SELLING WITHOUT CRINGING

Once upon a time, I was chatting with a broker colleague, when his phone rang.

He answered with a cheerful, almost melodic, “Hello.” Then he listened.

It was only when he politely declined the offer that I realized it was a cold call from someone offering a bank product.

What surprised me was how kindly he handled it.

After the call, I asked him if he was irritated.

He said no.

He said what they were doing was hard, and being kind to the person on the other line did not really cost him much.

And that, my friends, is our topic for today: cold calls.

Cold calling has long been part of sales, almost romanticized in sales culture.

But in real life, cold calling is hard. Because most of us do not like receiving cold calls. And if you do not like receiving them, it becomes difficult to make them.

I tried cold calling a few times years ago. I hated it. It felt unnatural. It felt like I was interrupting someone’s day.

Another broker once told me about a friend who sold insurance. She said that in social gatherings, people avoided that friend because everyone knew a pitch was coming. She said, “Ayoko maging ganun.”

Some people can cold call without making it feel cold. They are naturally warm, cheerful, conversational. If they call you out of the blue, it does not feel strange because that is simply who they are.

But if someone like me, who barely reaches out to old acquaintances, suddenly calls and says: “Pare, I have a wonderful 2 bed selling below market!”

Cringe.

The danger is copying a sales method that works for someone else but completely contradicts your own personality.

Not everyone has to sell the same way. Some are good at cold calls. Some are good at quietly staying in touch over many years. Some aren't.

Yes, there may be lost opportunities from not cold calling. I am aware of that.

So I try to compensate in other ways: hopefully a reputation for being useful before being salesy.

Is it as immediately effective as cold calling? Maybe not. But at least it is a method I can sustain.

And maybe that is the point.

The best sales method is not always the loudest one.

Sometimes, it is the one you can do consistently without hating yourself.