Did you know that the cold call is not unique to sales?\u00a0 It happens in the class room as well.\u00a0 When a teacher asks a question of a student who hasn\u2019t raised their hand you can feel the temperature drop, because you\u2019ve got a cold call in action.\u00a0 The teachers\u2019 goal is to keep her students attention by introducing the possibility that anyone can be asked to speak at any time.\u00a0 By doing so she hopes to reduce the chances the students will be preoccupied and tune out.\u00a0 I probably don\u2019t have to tell you what some of the students are really thinking.<\/p>\r\n
Now there are a couple of ways a teacher can play this.\u00a0 The first way is to name your target right up front.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cAlan, tell me, why does it make sense to use content marketing here?\u201d<\/p>\r\n
The second approach is to ask the question first, then pause for a long time before calling out the name.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cCan you elaborate on the use of content marketing in this example \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 Alan?\u201d<\/p>\r\n
The longer the pause between the question and the student\u2019s name, the more time every other student spent formulating an answer, and therefore, thinking about the question.\u00a0 In addition, the second question has a softer sound without the \u201cwhy.\u201d\u00a0 Finally, as time passed, perhaps the look on Alan\u2019s face let the teacher know he wanted to share his thoughts.\u00a0 And if that was the case, it wasn\u2019t really a cold call, but the perfect delivery of a strategic question to create a dialogue.\u00a0 The second approach wins hands down from my perspective as both a student and associate faculty member.<\/p>\r\n
We Don\u2019t Make Cold Calls<\/strong><\/p>\r\n In regards to the sales process, there are some who say that they don\u2019t make cold calls.\u00a0 That they start conversations from white paper downloads or that they work by referral.\u00a0 But every call, in a sense, is a cold call.\u00a0 Your audience is usually preoccupied at the moment you approach, and you must help them transition from what they are thinking about to what you want them to talk about.\u00a0 Basically, you\u2019re interrupting someone\u2019s day to get something you need out of them: information, a meeting, a demo, you name it.\u00a0 When you think about it, most people dread that type of interruption and will look for ways to block the dialogue.\u00a0 In fact, research suggests that when you are cold calling, you\u2019ve only got about 10 seconds to get a prospect\u2019s attention from the time she says, \u201cHello.\u201d\u00a0 So, how do you build conversation bridges to warm up the connection?<\/p>\r\n Questions are the Answer<\/strong><\/p>\r\n No, not those type of questions. You know; the blatantly obvious types that come across like a major crimes interrogation.\u00a0 \u201cYou do want to increase revenue while decreasing costs, don\u2019t you?\u201d\u00a0 They may be a suspect, but you\u2019re not going to qualify them as a prospect if you offend them or they tune you out.\u00a0 And certainly not the completely insincere opening question, \u201cHow are you today?\u201d\u00a0 Conversational bridge building questions allow you to showcase your knowledge and experience in helping them identify possible needs without putting them on the defensive.\u00a0 I like imagine \u201cwhat-if-you\u201d questions that suggest mental pictures and help get your prospect emotionally involved.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWhat if, you could quickly recycle content into new marketing material 90 percent faster?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cWhat if, your new marketing content was automatically filed for you for easy distribution?\u201d<\/p>\r\n These types of questions help you build a story that is unique and different from what your competition can do.\u00a0 And just as questions in advertising persuade people to read the rest of the copy, they can serve the same purpose of cementing attention in the sales call.\u00a0 The questions you select for your approach should create immediate interest, be different, cause the prospect to forget that you have just interrupted him or her from another purpose, and lead smoothly into the rest of the conversation.\u00a0 Are you currently preparing questions in advance of a call?\u00a0 The questions you ask can be more important than anything else you say.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that the cold call is not unique to sales?\u00a0 It happens in the class room as well.\u00a0 When a teacher asks a question of a student who hasn\u2019t raised their hand you can feel the temperature drop, because you\u2019ve got a cold call in action.\u00a0 The teachers\u2019 goal is to keep her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6495,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[128,85],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}