Throughout our time as a company that specializes in sales, we have come across literally hundreds of people who have been struggling to use the telephone as a sales tool. This being the case, we thought it would make sense to put together a list of some of the most useful techniques that we use to help make sales by Cold Calling, a service that we offer which you can find out more about here.

• Secretaries –

1. When calling a firm for the first time a secretary will almost certainly greet you. Whilst these individuals can often seem like barriers to the people that you really want to talk to, they should instead be seen as potential allies.
2. Make friends with the secretaries and receptionists you talk to. Do not try to manipulate or force them with conversation that you have already scripted, they probably receive hundreds of sales calls and thus they can smell a salesman a mile off.
3. The best advice that we can give is to be open and honest with secretaries. Because most sales people treat them like barriers, it is easy to imagine that they often get treated poorly; therefore, if you treat with them respect you are guaranteed to get a positive reaction that you can carry over to your sales pitch.

• Recalls -

1. Recalls can often seem like mundane tasks but it is absolutely crucial to get them right. These types of call can build relationships if handled right and can be the key to unlocking a big sale.
2. Ideally recalls should be scheduled, so make sure to ask the person who you are talking to when you should call back and then make sure that you stick to that time.
3. During this second or third call, make sure that you reference any other information that you have learned about the company into the next call. This includes any correspondence by e-mail, letter or previous conversations on the telephone.

Of course there are hundreds of resources out there for people wanting to learn about cold calling so if you want to do some extra reading on the subject we would hate to limit your choices. This being the case we would recommend the Salesopedia Blog which is a great resource of for all kinds of sales advice.

The post is based on part of a lecture given by David Crick, Managing Director of CBD, at the University of Leeds, November 2007.