Yes, Prospecting Sucks. Do It Anyway!!

I was recently working with a sales rep for one of my clients. She’d been through my 1.5 day cold calling program but my client felt this rep wasn’t having the appointment setting success they had hoped for. It only took a few minutes of working with her one-on-one before I discovered a couple of huge problems. Perhaps these are preventing you from prospecting success?

• She stared at the phone. Let’s face it…almost all of have call reluctance…the dread of picking up the phone and dialing it. I shared with her that the worst that can happen is the person on the other end hangs up, or says something rude, or you don’t get the appointment. It’s NOT the end of the world. Pick up the phone, dial it, and see what happens. Repeat.
• She wrote a script for both her opening and her rebuttals. She wasn’t using them. There’s a reason you cold call using a script. The conversation happens VERY quickly and you need to be prepared with what to say. Your prospect is VERY prepared to blow you off. (“I’m not interested,” “I’m happy with my current provider,” etc.)

Build a list. Write your script. Pick up the phone. Dial. It’s as simple as that. Not necessarily fun, and not always a huge success, but simple. You DO need a script so that you don’t “blow it” when you get a live person on the phone. Amateurs “wing it,” professionals are prepared.

Depending on how many appointments you need each day/week your prospecting efforts won’t take very long, if you do it right!