Nobody likes getting cold calls and therefore we are very hesitant to make cold calls. Why don’t we like to get them? Because there are several perceived risks;
1. You’re going to waste my time!
2. If I agree to see you, you’re going to leave a big feature dump on my shiny desk.
3. You are going to ask for information that you have not earned the right to know.
So why not be different? Why not be the only incoming caller who immediately sets a different ringtone? What are the goals of cold calling?
1. Minimize the risk of talking to you (that’s why you only ask for 2 minutes)
2. Minimize risk when making an appointment (only talk about benefits, never about features, advantages or any other indication of a pitch)
3. Don’t ask questions. If they agree to the quote, you might be able to get away with a question or two, but be careful! You just set yourself apart from everyone else who will be calling. Why risk ruining that first impression?
4. The ONLY other purpose of cold calling is to schedule an appointment.
Here is the script I use.
“Hi Mr. Smith, this is Greg Deming from Sales Performance Consultants. I’d like to take two minutes to tell you why I called you, then you can decide if we should talk further… is that okay with you?” (I have already put the guidelines letting you know that I will not take more than 2 minutes if you are not interested)
“Most of the sales leaders I talk to today tell me they are concerned with the same issues I faced when running large national sales organizations:
– They realize that individual sales effectiveness varies dramatically, with their best employees closing above expectations and those who struggle contributing below expectations. (indisputable fact)
– They also recognize that training and mentoring of sales staff tends to be sporadic and that sales performance would improve if training were conducted more frequently.
– And more importantly, they admit that their field sales managers have not been given a routine process for preparing, delivering and contracting for development training sessions. They recognize that some field managers make excellent coaches, while others need considerable improvement.
Sound familiar?” (Time to take a breather, give them a chance to talk. They may steer the conversation in the direction you want or offer important information) So far you’ve taken less time than you requested. You’ve probably stood out because you have only talked about the problems facing (needs) other companies.
“Mr. Smith, companies I’ve worked with tell me they trust that struggling employees are easily identified and that field managers understand how to take people to the next level of productivity. Field managers tell me that are best equipped to help people succeed and feel like they are part of a high-performing organization.Most importantly, an effective solution turns field managers into leaders and world-class trainers and coaches.The Beneficiaries They are your sales representatives and your shareholders because better results are guaranteed.
Are you interested in meeting to see if your company can benefit? It won’t cost you anything to discuss this further, and who knows? You may be having a hard time not doing it.”
Some rules of the road. The most important thing to remember is that the point of cold calling is to set up an appointment to talk. You must resist the temptation to talk about your product/service. Talk only about areas of general need and the benefits of doing business with you. Don’t talk about your product’s features or benefits unless you’re using that information to answer a specific question.
A note to sales managers. Marketers will always resist hyphens. They feel like they will become a canned pitching machine. While some of the resistance is genuine, some of it is also just fear. Remember what it feels like to get a cold call from someone. They ask questions that they have not earned the right to ask. The slide into feature-driven presentations. Those calls can be frustrating to receive. The value of learning a script is solid and the conversion rates to citations are dramatically higher. Just a piece of advice from someone who worked from a sales trainee to a senior vice president of sales for a well-known Fortune 500 company… if you make the practice of cold calling negotiable, no one will. Find a way to make it palatable, but don’t make it negotiable.