Commercial cold calling tips over breakfast

Posted by Mark Brestelli on 12 March 2010

Last week’s BRX Bloomsbury business networking meeting was a sure-fire opportunity for me to promote my business, Independent Business Resource. I was able to network with 6 prominent London businesses and it wasn’t even 8 o’clock in the morning yet. It was good to have the advantage of presenting my credentials, explaining the unique selling points of my business and generally getting everyone involved in the world of commercial cold calling.

The group did a role-play exercise involving cold calling. Each of us had a chance to role-play the part of the cold caller and then switched around to be the prospect which resulted in some very lively conversations. I found that there were a few thespians in the group since they used their script with a natural flair. I think role-playing does play an important part in putting oneself in each role. To imagine the scenario and know how to react to the person you are approaching to gain new business is all important. Cold callers must be able to react to overcome objections smoothly and calmly with a relaxed demeanour.    

If I were to offer three elements of advice to the fledgling cold caller, it would be:

• keep the conversation positive at all times,
• use polite terms and common courtesy we all use in normal, everyday conversation like ‘please and thank you’ when appropriate
• keep your level of professionalism together – don’t be too familiar with the prospect.

With experience you will eventually be able to gauge when to be more familiar with people in cold calling

I am relatively new to the BRX Bloomsbury Group group and so far, for me each week has been an enlightening experience. It’s well worth setting the clock for an early start to come out to BRX Bloomsbury every Thursday morning.