Do you have problems making successful cold calls because of fear as a salesperson? Talking on the phone is an activity that we all do daily.
But when it comes to making a business deal, many people ‘clam up’ and sabotage their success. Try using NLP Anchoring To Make Successful Cold Calls.
Most sales reps will tell you that cold calling can be challenging. But it can also be a very successful way to get more leads and grow your sales.
“From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night, you are continually negotiating, communicating, persuading, influencing, and trying to get people to cooperate with you to do the things that you want them to do.”
– Brian Tracy
Success leaves clues, and you must pay attention to when you succeed and when you don’t.
Mastering Cold Calls with NLP Anchoring Techniques
Cold calling can be daunting, but it’s an essential tool for many businesses to reach out to potential clients or customers.
While traditional methods focus on scripts and persuasive language, integrating Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) anchoring techniques can significantly enhance your success rate. Anchoring is a psychological concept where certain stimuli evoke specific emotional responses.
What Is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is contacting a prospective customer or client with whom you have had no previous interaction. While we generally think of cold calling as making a phone call, it can also apply to making contact in person.
Your success rate on cold calling depends mainly on your persistence and ability to connect with your potential customer. Potential clients or customers will not automatically trust somebody calling them out of the blue. It would be best if you gained their trust.
Ninety-two percent of people in sales give up on a prospect after four “no’s.” However, 80% of prospects say “no” four times before they say “yes.”
Use NLP anchoring to make your cold calls more successful
1. Establish a Positive State
Before making any calls, it’s crucial to put yourself in a positive and confident state of mind. NLP techniques such as visualization and positive affirmations can help you achieve this.
Visualize successful outcomes and repeat affirmations that boost your confidence. Anchor this positive state by associating it with a physical cue, like touching your thumb and forefinger together, so you can easily access it during your calls.
2. Create Rapport Quickly
Building rapport is essential in any conversation, especially during cold calls where you have limited time to make an impression.
Use NLP mirroring and matching techniques to establish rapport quickly. Match the prospect’s tone, pace, and language patterns to create a subconscious connection. This makes the prospect more receptive to your message.
3. Use Power Words and Embedded Commands
Incorporate power words and embedded commands into your language to influence the prospect’s subconscious mind. Power words evoke strong emotions, while embedded commands are subtle directives hidden within your speech.
For example, instead of saying, “Would you be interested in our product?” say, “Imagine how our product could benefit you.” This plants the suggestion of interest in the prospect’s mind.
4. Utilize Visual and Auditory Anchors
Visual and auditory anchors can help evoke specific emotions or responses during the call. Use imagery and descriptive language to paint a vivid picture of the benefits your product or service offers.
For example, describe how using your software can streamline their workflow and bring clarity to their tasks. Additionally, use tonal variations and pacing to emphasize key points and create auditory anchors that capture the prospect’s attention.
5. Handle Objections with Reframing
Objections are inevitable during cold calls, but they can be opportunities to showcase your problem-solving skills. Instead of viewing objections as roadblocks, reframe them as opportunities to provide valuable solutions.
Use NLP reframing techniques to shift the prospect’s perspective from seeing the objection as a barrier to recognizing it as a challenge that your product or service can overcome.
6. Close with Confidence
The closing phase of a cold call is where you seal the deal. Use NLP anchoring techniques to instill confidence in your prospect and create a sense of urgency.
Anchor positive emotions by reiterating the benefits of your offer and reminding the prospect of their initial interest. For example, you could say, “Based on what we’ve discussed, it seems like our solution aligns perfectly with your needs. Shall we proceed with the next steps?”
How can I make my cold call more successful?
- Research Your Prospect: Before making the call, research the prospect and their company to understand their needs, pain points, and how your product or service can provide value to them. This will allow you to tailor your pitch accordingly.
- Prepare a Script (but don’t sound scripted): Have a general outline or script prepared for the call, including an introduction, key points, and possible objections. However, avoid sounding robotic or scripted. Be conversational and adaptable to the prospect’s responses.
- Focus on Building Rapport: Building rapport is crucial to engaging the prospect and keeping them interested in the conversation. Use mirroring and matching techniques to align with their tone, pace, and language. Show genuine interest in their business and listen actively to what they have to say.
- Highlight Benefits, Not Features: Instead of listing all the features of your product or service, focus on the benefits it can provide to the prospect. How will it solve their problems or improve their situation? Tailor your pitch to address their specific needs and pain points.
- Handle Objections Positively: Expect objections during the call and be prepared to address them confidently. Instead of viewing objections as obstacles, see them as opportunities to provide more information and overcome hesitations. Use empathetic listening and provide solutions to alleviate their concerns.
- Set Clear Next Steps: Towards the end of the call, establish clear next steps for further engagement. Whether it’s scheduling a follow-up meeting, sending additional information, or arranging a product demo, make sure both parties understand what comes next.
- Follow Up Consistently: Not all prospects will convert on the first call. Be persistent and follow up consistently with those who express interest or request more information. Keep the lines of communication open and continue to nurture the relationship.
- Track and Analyze Performance: Keep track of your cold calling metrics, such as call-to-conversion rate, objections encountered, and successful outcomes. Analyze this data regularly to identify areas for improvement and refine your approach accordingly.
- Stay Positive and Persistent: Cold calling can be challenging, but maintaining a positive attitude and persistence is key to success. Celebrate small wins, learn from rejections, and keep pushing forward.
- Continuous Learning and Improvement: Keep honing your cold calling skills through training, practice, and seeking feedback. Stay updated on industry trends, sales techniques, and customer behavior to adapt to changing dynamics.
Use NLP Anchoring To Help You Make Sales
You may be a salesperson, and you are required to cold call as a part of your job. You may have to persuade clients to agree to specific lines of action.
For this, you need to pick up the phone. Now doing this might be something you avoid doing. Why is this? Well, you probably already know pretty well. It’s because you are fearful of rejection.
This is the single most common concern, which can cause severe anxiety and end up with you avoiding picking up the phone for days.
This, of course, means you miss out on potential sales opportunities, which in the end, impacts negatively on your targets. Although you may feel stuck, there’s no need to despair.
You can do some things to help you pick up that phone, tell those clients how they can benefit from your products and services, and help you get that second face-to-face meeting.
Change The Way You Feel
You do one thing right now: Create and access the correct state. What does this mean?
Let’s explore this further with your current approach to cold calling. You might be in a position where the thought of cold calling sends shivers down your spine.
This can be explained using the stimulus-response model. In this case, the stimulus is you thinking about cold calling. The response is you feeling fear in your body, i.e., a negative and unhelpful state.
Similarly, you can engineer a new stimulus and a response to create a new state to assist you.
One of the easiest yet compelling ways is to set an anchor. An anchor is a term used in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and creates new stimuli responses.
Use NLP Anchoring To Help You Make Cold Calls
Let’s say you want to create a state of confidence. You can do this using the following steps:
1. Experience the state you want
Remember a time when you were confident. Perhaps you gave your entire team a presentation at work confidently, and you just knew you did well.
As you do, allow yourself to see and feel exactly what you did then. Also, hear the sounds you made that time. Keep doing this vividly until you find yourself in the same state you were when you gave the presentation.
If you can’t remember a time, imagine what it would be like if you were confident! Try to increase it slightly when you feel you are experiencing this state as intensely as possible.
Get the state as clean and pure as possible and avoid other thoughts associated with different emotions. You want to get this confidence as strong as possible!
2. Set the anchor
When your confidence is at its peak, you set the external stimulus (or anchor). Timing is crucial, so please do this when you know your confidence is at its highest.
The anchor can touch your body discreetly by pressing the top of your left shoulder with the first two fingers on your right hand.
Or it could be pressing your thumb and index finger on your right hand together firmly. Give yourself some time to create the anchor properly.
For instance, if your anchor touches your thumb and index finger together on a particular hand, do this for around 10-15 seconds.
You can even use a voice to support your touch anchor. It could be a word you say aloud, such as “confidence,” or say to yourself if you want it available more discreetly.
3. Test the anchor
Next, come back to the real world for a moment, to the here and now! It’s time to see if this has worked! Go ahead and fire off your anchor by touching the exact location with the same amount of pressure.
For instance, if the anchor you set pressed your right thumb and index finger firmly, do this and allow yourself to access your juicy state of confidence.
4. Use it for a cold call
Now it’s time to use this new powerful resource in the real world before you make a cold call. You know the person you want to speak to.
You have their number. Go ahead and use your anchor. Allow the confident state to permeate your mind-body, and pick that phone up!
So there you have it. An outline of how you can use anchoring to create a new empowering state that will help you pick up the phone, make cold calls, and, most importantly, help lead you to make more sales.
About the author: Hiten Vyas is a personal development coach. Early on in his life, he has experienced extreme amounts of fear and anxiety because of difficulties due to stammering, which pretty much crippled all aspects of his life.
Conclusion
Incorporating NLP anchoring techniques into your cold calling strategy can transform your approach and significantly improve your success rate.
By establishing rapport, influencing subconscious responses, and confidently handling objections, you’ll be better equipped to connect with prospects and close deals effectively.
With practice and consistency, you’ll become a master of cold calls and achieve your sales goals with ease.