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| | The Marketing, Channels/Partnership & Sales Execs Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Cold Calling Tip #2 | Views: 589 | | Aug 16, 2004 2:12 pm | | Cold Calling Tip #2 | # | 
Jeff Goldberg | | About two weeks ago I posted "Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!). Thanks to all who participated in the discussion, both pro and con. Here's the next tip in the series.
Sidebar - Some of you had fairly strong opinions and reactions to my first post. I am not here to defend any position. Rather, I thought it would be a good thing to expose people to the techniques my company teaches (and has taught to over 500,000 salespeople) on a daily basis. I'm not claiming these are the only techniques that work, that Cold Calling is the answer to all the ills of the world or anything else. Hence, I'm not going to spend any more time responding to those who object to cold calling or have differing opinions. I'm simply going to offer some help and advice to those who are interested. Feel free to blast away! I'll just keep selling, training and smiling!
Cold Calling Tip #2
After you give your opening, which get's the person's attention by saying their name; introduces yourself and your company and gives a brief commercial ending with a request for an appointment, the person on the other end of the line (the recipient of the call) is going to say something. When I say my opening to someone ("The purpose of my call is to set an appointment. I'd like to come by and find out what you're doing in terms of sales skills development, tell you a bit about how we've helped companies like yours increase their first appointments and shorten their sales cycle, and see if there might be a match. How's Tuesday at 3:00?") the person I'm speaking with occassionaly says, "Tuesday at 3:00 sounds great!" Or, "Tuesday at 3:00 is no good but I'm free Wednesday at 10:00." It happens occassionaly but not often enough to get the amount of appointments I need to support my business. If we're going to get enough appointments we need to be able to anticipate and turnaround the things that people are going to say to us after we do our opening.
If I asked each of you to send me a list of the things people say to you when you're cold calling for appointments I'm confident I'd receive a list with 100 or 200 different things people say to you. I offer you this: You're only hearing 4 things. I expect, or anticipate, hearing those 4 things. That's right, the 100 or 200 different things you're hearing are really only 4 things. Those things, or responses, are:
1) I'm busy.
I expect people to tell me they're busy. By definition, businesspeople are busy. If you sell to consumers, they're busy too. WE'RE ALL BUSY!
This might sound like, "Can you call me some other time? I'm swamped," but it means I'm busy.
2) I'm not interested.
I expect people to tell me they're not interested. If they were interested they would have called me.
This might sounds like, "No thanks," but it means not interested.
3) I'm happy now.
I expect people to tell me they're happy now. If they weren't happy with their current vendor or situation they would have called me.
This might sound like, "We're using ___________," (fill in the name of a competitor of yours) but it means I'm happy now.
4) Send me some literature.
I expect to hear send me some literature. Potential prospects think it's a way to get me off the phone so that they won't have to deal with me right now and they can get back to the important work they were doing when we interrupted them.
That brings me to a side point. When we cold call someone they were doing something else. Even if they're a consumer at home doing nothing but sitting on the couch and daydreaming, they're still doing something else. When we cold call we're practicing interruptive marketing. Since we're interrupting whatever the person is doing when we called, we better be darn good at setting appointments over the phone which takes skill and practice, or else we're going to waste a lot of time and valuable potential clients.
Back to the point! Since we can anticipate what the person on the other end of the line is going to say we can be prepared for it and should be able to turn it around to an appointment. Your turnarounds should be fairly brief, non-argumentative and rehearsed. Not sounding like a canned speech but rehearsed. If you're not very good at your turnarounds this whole cold calling exercise will be mostly a waste. Look at this:
Your Opening leads to their Response. Their Response leads to your Turnaround. Your Turnaround leads to an Appointment.
The Opening doesn't usually lead to an Appointment. The Response doesn't lead to an appointment. The turnaround is what leads to an appointment. Only by knowing your turnarounds will you maximize your chances of setting appointments consistantly over the phone.
In turning around a response you're trying to make it easy for the person to agree to meet with you. If you remember from my first post that the other person's Response is a knee-jerk reaction to a cold call then we have to get past that knee-jerk reaction ("I'm not interested" or whatever) if we're going to have much chance of success.
Here's how we do it!
1) I'm not interested - "Others have told me the same thing before they gave me a chance to come by and show them how what we do could benefit them. I'd like to come by and show you what we've done for others. How's Tuesday at 3:00?"
If you can replace the word "others" with the name of a real client of yours who originally told you they weren't interested but eventually became a satisfied client that would be good. If you can use the name of a highly recognizable client, even better. For example, "Sony told me the same thing before they gave me a chance to come by and show them how what we do could benefit them. I'd like to come by and show you how we helped Sony shorten their sales cycle. How's Tuesday at 3:00?"
By offering to come by and show them what you've done for someone else you're making it easier to say Yes to an appointment. Easier than saying "If I could show you how to turn $5 into $5 million could we work together?" (that may not be what you sound like but it's what MANY salespeople sound like)
2) I'm happy now - "Others (replace others with the name of an actual client) told me the same thing until they gave me the chance to come by and show them how what we do could complement what they're already doing. I'd like to come by and show you what we did for others. How's Tuesday at 3:00?"
This is one I hear all the time. "We're using Sandler." "We're using Miller Heiman." "We're using an internal sales trainer." "We're using the Man in the Moon." It all means they're happy now with their training plan. The fact is DEI's training often complements the training they're already doing. I can't even begin to tell you how many companies originally told me they were already using a different training company who then hired us to go along with what they were already doing. I just want the chance to get in front of people, find out what they're currently doing and what they're trying to accomplish and see if I have something to add value. Often I do. Sometimes I don't but unless I get the appointment there's little chance of me finding out everything I need to know in order to decide if it's worth proceeding further.
Next time I'll tell you the turnarounds for "I'm busy" and "Send me some literature." I'd give them to you now but...I'm busy!
Jeff Private Reply to Jeff Goldberg | | Aug 16, 2004 10:35 pm | | re: Cold Calling Tip #2 | # | 
Adam Herbel | | I showed the post to my boss and this is what he had to say...it summed up what I was trying to say, and much better.
"Only one thing wrong with it -- and it's VERY wrong: it urges you to GET and then to TURN AROUND a put-off. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to avoid the need for a turnaround? Getting people to change their minds or to change what they originally said, is so negative and so infrequently successful. Why not get a positive response in the first place?
How to do that? Well, to omit that "brief commercial" this guy is talking about.
A "brief commercial" is a few words about ... what? About YOUR PRODUCT, right?
How about a few words about HIS product? How about a few words about a product very much like his that increased sales in a very special way ... a way that you know about and would like to tell him.
You may still get one of those "four things" that this guy talks about. But when and if you do, you've introduced something that will make a turnaround easier: you've talked about how you can improve his business in a way that others have increased theirs.
So I think this guy is setting you up for something that, if you're good, shouldn't be necessary. That "brief commercial" is what creates the need for the turnaround.
So forget the brief commercial altogether; there's time for that later ... later, when you've got his attention. You don't get his attention by giving a brief commercial. You get it by telling him, from the experience of others, that you can do something very good -- for HIM."
Private Reply to Adam Herbel | | |
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