Let your client think he is in control

Maybe the biggest mistake of modern sales people is that they are trying to impose their own rules of a game on their prospective clients. Instead they need to play the client's game to the point where a goal (an appointment or a sale) can be reached.

How many sales people use a ready-made sales pitch in cold calling, when all they'd need to do is prepare, prepare and prepare!

Countless agents attempting to succeed in cold calling act like: "I'll tell you, what I offer and then ask you to buy!" This cold calling technique is a waste of time. Why? Because it is a selfish approach. When talking to a prospective customer, you need to make him feel important and you need to come up with a tangible solution. How to do that? Well, as I mentioned - the golden rule of direct marketing is to be prepared; you need to do some preliminary work in order to succeed in any type of telemarketing.

Here's how to prepare for your campaign

• Take a sheet of paper and describe your product, answering a very important question: "What problem does my product solve?" If you cannot answer this question, you won't be able to sell this product. No matter how clever your cold calling techniques are.
• Now that you have determined the key problems your product solve, work on your wording. The solutions should be described in language as simple as possible. When making a cold call you have to remember that the person you'll speak to might be put off by your clever specifics.
• Now work through the list of your prospective clients. Try to find some key info about their companies - volume of business, areas of operation, number of employees, etc.
• Imagine yourself in the place of your prospective customer. If you'd run his business, what problems would you encounter and how would you like somebody to solve them. This will help you weeding out the excessive prose from your sales pitch, leaving well comprehensible phrases.
• Now to the cold calling. When speaking to your customers, do not offer a product, offer a solution.