Two things never change when you're making cold calls to sell something to the president or manager of a company: both parties would rather be doing something else. Few people have the nerve to take up telemarketing as a profession due to the natural fear of rejection and hang-ups, whereas the target of the phone call is bombarded with sales pitches - there are sometimes thirty or forty sales calls coming into the switchboard every day. The operator is instructed to find out who's calling and why, and screen out the calls that the boss won't want to answer. She is known as the "Gatekeeper", and presents the first challenge to the salesperson. If you have a legitimate product or service, then you'll have a bit more confidence that the boss should hear you out. One mistake that beginners make is to start giving their sales pitch to the receptionist, who will certainly block the call and then forward you to voice mail, ask if she can take a message, say that he or she is not at their desk, or they've gone on vacation for a month. She's not going to waltz into the boss's office and try and sell your deal for you. Receptionists are almost always women, and they are paid a salary; they're not going to push telemarketing calls to the president's office.

To get by the gatekeeper, your odds are improved if you follow these procedures: it's crucial to be able to ask for the company officer by name…if your lead source has no name then you should have internet databases bookmarked where some companies list their principals (the Canadian government has the site (strategis.ic.gc.ca) that has a wealth of information for free; next, introduce yourself by first and last name, your company name, and then ask for your target by first name casually, as if you were old friends; if you get through, great - then you are ready to pitch, but if she asks you what this is concerning you'll have to be vague. One of two things is happening: you're getting screened out or that person is genuinely in a meeting or otherwise occupied. "It's something that affects his profit margin, but there's no rush…I'll try him later." She'll respond with, "I can take a message and have him call you…", but tell her that he's usually busy so you don't want to interrupt him with messages that aren't urgent, it's a long-term project and you'll try reaching him later, then get off the phone. Don't leave messages for someone you've never talked to. It's impolite to leave sales messages and it won't result in a sale. Try to be polite to everyone, but confident. The first thing I learned when I went into sales is that there's always someone else coming in the door, so leave it open for the good of the trade. Your own office will likely be calling back in six months.

Before you pick up the phone, find out what you can about qualifying them as good candidates to sell to. Two woodworkers making custom staircases are not in need of a complex software package. As you dial, start smiling. If you can joke around with the receptionist and get her laughing, she might put your next call through. When you do manage to get the boss on the line, you should start listening before you start talking. When you hear someone say "hello" or "Jim Peters here" you can get a read on his personality and what he's doing at the moment; sometimes he's out of breath and there's background noise, so you've caught him at a bad time. I ask, "Are you okay to talk?" If he's in a meeting or in the shop, just say your name and that you'll call back. If he talks slowly, speed up; if he talks fast, slow down and get him into a conversation. The first few seconds are critical to gain his trust and interest in talking to you. Certain words are killers in sales: never use the word "interested". The first thing that comes to mind is "not interested" and you've just given them the way out of the call. Useless words like "basically" are not good introductions. Reading an unrehearsed script comes across very badly in a call. If you're forced to use a scripted pitch, practice it every night to yourself in the mirror and record it on tape if possible until it sounds natural. Next, create a need. I prefer selling intangibles over products because the idea of price is flexible. In a situation where you're setting up sales meetings, never talk numbers. They'll ask how much it costs, so you say the rep works out costs with you. Any number you say will be wrong, because they don't know what they're getting yet.

If you're doing the closing in a sales talk, make sure the prospect is fully aware of the benefits before mentioning price and asking for the deal. Remember, you're selling the benefit, not the price. Remember though, asking the price of something is not a refusal or an objection - it's a sign of interest. Most objections can be eliminated during your talk before you let them speak or ask questions. The leftover objections will be weak and easy to overcome. Next rule: each time you're given an objection, agree with him, overcome the objection, and then ask for the deal giving two options to choose from. The high-low close is good for closing on the phone: "One box of widgets at $100 is what you need right now, but it's always good to have more on hand so I can freeze the price and give you ten percent off three boxes so instead of re-ordering each box at the future price one at a time, you can get three for $270 and we'll invoice you or you can use a credit card to get air miles. Two ordering options and two payment options were just given in one sentence. If he says "No, just one box for now…" you've just made a sale. Make arrangements for the order and set him up for a future order: "Okay, the box of a hundred will be there by Thursday, and if you find that you've got room to store more, I'll add a note to hold that price for you for a couple of weeks on the other two". The A-B close and the High-Low close are complemented by the assumed close (it'll be there by Thursday) and closing on a minor point (invoice or card). The close is the only time you ask a question that can be answered by "yes" or "no" because they can shut you down before you can ask for the sale or deal with objections. Here's an example of the wrong way: "Hello sir. My name is Michael calling on behalf of Factory Widgets and I phoned to see if you would be interested in buying a box of widgets? He'll say "no" and the rookie will say: well, we have a special going and you can buy three boxes and get ten percent off! The rookie hasn't been listening. Guess what the answer will be?

When it comes to presentation, the telemarketer must tail down the voice at the end of every statement of fact, as opposed to going up into a question. A questioning tone would allow the prospect to end the conversation quickly. More often than not there will be attempts to get away, but that's because it's a shield against any such call - he hasn't had the message sunk in completely yet. Legitimate objections should come after the pitch and the first closing attempt. Objections are not to be feared. You should welcome objections as a sign of interest otherwise he wouldn't still be talking with you. The salesman should never bring up his own objections, like saying "Is the owner in, or is he busy?", or "Do you need some widgets or do you have enough for a while?", or "We have high-quality widgets that are better than your current vendor". That vendor could be his cousin, so don't slam the other company's products. Remember that the sales process is a numbers game, and incompetent sales people burn up precious leads. If people are hanging up, then there's something wrong.