THe Art of Cold Calling for the Holidays.

Every Holiday, I hear about Inside Sales People saying that they shouldn’t be working the day before the Holiday – it’s a waste of time. The day before the holiday is not business as usual, so you shouldn’t treat it as business as usual.

The day before the holiday is the best time to set up conference calls for a outside sales reps. The phone call goes something like this. “Hi, Bob I know that you are really busy, my partner Steve is interested if you are in the office the day before the holiday. . . “

Many executives are in the office the morning before the holiday. They don’t have any “team meetings” that day and they are usually calling people who are from other countries who don’t have the same holiday schedule – Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving. The Executives can usually fit a half hour conference call in their schedule. Some Executives are the person who drew the short straw and have to work that day while other Executives take the day off. Remember you don’t need a ton of meetings that day, you just need one or two conference calls in the morning to make the day worth while.

If you are working with an outside Sales Reps, ask them if they will take a conference with a half -hour notice. Ask your Sales Reps if the are working the day before the Holiday, confirm the game plan. The conversation with the prospect goes like this. “Hi Bob, I see you are working today too. My partner, Steve, is working today too, he is on a call right now, but he asked me if you could talk in about 30minutes about . . .”

Alternatively, calling the day before a holiday is a great time to do research to find the right person. I make a list of all the companies where I either don’t have the name of the right person, or need to confirm the title of the right person. The receptionists still have to work. Many are very bored sitting at the switchboard which isn’t ringing. They have time to help direct you to the right person. Take the time to have a nice conversation and find out all the right people to call the week after the holiday.

Speed dial!!! Many Executive Assistants have taken the day off; however, their boss still has to work the morning. Arrange your list of contacts to speed through the prospects that have EAs who have stonewalled you every time you try to call. Gatekeepers take the day off too.

Finally, move from time zone to time zone, so that you are only calling in the morning. The Executives usually come in very early on pre-holiday mornings so that they can get out by noon. CALL EARLY and shift from time zones until 3:00PM Eastern time, which is noon Pacific Time.

At the end of the day, finish with research on the internet. Look up information on all the people/companies that you have been working on all day. You never have time during the day to do research because you are too business dialing the phone. If you are convinced you have exhausted all the prospects you know – look up prospects you don’t know.

This will give you a full and productive pre-holiday work day. If you have to work – make money.