At some point in the career of every sales person it becomes necessary to cold call. Hell, I still do it from time to time. I received the worst cold call ever about 10 minutes ago and thought that there might be some folks out there who would benefit from a primer.
Here’s the thing about cold calling: If you view it as a way to qualify a prospect and maybe make a sale, it sucks. Used that way it is very low yielding. You have to spend tons of time to find a receptive prospect in the middle of all the fails. Instead, think of it as a time to find common ground, network and exchange information. That way you’ll meet your goal 99% of the time. You’ll also meet new people who may give you business or refer you business down the road. This happens to me all the time.
What Not To Do
The call I received this AM was from a very unenthusiastic, boring-sounding beta male named Nick or Scott or Chip or Ted. He is from some security company…maybe ADT. (Already you see the problem – I just got off the phone with this guy and already I don’t remember him.) At any rate, the call went something like this:
Beta Male: Hey. This is Chip from ADT.
Me: Hi.
BM: Did you just move into your place?
Me: Huh? (What kind of stupid opening is that?
BM: Your place. Did you just move?
Me: Uh…No. Last May.
BM: On Silverado Ranch?
Me: No. That’s a UPS Store.
BM: Oh.
Me. Yup.
BM: Do you just rent space there then?
Me: Yup.
BM: Do you have a security system?
Me: For a mailbox? That seems like overkill.
BM: Oh. So you just have a box.
Me: Yup.
BM: Ok.
Me: Ok.
BM: Alright.
Me: Ok.
BM: So you’re all set up then.
Me: I think so.
BM: Ok.
Me: Ok.
Obviously this call sucked. He sounded boring – he didn’t seem to want to be on the call. He didn’t try to engage me. He didn’t give me a reason to care about him or remember him. And I don’t!
How to Cold Call The Right Way
A few pointers for doing this the right way:
1. Stand up and move around. Remember Boiler Room? Motion creates emotion. Nobody wants to talk to a grouchy prick (other than Stephanie, who seems to fare pretty well.)
2. Smile and act like you’re having the best day of your life. Make up something fantastic if you have to. If you say “The sun is shining, it’s 95 degrees out and I’m leaving for vacation tomorrow” there’s about a 70% chance that the person on the other end of the line will say “I’m so jealous” or “Where are you going?”….and you’re now in a conversation instead of just doing a cold pitch.
3. After niceties are exchanged, be direct and tell the person why you are calling. Call as you, not as a brand representative. Example: “Hey there, this is Joe Lilly calling. I was hoping to take 5 minutes of your time about [topic]” sounds a lot more personable than “Hello this is Joe calling from ADT.”
4. Concede that you are inconveniencing them. “It sounds like you are having a really busy day.”
5. Never EVER EVER EVER EVER ask a closed ended (yes or no) question. Force a response out of every question you ask. Instead of “Is it cloudy” ask “What’s the weather like out there?”
6. 99% of the time your “close” is going to be to a follow up call or meeting. Do not allow the person to issue any sort of rejection or turn down. If it sounds like it is going that direction, shoot them down before they have the chance to object. That will make them subconsciously think “Wait – what’s so special about this guy that he doesn’t have time for me?” Example: You try to close with”Would Thursday at 10 or Friday at 1 work better for you?” (BTW this is a great format – they aren’t allowed to say “yes” or “no” – they have to pick one.) They might try to stutter out of it and say “Well….” or something like that if they really aren’t interested. The SECOND you hear that, interrupt with “Actually, darn – I didn’t look at my whole calendar. The end of this week is just terrible for me. Why don’t you look at next week, say Monday or Tuesday, and give me a couple of 3o minute windows that work for you? I will make sure to clear my calendar for you.”
7. Finally, if you get a gatekeeper make sure to remember his or her name, and drop that name when you get connected to the decision maker. (I did this just yesterday and it works great.) Something like “Hey, Steve – This is Joe Lilly. Jessica mentioned that you’d be the right person to talk to about XXX.” (This provides validation to Steve that Jessica thinks I’m important enough to talk to.)
(For more information, hop over to Steve Nixon’s Music Business Blog tomorrow, where he’ll be featuring a guest post that I wrote for him on this very subject!)