Top 10 Tips For Cold Calling Success (part3)

7. Divert calls and minimise disruptions.

A recent survey studying working habits suggested that the average worker actually works for less than 3 hours in an average working day. This seems quite high to me! Most people seem to find so many extraneous and irrelevant tasks to do that it’s a wonder they ever get anything done. To be a sales superstar you need to work out what activities bring you success and then set aside time to do them.

Work out your ratios and then work out how many calls you need to make to achieve your personal goals. Once you’ve done that get on and do it. Most salespeople actually spend too much time “on the phone”… the problem is that they’re not focused enough when they are on the phone. Try turning off your mobile, diverting all calls and asking not to be disturbed. Get your self energised and prepared and then make 45 minutes worth of top quality, proactiver calls. You’ll be amazed by how much you can achieve in ¾ of an hour!

8. Set clear objectives for your session.

Many salespeople make calls without any objectives or goals. This is a complete waste of time. You need to plan and prepare for all proactive sales sessions. Pre-decide on your activities and how you are going to measure them. Set realistic objectives and targets and stick to them. Only this way will you be able to improve and grow.

9. Don’t put your phone down.

Whether cold or warm calling it’s important that you keep the energy flowing when you are making proactive calls. It’s too easy to get distracted, start doing something else or take ever increasing breaks between each call.

One very effective way of achieving shorter break time and therefore more proactive energy is to not put the telephone down between calls. Not only does this work but you also save on the psychological energy of having to pick the phone up again every call!! I also recommend that wearing a headset increases the work rate of nearly all telephone sales people

10. Master your physiology.

Your physiology is the way you use your body… your posture, movement, facial expressions and breathing. Changing your physiology changes your state. If you were to walk into a room full of salespeople on the phone you would instantly know if they were “up for it” or not by the way they were sitting, moving, talking and so on.

Take a moment to think about your physiology now. Think about the best telephone call that you’ve ever made… How were you sitting / standing? How did you move? What were your facial expressions? Voice patterns? How did you hold your head? How was your breathing? Did you use a headset / handset?

Get your log-book and make a note of your findings. Over the next week I want you to concentrate on starting all of your telephone sessions from this physiology and maintaining it throughout. If you find your physiology changing then get yourself straight back into the right physiology. Remember that doing this in front of the others in the office at 830am in the morning could feel unnatural… and so will the extra commissions when they roll in but I think you can cope with that!!!

So that’s it. 10 top tops for being a great cold caller and a better salesperson. If you want to know more about cold calling or develop any of these strategies in more detail then have a look at my website...


For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

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