Thursday, December 10, 2009

15 Ways to Stay Motivated and Focused When Cold Calling - Part 2

Yesterday tele-sales expert Jim Domanski shared priceless tips with us to make cold calling more manageable. Today he's back with even more tips for you to start using right away.

Call and only call.
Don't use your 1-hour sprint to make copious notes, stuff envelops, send a fax or compose an e-mail after a call. You'll use up precious minutes. Stick to your hour of dialing and stick to the goal you set. After you've done your dialing you can go back and update information.

Reward yourself. You've heard this one before: if you do your solid hour of dialing, give yourself a reward. Maybe it is a triple grande latte at Starbucks. Whatever. Something.

Create a competition. Misery loves company. If you have associates, get them to cold call with you at the same time. Have a contest for dials, connects, presentations, leads or sales. Buy a small trophy and award it to each other on a daily basis. Have fun with it.

Make a commitment to someone else. Publicly state to a co-worker, boss, friend, significant other or whoever that you WILL do 1 hour of cold calling at a given time. Ask them to ask you how you did. Telling them you didn't do it will make you feel embarrassed and sheepish which means you'll want to avoid it at all costs. (Thus, you're more likely to pick up the phone and get it done).

Track results. Keep track of your dials, connects, presentations, leads, sales and revenues. Make a chart on a sheet of paper. Use little 'sticks' to record your results. This is easy and takes .67 seconds per stick so it saves time. Over time you can create a predictive model. If you have a boss, it's also a great way to provide feedback on lists or offers.

Avoid the Dementors. In the Harry Potter books 'Dementors' are creatures that literally suck the life spirit from people. Whiners and complainers are like Dementors. Avoid them at all cost. They'll drag you down and eventually your drive and spirit will be depleted.

Hang out with winners. If there's someone who is good at cold calling, or at the very least, is disciplined about cold calling. Sit near him or her. Feed off their energy. Compete with them. Their drive and spirit is infectious.

Don't be a wimp.
You know what's real easy? Quitting. It's real easy to quit. Don't be wimp. Stick to the plan and follow the tips here. Give these ideas a chance. Your revenue and your job may depend on it. So don't quit. Be persistent.

Cold calling doesn't have to be as miserable as we sometime make it. Follow these tips and you'll create momentum and the process will not be so taxing. It'll be easy, faster and more effective. Just do it.

Jim Domanski is a tele-sales expert and president of Teleconcepts Consulting. Teleconcepts Consulting helps businesses and individuals who are frustrated with the results they have being getting when using the telephone to market and sell their products. For more information visit: www.TeleconceptsConsulting.com.

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