When I started selling, I had a job that required massive cold calling on businesses. Although our training was excellent, I wasn’t satisfied with the methodology they taught us for prospecting. Essentially, it was the classic “work the math backwards” calculation: How much commission do you want to make each month? How many sales are required to make that much commission? How many demos do you need to perform to make that many sales? How many cold calls do you need to make to secure that many demos? Ok, now go work your tail off and make the calls. Simple, right?
Actually, it is simple and effective, but not great. Since my nature is to analyze everything (to a fault btw), after almost a year of sufficient results, I put some serious thought to my success rates and this method of calculating my number of calls. There was one factor that was paid no attention – the ratios between each metric. To keep the exercise simple, the ratios were kept static. What if I could increase my demo success rate by becoming the best presenter in the territory? This was possible. I’m a strong presenter. What if I could increase my demo scheduling ratio by being the most charming cold caller of all time? This was impossible. I’m far from charming. On top of that, I have always been uncomfortable making cold calls. I do it, but I don’t feel natural at it like some of you do. So, I had to develop techniques to increase my cold calling success rate. Here’s what I did …
After every call, I would write down the day of the week and the time I made the call. Then, on my next round of calling on that area, I’d make sure I called on a different day and different time.
Within three months, my ratio of scheduling demos more than doubled (and my sales quadrupled because I improved my demo skills). Why? Of course, I got better at cold calling and eventually there would have to be a need for what I was selling. However, I had been doing it for a year already and my skills didn’t improve that much. My success rate increased because I was reaching my contacts at their ideal time to be contacted. Think about it. In your business, you have certain times of the week when you won’t take any calls, and others when it would be fine to meet with a visitor. Maybe Mondays are full of meetings for some of your prospects; maybe the mornings are terrible for others because they have to get their team in the field; maybe Mondays and mornings are perfect for other prospects. If you change the day and time when you make cold calls in an area, you’ll eventually hit every one of your prospects at their ideal time.
