Dear Ms. Marketing: Cold Call Query
Dear Ms. Marketing: Cold Call Query
Dear Ms Marketing: I don’t know how to make a cold call. Can you help?
First of all, there are two different cold calls. One is by phone and one is in person.
When making cold calls by phone you have to get passed the gate keeper and or voice mail. One of the ways you can do that is by saying something like I need to talk to the doctor it is very important and/or personal. After you have you convinced them that you really need to talk to the doctor, you better have a good question to ask. After your future customer answers the question follow up with something like this, “I have several other important and profitable facts about this product that I would like to share in person. Do you have a few minutes that we might be able to met and go over?” The object of a cold call is to set an appointment.
The in person cold calls are harder these days. The front office has been trained well so that nobody gets to see the boss. But if you bring goodies, all that changes. You can always go in and ask to speak to the assistant and see if you can get from there to the top. Once again cold calls are about engagement. I think that the personal touch is the best in these times. Mailers use to get the best return for your money, but in today’s market getting out and meeting and getting to know your accounts is the best way to get new business and keep the old. You have to go with a positive attitude and know that you are not going to get to the top for a while. Remember the eight-week program? You have to prove that you are going to do what you say you are going to do.
You also have to be prepared. Be ready for anything. You may walk in and another laboratory has delivered a late case for the last time, you have to be ready to say your laboratory can do whatever it is they need done. There is no backing up when it is an in-person cold call.
So remember that cold call is not about making the sale, it is about making contacts. Getting to know the office and staff. If you are lucky to get to the doctor you better have something important to ask.
It is like Jeffrey Gitomer says: “If you ask me the biggest secret of cold calling, I would tell you in one word. Preparation. If you’re no good at it, I can sum it up in two words. Preparation-H.”
