We had an amazing time at ITNation 2014. We met hundreds of IT executives and employees, all of whom spent considerable time and money to be in Orlando to connect with and learn from 2500 of their closest peers. Connectwise did not disappoint. I think all sponsors and attendees can agree that once again, the “must-attend” event of the year was ITNation.
As part of our lead up to ITN, we posted one cold calling tip every day for thirty days, and as promised, we’re listing them all here for your reference. Thank you to everyone who visited our booth, dropped by our hospitality suite and who just took the time out of their busy show schedule to talk about their business challenges and what they were going to do to “reinvent” their companies for 2015.
To our clients who went out of their way to spend some time at our booth and in our suite talking to potential new prospects with us: THANK YOU! Your continued support and referrals are much appreciated and so many of you brought your peers by to learn more about us. We’re flattered, we’re grateful, and we’re going to be really busy next year!!!
Now that we’re all back at the office, back in the real life feast/famine/fire of day to day business operations, I urge everyone to not lose sight of the energy and enthusiasm you had at ITNation! You walked away from that event ready to make some changes, and I challenge you to remain focused on the promises you made to yourself. If you made the decision to aggressively grow your IT business in 2015, I hope you’ll give us the opportunity to help!
Here are all of the #CCTOTD tweets we posted — let us know which ones were helpful to you!
Try asking “How does that sound to you?” not “Is that something that would interest you?”
Speaking to a gatekeeper? Qualify account by size & current type of support so you know if it’s a lead worth pursuing!
Make every call count – try to learn something new about the company every time you call in
End every call today with “Is there anyone in your network that may be in the market for our services?”
Look in the mirror while you are calling. Wear something nice. Smile while you dial.
Counter a shutdown: “Our services save clients time & $$. Why don’t you think this would be of interest to your company?”
The greatest cold call in the world won’t help you if your marketing collateral sucks.
Cold call like you mean it. Every prospect deserves your best efforts
Enthusiasm wins more deals than skill. Loving your product is contagious.
Start an hour early. Stay an hour late. Any time calls aren’t being screened is a good time to call!
Stop cherry picking. Stop whale hunting. Call the leads. All the leads.
Pitch anyone who will take your call, every conversation gets you closer to a sale.
Fake it ’til you make it. Nobody sounds great on call one. You will sound amazing by call 100.
Ask your question & then #STFU. Resist the urge to fill space with noise.
Ask if you can call again in 6 months to follow up & see if anything has changed. Send email thanking them for their time.
Only using half of your CRMs features? Learn how to use the other 50% to increase your call counts & conversion rates.
Call. Leave voice mails. Send emails. Repeat. On average, it takes 6 attempts to reach a prospect.
Don’t try to sell everything. Identify what is important to your prospect and laser focus your first conversation on that.
No conversation is ever a waste of time & a successful pitch will always get you one step closer to the sale.
Respect your prospects time. A call that wasn’t expected may be disruptive. Ask: “Is now a good time to discuss this?”
Professional cold callers know that a gatekeeper is a powerful ally. Sell to them, not around them.
Let each prospect choose the style of the call. Are they chatty? Chat. Are they all business? Get to the point.
Was that the worst call ever? Shake it off. The prospect has moved on with their day. Get back on the phone.
What are your filler & default words? If you notice how often you use them, so will your prospects. Try to avoid them.
Prospect one vertical at a time. Similar companies have similar pain, so your pitch won’t vary as much from call to call.
Our favorite open-ended cold calling question is “How can we win your business?”