Five Ways to Inject Urgency Into Your Cold Calls

In theory, consultative selling, the idea of getting customers to close themselves based on answering clever questions, should be a world-beater, a sure winner.

But would you believe me if I told you it is NOT helpful and actually counterproductive in telephone selling?

Face-to-face you can get away with a low-energy, reverse-delegated sale, where you make the customer do the heavy lifting of self-persuasion. But under the gun of a phone call, where attention spans and tempers are short, you have to be quick to the draw, and tell-your-way-to-the-sale.

Your story needs to be succinct, interesting, and above all, URGENT.

One of the key reasons buyers stall, deferring decisions, claiming they need to think offers over, is the fact that there has been no reason to buy NOW injected into the conversation.

We cant afford this over the phone. We must introduce a sense of urgency simply to get people to listen to us long enough to hear what were offering and the terms upon which were offering it.

Here are five tips for introducing urgency into your cold calls:

(1) Develop a clear, unwavering INTENTION for every call you make. In todays nano-short time frames nobody can luxuriate in making or taking exploratory, leisurely contacts, unless two retirees are planning a trek to the mall or golf course. When you have decided completely and irretrievably to go after an appointment or a yes of any kind, YOU already feel urgency, and this will be unconsciously transmitted in your word choices and vocal tones. If youre wishy-washy about what you want, dont even pick up the phone!

(2) Make your initial announcement of who you are and your company brief, and clip your words so they sound crisp and serious. This sends a signal youre focused and not going to waste anyones time. Imagine youre a reporter and you are doing a story. How would you sound? Hello, this is Gary Goodman with Client Relations Magazine and Im on a deadline, and Id appreciate your opinion about X, okay? Thats the mood youre trying to create.

(3) If you need their input, to qualify their interest, desire or power to buy, tell them I have just a few QUICK questions.

(4) Tell them exactly what you want them to do or you NEED them to do. Some very effective sellers get through secretarial screening by saying the equivalent of: Hello, this is Gary Goodman with The Goodman Organization and I need to speak with Bill Smith please, thank you! Few people will be brave enough to step in front of that juggernaut.

(5) When in doubt, close the deal, ask for action, right now. Nobody gives you nice points for letting them off the hook. And quite seriously, if youre selling business to business, executives expect you to close them, and respect you when you do. They wish their people were as direct!

Remember this cold calling gem: Urgency sells!

Now, put it to work!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books and more than a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is quoted in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week. President of Clientrelations.com and Customersatisfaction.com, his seminars and training programs 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 management and consulting experience to the table, with 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, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.

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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