These days most people don’t realize that cold calling is one of the least effective ways to make a sale. It’s annoying, to the salesman, it’s an inefficient waste of time and prospects hate it. Those three things alone should be enough not to make cold calls. It’s not though. 

Every time I talk about how I hate cold calls there’s always that one salesman who says “it’s different in my business” or “You’re just not good at them” I’ve made more cold calls than I want to admit to. I’ve made so many that I decided 6 years ago that I’d never make another one. I got sick and tired of wasting my time trying to talk to people who don’t want to talk to me.

Cutting out cold calls is a bold move for a salesman though. Much like many of you reading this, I relied on cold calls to make sales. It wasn’t 100% of my business, but in 2010 cold calling brought in a lot of deals. For every sale it brought in there were 50 unanswered calls, 30 hang ups, 10 disconnected numbers and 9 people talking to me who would rather be watching paint dry.

Let’s face it, the only reason you make cold calls is because your outdated, no selling, cheapass sales manager requires you to do so. He knows that if you make 300 calls a day, you’ll make 1-2 sales each day. It’s what he did, so it’s all he knows. When he sold whatever it is your cold calling about, there was no social media, email or all the other things you can use to contact people. He’s old school and now he’s forcing you to go old school too. 

There’s a better way to make money than cold calling

If you could make 1-2 sales each day in 10 calls instead of 300, your sales manager might actually show an interest in what you are doing. Instead, you’re stuck making calls all day which leaves you with no time to try experiments on your own. Don’t worry. I got you! I’ll show you how to take the cold out of cold calling.

There’s a big difference in how a conversation takes place with a stranger vs how it goes down with someone you know. Even if you’ve only heard of a person, you’re more likely to speak with them on the phone than you would a complete stranger. I’ve got a method that removes the cold from cold calling. Let me help you out.

First off, you’ve got to get clear on who it is you can help. instead of machine gunning cold calls, we are gonna take sniper shots at sure things. Yes, it’s a different battle plan than you are used to but trust me it’s a lot more effective and lucrative. Get clear on who you want to work with by making a list of 50-100 perfect prospects. The perfect prospect is someone who you know would benefit from what you sell and would be a dream client to have. I’m talking name, email, address and phone number of everyone on the list. Learn to use the google. 

Instead of machine gunning cold calls let me show you how to sniper sales calls 

Take the time you would normally use to blast out cold calls, to actually do some social reconnaissance and find out a little about your prospect. The main thing you are looking for is what sports teams they post about, what college they went to, who their idols are and what type of books they likely read. 

Once you know what the prospect is into, your next step is to get what they like to them. What I do is go to amazon and order books they would read. You can get a used book for $4 or so. Since you have their name, email and address, you can send the book directly from amazon. You can even have amazon put a note in the book for no extra charge. Make the note say something like this:

“John, I admire your work and the corporation you’ve built. You remind me of Elon Musk. Have you heard of him? He’s changing the way the world does business, just like you. I thought you’d really enjoy this biography and possibly use it as inspiration to do even more for the business world than you already have. 

I’ll be reaching out to you in a few days to make sure you got this book. I know you’ll love it and I want to make sure it was delivered to the right hands. I’ll be calling from 214 555-6565 so you’ll know it’s me. Talk with you soon – Ryan“

A quick, off the cuff note paired with a book you know they will love to read, will change the conversation from “buy my stuff I’m a cold caller” to “I’m the guy who sent you a gift just making sure you got it” All you’re trying to do as a salesman is get the attention of the audience you sell too. 

In a world full of selfish salesmen a gift giver stands out

This doesn’t only work for books either. One time I got a card in the mail from Kent Clothier that had a little TV on it with a video inviting me to an event. As busy as I was, and as packed as my schedule was, me and several other high level guys made the trek to meet Kent. That video card was the contact method that sealed the deal. Use your imagination and stay within your budget.

You might already be thinking “I don’t have money to send books” but come on get real. A cup of coffee at starbucks is $7. You can get a used book for $4. If you make 300 cold calls each day, send out 3 books to the top three prospects. In the end, you’ll most likely make the same amount of sales with less time and effort by simply sending value first. 

We live in a time where you have to stand out to make a sale. Cold calling insinuates ‘what can you do for me’ when gift giving tips the scales on the law of reciprocity. They almost feel like they owe you a phone call because you went the extra mile where others won’t go. 

Save yourself some time, slow down on cold calling and get better at social recon and gift giving. You’ll stand out above all the rest. I’ve also found that most times the prospect will call me. That’s why I leave my number on the note. Don’t knock it until you try it. 

If you’re sick of using old school sales methods and you’re ready to step into the new age way of selling, you need to go grab your order of www.buyshowupandclose.com This program is FULL of stealthy tactics like the one in this blog post. The key to making money in sales is being a sniper not a machine gunner. Show Up and Close will turn you into a sniper.  Lastly, be sure to share this on social media.