When it comes to
cold calling even the best recruiters make mistakes; but improving your cold
calling skills (and avoiding common mistakes) can have a very positive impact
on your bottom-line. Below are four
cold calling mistakes every recruiter should avoid:
1.
Failing
to have a clear goal before you pick up the phone. Every recruiter should have a clearly understood purpose
before they pick up the phone to call a prospect. What type of action do you want the prospect to take? Do you
want them to schedule a meeting, place a job order with you, or agree to an
interview with a job candidate?
Know the goal before you call.
2.
Failing
to listen to the prospect. This is
one of the problems with sales scripts; the recruiter who is committed to their
script often forgets to listen.
Not to mention that reading from a sales script makes you well--- it
makes you sound like you’re reading from a script. There is nothing wrong with having a short introduction
written out and a little cheat sheet of questions you should ask a prospect;
but don’t become so focused on those tools that you fail to listen to the
potential customer. Answering
their questions clearly and listening to their concerns is an important key to
having a successful cold call.
3.
Making
assumptions about the prospect.
Avoid making assumptions because they are often wrong. Take the time to
carefully qualify the prospect before you come to any conclusions about them.
And that takes us to our final point.
4.
Failure
to ask the right questions. Make
sure that you ask the questions that will help you figure out if the prospect
is the right fit for you.