You hate to cold call, right? Dale Carnegie taught us (in 1937) that we have to get in front of people to make a sale. In those days, there was no other way.
Yet we’re still listening to him, believing that getting in front of prospects will give us an edge – forgetting, of course, that everyone else is just as smart and friendly and oh-so-charming.
We put huge budgets aside for travel; the telephone is looked at disdainfully, as merely an appointment getting vehicle, not as the rapport builder and communication tool that it can be.
And even with the massive failure rate we have, we still focus every interaction on The Sale. We forget that if buyers can’t figure out how to manage those off-line decisions that take place in their workplaces, it doesn’t matter what we’ve got or what they need.
Enter the telephone. Yes, even cold calling.
We can get massive amounts of business done on the phone. IMHO the phone is a greatly underutilized business tool. We’re so busy using it to make appointments that we forget that it’s actually a vehicle of two-way communication, and a decision facilitation tool.
Using the phone during the course of buying decisions, I’ve decreased one year closing times down to 3 calls – and no meetings. I’ve helped clients sell multimillion dollar deals on the phone, bringing a 3 year sales cycle down to 4 months, with no meetings until month 2. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have meetings; I’m just saying don’t use your body as a prospecting tool.
I love the phone. In my twenty years of working for myself, I have only met one customer before signing a contract, and that was because they lived here in Austin.
Just some food for thought. Have a listen/look to my short video on this. There are 24 of these short videos on YouTube.
Just think about it a bit.
Sharon Drew
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