In an ideal world you would be getting a steady stream of enquiries all day long from people who were interested in the product or service you are selling.

Unfortunately this just does not happen and you have to go out and find your sales prospects, and if you like it or not one of the most effective ways to do this is through cold calling.

It is a sad fact that the majority of sales people would rather do anything else rather than go cold calling. If  I asked you to go cold calling would you feel sick and start shaking (no, I'm not exaggerating!)

There really is no need to feel this way and like most things in life, you could make a nightmare out of the very thought of cold calling by just sitting there thinking about it, when in reality it is never as bad as you think it is.

I have a few tips for you that will not make these feelings magically go away but will definitely give you a better chance to make your cold calling a more pleasant and successful experience

1. Make sure you have your final goal in mind. Newcomers to sales wrongly assume that cold calling is where the sale is made, it is not, Cold calling is about getting the opportunity to make the sale, i.e. to make an appointment for the salesperson to make the sale

It must be remembered there is a marked difference between making the appointment and making the sale.

2. Research, research and more research You must make sure that any cold calling you partake in is aimed at the right prospect. You need to research to make sure your prospects are looking for what you are selling (It may seem obvious but it is often over looked)

The next step is to find out as much as possible about the organisation and the person you will be speaking to.

The advantage to actually knowing about their business when you are talking to them cannot be over estimated.

3. Decide what the first thing is you are going to say to them when you call, you will not be surprised to know that this sets up the tone for the rest of the call and helps you to not sound indecisive in any way.

Also don't ever start with asking a question that your prospect can say no to or the conversation could be over before it even starts.

If you have carried out your research and are well prepared you will find that your training will take over and the prospect will soon start openly discussing his or her requirements, you will easily be able to relate to these needs and there is an excellent chance that after your initial hard work, a sale will be made further along the line.