How Lack of Research and Confidence Undermine Your Cold Calling Success

Are your cold calls falling flat because you're making simple mistakes?

The salesperson called me, but I couldn’t talk at that moment. I was busy focused on something and was unwilling to stop, although I usually take cold calls. If you make cold calls, you should take them because you may learn from different approaches.

Two days later, the salesperson called me again, and I took his call. He started by asking me if he could tell me why he was calling or if I wanted to hang up. This approach is like trying to sell a lifeboat to someone on dry land. It’s not likely to succeed. If you don’t believe that what you are selling is valuable enough to interrupt a prospective client about, you ensure that they will also consider it unimportant. What is worse is that the salesperson offers the contact an easy out.

I know the younger generation of salespeople use approaches like this. I am sure it works well enough, but for my money, I would rather send the message that I belong in the client’s office. By letting the contact opt out, you may miss someone who needs what you sell. And why would you call a contact who doesn’t buy what you sell?

Back to our story: After the salesperson asked me if I wanted to hang up, I told him to go ahead. He began by explaining that he works for a company that sells—wait for it—sales training. I allowed him to continue to talk, only to hear him telling me the problems that I am having with my team. I asked him if the training would include tips like looking up the person on LinkedIn so you don’t call your competitors. When I told him that he called a competitor, he said that his leads were not great.

Everything is your fault. In this case, he went all Glengarry Glen Ross, suggesting “the leads are weak.” Maybe the list is weak, but his approach and lack of confidence were the real Achilles' heel.

There was a time before the information age. If you had sold then, you would not have any of the tools we enjoy today. Back then, every sale started as a shot in the dark There were no social media platforms, no databases with contact information, and no smartphones. This story is about not using the information available to you, even though we often take it for granted.

1. Research the contact on your lead list. Start with LinkedIn. Had our hapless salesperson searched me on the internet, he may have decided that I might not be a prospect.
2. Research the contact on Google. You might find information about your lead before you make an embarrassing cold call. Do your homework so it’s clear you know the basic things you should.
3. Research the contact’s company. You don’t want to make the mistake of asking your contact what their company does. I’ve seen this happen. It was a short meeting and an incredible learning experience.
4. Research the contact's industry. With all the information available today, you can get up to speed on the headwinds and tailwinds they are facing. This can give you an understanding of the forces, factors, and trends that may lead the contact to change. Almost no one does this, so it gives you a significant competitive advantage.

Master Effective Cold-Calling Techniques

• Build confidence for sales success: The more confidence you have that you can help your client improve their business results, the more your contact will believe that you are worth their time.
• Trade value for time in cold calls: My preference is to trade value for the client’s time. You can find this idea in The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the 10 Commitments That Drive Sales. I also prefer to project that I am an expert and an authority when it comes to the decisions they are making. No one wants to hear you pitch your solution, but they would love to have an education on how to best make a rare decision.
• Personalize your sales approach through research: For some reason, the idea of personalizing your approach by doing the research is missing. Many contacts avoid taking meetings with salespeople who fail to prove they have some understanding of who they are, what they do, and their problems or opportunities.
• Make a Strong First Impression in Sales Calls: Your first impression is your cold call, depending on how you prepared for it. Most will make the cold call even colder by not knowing anything about the contact, company, and industry.

Embrace Accountability for Sales Outcomes: Everything is your fault. If you are willing to take credit for the meetings you book and the deals you win, then you must take credit for your losses, be it in a cold call or an opportunity.