Any Good Books on Cold Calling, Etc?

[Ron Van D]

Unlock The Game

I like this guy's approach to cold calling. He changed my idea and thoughts of cold calling.

Old old goal: Make a sale
Old goal: Get the appointment
New goal: Just get them talking through natural conversation. Everything else will fall into place.

Sounds exactly like what Frank says!

 

[bree4479]

Just jump on the phone try different things you will figure out what works a and what doesn't real fast.

A good start is "John Doe I know you were not expecting my call today but this is "name" "with" can I have a minute of your time." Then go into what you can offer them and ask them if you can help in any way. Or if they might be interested in your services. They will let you know rt. away if they want to talk.

 

[arnguy]

The White Pages.

 

[TheKoenigGroup]

These are more motivational than technical, but I'd argue the hardest part of cold calling is the mental aspect and certainly not the verbiage of sales. I've never heard of anyone quitting cold-calling because they didn't have a polished sales talk, but plenty quit out of frustration.

That being said, here's all you need:

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
Life is Tremendous by Charlie Jones
Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander (I actually have an extra copy of this one. If you want it, I'll be happy to send it to you.)

Yes, you can read a million books but if you still get cold feet before your fingers hit the phone, you have to work on yourself. Almost like a cold pool and sticking your feet in, just jump!

 

[Mark]

I think it is all trial and error. The more you do it, the better you will get. You will quickly see what does and don't work.

I'm learning not to sound like a robot.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

The White Pages.

That's the best post.

 

[whatyouwantfinally]

I am relatively new and I would appreciate any good books on cold calling, selling, closing, phone skills etc. Thanks in advance!

As someone mentioned, there are a lot of "motivational" books out there pretending to be actual X's and O's technique books.

While it's not a perfect book, "Selling to Anyone Over the Phone" is the only one out of probably 50 I have read that I can actually attribute specific techniques I use to.

There is good stuff in there about how to categorize people into personality-type groups within a very short period of time, and how to deal with each accordingly. It's not air-tight science, but a good anology would be to think of it like a quick way to estimate pot odds in poker; it's always pretty close, and allows you to establish a decent gameplan instantly.

 

[xrac]

I wrote this a few years ago and there isn't much I would change. Practice, practice, practice!

The Insurance Sales Library

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.
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Two of the best references that I could give you are Prospecting Your Way to Sales Success by Bill Good and "The Gold Calling System of Teleprospecting" by Bill Bishop. The later is an old cassette tape series no longer available but you might be able to snag it off Ebay as I did. It is a little outdated but very, very good. I just discovered a new website for Bill Bishop so you could try getting it through there (http://www.salesclosingpower.com/index.html). I thought he was no longer active but I just found this website tonight.

 

[Tampa Bay Rep]

Here's another book for you to check out:

Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!) by Stephan Schiffman

 

[ksigmtsu]

Here's another book for you to check out:

Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!) by Stephan Schiffman

Heh I read that, some of the ideas don't really hold the test of time but overall its a good book.