Best Intro For Cold Calling

There's loads... one thing you may want to try out is 'pattern interrupting'. These people get calls all day, so don't sound like a cold caller.

This is all about the tonality in your voice, but that will come with time.

For example:

Them: "Hello, XYZ company"
You: "Hey, this is Chris, have I caught you at a bad time?"
(If they say no, then you have softened the call...)

OR try brutal honesty...

Them: "Hello, XYZ company"
You: "Hey, this is Chris... look, this is a cold call, I hate making them... but could I have 30 seconds of your time to see if what we offer can help you guys get more clients?"
(If they say yes, you have created a no pressure call, they may have some empathy and you get to pitch whatever your pitching...)


Does that help?

"Hi, can you help me for a sec?"
_____
Bruce

I just came up with this one on the spot, and feel like it may not work at the time, but you'd be surprised at it's success rate, and the people that do listen to you will listen to you more seriously.

"Can we just be honest for a second? My name is -- I represent --, I think you should -- because -- and this is why".

Just be straightforward, give the critical information, and trust the customer to realize the worth of your product. For this reason, you shouldn't sell what you feel is an inferior product.

This is how I get past the gatekeeper:

1. Hello, how’s it going?

Are you in charge of your company’s website? Who is?

Alright can I speak to… “name”

2. Hey how’s it going? I was hoping you can help me out. I'm with "XY Marketing" and I was looking at your website and wanted to know if you are the best person to talk to about some research we just did for your company.

Great advice.

Good information, thanks to all.

I have had training on how to communicate with clients(even prospective ones) on phone. Your voice is important. Preparation on what to say is even more. Psychologically, your posture and appearance influence your phone communication with clients. All these factors affect your success in the cold calling intro and getting the business.

Get yourself dressed up, sit down and place your note pad on the table before you as though you are calling from your office. Pick up your phone and begin your call with confidence(afterall you are calling to add value). Make sure your voice is professional(remember you are not on phone with your wife). How you greet is also important. What do you do when someone on the other end greet you professionally as "very good morning sir"? Of course you will respond positively. In that case your chances of being rejected is low. After greeting, introduce yourself and your company(very important) and then go on with your presentation.

Oh I wish this tread was longer - some great advise.

I confess I do not like cold calling although I have done it and got reasonable success in previous businesses.

A while ago I was helping start this company who hired in pro trainers for the cold calling. First rule after preparation was to smile on the phone as it changes your voice. Also remember the purpose of the call. If it is to make an appointment then that is all you do - closing the sale and being successful is to get the appointment nothing more - if they ask for more detail you can say that you will explain that fully when you see them. Remember to make a note of any question they asked.

Once you meet them they are more ready for you to sell to them. Likewise if you just want to sent them a report and need their e-mail address that is what you do and again say the e-mail should make things a lot clearer or answer that.

If you have trouble getting out of a fearful or negative mindset stand on table to call to change prospective - do it naked if alone - it will take your mind off the brain chatter that stops so many.

To your success.
Ray

Don't cold call, it's a complete waste of time IMO...I wasted thousands on an inhouse telemarketer, with crap results.

I love the info

Well Cold Calling Is totally Rubbish, Now a days its very difficult to make sale on cold calling.
But Still No Option In Call Center.
You Can Try

You= Hi Mr XYZ, How are you today
Mr XYZ = oh I am fine. Whats the Matter
You= Sir I am calling you from ABC ltd company, which creates best website for special customer like you. We will create your site so that world can know you better.
and you can store what ever data you want and in your style and which suites your personality too.

And now pitch your product items and package and make the sale.

Honestly for me, I think people over do the whole PROFESSIONAL tone. Always trying to sound so proper and business-like never works for me. Instead of me saying something like, "Good afternoon may I speak to Chris? (This is him) Hello Sir, My name is --- from xyz marketing, Im sorry to bother you and I will be sure to be brief, I did some research on your website and noticed some things that could be improved, such as SEO optimization and overall website design. I was wondering if you were interested in setting up a free consultation where I can visually show you how we can help your business increase the amount of leads based on our research."

Honestly, there's to many big words in there, and its too formal. Too formal sounds like a salesperson to me. TOO professional just sounds like your trying to hard. What I do is sit down and imagine im calling my uncle or someone I know that has a business. Here would be my translation to the above PROFESSIONAL example. "Hey, how's it going? Is Chris around? (This is him) Hey Chris! My name is Arron, I just ran across your website, which is pretty well laid out but I noticed a few weakpoints that could be leaving money on the table for you guys! By the way, I own a local marketing company called xyz marketing. If you want I could swing by and we can have a quick sit down and go over a couple issues and see how we can fix them for profit. Is it cool if I come by sometime this week?"

Honestly thats almost exactly what I use, sometimes I offer to send an email first, depending on what they need done. I just think its less threatening to have a laid back tone and speak normally instead of searching for synonyms to words you already know just to sound more PROFESSIONAL. Obviously be professional, but speak to the owner as if you already know eachother. Forget all that overly enthusiastic professional tones and words. But thats just MY OPINION and MY APPROACH and it works, by the time I meet up with the owner, we're both pretty comfortable around eachother because it's not ALL about business when I talk to them. When I meet I always converse about subjects that has nothing to do with business, just to soften the barrier between us.

I cold called a business this morning that already had a website and this is what I said: "Hi, I'm looking at your website right now and I wanted to send an email but I don't see one on the site. (There was no contact form either). Can you tell me where I would send an email to the owner?" The 'gatekeeper', said "Sure, just a moment." and then the owner got on the phone!

Even if they didn't have a website, I would say I was looking at their listing online and I had some questions about their business I wanted to send them, could I get their email address. Something like that.

This isn't devious, lying, or implying anything other than exactly what I am saying. I did send that owner an email as a follow up after we talked.

Great input and info to put to use. Thank you all

I get a lady to do surveys for me and ring companies and simply ask if they have a mobile version of their website. If no then she asks if we could send them a mobile version of their website and they could have a look and we will call back.

Works really well and we get their mobile website, email details etc. We do all this with the gatekeeper and then ask if the owner would be interested.

The gatekeeper refers us to the owner we build the mobile site and then tell them how their main site is falling down. Upsell to our services.

We used to do the mobile website for free but found after a while they are happy to pay for it.

While the newer school of thought is that Cold Calling Is DEAD, there are certain business models in which cold calling is an extremely effective method of product distribution.

For the best intro, it would really depend a lot on what you're selling.

An example would be, "Hi, this is Scott Lambency from XYZ Company and I'm calling to confirm your information for this year's Alumni Directory. Do you have about 3 minutes to verify your information on file with us now?"

Obviously this would only work when selling this particular product, but the concept can easily be applied for a variety of products and services.

1. State your name and business.
2. Reveal the purpose of your call.
3. Get a time commitment.

At this point, the call recipient can either say, "Now's not a good time..." or, "I've got 3 minutes".

If they say that they've got the time, they've committed the next several minutes to be on the phone with you.

You can then follow through your script.

What I found to be powerful and effective was right after that intro, to give them a brief overview of the information to be covered in the call so they wouldn't be surprised that there was really a sales pitch at the end (of course).

I would say, "Here at XYZ Company, we're contacting members of your Alumni organization who graduated between 1976 and 1979 in order to update your personal information so that our directories contain complete information.

As mentioned earlier, this process is quick and painless. It should only take about 3 minutes to make sure your details are entered correctly. And at the end of the call, you'll have an opportunity to reserve your personalized copy of this print on demand directory..."

Then while updating their information, they will usually drop some clues on how to sell to them.

For example, one person might mention having a crush on someone and never having the courage to talk to that person while in school, or they might ask if a specific person was listed, like an old friend they lost contact with over the years... Of course we could look that up, but they had to purchase to get the information.

I would say, "Yes, they are listed but unfortunately I cannot open their file while your file is open.." which was true.

Another person might mention being a business owner. This was always a great opportunity for an easy sale. All you had to do in this circumstance was to point out the benefit that the compiled information would make an awesome warm list waiting to be tapped into.

By the end of the call, there was no need to hard sell. I would jusy ask which type of directory they would like to reserve, the custom made hard cover for $79.99, or the elegant soft cover for $69.99.

On the objections, ask questions. If money was an issue, I would offer a payment plan or even offer to mail out an invoice. If they wanted to think about it and call later, I would remind them that since these directories were custom made to order, there wouldn't be an inventory that they could purchase from at a later date. They would need to lock in their reservation before I closed their file and sent their listing to our publishing department at the end of the call.

On the close, ask which credit card they'll be using for their reservation. Of course they're going to buy one, they only question you should be asking at this point is what method of payment they would like to use.

very interesting comments!

Depending on how much information you have on the prospect you are calling - what I like to do is to mention their competition.

So I would get what ever info I could on their business also. If you know that you can get the decision maker on the phone, ie a self run business then that is what I would like to target.

Personally when doing a flat out cold call I like to go in face to face, but this is a basic approach for the phone:

"Hello Mr Prospect my name is John with XYZ Website Design. First let me say I am not a random telemarketer. I design websites specifically for small businesses just like yours (could name specific industry if you have an example to show). The reason I called today was that I am looking at your business, (name competitor) and (name competitor), for doing a website design (or upgrade if they have one). I pick and choose who I work with as my designs are very unique ( name USP - Unique Selling Proposition). I do not like to dilute the effectiveness of my work so I only design for one industry type per given area..."

I think you can see where Im going with this. This would obviously need to be cleaned up to suit your needs but I was trying to get my point across. One thing you definitely need is a USP - what sets you apart? - this is what your whole business should be built around. You have 10-20 seconds to show your different then the 100s of other marketers trying to earn their business - this approach does that very effectively.

First - If you do a little research about who your targeting you will have much greater success. This is because you will sound completely different then every one else trying to pitch them over the phone - therefore they will listen.

Second - When they think there competition is involved they dont want to miss out on anything - this leaves the door open for a "take away" which will get the focus off of price. You also create urgency which enables them to act - you should present this part as "the reason I called you first was because I think you are the best fit for my design company"

Third - Do not try to close on the phone. Sales is done in stages - you should be closing on an appointment (face to face) or a second call. The prospect wasnt expecting the call right then. When you set the appt make sure to tell them what you will need even if its just ideas from them. Also when you close on the appointment do not ask them "what time" , give them a choice between two - so - "Would 2oclock work or would 3 be better? OR I have Tuesday open is before or after lunch better for you". If they are really interested they will tell you what works for them.

Fourth - You create massive urgency by telling them you only do one design per given industry type per area. You do not want to be in competition with yourself. Note - this doesnt have to be used if it doesnt fit your business model BUT its so STRONG when used correctly.

All of these things will take the focus off of price and put the focus on value. A sale is made as soon as value exceeds the price or cost. Of course these are ideas and would have to be scripted to your specific business model. You would also want to take very accurate notes on responses and what happens during the calls so that you can fix what doesnt work and maximize what does (I actually suggest recording the calls).

So you know Im not talking out of my ass I have written sales scripts for two multimillion dollar companies, and also have 12 years of sales and sales management experience. If you need more info Id be glad to help and point you in the right direction. Hope this info serves you well.

Its best to spend a min or two sorting for details before you make your call to get some grounded information so that you are not completely in the dark when you call up. I found from experience it is all about making a conversation, avoid the words sales / offer / promotion or anything that is directed to a sale. You need to get a connection with the caller before you can start the sales process.