A reader recently emailed me the following:
“Hi Bob, I love being in sales and want to make a difference. The company I just started working for is very focused on cold calling, and closing on the first appointment, which seems contrary to the approach in your and John’s book? I love this company but how do I reconcile this with the Go-Giver principles?”
My response:
Actually, cold-calling is a very legitimate part of sales. It’s certainly not as productive (or fun!) as when you have tons of referred prospects who are predisposed to buy from you. However, when there’s no other way to obtain these qualified prospects other than through cold-calling then that is the way to go. There’s certainly nothing inherently “contra Go-Giver” by doing so; not if what you’re selling is adding significant value to them.
Regarding a one-call close, the same principle applies. Remember, a sale, whether one-call or multi-call is a matter of communicating value to your prospect in such a way that they understand that they are receiving more in use value than what they are paying. When that’s the case they will buy from you whether it’s one call or after many calls.
At the same time, if they never feel they are receiving sufficient value in exchange for what they are paying, they will never do business with you, again, number of calls aside.
Some businesses lend themselves to a one-call close. {Note: the questioner’s business falls into this category.} Others do not, and to try and force that would be counter-productive, manipulative, and sale-focused as opposed to customer-focused.
Understand that with a one-call close type of business you’re going to have to — within that call — establish the know, like, and trust feelings as well as ask the right questions in order to successfully discover what they are looking to accomplish. Then, assuming they understand how the benefits of your product or service can fulfill their wants, needs and desires, they will take ownership.
The Go-Giver framework is all about focusing on bringing value to others. Do that effectively and you will prosper greatly in your business, regardless of how you find your customers and how many calls or visits before the sale occurs.
Want to accelerate your success in 2017? Now is the time to make it happen. Attend our upcoming Go-Giver Sales Academy in Orlando, FL and work closely (limited to just 10 people) for two full days with Kathy Tagenel and me, along with 9 other very successful entrepreneurs and sales professionals. For more information, click here. The Go-Giver Sales Academy is where your business breakthrough can occur.
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Yes. Great story. Simple: authentically care for customers.
Thank you, Steve. Very grateful for your kind feedback!
Cold calling is indeed a very valid approach although it can be daunting for the person doing it. What is annoying is when leads have been generated incorrectly or databases are out of date and you are made to call a list of irrelevant people and then blamed for not generating any sales!
Hi Johnston, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Yes, it can be daunting, indeed, which is why I suggest that anyone cold-calling learn how to do it from someone who has mastered that art, such as my friend, ART Sobczak. Here’s an interview with him that we did on The Go-Giver Podcast: http://thegogiver.com/2016/08/033-remember-telephone/. And, yes, incorrectly generated leads are…well, they’re not a good thing. 🙂