How to make a B to B Sales Call

Someone once asked me if I knew the people I call, when I told them I did not they were very surprised! It starts by picking up the phone, and that's were a lot of people get into trouble. The first defense a company has against a sales call is the receptionist, try saying Good Morning or Good Afternoon and if you catch the person's name, use it. If you do not have a name of someone to talk to, ask the receptionist for help. Tell them what company you are calling from and what you need, usually they are glad to help. However if not, there is no need to take it out on them as they are just good at their job! Two little know rules, you have 5 seconds for the person you are calling to decide to listen to you or not, and they are only going to hear about 10% of what you say...so speak English, tell them who you are, where you are calling from and why you are calling. The other thing that helps is do not pause at the end of the sentence, you will get interrupted, however if you pause in the middle of sentences it is less likely that you will be stopped. When people read they pause at the end of a sentence, when you speak you do not, so do not sound like you are reading.......there is nothing worse! The kiss of death of any cold call is when someone starts out with "How Are You Today" It breaks the pacing of the call and worse yet it makes it a telemarketing call which has no place in business calling. . The most important thing I ever learned about cold calling is to "Actively Listen", to the person on the other end of the phone, so stop thinking about what you are going to say next and just shut up an listen! This is a skill we can all use in our daily lives as everyone likes to be listened too! Try to know who you are calling, the type of company, the position of the person you will be speaking with and ALWAYS get the name for the Adminstrative Assistant. These people are very good at what they do and more important they know more about the company than anyone else..they can be very helpful! So I guess if I had one thing to pass on it would be...just pick up the phone!