There is far more to successful cold calling than meets the eye. Whilst some of the following points may seem self-evident, many of them are often missed or not afforded the attention they deserve. Don’t forget, a cold call could be the one opportunity to start a relationship with a business who may become your biggest customer.

Sales training has an important part to play and should be carried out as often as possible. This includes not only courses but also regular meetings between members of the sales team to discuss their work. This might include tactics that seem particularly effective, or what objections seem to be coming up most often and how these can be dealt with.

One of the keys to successful cold calling is an open and positive mental attitude. The best sales people take a moment before making a call to visualise how the call is going to go. Based on previous experience, they will think about the most likely objections and how they will overcome them. They do not take negativity from being knocked back. They will take a moment for a brief reflection on whether they have learnt anything from the call, and move on to the next one.

There is an art to selling, and like any art, practice and self-analysis will always pay off. Here are some areas that should be considered.

Don’t fall into the trap of doing something a particular way because it has always been done that way. It might be your predecessor who has set a particular way of working or it could be you that has got into a rut. Whatever the reasons for doing something in a particular way, always be prepared to question those reasons. Try to see things from a fresh perspective. Be innovative and flexible.

Focus on the benefits of your product or service not on its features. You might be incredibly proud of your product and all the wonderful innovative features it has. However, your client doesn’t care about that. Tell them why a particular feature will benefit them and you will have their attention.

The golden rule of sales is often referred to as ABC which means ‘Always Be Closing’. An alternative golden rule might be ‘Always Be Training’ although it must be admitted ABT does not have quite the same ring. However, you can never have too much training. This may mean going on sales training courses or simply having brainstorming sessions with your colleagues.

If you are a sales person, you can never have too much help. Here are some tips on how to ensure you maximise sales.

Soft skills training will teach you the importance of seeing the other person’s point of view. The practical application of this in sales is of course seeing the customer’s point of view. Put yourself in the customer’s place and you have a far better chance of understanding their objections and thus be able to overcome them. Do not fall into the trap of thinking you know best.

The best sales people make themselves an integral part of their customers’ organisations. You might say they become a consultant to their clients. By understanding the client’s organisation including its goals and difficulties, a sales person will be looked to for solutions. This means that eventually the opportunity will present itself and sales will be made.

Just as a sales person should always ask for business, they should also seek referrals. After all, if you are personable and have done a good job, even if you have not sold to somebody, they will be happy to help you out with some contacts. Remember people like helping people. Use this to your advantage.

One of the most basic ways to ensure your personal development is to take time out every so often and think about those day-to-day tasks that you do. Try to look at them afresh. If you are involved in sales, use this article as a way of reviewing what you do. If you do find an area that would benefit from a different approach, then act upon that information.

Remember one of the key behaviours for a successful sales person is persistence. You should always follow-up your contacts. It may be that you feel the prospective customer has already demonstrated that they have no interest. However, provided you approach people with a good attitude, no-one will ever criticise you. Don’t call too often as it can annoy them. However, be frank and ask how often they would consider it appropriate for you to call.

Make sure that you keep a record of all calls and contacts with customers. The most effective way to do this is via a database. This can include people you haven’t contacted yet. Include any interesting details about people you speak to. You’ll be amazed how quickly you can establish a warm relationship if you ask them about something that matters to them. Did your daughter’s exams go alright? How was your amateur dramatics?

Sales is never easy. There are people who make it look easy but they have usually benefited from a lot of sales training. That training is not just sitting in a classroom listening to how to sell. It also includes learning on the job including regular discussions with colleagues about objections encountered and the most effective way to overcome them.

There are some basic techniques which never change regardless of the service or product being sold. Here are some pointers to areas which will repay consideration.

One of the most important areas of sales is closing the deal. Interest and even getting permission to quote are great, but if they are not converted into business, you have been wasting your time. It is vital therefore that you always ask for the business. After all, if you don’t ask for the business how do you expect to get it?

Sales people need to have the ability to bounce back and not be brought down by failure. They need to analyse rejection briefly and see if there is anything to learn from the attempt. After all, whatever you are trying to learn, it is the failures which help you learn quickest. If there is nothing to learn, reenergise and move on.

Sales training needs to be updated regularly. This is increasingly essential as the rate of technological progress increases. One of the areas which has received a lot of attention in recent years is viral marketing and in particular the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These sites themselves are good examples of the speed with which new ideas are adopted and fall away. After all, only a few years ago MySpace was considered to be revolutionary. Nowadays, it is seen as something primarily for children and young adults, whereas Facebook has been far more widely adopted. Twitter has only recently started to really take a grip in the last few months. Who knows what the next big thing will be?

The whole point of these sites is to network and share things which people think will be of interest to their contacts. This makes it a very powerful way of spreading positive messages. The whole thing could be said to spread like an infectious disease hence the term ‘viral marketing’.

A number of the most common methods are podcasts, blogs and even videos and commercials. Sites such as YouTube and Wikipedia have also had a part to play.

A very popular way of achieving viral marketing is to put a video on YouTube that is either very strange or funny. The word spreads and the video is embedded in other websites. Thus the message spreads.

Sales training often concentrates on how to get new customers. A potentially more lucrative market is often over looked, which is selling to existing customers. This can be done either by up-selling them to a more expensive, and more profitable, product or service, or by cross selling them something else as well. This is known as relationship based selling. By building long term relationships, marketing costs will decrease as sales increase.

The simple fact is that people would always rather do business with people they know and trust. This can often result in sales even where there may be price or quality issues.

Some of the points to focus on when considering relationship based selling are as follows:

There needs to be regular communication with customers. This can take the form of newsletters, preferably sent by email. This is not expensive and the emails can either be based on latest offers and be strictly business or it can include more personal details such as employee profiles.

There has to be a very clear commitment to what the customer wants and notice needs to be taken of evolving needs. This is done by asking and listening to your customer’s feedback and acting upon it.