35. Cold Calling in Small Business Sales - Listener Question

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Entrepreneurs. I am your resident sales and business nerd Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn sales skills, business growth strategies, and how to squeeze more out of your day.  I’ve launched a FREE tool on my website that you can download that we have used to figure out which sales and marketing activities actually create revenue. My SALES GROWTH TRACKER is now available for download on my website - go to LindsayFletcher.co/free-resources. Click on Sales Growth Tracker and drop your email and I will send it over to you immediately, along with steps on how to use it. Today, I’m featuring a listener question about the best way to approach cold calling.  If you'd like for me to answer a question on the podcast, leave me a voice message at https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher - I'd love to hear from you and answer your questions! Felisha, your question is a really great one because this is something that most business owners and sales people avoid like the plague in small and large businesses. Warm leads, even if they are only lukewarm, are so much easier than cold leads.  So, I’ll give you my best advice. Rather than treating cold calls like sales calls, I’d treat cold calls like market research calls. I would go into these conversations with as much curiosity as I can so that I learn as much about this person/family as I can and I’d have a list of questions prepared before I even talk to them. Also, try to identify their buying style while you are talking as well so that if it gets far enough along that you can pitch yourself, then you’ll know a little bit about how to discuss what you can do for them.  You mentioned real estate in your message, so I’ll use the example of cold calling FSBO… I’d want to learn as much as possible about why they decided to list their home or property on their own. I’d want to understand their circumstances, what led them to put the home/property on the market, what they are expecting to get out of the property, etc. Ask all of the real estate questions that you can - how much interest they’ve had, how many showings, how they are marketing the property, how long they plan to keep it FSBO.  Gather info and help them as much as you can throughout the phone call.  I don’t mean market the property for them because you aren’t getting paid to do that, but help them identify gaps in their knowledge about the market, why they aren’t getting traction, why they should use a real estate agent, namely the new crazy processes that y’all are having to go through now just to show a property. If the time comes, I’d ask if you can share some things about you, how you market properties, housing market data, etc. and what all of that info that means to them - again in their buying style if you can start to identify it. If you are doing in-person cold calls, I’d approach it very similarly like market research.  These should be a little easier because you are face to face. They will be getting to know you and you can visually show your interest and sincerity in learning about them, and their situations and circumstances.  I think it’s better to open up lines of communication than to hard sell your services right out of the gate.  Learn about them, show a genuine interest in helping them, and see where that takes you.  If you gain nothing else, it will give you marketing content to use.   Thank you for submitting your question! If you'd like to have your question answered on the podcast, send me a voice message at https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher or email me at [email protected].   As always, I'm praying for you and I'm praying for your business!  Thank you for listening! My best, Lindsay   Join our FREE community of like-minded women who are stepping into their full potential and going BIG in their businesses: https://www.facebook.com/groups/367731782244780    I’m excited to hear from you!  Please send questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected].   Sales Growth Tracker | Sales Training for Entrepreneurs | Business Growth Strategies | Sales Skills Development | Business Coaching for Entrepreneurs | Women in Business | Sales Confidence | Entrepreneurship Tips | How to Grow My Business | Sales Growth for Small Business Owners