is very important to let the other person finish their sentences and then ask open-ended questions. The more time you spend explaining what you have to offer, the less time the other person will have to tell you something you can use to your advantage as an entrepreneur or salesperson. The longer the other person spends talking, the more connected they will feel to you. This will give you an even better opportunity to put yourself in his or her situation, which will enable you to give better advice about solving any problems. This generates an entirely different kind of conversation, but it might be one that will have positive results for you. 

Perseverance
You need a fair amount of perseverance to make all those phone calls, and you have to be able to handle hearing ‘No’ a lot. Don’t let this discourage you, and above all, don’t take it personally. It’s your proposal they are actually saying ‘no’ to right now, not you. This may be because you are calling at a bad time, or they don’t need your product or service right now, or because there simply isn’t a budget available. Many potential customers will also say no based on instinct, because they are called so often by incompetent professionals. There’s a very good chance they are trying to get rid of you quickly. Just keep calling and make sure you ask the right questions. You will notice that it gets easier and easier. 

Practice
The saying ‘practice makes perfect’ also applies to cold calling. Make sure that you have all the right contact and background information for your potential customers. Make a list of 20 potential customers you are going to call, for example. After you have finished your preparations, pick up the phone and spend two straight hours making calls. Take notes during every conversation, including the names of the people ‘guarding the gate’ and your contact person’s colleagues if he or she is not in when you call. Evaluate the status the next day, and call those people you haven’t spoken to yet. As your list gets shorter, you can ‘top it up’ with new potential customers. By practising often and getting more and more comfortable with all the ingredients of cold calling, you will get used to it, and before you know it, cold calling will become a piece of cake!

So, what are you waiting for? Seize the opportunity, be prepared and pick up that phone!

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