cold calling – Ozisco.com

Listen to the audio version of this article brought to you by my accent 🙂 😉

The Status Quo: A few weeks ago, I came across an article written by Dr. Travis Bradberry, President of TalentSmart, on what successful and happy people focus on. I recommend you take a few minutes to read it. One behavior stood out for me. Dr. Bradberry’s research found that “successful and happy people live outside the box. They haven’t arrived at where they are by thinking in the same way as everyone else. While others stay in their comfort-zone prisons and invest all their energy in reinforcing their existing beliefs, successful people are out challenging the status quo and exposing themselves to new ideas.”

The Problem: As a sales professional, my thought process naturally transitioned to how I could apply this concept to improve my sales motion. After reflecting on the behavior Dr. Bradberry described, it was clear certain comfortable assumptions were preventing me from experiencing new ideas for myself and my clients. I had fallen victim to making excuses on behalf of prospects as to why they wouldn’t respond to my email, phone call, or voicemail, let alone, buy from me. Their silence had to be validation that they weren’t interested. And that was the problem. It was me telling myself this, not the prospect.

The Idea: The concept of challenging the status quo and exposing oneself to new ideas can be scary. You could be criticized, rejected, or ridiculed. I had gotten comfortable hiding behind emails, phone calls, and voicemails. It was easy to show management and anyone that cared how many emails I had sent, phone calls I had made, and voicemails I had left. What I couldn’t show were results. A good measure of a decent sales professional is his or her ability to deliver results, not excuses. I needed a new approach. Inspired by Dr. Bradberry’s article, I was compelled to escape out of my comfort-zone prison. The concept of living outside the box propelled me to come up with the idea of visiting my prospect, unannounced, to get some face time. I was confident in the value I could deliver. The reality is, having an idea is like the regular season, everyone has a good idea, so all teams are in; executing on the idea is like the playoffs, the stakes are much higher, so not all teams can make it. I had to make the playoffs and go all the way.

The Visit: The day came to visit the client. It was a rocky start as I missed the entrance to the parking garage and had to park in the next building. I thought about reparking but decided not to, instead, I got excited about getting a few extra steps counted towards my steps goal. I was too focused on the bigger goal of getting face time with the CTO. So I marched towards the elevator as “what if” questions and thoughts raced through my mind. What if he is not there? What if he refuses to see me? What if he is genuinely not interested? What if I am rejected and publicly humiliated? I marched on, believing my mission, and welcoming the outcome that lay ahead. If nothing else, it would make a good story.

The Result: As fate would have it, the CEO of the company was exiting the elevator seconds after I walked into the building. I immediately recognized him from the countless hours I had spent studying his profile and the profile of his leadership team. Missing the parking lot started to seem like a blessing. I called out to the CEO with enthusiasm by his first name as if we had known each other for years. He paused, perplexed, and turned towards me. I walked up to him and introduced myself and flawlessly delivered the elevator pitch I had been practicing for weeks. Actually, it wasn’t 100% flawless, I was nervous, and my accent may have caused some words to sound way too melodious, but that didn’t bother me, my message got across. The CEO was appreciative of how much I knew about his company and was intrigued by my ideas of how to help him scale. We chatted for a few more minutes, and then I asked if he could introduce me to the CTO. He said Yes, got out his phone, called the CTO, and asked him to come down to meet me. Boom! When the CTO arrived, the CEO made the introduction and moved to his next appointment. The CTO apologized to me for not responding to my messages, thanked me for stopping by, and informed me they were interested in doing business with me. That day was the start of a great partnership. #Results

The Result…again: I shared this story with one of my mentees who was struggling to make some progress with one of her clients. I encouraged her to step outside of her comfort zone and attempt a new approach. She decided to pay the CEO and CTO a visit, unannounced. Although the CEO and CTO were not in the office the day she visited, she left her business card with the receptionist. A few days later, the CTO emailed her and asked her for a proper meeting. She ended up closing a major deal with the customer. #Results #Again

The Conclusion: Be bold. Pursue new ideas. And remember, actions precede results.

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

In my days at Cbeyond, cold calling small businesses door to door was an integral part of the daily grind. Below are three lessons I picked up along the way that continue to deliver results in my sales career today:

Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them
Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling
Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale)

1. Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them. At Cbeyond, we were all assigned metrics – the number of doors to hit, phone calls to make, qualified leads to get, and appointments to set – that if met, gave us the best opportunity to succeed. Since selling in its simplest form is a numbers game, what separated the top sales associates from the average sales associates was their ability to crush their metrics. For instance, if the requirement is to knock on 50 doors a day to get five qualified leads and set two appointments, those who knock on five additional doors per day at the end of the week would have 2-3 more qualified leads and one extra appointment set. When I spoke to Brent Maropis, former VP at Cbeyond and current CEO of Rev.io, he mentioned that top salespeople have a bias towards taking massive action. The good news is that it doesn’t matter if you’re in sales to benefit from this concept. Whatever your profession, define your metrics then commit to go above and beyond them. If you do this consistently, success will be inevitable. #NumbersDontLie

2. Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling. Referrals were an excellent source of leads. Whether you are a sales hunter or farmer, there is immense value in incorporating customer referrals into your customer acquisition strategy. At Cbeyond, our customers and IT vendors made great referral partners. However, betting your quota for the month based strictly on referral leads was risky, and many sales associates fell into this trap (myself included). When the deals pushed, it put me under unnecessary pressure which led to desperation (not a good look!). The top sales associates excelled at getting qualified leads through various forms of cold calling (in person, phone, email) and working closely with partners and referrals. Someone that excelled at this was Sean Haq, who broke several sales records at Cbeyond and has continued to deliver amazing results in his sales career. #DiversifyYourHustle

3. Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale). Asking for the sale was one of my biggest challenges when I started my sales career, and I’ve come to realize that this is one of the most important skills needed to be successful in sales. One of my most memorable moments at Cbeyond came when my bold ask resulted in my first Cold Call Close. A Cold Call Close is when you walk into an office unannounced, conduct your presentation with the final decision maker, and get a deal signed after your presentation. Here’s my story. It was 5:37 pm one hot summer day in San Jose and I really wanted to get back in my car and blast the A/C. I decided to knock on one more door. I approached the door, secretly hoping it would be locked so I could satisfy my conscience. To my surprise (and fear), the door was unlocked, so I walked in. I noticed the receptionist had left for the day so I continued walking down the hallway. A man who appeared to be the owner was seated at his desk in the corner office. At that moment, my nervousness made me clear my throat, and he looked up; this meant I had less than 20 seconds to pique his interest. There was a football (soccer, for Americans) game on – Real Madrid vs. Sevilla FC. I introduced myself and started to articulate my value proposition. But before I could finish, I interrupted myself and mentioned I was a huge football fan and asked if he didn’t mind me finishing the game with him since there was just 15 minutes left. He agreed (the first close). During those 15 minutes, we talked about the beauty of football and of course screamed at the TV when someone didn’t make a play we expected him to make. This rapport building session allowed me to be my authentic self and loosen up, so it built my confidence. When the game was over, he discussed some of the business challenges he was experiencing and explored how we could assist. An hour later, after overcoming his objections, I asked boldly for his signature, and he signed on to become a client. It’s uncomfortable at times asking for the sale, but that’s one skill you need to get comfortable nurturing to be successful in sales and business! #AlwaysBeClosing

Happy Selling!

Tag: cold calling

3 Valuable Lessons I Learned Cold Calling Door To Door