Jan 8, 2008
Telephone Euphemisms
Every single salesperson must, at some point in their career, pick up the phone and try to persuade people that don’t want to speak to them, to do something we suggest. The most common such discussion is probably geared towards gaining a face-to-face appointment, but several other sought outcomes exist.
I once sat in an office as a 19-year old on work experience whilst doing my first degree. I complained that I was expected to, in effect, waste so much of my time making calls when the processes around me should be better managed to allow greater productivity from me. Was I a touch precocious at that young age? The top rep was sitting in the large open-plan office next to me. He laughed at my protestations and quoting him exactly, he simply said “I’ve two fucking degrees and I still have to make [worthless] phone calls”.
I struggle to find any rep that genuinely enjoys cold-calling. Many of the sales teams I come across acknowledge this in some way. They put mini-incentives in place to help team-calling sessions, they wrap training and other rewards around such bouts, and they call it something wierd. The latest name I’ve heard is ‘profiling’. Incredible. Cold Calling is best called cold calling, surely. Canvassing, appointment-making, prospect research, pipeline building and I’ve even heard of warm calling. The euphemisms are endless and ultimately (maybe even more so today given such voicemail culture predominance) irrelevant.
Interesting post. I must be an anomaly. I enjoy cold-calling. I figure that as I have an absolute belief in the quality of my product (some of the best packaging designers in the business), it is in the best interests of the prospect to take my call. Add to that a passion for people (everyone has life-experience stories to tell) and a genuine interest in people achieving their dreams, it all adds up for a worthwhile experience.
I think Sales Reps have a tendency to over-complicate and over-think things. Cold-calling really is the first of a series of relationship-building conversations. It is about meeting people. It is not rocket science.
S.