Cold Calling for Chickens

by Bob Etherington

Cold calling – making contact with strangers – is the biggest fear confronting businesspeople, especially those who work in sales and marketing. “Put me in front of a customer and I can persuade them to buy anything … just don’t ask me to cold call!!” Yet cold calling is unavoidable and something which has to be done (and not just in sales and marketing) if you are to sell and make people aware of your business. This book, based on a very successful course given to thousands of people, shows the art and science of making first contact with complete strangers. The secret is in the preparation and approach, rather than having the gift of the gab, that will enable even yellow-bellied chickens to make that call with confidence.

Genres: Business

Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. It has a very fluent style. I'm still a cold calling chicken like Bob, but re-reading the book every now and then helps put me back on track

[Pablo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very tactical, what says on the tin, including scripts to guide you.

[Livio Dinaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book that is applicable not just for sales, but in many areas of your life:

Key message: you don't have to get rid of your fear to cold call, or do anything in life in general


Key takeaways
- AIDA: attention, interest, desire action, to more modern IKEA: Intelligence, Knowledge, Expansion, Appropriate
- You must do the most important tasks first: write the six most important tasks down on a piece of paper the night before, rank them according to priority
- Stay out of the office, away from negative people and don't get sucked into loithering and whining
- Aim for at least six rejections per day, rather than aim for a certain amount of "yes"
- Eliminate tasks that are urgent but not important
- Time management is essential not just for salesmen, but for everyone looking to be successful
- When talking on the phone: stand up, smile, slow down, speak deepl
- People have 3 ways of processing info: visual, aural, texture: communicate with them the same way they process
- Call the "drivers" and the "expressives": they are the ones with the authority and power to get things done
- 3 attitudes of success: set measurable goals, persistence, stand tall and smile
- What would a clone of you look like? What traits would he have? What would it take to replace you?
- Paradoxical imitation: act out your fears to the extreme for 5-10 minutes, afterwards no more fear

What I took away:

- Write down six things before going to bed I need to get done in priority order
- Think of people in terms of how they process info, and what personality they have
- Reaffirm power of visualization and writing down goals
- Having a trigger image of my mentor struggling in the same situation as I am, but instead of giving up, he pulls out an amazing performance despite initial setbacks
- Written list of my traits I can look at for time to time, remind myself when feeling down
- Paradoxical imitation method to getting over situations where I feel anxiety, pressure

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am useless at selling and this book did not change my opinion. I think these books are for people who have never sold before or who might just need a bit of encouragement. Seems to be mainly for men.

No use to me.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! It tells you how to sell without selling if that makes sense but I personally like Jordan Belforts techniques better http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111020926411 .

[Peter Rolny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, lot of experience and valuable hints