First-Class Cold Calling Gets First-Class Results!

I consult for a Texas-based investment firm that specializes in selling government-guaranteed securities to banks via cold calling.

Their hook is simple: Earn a better, U. S. backed return with us than you can find anywhere else.

You would think this appeal would be shooting fish in a barrel, a definite no-brainer. But like most new financial products, the investment needs to be explained, and to be made credible to some very smart, highly educated, discerning buyers.

The investment has to be sold, but intelligently. Therefore, it requires first-class cold calling. What do I mean by this term? Its easy to define it by what it isnt.

For example, first-class cold-calling is different than selling cable or satellite TV bundles to consumers. For TV subscriptions, you need no special abilities. Smile and dial and follow your script and youll find a proportion of prospects that will know exactly what youre selling and be in a position to say Why not?

Institutional investment selling requires you to speak the same, professional language as investment managers.

You describe rates of return in basis points. You need to know what comparative investments yield. You have to stay on top of current events in financial markets, and have a feeling for trends. And, especially important, you need to generate trust and credibility.

By contrast, I spoke to a certainly dumb, under-trained AT&T rep the other day about upgrading my DSL service. I asked her if we could make the transition seamlessly, which means Id have zero downtime between the old and new service, and Id still be able to receive my email and retain my current email address.

Instead of seeming certain, she was very tentative. I think so and You should were more prevalent in her speech than Definitely and You will. I told her, Ill think about it.

Unlike first class phone people, who really know what theyre supposed to know, and let you know they know, folks such as this AT&T rep diminish your confidence. Theyre probably paid minimum wage, and it shows.

One of my clients reps sold an investment to a major bank, earning himself a ONE MILLION DOLLAR COMMISSION. Im not kidding. It took him 10 months to make that sale. In fact, he labored long and hard without any sales for the year, before he closed that one.

He is a first class cold caller, not only because he is skilled but because he is an INVESTOR as well as a seller of investments. He invests the time and effort required to win at cold calling, knowing that it can take a long, long time before he hits pay dirt.

(Plus, he has received first class training.)

When people speak of cold calling being effective or ineffective, or they decry the lack of skills in many of the folks who are staffing todays phones, theyre referring to relatively untrained, unskilled, unintelligent, and under-compensated people, which happens to be the great majority of todays callers, here and abroad.

Its useful to know there is also an elite group in cold calling that most people never hear about or even hear from.

Theyre the first-class cold callers, and it is worth every effort to become one of them!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, and sales, service, and negotiation consultant. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than a thousand articles. and several popular audio and video training programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary brings over two decades of sales, management and consulting experience to the table, with some of the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry. A Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.

His web site is: http://www.customersatisfaction.com and he can be seen on CNBC at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=417455932# and reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

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