Cold Calling and presentation problem - transport company

Gatekeepers are only interested in getting back to whatever they were doing before you called them, and by saying this you are making it easy for them to tell you to go away.

Don't send emails to gatekeepers (at all) or to decision makers early on. Push a little and you might get a definite "not interested," at which point you thank them and hang up, or you have a real conversation with them.

When the decision maker asks "can you send me some info?" you can say "may I ask you some questions first?" now this is when the person will stop and listen a little bit, because you are getting them to step out of the rehearsed patter they give to every salesperson who calls them.

For getting through the gatekeeper, who handles transportation with your current clients?Could you find people with similar job titles on Linkedin, so when you call you simply say: "Hello, is John in?" using a tone which assumes that being put through to John is normal and expected?

If you are working your business it is probably difficult
to spend your time making cold calls. Why don't you
develop a sales script and have someone else make
the sales calls for you. You can hire a freelance writer
for the script if you are not good at writing, hire a friend
or a freelancer to make the calls and pay a bonus for
each new client/job that they book. Highlight a special
service that you provide, offer an introductory discount,
start advertising and you should have more business
than you can handle.

This is a great idea from Matthew North- found this an effective means for bypassing entry level HR to decision makers in getting a corporate job as well some years ago.

As for cold calling/negotiating technique ... one person I'd recommend researching here is Jim Camp. His techniques are a bit counterintuitive ("start with no"), but I've found them not only effective, but implementing them feels more "natural" than typical scripts for this kind of thing.

IT DOESN'T WORK
because you're a newbie
and because you're doing it wrong.

Before you get your dander up, those are two perfectly good reasons.

Everyone is a newbie at the start of whatever it is they're working with.

As a newbie, you have all sorts of limiting beliefs and fears in the back of your mind about how you're going to be received, what people are going to do to you etc. These fears are being acted out in the reactions you're getting.

It takes some time, typically, for new phone salespeople to get past these fears. Many don't because they do not last beyond a week or so of trying.

So my point is that someone like me will get a completely different reaction, out of say 20 dials, than you would with exactly the same words. Our expectations are entirely different.

Now as to the second part...

You are trying to do waaaay too much.

First, phone PROSPECTING is a different skill set and job than phone SALES.

You have been trying to vault right through the first and get into the second. Is it any wonder you're frustrated, now that you know this?

Prospecting is the act of starting conversations with new and different people in a niche, and seeing who wants to talk to you.

There is no selling yet.

No one is being "made" to open up.

They are doing it, or they are not. You're not responsible for that response: the part you are responsible for is reaching out.

Too much info. Too much info directed at the wrong person. Too much sounding like a salesperson.

Is it any wonder you get shut down?

Skip the first section. No one cares who you are or where you're from. Not yet.

Skip the offer. Wrong person: the gatekeeper is not your prospective customer. Why would you present to a person who's not your prospect?

"Good morning... maybe you can help me." (Wait for the yes of commitment.) I'm not sure who I should speak with...I'm looking for the person who is responsible for organizing transport in your company, but I'm not sure who the right person is..." and trail off.

As a newbie, you're going to get bounced half the time because of those fears floating around in the back of your head: "I sure hope they don't ask what this is regarding! I sure hope they don't ask where I'm calling from! I sure hope they don't ask if this is a sales call!"

I promise you that if you stick with it, after a relatively short time this will all go away and the gatekeepers will start treating you differently because you will start seeing yourself differently. I have been a sales trainer for over 10 years and seen this process again and again and again...and went through it myself in the late 2000s.

You need to normalize talking to gatekeepers, and stop thinking of them as gatekeepers. They are helpers. They want to put the call through. They want to connect you with the right person. It's their freakin' job.

But they are also afraid of being told, "Hey, that last guy you sent me--that was just a lousy salesperson." So stop feeding yourself and them reasons to fear that outcome!

Watch yourself in prospecting calls, not the gatekeeper.

There are standard steps to calls. At every stage the newbie bounces off for awhile, until they normalize the step for themselves. Then suddenly it clicks and works.

If you've ever practiced an instrument--I remember a post by another experienced member here talking about a guitar riff--it's the same thing. You suck, and you know you suck. Your fingers don't work. You can't make the jump from where they are to where they're supposed to be. You're slow. You have to keep thinking about it. You practice over and over.

Suddenly, it clicks. Your conscious brain disengages and your fingers just do it. You play the riff.

The newbie gets stopped by gatekeepers (actually themselves, but they're not aware of it).
Then suddenly, they don't.
The newbie gets tongue-tied in the presence of decision makers.
Then suddenly, they don't.
The newbie can't make the sale.
Then suddenly, they do.

These are three basic signposts on your journey, should you keep going.

There is no magic. There are no magic words that will make prospects stop in their tracks and drop their wallets. What YOU have to do is change. Get used to these conversations. Every time you open your mouth right now, you're shouting, "THIS IS NEW TO ME AND I'M AFRAID OF IT!" and that gets transmitted right along to whoever you're talking to.

You can learn how to dole out information in the right amount, in the right order, to the right person. That will definitely help in your results.

But the biggest improvements will come from you and how you view yourself. Not some magic fairy dust. Yes, a consistent sales process will help. But more important than that is your confidence in, "This is normal. I expect you to help me. We are equals."

I have spent my time here in this post to give direction because you are actually doing something--which is far more than most. I hope you don't undervalue it because I provided it at no charge.