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Secrets to Prospecting Like a Pro with Carrie Berens #120
Today we visit a call center for cold calling advice from Carrie Berens. Carrie is the owner of Dynamic Sales Innovations. She owns a call center who serves mid-tier manufacturing and technology companies. She prefers to focus on prospecting for B2B companies with long sales cycles and complex deals. In this episode Carrie shares the 10 secrets to prospecting like a Pro. She is an expert at making very very cold cold cold calls.
Carrie’s Secrets to Prospecting Like a Pro
- Have a Plan – answer the question “what do you want to accomplish”. The primary goal is usually to just set an appointment. This is the biggest mistake sellers make, they don’t have a plan and they try to tell the prospect too much before they hang up.
- Have a Strategy – answer the question “how are to going to make your goals”. An example strategy is knowing what questions you’re going to ask. You should always have a gatekeeper strategy. Ask for help! “Good morning, I’m not sure to to ask for, could you help me out?” When approaching C-Suite execs “Joe Smith’s offices recommended that you’re the right person”. Voice mail, always leave a message that add value. She believes in professional persistence. Respectful persistence sets you up for when the timing is right.
- Have a System – Use a CRM. Take notes of everything you do. Use reminders to remember what’s easy to forget.
- Immerse Yourself – Keep distractions to the minimum. Use a headset and us the auto-dialing capability to click the phone number.
- Target Your List – Know who you want to call. Make sure the people are targeted for your business. Don’t waste time with leads that are not a good fit. Look at geography, business size,
- Be Conversational – Don’t tell the prospect everything about your product or service. Make it a real conversation and just plan to advance the sale to another meeting.
- Prepare to Answer Common Objections – Think out what your going to say e.g. it depends, tell us more about you and I can answer pricing, number of leads, etc…
- Know Your Numbers – Know your sales goals and the number it will take to meet the goals. These are the KPIs. Cold calling is a numbers game. But everyone’s numbers are different depending on their skill and business.
- Don’t Take It Personally – If they hang up on you , it’s not about you, it’s about the business and what the prospect is concerned about at that moment. Follow up all No’s with “can I follow up with you in 6 months to see if anything has changed?”
- Be Consistent – Make cold calling a part of your everyday. It’s easy to think you’re having a productive doing other things but if you’ve not done any prospecting your not as productive as you think.
Take Action Advice
Carrie was quick to respond “Have a Plan”.
Where to Find Carrie Berens
Dynamic Sales Innovations provides cost-effective solutions for optimizing new top line growth starts with the basics, no short cuts-no false promises, through telemarketing and appointment setting.
Carrie Berens on LinkedIn
Call here at 630-701-9051
Cold Calling Tips
Here are some other prospecting episodes you find of value. Enjoy!
- Stop Cold Calling Start Communicating with Odile Faludi #109
- How to Sell to the Obvious with Stephen Schiffman
- Sales For Start-ups with Mano Behera
- Prospecting for New Sales Leads with Steve Kloyda #73
- Five Lessons from a Pushy Cold Call
- Cold Calling Tips from an Employment Recruiter an interview with Jamie Homa #44
- SB025 – Forget Digital Marketing, Try Cold Calling
- SB020 – Down to Earth Sales, an interview with Diana Schneidman
- Cold Calling Tips using Jill Kontrath’s Agile Selling #18
- The 8×3 Follow Up Rule in Sales