Today I had a review with Ermine Amies. Naked Element have been training the Sandler way with Ermine for some time now and reviews are an incredibly useful part of the process. We discussed a lot of aspects of Naked Element’s business in detail and Ermine offered great help and advice. As is often the case we got to talking about calling prospects (or potential clients). I don’t like calling it cold calling, because that is something which Naked Element doesn’t usually do. In most cases a prospect will be ‘warmed up’ with a LinkedIn connection and message, a brochure in the post or through meeting at a networking event.
Nobody really likes calling to speak to a prospect for the first time. Ok, so someone is going to put their hand up and say “I do! I just love talking to people.” and that’s fine, of course. Today, speaking to Ermine made me think how calling a prospect is like riding my bike to work. I don’t like doing it. The anticipation of getting on my bike can be crippling. It’s so much easier to get in the car or on the bus, but when I do do it and even more so when I do it every day for a week, I feel very good about it. I feel a sense of achievement and I’m pleased with myself.
Calling a prospect is much the same. I put it off and put it off and find almost anything else to do, but when I pluck up the courage to do it, it’s usually fine. Gatekeepers for the most part are friendly, even if they don’t put you through to who you want to speak to. There are those few calls every so often where you find yourself chatting away to a prospect like you’ve known them for years and a bond develops which may lead to work in the future.
The point I’m making? Calling prospects for the first time is like riding a bike, the more you do it, the stronger your muscles become and the easier it gets.