It’s the moment of truth. You’re about to call back the prospect you’ve been chasing for the last two months. You are about talk to your customer who makes up 30% of your quota. You’re about to start making cold calls. It’s call time.
When you sit down to make that call, whether it’s one call or 4 hours of cold calls, what’s in your head? What are you thinking about? Where is your mind when you start pounding the keys?
It matters and if it’s not in the right place, your chances of success will be pretty low.
Where should your head be? Let me start by telling you where it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be;
- On your product
- It’s features
- It’s price
- It’s availability
- It’s benefits
- It’s competitive advantages
- On your quota
- On your commission
- On the number of calls you have to make
- On setting up the next meeting
- On your story
- On how much you can sell them
- Why they need your product
- When you can close the deal
- On what you want them to konw
- On YOU
Instead, when you start pounding the keys, your head should be on;
- Their business
- How they are measured
- What they are trying to accomplish
- What they are afraid of
- What is happening in their industry
- What has happened in their industry
- What is about to happen in their industry
- How they are fairing against their competitors
- Who their customers are
- How they handle their customers (internal and external)
- Where they are vulnerable
- Where they are strong
- Their culture
- Their goals
- The successes
- Their failures
- everything but you!
Where should your head be when you are calling your prospects and customers? You should be in their head. You should feel their pain. You should sense their fear. You should understand their challenges. You should be thinking like them.
Steven Covey wasn’t a sales guy, and 7 Habits of Highly Successful People wasn’t a sales book. But one of his tenets is seek first to understand. This couldn’t be anymore accurate in sales.
Get your head right before you pick up the phone. Imagine you are the person you are going to call. Imagine what their world is like. Envision their day to day. Your customers and prospects have jobs to do. The only way you can help them is to understand what those jobs are and what it takes to be successful doing them.
Get out of your head and get into your customers. IT’s the only way to sell.
To improve you ability to get your prospects attention, check out our eBook; Intrigue, All you need for a successful cold call.