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 prospectis the right fit for you.