Friday, December 21, 2007

A few "tricks of the trade"

They're all important but i'd say #6 is the one thing amateurs most often forget to do.

  1. Prepare with the right KNOWLEDGE: Precede the call by doing homework on the person and their company. Learn all that you can, including any connections you might have.
  2. Prepare with the right ATTITUDE: You are going to treat this a little bit like a GAME. Yes, that's right, a game. Take cold calling really seriously and you are bound to burn out, and fast. Get yourself in a laughing, light-hearted frame of mind and you'll be good to go. Leave your ego at the door. This has nothing to do with your ego and everything to do with sorting through your callers for a winner.
  3. Some sales trainers will tell you to stand up when your cold calling. I disagree. You have to find what works best for you. In my experience, sitting down works just fine. Bottom line: Try both and see what gets you better results.
  4. Use humor at the onset. “someone accused you of having a big heart.”Humor helps to open people up. Use it to your advantage!!!
  5. Start with yes questions. For example: Rumor has it you guys are wanting to increase your bottom line. Is that true? Or, for fundraising: “Jim Jones said you had a big heart. Is that true?” This is extremely effective.
  6. **************************Stay focused. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE PROSPECT. I''ve seen so many cold callers who are trying to simply set an appointment do EVERYTHING BUT try to do that. They spend 5 hours answering every single one of the prospects objections but by the time they are ready to ask what time would work best for the prospect, he's already said he needs to "Think It Over" (that's good ole Uncle TIO. He's not your friend :)*******
  7. Pause in between calls occasionally. Keep chit chat with colleagues to a minimum but DO NOT avoid chatting all together. It provides a highly effective tension-relief and helps to get you recharged.
  8. K.I.S.S. :)
  9. Remember that your goal is SORTING, not SLAMMING the person into the box you want him to go into. Some will, some won't. So what!!! Another one is waiting. NEXT!!!! NEXT!!!! MOVE ON!!!
  10. End with a commitment from your prospect to meet you at place A, on day B, at time C. and immediately send an email confirming this IN WRITING.

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Intro to OpenID

OpenID Bootcamp Tutorial

From: daveman692, 4 months ago



Simon Willison and David Recordon's OpenID tutorial from O'Reilly's OSCON 07.

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