How to cold call with integrity — the way we’ve always wanted to do cold calling

How to Cold Call With Integrity — the Way We’ve Always Wanted to Do Cold Calling!

You probably never tell potential clients your real goal in calling them, but you don’t need to. They’re already aware, because we’re all sensitive when the phone rings and it turns out to be someone we don’t know.

In the old traditional training, we learned the latest techniques for making a sale. We talk to «prospects» rather than with people. And we «guide» conversations along rather than letting them unfold naturally.

The way we do this sometimes might even be called a bit manipulative. After all, we’re relating to another person while holding an ulterior motive of making a sale.

Where does honesty and integrity fit into this scenario? Well, most of us honestly believe in our product or service. But beyond that, we carry a somewhat artificial persona when we’re cold calling. We talk with people for the primary purpose of making a sale, and we’re not really interested in them or their world.

Doesn’t this make you feel uneasy at times? It does to me.

So let’s discuss some ways we’ve been trained in the traditional sales mindset that feel artificial and dehumanizing, and ways we can overcome them.

1. We intrude upon another person uninvited, with the goal of making a sale

It’s against our nature as human beings to create uncomfortable situations. We have a natural instinct for courtesy and connection It’s usually hard for us as regular people to call uninvited, because on some level it feels discourteous.

We can change that by changing our goal. What if our goal is not to make the sale, but to find out if we can help someone? This shift makes us more relaxed. And it keeps us in harmony with personal integrity.

2. We project ourselves as personable and friendly, while also holding an ulterior motive for securing a sale

There’s an inner conflict with integrity when we find ourselves using our connections with others for self-gain. So we can bring ourselves back into honesty and truthfulness by shedding ulterior motives entirely.

We do this by focusing on whether we can provide something that will benefit another person. We find out if they have a problem we may be able to solve. And if it turns out we can’t help with our product or service, we graciously accept the outcome.

By being honest and not playing a role, we find ourselves really liking what we do. And when our «ulterior motives» are simply non-existent, people are more open to trusting us.

3. When we meet someone new, we immediately talk about ourselves and what we have to offer

It’s actually not normal for us to start an interaction by launching into a self-focused monologue. As regular people, this just goes against our grain. Common courtesy dictates that initial conversations be dialogues, not monologues.

In normal conversations we would feel self-absorbed if we primarily talked about ourselves and what we have to offer. Yet in the traditional cold calling situation, it’s an accepted «norm.» We’ve been trained to read a script, follow a strategy, or give a sales pitch.

This really isn’t the way we’d like to relate to people, but it’s the way we’ve been taught.

We can break out of this artificial game of sorts by just being ourselves. Integrity and truthfulness means being authentic. We begin cold calling conversations with a natural focus on the other person. We find out their needs, and respond with genuine interest.

4. We «rev up» in an artificial way, hoping to carry the potential client along with us into a sales process

When we «pump ourselves up» with enthusiasm, it feels somewhat fake. It’s not our normal way of being, and it throws us out of integrity.

And we also appear artificial to potential clients. They become wary of possibly being maneuvered into a sales situation.

If we can navigate a cold calling conversation without such games, people will sense we’re trustworthy. They react warmly and unhesitatingly to a conversation that feels natural to them, and especially if it revolves around their issues rather than our agenda.

So how do we approach cold calling in the most truthful way? We stop being «salespeople» and become human. We engage in an honest dialogue rather than a monologue. We look for ways to help others, and we’re comfortable knowing that our product or service may not be an honest «fit» for them right now. And we stop playing roles, especially the «high enthusiasm» game.

This is what I mean by bringing integrity back into selling. It’s unbelievable just how rewarding both personally and professionally this can be.

How to be successful working from home

How To Be Successful Working From Home

The idea of working from home appeals to a lot of people. There are often stories in the media of different people who have given up their nine to five office jobs and have managed to run a successful business from the comfort of their own home. The idea may seem appealing but it is not always that simple to pull off, in this article I am going to give advice on what it takes to make a home based business work.

Anyone who works from home needs to be able to separate their home life from their work life. This might seem quite simple to do but in reality it can be quite difficult. When you go to work in an office you do not even think about the washing, the washing up, the television, the ironing or the fact that the house may be untidy, you are able to fully focus on the job you are doing. When you are working from home all of these duties are in your face and it can be very easy to fall into a trap where you are doing more household work, than your actual business work. It is therefore very important to be strong and disciplined. I have been working from home for around ten years, I set myself my own hours, for example I will work from nine in the morning, until two in the afternoon. I have an office which I will only leave if I really need to, maybe to make a drink or to go to the toilet. I love to watch the television, therefore I do not have a television in my office.

To succeed at working from home you need to have a great deal of self belief in your own ability. There are likely to be peaks and troughs, some months you are flying away but in others everything seems to go wrong. Having a confidence in your own ability is essential in helping you to ride through the negative periods.

I always feel that it is worth saving money from the periods when I am doing well to cover the periods when the business slows down.

People who work from home need to be able to keep motivated. There is no boss to make us work or other people to bounce ideas off. Some people find that working from home can be quite lonely and soon return to an employed environment where they are able to have greater contact with other people. It is important to remember all of the benefits of working from home when we have a drop in business or when we feel a bit lonely.

In my opinion there is nothing better than being self-employed and working from home. I am sure that many other people could also make it work as long as they have the right attitude.

Is there no real data entry opportunities online today

Is there no real Data Entry Opportunities Online today?

Hi Friend,

Its has been 4 years since I started my home business. As like most of new home business seekers I started it looking for a Data Entry Job — and like 98% of them I ended up in a Scam losing $50 in the process. Well the amount may not seem to be much but the experience I gained from it was priceless — «If anything seems too good to be true, it most probably is».

Now a days the internet is all covered up with getting paid for Data Entry Scams — anywhere you look you will encounter an add saying «Make $1000 per day from the comfort of your home working just 30 Mins a day». To a bit experienced people it is a sure shot call of a Scam but to online newbies like me 4 years ago it looked like the best opportunity I could come across. I am not saying that such programs do not work. Sometimes they do. Here is a brief dexcription how they work —

What they do is they will take a one time fee from you to give a tutorial to you explaining how to post similar ads like those you responded to online. The catch is you sell on their behalf and may make money — or you may not! And also it’s quick money and not a long term security.

So now, answering the question — If there are still genuine legitimate online data entry jobs out there — I would say yes there are! But you will have to know the right place to look for it. The best place to begin are free lance opportunities. There are places like Elance and Contracted Work which posts the requirement of people who require data entry operators on contract basis and there is always a legitimate Data Entry Job available there! Start from such places and once you get some recognition requests just come pouring in. Who knows you may also start your own successful data entry company some day!!! All you have to do is just hang in to it.

Internet marketing — how to create more value and get more profits

Internet Marketing — How to Create More Value and Get More Profits

Internet Marketers often talk about providing more value to clients to increase your business returns, but seldom do you learn from them how this can be achieved and how it actually helps.

First of all, you have to realise that this has to be developed as a mindset, to truly leverage on its benefits in Internet Marketing. In fact, there is a systematic and logical way to create this mindset in you, such that it becomes second nature and makes it easier for you when coming up with marketing campaigns.

There are 3 simple ways to do this:

1. Create a «Wealthy Mind»

Very often, people in business wonder how to maximise and squeeze out every last bit of profit from clients, without realising that most people, including their clients, think the same way. As a result, this leaves them stumped when their clients ask them — “What’s in it for me?”.

Creating a “Wealthy Mind” is to first understand people and their needs, and then to come up with free solutions that provide them with value. Make them feel that you are in fact looking out for their best interests. You might even want to provide solutions that do not actually relate to your products but really solve their problems. You will be surprised the bond that can result between you and the client, which will lead them to return to you in the future. Credibility will also be formed.

And when they do return, that is when you can leverage on the past value provided to receive your returns.

2. Do Not Be Selfish

By creating a ‘Wealthy Mind’, you will also need to think less of yourself and more for your clients.

I cannot stress this more, you will need to make this your mission. And an effort to give first before receiving will in the long run give you an edge over any other competing businesses.

3. Share Your Best Ideas or Secrets

In fact, give them out free!

Sharing your best products or ideas not only provides value to people, but it also shows them what you have got to offer, which makes them pay more attention to you. This not only creates credibility, it can also create word-of-mouth and that is viral marketing that you would want, wouldn’t you?

Ok, some of you might be wondering “Hey, my best products are the most expensive and provide the most profits”. But they also provide the most value! You might not give them all out, but remember the fact that if you are in this business, new and better ideas will come along, and new products can be leveraged on from those.

Go over these 3 methods like a mantra and practice them. When you eventually embody them, you will develop relationships with clients or potential leads that not only include credibility and value, they might even view you as their trusted advisor and friend. And that is the true value for both parties that will improve your business, profits and wealth in the long run.

How to turn mistakes into personal profit

How to Turn Mistakes Into Personal Profit

All of us make mistakes, don’t we? Whether these mistakes are huge or little, we still have no option but to make all sorts of decisions in our life every day, and it’s very probable that some of these decisions — not being ideal, won’t result in what we desire. It’s a part of human nature to make mistakes, but the best aspect of this is that all of these mistakes will at some point in time lead to a massive step forward toward success.

Success isn’t just a matter of being perfect in everything you do — as perfection comes only from time and experience. How can you differentiate a wrong decision from a right one without knowing what is right and what is wrong? As rightly said by Fred Shero, «Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire».

If you are not making mistakes, it may be that you’re playing on the safe side and not taking any risks. In every mistake you make, there’s a hidden lesson. You’ll end up learning many things from those mistakes, and the next time you arrive at a similar situation or problem — you won’t repeat the earlier actions, and perhaps you’ll even make a perfect decision which will lead to extraordinarily fruitful results.

It is a famous saying that those who have not experienced failure can never know how sweet the taste of success is. If you always succeed easily, then you will never be able to prepare yourself to face the inevitable mistakes and failures. Your strength in overcoming mistakes can make you a role model in the eyes of others who want to learn from your experience, so they can then deal with situations in the same successful manner.

In previous times, there have been quite a few successful inventions which were much more than brief thoughts. Those inventions appeared after considering a great many alternatives and choosing the best from all of them. Many experiments have been done to verify the viability of each of the alternatives, and quite a bit of money and effort was spent to figure out the best solutions, but that doesn’t mean that the expense invested into the experiments got wasted. A great deal of knowledge and experience was gained from those experiments, and all of this was then utilised in the refinement of the final experiments done at later stages.

So, now what do you think, aren’t mistakes an essential aspect of success? Mistakes can happen anywhere and at any time, and it’s a fundamental part of human behaviour to make mistakes. The key here is to strive to deal with the mistakes in a positive manner and always try to learn something new from each one of them.