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10 Best ways to Cold Call, bypass gatekeepers and other bottlenecks.
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Industry : IT Services Functional Area : Productivity & Performance
Activity: 55 referals  22 comments  560 views  last activity : 2 months ago
 
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Fixing business meetings has never been that easy as it’s always difficult to digest a tight slap while cold calling (I have received many). We have been spending days and even nights in generating leads and maintaining sales funnel, however adding a little tactics to our efforts could make a huge difference. Presenting below the 10 Best ways to cold call, bypass gatekeepers and opening other bottlenecks.

 
  1. Act like a CEO: The best way to get through gatekeepers is to act like a CEO of your company and not just a Business Development Manager. Tell him that you need to talk to Mr. Henson for 3 mins and for that you want to take an appointment to discuss business. Taking an appointment is the finest way ever to crack through. Ask her what time is he free and you can call him that time. Do not take the first time suggested by EA. Tell her that you are extremely busy at that time and have back to back meetings scheduled on that day. Take the next best time slot from her.
  1. Calling Hour: Calling in early hours works better than calling at late hours (assumption based on experience). Do not worry, if you have missed early hours; the next best thing could be calling 5 mins. before every complete hour as that is the time when any prior meeting will come to an end.
  1. Reach higher in Hierarchy: The best way to reach a Director IT could be dialing in CIO’s EA and asking for Director IT. Tell that you got transferred to her extension by reception and then ask direct number for Director IT. Once transferred, tell Director that you just got transferred from CIO’s Desk and have been suggested to talk to you. He will greet you, if you do that.
  1. Find Direct Numbers Direct numbers are the best when cold calling as it saves you a lot of time when you have to call 100s of these. You would usually not get any direct number from US switch boards. The best way to get a direct number could be calling in UK office when you know that the person you want to located is in US. Here you can ask for direct number to any Director/CIO office.
  1. Straight Messaging: Be very straight to your message. Do not ever hide your objective of call while speaking to prospect. Tell the prospect on the face that you want to follow-up regarding services to Oracle which was implemented by Wipro last year and want to know the status of the contract renewal.
  1. Circle the Best: Be confident about your product/service. Circle down the best points of your product and impress the purchaser about you being number 1 in your space. Tell him that if he is not listening to you then he is loosing something.
  1. No waste of Time: Be precise about the time you want to take in that call. – “I would like to take next 30 Sec. and not even a single sec. more than that”. Assure him that you are not here to waste his time.
  1. Avoid Slaps: Ask him his profile or search for his profile on internet just by Googling his name before you make a call. It could be a “One tight Slap” situation if you are pitching wrong proposition to wrong party.
  1. The Gyan: Do not try to sell him in the first call. Do not try to give him all “Gyan” (he being the right guy to trap) in one go. Request him for a time; if he is not interested to give you time then it is clear that he doesn’t require any services at this point; move on for new prospect. Give him freedom to select his time. It could be after 2 weeks.
  1. Call Closing: Do not close the call before you take a next date to follow-up with client. They are going to need your services some day for sure if not today. It doesn’t matter if your prospect tells to follow-up next year. Immediately mark your calendar wit the same.
- Nishchal
 Top Comment :    | 
I really appreciate the way you have simplified the work flow and provided all the coups and capers in bullet points. good job!!
 
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Comments (22)
  Commented by  Devi Kaladeen, Audit Manager, Health Sector Development Unit    | 2 months ago
Interesting article.
  Commented by  sivaprasad, Sales Executive/Officer, Torry Harris    | 4 months ago
Gud one...:)
  Commented by  Rohit Mittal, Product/Brand Manager, Redington India Limited    | 4 months ago
Thought provoking and interesting article
excellent Tips for... Dear.....
  Commented by  Hari Prasad K, Head - Custom Solutions and Delivery    | 5 months ago
Rating : +1 
Thanks... Tried this to get through to unknown contacts for business and it works!  Thanks once again for sharing...
  Commented by  JAPI, HR Manager, ACME Consultants    | 5 months ago
amazing ........
  Commented by  Umesh, Senior Consultant, Key2jobs Consulting Pvt. Ltd    | 5 months ago
excellent tips...Thanks
  Commented by  bharath kumar, Sr HR Executive    | 5 months ago
Yes its good and it works. Pls keep sharing.
  Commented by  Ashraf, HR Executive, Webecome    | 5 months ago
Offcourse this is an excellent Article and guide for freshers in Sales & BD. Neverthless BodyLanguage & Confidence is the base line to make an effective Selling Call and then Closure.GOOD Article Thanks!
  Commented by  Vinod Yadav, Marketing Manager, L & T    | 5 months ago
Nice article, but ultimately, there is going to be an "End to Cold Calling" as a means of prospecting.With newer approaches, newer media.

  Commented by  Raju Ramalingam, Business Analyst, Rhytha Web Solutions    | 5 months ago
Excellent article...
  Commented by  Viktor Stephen, Recruitment Manager, Get.Next.Job    | 5 months ago
useful tips, thanks for sharing. 
  Commented by  varsha ., Technical manger(QMS)    | 6 months ago
superb article..
Rating : +1 
Very good tips.
Thanks Nischal
  Commented by  Samir Nigam, Sr. Software Engineer , SRM TECHSOL Pvt. Ltd.    | 11 months ago
Rating : +1 
nice
  Commented by  Hari Prasad K, Head - Custom Solutions and Delivery    | 11 months ago
Rating : +2 
Good article...clearly indicating steps..Thanks for sharing
  Commented by  Radhakrishnan Nair, Head/VP/GM-Marketing.    | 11 months ago
Rating : +3 
hey it was good. More simple and clear. Helpful buddy.

Thanks
  Commented by  piyush mehrotra, Sales Executive/Officer telecom world    | 1 year ago
Rating : +2 
this things allways work. i had use some of them.
Rating : +3 
Good Dude. its really helpful. I have attended some online seminars on this prospecting activity by some very good sales thought leaders. They have similar thoughts as well. Can we specefically discuss on 'how to break the voice mail barriers'. See in Gatekeeper(only considering the call handler here or the assistant) you have someone to speak with and you can try different skills to influence or bypass it but in case of voice mail, no-one!! I think at this point some special trick while leaving voice message could help. like soem specefic sentences or words to use, etc...
Rating : +2 
Simplified steps...excellent
Rating : +3 
I really appreciate the way you have simplified the work flow and provided all the coups and capers in bullet points. good job!!
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