Cold Calling-The Ghastliest Chore in All of Marketing
Experts say that in order to be a successful network marketer
you must make at a minimum of 150 cold calls per day. That will
take approximately 8-10 hours per day if you don't take a lunch
or potty break. Network marketers, who work full-time in
addition to running a home business, don't have the time
required to make the phone calls necessary be successful in
their home business. That is why 95% of network marketers fail.
Almost all sales professionals freeze up at the very idea of
making cold calls. If you're one of them, if you flat out, big
time, despise making cold calls, if prospecting makes you want
to hurl well, stay with me here because you're going to feel a
whole lot better in just a moment.
What is cold calling, and why does it scare the living daylights
out of plenty of capable adults? Well let's look at a dictionary
style definition of the term: Cold calling is a telephone call
or personal visit soliciting a person or business without prior
contact.
Cold calling is a form of personal, not mass marketing. It
requires a one-to-one physical presence or telepresence. But
precisely because cold calling is personal selling you risk
getting the cold shoulder each time you get up the nerve to
prospect. That can make you feel vulnerable and tense, which
explains why you'll do almost anything to avoid it.
Prospecting is uncomfortable. Let's face it we're all inundated
by telemarketers who cold call on everything. We hate being on
the receiving end, and we don't want to do it. It's dread that
thwarts cold calling-a fear of not being perfect, of being
yelled at, or of making a fool of yourself. Some barriers are
psychological, and there are people whose emotional makeup
simply doesn't lend itself to the special stresses and strains
of selling.
At this point, if you've worked yourself into a cold sweat about
cold calling, relax. I know your pain. There is light at the end
of the tunnel. You can have a successful home business or be a
successful network marketer without having to cold call.
Savvy network marketers are now automating their businesses with
sophisticated marketing tools that make their cold calls for
them. They no longer have to spend hours on end with the
telephone stuck to their ear manually dialing hundreds of
telephone numbers trying to reach one potential customer. Their
automated system does all of the dirty work for them and even
databases their prospects information for future reference.
Those network marketers who are taking advantage of these simple
to use hi-tech tools are now reaping big financial rewards and
spending hours on the phone talking to prospects that've called
them and want to know more about what they have to offer.