Qualifying your Prospects

The Secrets of Cold Calling for a Job

Have you ever read about a local company?s expansion and realized that it was moving into a field in which you?re a recognized expert? Or have you ever received a tip that a company is facing a problem that you are convinced that you can help them solve? How do you approach a company when they are currently not hiring ? or should you contact them?

Cold calling is one of the four basic ways to find a job. Although it is not for the feint of heart, it is surprisingly effective in creating jobs for qualified candidates. Even though the company may not have any immediate hiring plans, a professional who can prove his immediate benefit to the company in entering a new market or solving a particularly troublesome problem can find a job created specifically for him.

Success at cold calling is usually reserved for job candidates who have significant experience and a proven, tangible record of previous successes. Since you may be creating a position where none existed before, your goal is to quantitatively and qualitatively prove the value that you alone can provide for the company.

Although cold calling is usually avoided by job seekers, you can warm up the process by internalizing two fundamental beliefs: (1) a belief in yourself and your abilities and (2) an understanding and acceptance of the fact that your efforts may be rejected. Like cold calling in a sales situation, this job search strategy has a high rejection rate ? only 10% of cold calls result in an actual employment offer. However, unlike cold calling in a sales situation, all you as a job candidate need is one sale that leads to a job.

Despite its limitations, cold calling should be a part of your job search campaign. It continues to build and develop your network, leading you to other companies who may be hiring. By using a network referral, you will need to cold call to schedule important informational interviews; not only will you build your network, but you can also speak directly with practicing professionals to develop an insider?s perspective of your target market.

By overcoming your fears of cold calling, you may not only realize the potential of a job that is custom fit to your skills and experience, but also expand your network and increase your self-confidence. Use these 5 secrets to overcome your fears of cold calling.
Secret #1: Boost your confidence by knowing what you have to offer and what you are seeking.
Cold calling demands self-confidence and knowledge builds self-confidence. Although most beneficial to experienced professionals, cold calling can be effective for lower level workers by ?being in the right place at the right time? (i.e., contacting an employer before a formal hiring announcement is made). By understanding and illustrating specifically how you can benefit the targeted organization, you will automatically build your sense of self-worth and self-confidence automatically.

Secret #2: Research the target company?s history, needs and future goals or plans.
Cold calling to simply ask for a job severely undermines the likelihood of your success. The company is unaware of your potential benefit and dismiss your inquiries as unimportant or desperate. By understanding the historical and future challenges that the company faces, you are better able to identify specific areas of need and describe in detail how you can immediately assist them in their goal achievement.

Secret #3: Speak to the decision maker.
NEVER cold call the Human Resources Department. Depending on the progressiveness of the company, HR usually does not generate hiring decisions for any department other than HR; instead, they screen candidates for openings generated by other departments. Your resume may be filed for future reference or may not be considered unless a formal application is filed. Seek to speak directly with the manager or executive who has hiring authority for your targeted department. (Hint: you should have determined this in Secret #2.) Use your network to develop an introduction to warm the cold call. Then contact that person directly. If they have budgetary control, they can create positions for a worker who is qualified to solve a perplexing problem. If a fit exists, then they will initiate the application process with HR.

Secret #4: Arrange a private, informal meeting with the decision maker.
Your comfort level will determine the method by which you initially contact the decision maker. Whether by telephone, written letter or email, concentrate on focusing on the company?s goals rather than your needs. Since your goal is to arrange a meeting NOT an interview, don?t submit a resume with your request ? a busy executive who skims the contents will more than likely immediately forward it to HR (see Secret #3). Recognize the demands on the executive?s time, but follow-up by phone within 7 to 10 days. Cold calling is an aggressive tactic that demands initiative and perseverance. If further information is request, provided it immediately. Be fanatical about following up.

Secret #5: Have a back-up plan.
Realize that, although you may be an ideal fit with the company, a tight budget may undermine the manager?s ability to offer you a position at this time. Do not discontinue contact. Realize, too, that you may in fact NOT be a good fit with the company. Do not discontinue contact. Your back-up plan is to develop this new contact into a viable part of your network. Your research and planning in Secret #5 revealed ways in which you can be mutually beneficial, so do not discontinue contact. Market and employment conditions change rapidly ? today?s rejection could be tomorrow?s job offer.

A Final Reminder
Cold calling is not for the timid, but can be a highly successful strategic tool for the tenacious and self-confident. Although your initial attempts could necessitate a strong antacid to calm your jittery stomach, cold calling is simply an extension of networking. If you can network, you can cold call. Use these 5 secrets to help you prepare and warm up to cold calling ? you may just be at the right place at the right time.

It’s a brutal and harsh world out there. This requires you to channel your scarce resources into the potential customers, that truly matter. Don’t waste your time, don’t bother to waste the other party’s time. Should salespeople qualify the prospect before going on an appointment?
There are two schools of thoughts:

(1) In theory, qualifying a prospect is a great idea. The last thing you want to do is waste your time seeing people who will never be able to buy from you. However, what goes on in the real world, far too often has nothing to do with theory.As almost any sales manager or sales executive will tell you, in the real world the biggest problem with salespeople is: they don’t see enough people. If that’s the case, what the heck do they need to qualify for?

(2) A regional sales manager told me, he makes less cold calls now, but more sales. He exceeded his sales target by 140%. Now, if his recent sales are anything as a measure, then perhaps, qualifying sure works for him. He spends more time understanding and identifying his customer’s needs. Having such targeted efforts appear to pay off for some, but not for others.
Personally, I believe the first method works well for new- comers. There are way too many instances, where new joiners use qualifying questions to talk themselves out of appointments. It gives them an excuse to not have to sell. It’s almost as if they reject the prospect before the prospect rejects them.

My feeling has always been: If you’re one of those people who doesn’t have enough appointments; JUST GO! You’re better off being in front of a prospect than sitting in your office doing nothing. Besides, let’s say you get there and the prospect says, “I’m not the person you should be seeing.” What’s the next question out of your mouth? “Who is?” Then after getting the right name, you ask, “Would you mind calling that person for me?” If they say “No,” just say, “Then would you mind if I called and used your name?” They’ll probably say, “Yes,” because you just let them off the hook.

However, if you are a self- motivated and more experienced salesperson, perhaps the latter will work better for you. When you are so busy and your appointment book is loaded, then start qualifying. Before you do however, formulate a client profile that spells out very clearly exactly the kind of clients and prospects you’re looking for. This helps not only you, but makes it easy for other people to send hot prospects your way.

But, if you’re not that busy, JUST GO! You never know where your next big client is going to come from.

Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks of Success

‘I knew I had to succeed, because I ran out of things that didn’t work’. - Thomas Edison

Most people would like more out of life than they already have. Some of them can even define it. They have it all penned out on paper. Yet, most of them will never achieve it, and it's because they’re so easily stopped. We all know who invented the electrical lamp. Yet, how many of us remember the morale of the story behind one of the world’s greatest invention?
Thomas Edison, who decided to invent the electrical lamp, had an idea and he believed he could do it. He knew that every failure was bringing him closer to success. When something didn’t work he tried a different approach.

During an interview on the secret behind his success, he answered, “I knew I had to succeed, because I ran out of things that didn’t work. And when a journalist asked him what it was like to fail so many times, he answered ‘I didn’t fail the first 9,999 experiments. Inventing the electrical lamp was a process of 10,000 steps, I just had to take each one of them.’ Practical dreamers never quit. Tenacity is embedded in them.

Now take a moment to think of all the things you’ve ever wanted to accomplish in your life, and then think why you didn't accomplish them. You would probably say you didn’t try hard enough or you never planned it out properly. But perhaps, it is because you were stopped by these stumbling blocks. Blocks, that deterred you, from being successful.

1. Limiting Belief
This is a huge obstacle to success. Other people are always so ready, willing and able to tell us "It can’t be done," and stop us from doing all the things we want to do in our lives and careers. There are many people who want to stop you, drag you down, so that you don’t become more successful than they are. They feel it’s easier to keep you down with them, than to get up off their rear ends and join you in achieving success. The next time one of these "Other people," tells you it can’t be done, say to them, "You’re right, you can’t do it, but I can."
On the other hand, not all these people are with ill- intent. In fact some may be your loved ones who genuinely care for you. They probably think they’re acting in your best interest, but they’re not. In fact, all too often, we have the over protective parents who refuse to let their kids try new things, which in the end stifle their independence as they grow older.

2. Fear
Fear of failure is the single, biggest obstacle to our success. Fear is a double- edged sword. A certain amount of fear can create a positive motivator in us. Yet, if unbridled, it paralyzes us. Most people don’t succeed because they are too afraid to fail. They are so afraid to fail, they don’t even try. This of course creates a vicious cycle since the only time we really fail is when we stop trying! Imagine a salesperson who keeps getting rejected on the phone when he does his cold calls? Selling is, like it or not, often about rejection, handling rejection and rebounding again! Selling is character building. It teaches one to overcome his or her fear and try again, before fear overwhelms the person. It is only when we paralyze in fear, that we STOP, and end up taking away any opportunity we ever had to be great.

3. Bad Habits
We all know the adage, “Old habits die hard”. Well, you can imagine how tough it is to start a good habit as well. Just like how we learn our ABC’s or nursery rhyme, the key to nurturing a good habit is: repeat, repeat repeat. Truly, repetition is the key to any good or bad habit.
Bad habits constantly stop us. One of the worst habits of a salesperson is the habit of procrastination. Sure, there are days where we feel a little lazier than normal. Habits, unlike addictions like drinking, drugs, gambling, have to be stopped cold turkey, while habits can only be changed gradually. After all, you didn’t acquire that bad habit overnight. What makes you think you can change it overnight?

Bad habits must be changed a little bit at a time. Mark out one day a week that you won’t procrastinate; make one more sales call a week than you normally would, wake up five minutes earlier every day. Do it for a month, then next month do a little more. Well, you don’t necessarily need to try to break out of your comfort zone immediately, just expand it.

There are no overnight successes. Success is a long journey over a road that has many roadblocks, such as limiting beliefs, fear and bad habits. It’s the people that go over around and through those stumbling blocks who become successful.

A Written Goal Must Have Time Frames

We all need goals and know how important it is to be specific about those goals. HOwever, leveraging on this, we need a solid time-frame in order to gauge our progress along the road of life.

Do you know it is nearly impossible to achieve a goal without a time frame or deadline?

Time frames give you a frame of reference. They also allow you to know when you can stop? And, after all, if you don't know when you can stop, what's the motivation to start? Having a time frame makes it easier to formulate a plan for achieving the goal. For example, if my goal is to lose 20 pounds in 10 months, I can draw up a plan that has me losing 2 pounds a month or one pound every 2 weeks. If I leave it open ended, how soon will I get frustrated with the lack of results, because I have no way of measuring them, and just give up?Most people doom themselves to failure before they even start. They say things like, "Some day I'm going to quit this job and get a better one;" "I'm going to start my own business sometime in the next few years;" "Some day I'm going to lose this extra twenty pounds;" Whenever you hear somebody use one of the above phrases, rest assured none of those things will ever happen.

Let's examine one of the vague words people use to help sabotage themselves: let's look at the word "sometime."Sometime is an interesting word because it could mean anytime, but the way we use it, it usually means never. Have you ever asked one of your children to do something around the house and they reply, "Sure mom (dad), I'll get around to it sometime." What does their reply tell you? That it's probably never going to get done.What if you called me on the phone to set up a sales appointment with me and said, "Warren can I come over and see you sometime?" And I said, "Sure," then hung up. When would you come by? I'd say you better come over right away, because other than right now you'll never know when I'm going to be there.Has this ever happened to you: you're walking down the street and you run into someone you haven't seen in a while, and couldn't care less if you ever saw him or her again. You find yourself saying, "Hey, haven't seen you in ages. You look great! We should get together sometime. Give me a call sometime. Better yet, give me your number and I'll call you sometime." Why do you say that? Because you don't ever want to see that person again.As you see, we use the word "sometime," when we don't want to do something.

So, what are we saying when we take the word "sometime" and tack it onto the end of our goals and plans? Unfortunately, we're saying it's never going to happen.

When you write down your goal, please remember to write down the year or date you intend to achieve it by, because a goal is a dream with a deadline.

Writing Down Your Goals: Let Me Show You Why ... You Need One

The Three Components of an Effective Written Plan

Number One: Express Your Plan in Continuous Action

When developing a specific, written, action plan for your goals it is imperative that the plan be expressed in continuous action. This means that you know what you have to do every day, week, month or year in order to achieve your goals.The most successful salespeople understand this and that's how they go about planning each year and insuring their continued success.The successful salesperson decides before the year starts how much money they want to make in the upcoming year.

They do it not by pulling it out of a hat, but by deciding on how they want their life to look in that upcoming year and beyond, and what kind of lifestyle they want to live. This tells them how much money they need to make to support that lifestyle.

Let's say, hypothetically, the goal for the next year is $100,000 in commissions. The successful salesperson now devises a plan by first expressing it in continuous action. Being successful, this salesperson keeps records and knows how much the average sale puts in his or her pocket.If the average sales yields $1,000 in commissions that now means our salesperson would have to close 100 sales a year or, in continuous action, 2 per week (did you ever notice it's a lot easier to close 2 sales a week, than 100 in a year). Now the goal is no longer $100,000, it's just 2 sales per week.But it's not always within a salesperson's complete control to close a sale. Some people do say "no." Some people say "I have to think about it." But not everyone says that. Since top producers keep good records, this one knows that one of every 3 face to face sales presentations ends up a sale. So now you don't have to make $100,000. You don't even have to close 100 sales in a year or 2 a week. You just have to make 6 face to face sales presentations a week.

Taking this even further we find that his or her cancellation rate on appointments is 25%. Meaning this salesperson doesn't even have to see anyone, they just need to set up 8 appointments a week.But knowing that one of every 5 people you speak to gives you an appointment and every 3 dials of the phone puts you in touch with the person you're looking to reach now breaks it down even further. Now we know that if this salesperson dials the phone 120 times per week (or 24 per day) on average it will yield: 40 phone conversations; 8 appointments; 6 presentations and 2 sales for $1,000 commission each. This tells us that every day that salesperson goes to work and generates 24 prospecting telephone calls he or she is getting that much closer to their goal.

Now how motivated do you think that person is to make the calls? That's continuous action.

Are You an Enterprising Woman?

By Candace Bahr, CEA, CDFA

Do you dream of having your own business? More and more women each year discover the excitement of being self-employed.

If it sounds good to you, the prospects have never been better or the resources greater to help you get started. Enterprising women across America are building businesses that in 2005 employed 18.2 million people and generated $2.32 trillion in sales.

The first important step for a would-be entrepreneur is honest self-assessment:
Do you have the right stuff to be happy working for yourself?
Are you comfortable with risk, competition, and decision-making? Can you manage your time and money effectively? Can you solve problems, set goals, and hold yourself accountable for success and failure?

If you say “YES!” read on.

What makes a successful business idea? Experts agree that it starts with something you like to do and are good at. Success follows those who really enjoy what they are doing. A great example is popular TV chef Rachel Ray who in the past few years has achieved fame and fortune doing what she loves—cooking, traveling and sharing her ideas in books, a new magazine, and her own TV talk show. She always looks like she’s having fun!

Be sure your business idea calls forth your best talents. Your work should require you to use these things: the skills people compliment you or praise you about; the activities you like so well you would still do them even if you won the lottery; the ideas you have for making the world a better place; and the life experience, education, and training you have.

Once an enterprising woman has found a service or product to be the heart of her business, she can make use of the many resources available for help in getting started. These include the nonprofit SCORE counseling organization at www.score.org and the federal government’s Small Business Administration at http://women-21.gov. There’s plenty of peer support, too. The number of self-employed women grew 77 percent from 1983 to 2005—to a total of 4.7 million.
Today’s women have greater opportunities than ever before to find fulfillment and express themselves through their work. It’s also a chance to extend prosperity to others. According to the Department of Labor, "Women entrepreneurs are creating jobs, hope and opportunities in every community in America."