Design Studio Website
Friday, July 01, 2005
Effective Cold Calls
Report 103

"How can we make cold calls more effectively and generate more interest in our products and processes?" There are a number of components in this problem. Which do you see?

I see several:

1. Identifying what is interesting in your products and processes.
2. Who are you calling? Obviously some prospects are better than others. Focusing on better prospects will lead to better results.
3. Who is doing the cold calling? Can they be improved, perhaps through training?
4. How are you communicating? Are you reciting a script? Are you smiling? (research shows that when people smile while talking on the telephone, they sound friendlier)
5. What are you asking the customers to do? Order something directly? Make an appointment to meet a salesperson?
6. What follow up are you doing to help make the sale? Are you calling the customers again in a week or two?

I am probably the world's worst salesman. A professional could surely break the problem into further components.

Once we have broken down the problem, it may become clear that the problem is with a single component. In the above example, it is possible that the company has never really analysed their products and processes in order to determine what makes them attractive to their existing customers. Clearly this information would be extremely helpful in selling to new customers.

Alternatively, the company above might realise that they are doing no follow up on their cold calls. As a result, people who would buy their products are not being offered an easy chance to do just that.

When breaking problems into components, it is useful to establish several small creative teams – each of which is briefed on the overall problem and assigned a component for which they should brainstorm solutions. Give them time to work on solutions (this could be a half hour or it could be a week depending on the nature of the problem) and then bring the teams together to report on their results.

Those results can be impressive, often groups will have complementary ideas that fit together like puzzle pieces, thus providing a big solution which can be applied to the problem. At other times, one team will come up with a solution that can be applied to all of the components of the problem.

So, the next time you are facing a problem. Break it into pieces. Not only will doing so make problem solving easier, but it should result in better solutions.
posted by Naina @ Permalink 7/01/2005 08:03:00 AM   2 comments  --- Google It! ---
2 Comments:
At 7/01/2005 11:18:00 AM, Blogger Bill Austin said...
At 7/01/2005 05:46:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If your web site is set up right and marketed right, you should never have to make another cold call. Your web site should sell more than your sales force.

Bill Austin
AZhttp.com
 

Step back a bit...are cold calls the way to go with this product or service? Truly cold calls are a numbers game, and are often not the best use of company resources.

How can you make your marketing warmer? Can you generate publicity? Can you put a public face on your company (and meet the public) at a trade show? Could you speak to a group about what you do or sell? Could you write an informational piece about the problem your goods and services address in a newspaper or magazine? Could you network to your target customers instead of calling cold?

If cold calls are still the way to go, God bless - and go answer those questions.
 
Post a Comment

blog navigation
recent entries
monthly archive
innovation links
changethis manifestos
design links
other links
   
RSS and XML Feed Subscribe to Innovation with Bloglines
Listed on BlogShares I'm on orkut
My profile on LinkedIn My profile on Ecademy
Skype Me! Blogger Profile
Innovation Challenge Judge Blogstreet Profile

directions for using the blog
all links are in green: when you take your mouse-pointer over a link, it turns blue with a dashed gray underline. links in the post-body are also dash-underlined.

all links to useful information within the blog are under the *blog navigation* sidebar on the top-right.

the topmost right-corner advertises the yellow pages service provided by my parent organization, InnovationNetwork.

the ASIDE Innovation Blog does not advertise for third-parties and there are no pop-ups associated with the blog.

for any complaints kindly e-mail me at asideblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Naina Redhu has no liability for the contents on the pages of the weblinks under the *innovation*, *design* and *other* categories.

the *ideas@aside* logo is the sole-property of ASIDE and Naina Redhu and is copyrighted under the Creative Commons like the rest of the graphics and writing existing on the ASIDE Innovation Blog.

the blog has been optimized for Internet Explorer and uses websafe colors. the color scheme has been extensively researched for eye-safety for on-screen viewing as well as for the impact of colors on the brain. the colors on this weblog are suitable for a stress-free read and will relax all five senses.

comments relating to subject-matter under innovation / creativity and design / colors are welcome.
All comments, ideas and thoughts on the ASIDE Innovation Blog
are property of their authors unless otherwise stated
Copyright Naina Redhu, 2004
ASIDE is powered by Blogger