Warm Up Your Cold Calling And Find More Qualified Prospects Using LinkedIn

I built my third try direct sales attempt into an almost three decade long successful sales career by developing a referral network built on a foundation of relationships and customer service.

Frankly, cold calling was the thing I hated most in my first, and second, direct sales positions. I would do almost anything else to avoid it and my results proved it.

Some people take to cold calling, while I definitely did not.

Was my call reluctance due to fear of failure, or fear of success? Probably.

How did I eventually turn the corner?

On the third go-around I clearly had no choice, we were broke. So I (very) reluctantly set a realistic daily goal of daily “touches” and tried faithfully, and usually did, reach my target.

You do get so many sales for just “showing up” at the appointment and some more through “word of mouth advertising” (WOMA).

With enough training, knowledge and experience, it is after all relatively easy to let the prospect contact you, present your product or service in its best light, answer questions, handle objections and eventually close the order.

You may even became a “Conscious Competent” at that stage per John Maxwell.

Then you may get an evangelist or two in the deal who refers others to you!

But what happens when that spigot runs dry? Or the economy tanks? Or world wide competition heats up making your service or product merely a commodity? Price becomes the main decision factor for buyers at that stage.

Then again what happens when the traditional outbound marketing techniques give way to the new era of social media and social selling?

Prospecting for qualified leads and converting those prospects into customers or referral sources is what separates the elephant hunters from the pack.

How do the one per centers leverage LinkedIn's sales tools?

They take the 'cold' out of cold calling by following a simple, results oriented five-step formula. You can as well:

1. Build out your profile and establish your personal digital brand;
2. Expand your network to open up opportunities;
3. Publish your company page, showcase pages and/or start a group;
4. Increase your visibility by becoming more active, and
5. Target 'latent' prospects using introductions

Of course this all takes time and adopting to a new learning curve. Plus there are no guarantees of immediate success.

In today's new age of marketing if you want to increase your results and earnings, learn to use LinkedIn's sales prospecting tools. You will minimize your chances of failure and maximize your chances of success.

Michael Yublosky