How can you gracefully sauté around the nay-sayers when making cold calls? You might have to learn from a ballerina to find out.
In this episode, I sit down with Wendy Weiss, the Queen of Cold Calling, to discuss the power of mastering the art of cold calling. Wendy shares her journey from ballerina to sales trainer and how the principles she learned in ballet class have transformed her approach to sales.
Meet Wendy Weiss
- Initially, she aspired to be a ballerina and pursued a dance career. However, she worked at a telemarketing agency focused on business-to-business development to support herself financially between dance gigs.
- Years later, when her ballet career ended, Wendy realized that her expertise in cold calling was a marketable skill. This realization led her to write her first book, "Cold Calling for Women," and launch her own business.
- Now she helps business owners, sales professionals, and individuals build their sales pipelines and grow their businesses more effectively.
The Ballet Class Model
- Wendy explains the three-step model she learned in ballet class and how it applies to sales:
- Warm-up: Define your target audience and create a script that resonates with them.
- Rehearsal: Practice your script and prepare for potential objections.
- Performance: Execute your cold calling strategy with confidence.
Overcoming Fear and Rejection
- The fear of rejection keeps you from making the phone calls, but once you let go of it, everything else will fall into place. Wendy shares her own experience with rejection in the dance world and how it prepared her for sales.
- She emphasizes the importance of practice and muscle memory in overcoming fear and building confidence.
Effective Role-Playing Techniques
- To help sales teams master the art of cold calling, Wendy suggests implementing role-playing exercises.
- She recommends having team members practice their scripts as if they were on real calls, standing up and using headsets to make the experience more realistic.
- She also suggests using a rapid role-play technique in which the leader raises various objections, and team members must quickly respond with appropriate answers.
Success Story
- Wendy shares the inspiring story of her client, Tammy, who overcame her fear of being perceived as pushy or aggressive in her cold-calling efforts.
- After completing Wendy's six-month implementation program, Tammy is now on track to make $25,000 per month in her commercial real estate business, with the potential to earn $300,000 annually.
“We keep doing the same thing over and over and over again until you get the muscle memory. You don't have to think about it. You can just do it. It's the same in sales. You need the muscle memory." - Wendy Weiss.
Resources
The Salesology Sales Prospecting Toolkit
Gosalesology
Salesology: Conversations with Sales Leaders
Wendy Weiss on LinkedIn
Sponsorship Offers
- This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.
With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.
2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.
Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.
3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.
Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.
Credits
As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.