Cold calling can make even the most seasoned sales representatives weak in the knees. Cold calling must be relentless, able to persevere, and not take insults personally. But cold calling has the potential to reach thousands of new customers on daily basis, that many other forms of advertising can't compete with.

One major benefit of sales cold calling is lack of competition. When you contact potential clients through cold calling, you are bringing your products or services directly to them, rather than waiting for them to choose between you and a competitor. When performed properly, cold calling sales techniques can lead you to success. When cold calling, keep the following things in mind:

1. Do research on potential clients before you begin.

2. Make the goal of a cold call to get a contact, not necessarily make a sale.

3. Prepare a script, that highlights the important points of your cold call.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Purchase lists of prospective buyers or a cold call directory

There are companies that specialize in creating marketing lists that cover the specific need of the customer or target market. This will help you to be the most effective and efficient when making calls. Purchase a comprehensive list of all US businesses, or purchase specialty lists of consumers that buy a certain product or service.

I recommend: Get free online quotes for very specific target-market lists from US Data Corporation. Try a free 7-day trial of Selectory, which offers comprehensive selections of businesses in the US and Canada.

Use software to do the cold call work for you

There are pros and cons to using software for cold calling. It is more cost effective that paying employees to do it, the software will make more calls than people, thus reaching a wider customer base, and records will be kept of each sales lead. However, an automated call is less personal, and potentially less convincing than a sales person, as well as much easier to hang up on.

I recommend: Try a free 30-day trial, or view an online demo of VanillaSoft, or download a free trial of the Voicent autodialer.

Contract out sales cold calling

Hiring a third party cold call provider to do the cold calling is generally more cost effective than using in-house callers, and also provides you with callers that are well trained in cold calling selling techniques.

I recommend: Ellz Support Services has experienced professionals to do all of the phone work, as does Worldwide Call Centers.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Cold call early in the morning when the decision-makers are most likely to be in the office, in the best mood and most productive.
• •  Sending out promotional gifts to your lists before making both consumer and business cold calls is a great way to soften up potential customers before contacting them over the phone.