The cold call

Practically all Business-to-Business sales jobs require cold calling – canvassing that is.

Canvas is raw, unprocessed fabric. Canvassing is calling people you do not know. Canvassing is a necessity in these times where customers either cut back or completely shut down. Canvassing is often what separates success from failure. But why do salespeople often regard canvassing as being the work of the devil?

There are many answers to this question. Equally it is the same with excuses. Below you will find eight of them:

• I do not want to seem desperate
• My customers will come to me
• Telemarketing is not a part of my job description
• I do not like being rejected
• We do not want to lose potential customers by being too intrusive
• I do not think the need exists
• I will deal with it later
• I do not know what to say

All of the above are classic excuses and frustrating to hear because right now the primary target is to connect with potential customers - customers who continuously develop their business and will have the potential of being the foundation of the company in the years to come.

Like any other discipline, canvassing involves a methodology which can help one to conquer the eight excuses above which inhibit people from making the necessary calls and achieving success. There are two main categories to relate to. Firstly: The cold call is hard work. Secondly: The cold call is a discipline in itself.

Detective work
It involves a great deal of detective work to obtain the proper insight into an organisation, to understand the customer’s business and organisational structure, to find out who is responsible for what and to get past the front office all the way to the decision makers.

The cold call seldom creates immediate results. It takes a lot of calls to get past the many gatekeepers and people who have a say on the particular subject. And often you just get the message: “No thanks, we are very satisfied with our existing solution.”

Canvassing is a demanding discipline and it is hard to fit it into the daily routines with existing customers that require your presence. The prerequisites for making canvassing a success are: recognition within the organisation, planning, discipline and good cooperation within the sales team.

To win a sale is one of the biggest motivational factors for a salesperson. That is why losing a sale is immediately demotivating. Making 50-80 calls without any measureable results is highly demanding for anyone. However, canvassing is not a 100 metre sprint. It is a marathon. And marathons can be won.

Obvious targets
You have to see the art of canvassing as a learning process. The cold call is a discipline in itself. Whenever you want to begin a new sport, the results do not show up on the first day. It takes months of practice. Even though you are a skilled salesman in other disciplines, the first 10 or 15 calls will not leave you with a feeling of routine or a good feeling in general.

As a starting point you need to prepare yourself and define your efforts for the activities that lead to the final target of the cold call – the sale, the business meeting or the continuing contact. To define obvious targets and share them with others increases the chance of holding on to the customer.

Preparation is vital. Time must be set aside in your calendar for the assignment and all excuses must be removed. When making cold calls, it helps to isolate yourself from your surroundings. The isolation helps you to avoid being caught up in a web of procrastinations. Procrastination is the biggest enemy of the cold call - why put off today what can be put off tomorrow!

After the preparation you need to transpose best practice sales techniques - the opening, developing the needs, the presentation, objection handling and the agreement - for this particular assignment Canvassing is a long haul. Patience! Many calls may have to be made before the final target is achieved. You have to think in several stages and must avoid selling your company or business at the first attempt. Sell one stage at a time. If the next step is the meeting then focus must be on what the customer can benefit from the meeting – not on what the product can do for him.

The two main rules for success in canvassing can be summarised as follows: Get to work and stick with it. With a structured mind it is possible to conquer the difficulties and the psychological inhibitions!