Now, you may be hoping that there is some magical blueprint that we can provide that will guarantee you success, and unfortunately, that isn’t the case. What we can do is to identify steps you can take to increase your chances of success. And you may think this is a very complex process, but it’s quite simple. The key to a successful warm call is listening.

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand, but with the intent to reply. And this is a big difference between successful salespeople and unsuccessful salespeople. Now, everyone is slightly different, and everyone might have a slightly different sales technique, but the most important thing we can do as salespeople is to listen to the customer.

Understanding the fundamentals of warm calling will allow you to realize that we are trying to identify a need so that we can offer a solution. We’ve already gone through a comprehensive validation process, which means that during the warm call we can build on the information that we’ve already gained. This is where the listening comes in. What we’re trying to do is identify a strong enough need so that we can act and try to close on an agreed-to solution.

Now, at this stage, it’s important to remember our warm calling values; the soft sell is the best sell. It might take one, or it might take ten calls to identify a strong enough need to try and close this customer. What’s important is that, during these calls, we listen and focus on understanding and building our knowledge on this customer.

So, the next time you’re in a meeting with a colleague, customer, or supplier, take some time to reflect on whether that individual is listening. Are there people that keep overtalking? Are there people that are missing the point? If so, this is a clear demonstration that the individuals are not listening. And once you become aware of this, it makes you a lot more conscious when talking to your potential new customers.

Before we end this particular lesson, you may have realized that we’ve only spent a short amount of time focusing on the call itself. This is because your chances of success are determined by the quality of the validation, the leads you have, and the strategy you put in place. The only important thing to consider when calling a customer is listening, and this is because we have to identify a need and then determine when to offer the customer the solution.