GO AWAY!!!!

No – not you, you can stay. In fact, make yourself comfortable. Can I get you something to drink? Perhaps a biscuit or light snack? Comfortable? Good.

No, my instruction to go away is addressed to all those people offering me services for which I did not ask. Now I have to tread carefully here, because in the past I have spoken of the value of a good cold call, and I don’t want to start bashing cold calling here because I do believe in it.

It’s just that some cold calling is so cold it’s positively icy. You see, if you are in the business of canvassing for new business by telephone, you should at least have some helpers to turn any call from cold into slightly warm. Allow me to demonstrate, using my own industry as an example:

The Cold Call

“Hello, my name is Paul Rose and I work for Merchandise Mania. I was just calling to find out if you were looking for any promotional items right now.”

Now we’ve all received calls like that and frankly, that sales person is going to need a combination of luck and massive call rates to have any hope of getting a positive result.

The call is stone cold – no research what so ever and chances are, the person on the other end would have switched off almost instantly. So why don’t we try this:

The Warm Call

“Hello, my name is Paul Rose and I’m with Merchandise Mania. I was on your website recently, learning a little more about how you market your company and I’ve a product here which I think could do wonders for your business. Who do you think it would be best to talk to about this?”

Much more powerful. Now bear in mind that the caller had no special access to any information, had no contact names within the company and, most importantly, had no way of knowing whether or not his call would get passed reception. But how much more likely is it that he will?

Customers like to feel that the people they are buying from understand their needs. They may not need you to know their life story, but if they’re made to feel like more than just another customer, then they will be so much more inclined to deal with you.

More importantly, there’s a strong chance that the majority of people you call for the first time will not have an immediate need for your goods or services, but if you keep talking to them, building rapport and helping them, even if there’s nothing in it immediately for you, then eventually the business will come.

Now of course, a gift can go a long way toward building on that relationship. You may not think you need it now, but chances are that within the next 3 months you’re going to have a really great conversation with a new potential client and you’re going to wish you could just reach into a nearby cupboard, pull out a nice, branded gift and have it sent along to thank them for their time and interest.

Don’t wait until that call happens! You’ll be left looking for stuff that can be turned around in 24 hours and when you find out that there’s nothing decent, you’ll end up going to the high street and grabbing the nearest thing you can find. Those gifts DON’T WORK – they look and feel like bribery, which could seriously backfire on you.

Remember – the right gift, given the right way, really can do wonders for your business.

Have a good week, and feel free to make life really difficult for the next call centre based monkey who rings you at dinner time to sell you a new kitchen. Trust me, it’s fun.