Sales calls are common place at most businesses, and they offer sales people an opportunity to differentiate themselves and highlight their own character traits. When sales calls are placed daily, it becomes very hard to break through the noise and differentiate yourself from the herd. Most recipients of sales calls have heard it all before, making 99% of those experiences a blur, so avoid getting lost in the noise, and stop being boring!
This effort should be made whether you’re leaving a voicemail or emailing somebody. Start thinking, “What can I do to stand out?” rather than saying, “This is Gregg Salkovitch and I’m calling to see if you’re open to using my recruiting services.” When most receive that message, there’s one of two words that are going through their heads, yawn or delete.
I hear countless salespeople give the same old pitch, leave the same standard voicemails, and write the same email over and over again. By avoiding the mundane you are both positioning yourself outside of the herd, but how can this be achieved effectively?
1.) Get Weird
One of my former coworkers and I used to make a game out of cold calling. This game entailed us playing off of each other, and on certain days at 8:30 AM we would start hitting the phone. My co-worker would always kick off the “competition” in the same way. At 8:30 AM he’d exclaim, “Time to get weird.”
This game resulted in us having fun on the phone, which would really shine through to those on the other end of the call. We’d enjoy the process, as we laughed at each other’s voicemails and sales pitches. When I called on somebody with a deep southern accent, I would instantly tell them how much I love their accent and how they couldn’t sound mean if they wanted to. Obviously, we would always remain professional and respectful, but we’d have fun.
Besides enjoying our time making cold calls, this game demonstrated our ability to be creative with a traditional task, and bring our personalities to the table. By taking these types of creative chances you can more easily stand out, and avoid the pitfalls of being boring and traditional.
2.) Be Memorable
Getting weird leads us into the tactic of working on being memorable. Be creative and have fun with the process by trying new things. Exploring your creativity will result in the development of new thought processes that lead to memorable interactions in the workplace. As an example, bring some humor into your voicemails, drop somebody’s name that you’re mutually connected by or find an executive at the company who went to the same college as you and mention you’re an alumnus. Think about the types of messages you could leave that a decision maker hasn’t heard before.
When most interactions are run of the mill and boring, a memorable one will leave recruiters thinking about you and the fun or creativity you brought to an otherwise boring and traditional process.
3.) Be of Value
I tell every prospect that I have that I want to be able to help them regardless of whether or not we do business with one another. Sometimes I’ll even tell them, “I have another client who I believe would be a good lead for you. Can I make an introduction?”
Would you call somebody back be open to a sales pitch of somebody who was trying to refer you business? I’ll also send prospects articles or other content that I believe can help them. I have even had several prospect who I did training for on LinkedIn at no cost.
The bottom line is that I want each and every prospect to think of me as more than a vendor. The goal is to build relationships with them in order to remain consistently in touch, and not only when they need to buy something from me.
These tips will help you avoid being boring, as this is an important attribute to keep in mind professionally. Don’t be afraid to get a little weird and demonstrate your value. Doing so will make your interactions more memorable in an abyss of mundane daily experiences.
