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Can anyone help with a cold calling script structure?

by Tiduslite8
16 replies
Let me get straight to it, my offline marketing business has stalled and I'd like to start doing cold calls. My problem is that I am not familiar with the structure for a script.

I know that I can order a script from a number of sources, but I'd like to give it a shot myself. The main purpose for this will be to set up a appointment where I can sell them in person.

So, anyone out there have any ideas?
#calling #cold #script #structure
  • Profile picture of the author Themeplated
    Have you ran a Google search on "cold calling scripts" and made some comparisons so that you can identify similarities, and figure out what seems to work?

    Just a thought .
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Holmes
    Search John Durham on this forum

    He knows his stuff when it comes to telemarketing!

    I also recommend his forum which you will find in his sig, after you do the search.
    Signature
    "Live like you'll die tomorrow, Learn like you'll live forever" - M. Ghandi
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    • Profile picture of the author SgtBadass
      The biggest mistake many cold callers do is to fall into the trap of trying to sell to everyone they phone. If you expect every single one to be a failure and NEVER try to sell then you'll have more success.

      For example:

      "Hi, could I speak to the person in charge of online marketing?"

      "Yeah, that's me"

      "Oh good. I was just wondering, do you get a lot of sales from being number one on Google for (whatever keyword)?"

      "Errrm, are we number one?"

      "I'm not sure, I thought a company like yours ought to be though - you're a leader in your field aren't you?"

      "Yes we are, but I don't think we're number one"

      "Hang on, I'll just check - who is "ACME Widget company??" (knowing full well it's a competitor)

      "They're a competitor of ours, why?"

      "They're number one. I guess they're not selling much though, if they were I suppose you'd be looking to beat them wouldn't you? I guess because you aren't beating them it's not worth the trouble?"

      "Well, I suppose people don't search for our type of product"

      "You're probably right, I'll just check..... Yeah, there are only 5,000 searches per month for 'blue widget', as they're number one they're probably selling about 600-800 per month through the web. Is the markup no good on those products?"

      "We make $30 per sale at the moment."

      "Oh, ok, you must be selling quite a lot in other ways then. If you can afford to miss out on 18K worth of profit a month then you must sell a boatload through wholesale..?"

      Get the idea? Carry on until they're begging you to come in and help. Make them fell pain, then turn the knife.

      Wrong way to do it:

      "Hi, my name's Mike from Blue SEO"

      "WTF is SEO?"
      Signature

      Free mini-guide to offline marketing : http://www.sembusinesstactics.com/

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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    ABC

    A: Greeting: Introduction

    B: Pitch Body:     "Thereason Im calling" / Introduce the actual offer. Establish interest or not...

    C: Close/Ask for the sale or appointment:     ( move to close only if you have finished "body"/explaining the offer).

    1: "I have a 2 oclock open or a 3 oclock bob, which one of those times is best to meet..."?

    2: (Assuming close) "Bob we prefer to do our billing electronically through visa, mastercard or debit, which one of those is gonna be best for you today"?

    or, (close by     assuming the sale)

    "Bob, I'd like to go ahead and get you started today, have you got a few minutes more where I can ask a couple of questions so we can start processing your order"?

    Lots of nuances, but the basics are

    Greeting
    Body
    Close

    Then you can also create rebuttals too if you wish.
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    • Profile picture of the author bridgells
      I too earn money from marketing offline businesses. The various trainings I'd had/read/watched talked about how to cold call. I tried it for 10 mins and then decided it wasn't for me. So I set about carrying out my sales in a different way that didn't make me feel quite so hated!

      I have a conversion rate of 25% which is pretty good. I've had to stop selling my services now because I need to organise my SEO tasks before I take anymore on.

      This is what I do:

      STEP ONE - I looked in the local mags that fall through my letter box. If people are paying to advertise in these little booklets then it means they are actively trying to promote their services.

      I also look on Google local listing.

      STEP TWO - I look up local companies websites and check to see if their sites are optimised well. I use Market Samurai & SEMrush to help me make a quick analysis.

      STEP THREE - Once I find a site that looks poorly optimised (and the industry is promising (employment solicitors, family lawyers, accountants - good to target) I make a 2 minute jing video saying that I took the liberty of analysing their website to find out how easy they can be found by people searching for the services they have to offer. I show the results (which are poor) then tell them what they should be aiming for

      STEP FOUR - I phone up the company and say I'm sending a full analysis of their website by video so when it comes through, it's not junk, it doesn't have a virus and it might be of interest to them. Then I ask who the best person is to send it to. That's as cold as the call gets.

      STEP FIVE - Send the video with a nice little email

      STEP SIX - Leave it a couple of hours.

      STEP SEVEN - Phone up the person I sent the video to and ask if they've received it. If so, have they had a chance to watch it. I can guage quite quickly whether it's a winner by the level of interest even at this stage. If they've not watched it, I ask if I can phone back in 2 days.

      STEP EIGHT - Phone back in two days. At this stage, you will be on talking terms with the potential client and you can opening discuss meeting up.

      Bridget
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  • Profile picture of the author Aandice Austin
    Google may help you!
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  • Profile picture of the author grin
    John Durham has it right on the money for the structure.

    The thing I like to point out to people doing business to business is that one way or another, when you get the decision maker - you are talking to another salesman. A small biz owner will be sales oriented, and a department head/corporate officer will be "bottom line" oriented. In both cases a common desire is "get to the point NOW".

    The more anyone tries to think of contingencies about what to say, it will only drag you down. Trust that you know how to get the job done and really all you need to do is just like John listed up there. I think the best and 80% of a cold call is asking questions, just as much as people hesitate to ask for the sale even MORE hesitate to ask questions because they are scared it will make them sound ignorant.

    Actually, the best sales people I have ever known all asked way more questions than I was normally asking. When I was much younger, I was impressed at how much these buys would pull in. I would talk with them at local events, on the phone etc. I was running a design/web business back then and I kept thinking "What's with the dumb questions?". I was into showing people what all I knew about this tech or that concept - but the guys pulling in five to six figure contracts were always asking, asking, asking.

    So yeah, get to the point, tell them who you are and why you are calling. Ask them a bit on the phone, ask for the appointment and then ask them some more when you get there. Worry about making statements in a proposal.

    If they ask what you do? Web consultant.
    What does that mean? Everything.....then start asking questions. Turn all your statements into questions and try to get them oriented towards open ended.

    You can also try the gimmick of taking a statement and turn it into a closed ended question with a positive response; but this is totally up to you.

    "The web is powerful; isn't it?"
    That is likely to get a yes answer - actually based on a popular opinion. I mean, I could argue that its not; RIGHT?
    "Do you mind if I take notes?"
    That will usually prompt a person to say "No".
    "Is it okay if I take notes?"
    That will usually prompt a "Yes".

    This is an old sales theory, and I can argue for or against it - but if you are feeling playful on the phone you can go ahead and try it for yourself. It is believed by some that if you can get someone to say yes so many times in a row, when you ask for the sale or commitment they are far more likely to say yes. Gimmicky? Yeah pretty much, but when I have been sitting at a phone making 500-750 calls a day I start messing around just to keep it interesting.

    I also recommend using YOU often and very inquisitively. There are NLP tactics all over the place; but in the long run just keeping your heart set on meeting people and really knowing who they are has got to be the absolute best way to go about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOexpertSEO
    I strongly recommend a book called "cold calling techniques". It will give you more than a proper structure for a cold call. It's the book all the major banks and financial institutions use. That is, if you want to go high end with your service.
    Signature

    I've helped 1723 businesses get more customers. If you want to be successful at your local, national, or international business visit http://bluesearchmarketing.com

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  • Profile picture of the author social joe
    I love cold calling because it is "Sales" in its rawest form!

    However, Positioning is extremely important in successful selling, and cold calling eager to make a sale is a poor way to position yourself. Business owners get cold called numerous times per day, and dont get me wrong, it will deliver some results but I think there are better ways.

    My suggesstion: become an asset to your local business community.

    Cold Call Them! However your not calling to sell them anything, but to invite them to a local business event in which you are going to deliver a presenation on making the internet work for businesses. Talk to them about email list management, basic seo, lead generation. Position yourself as an expert!

    Take their names, numbers, and stay in touch. I can guarantee that this will place you firmly in the seat of success.

    Its not what you know, its who you know! Get to know your prospects before you sell to them. There are so many benefits to building a relationship with your prospects first....words cannot express.

    Any of you guys got a twist on this method?

    P.S - Let me take this opportunity to say a big thanks to this entire community! love you guys. Special mention to Mr Durham, love your stuff :-)
    Signature

    Happy to be amongst like minded warriors!
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by social joe View Post

      I love cold calling because it is "Sales" in its rawest form!

      However, Positioning is extremely important in successful selling, and cold calling eager to make a sale is a poor way to position yourself. Business owners get cold called numerous times per day, and dont get me wrong, it will deliver some results but I think there are better ways.

      My suggesstion: become an asset to your local business community.

      Cold Call Them! However your not calling to sell them anything, but to invite them to a local business event in which you are going to deliver a presenation on making the internet work for businesses. Talk to them about email list management, basic seo, lead generation. Position yourself as an expert!

      Take their names, numbers, and stay in touch. I can guarantee that this will place you firmly in the seat of success.

      Its not what you know, its who you know! Get to know your prospects before you sell to them. There are so many benefits to building a relationship with your prospects first....words cannot express.

      Any of you guys got a twist on this method?

      P.S - Let me take this opportunity to say a big thanks to this entire community! love you guys. Special mention to Mr Durham, love your stuff :-)
      Beautiful Post. Bravo man! You communicated an out of the box idea that would work flawlessly like a clock, in a concise and flawless choice of words.

      Telemarketing is outside of the box thinking for IM'rs, but the plan you just laid out is "out of the box" thinking telemarketing wise, and yes it would absolutely work. Covert as opposed to overt tactics.

      Love your style of communicating this here.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick30
    I think the main thing in cold calling is that you dont come across and a salesman. Do say things like how are you doing today, i have a free consultation xxxx, i can do a free review.

    Id stick to honesty. If you have a service that is better just come right out and say it and let that be your selling point.
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  • Profile picture of the author JTDrew
    Another great tool is the Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincenzo Oliva
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, Chet Holmes, GREAT BOOK! Great Ideals....."Dream 100" strategy, awesome!
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincenzo Oliva
    Ari Galper "Unlock the Game"....start the call with "Hi, my name is.....I'm hoping you can help me out for a moment" puts them at ease and keeps out of sales defense mode.
    Then focus on one compelling, specific problem, "I'm just calling to see if you'd be open to hearing about...." finding hidden profit centers you may be overlooking that could be costing you big bucks" or learning about hidden dangers facing small businesses in today's market"

    You get the picture, your offering to "educate" them not "sell" them.
    Education sells.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidbatchelor
    Always remember that people are always listening to the same station WITFM

    What's
    In
    It
    For
    Me

    And if you focus your questions on finding if they have a need, it makes offering your solution a lot easier.
    Signature
    David Batchelor
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    • Profile picture of the author roypreece
      A QUICK COLD CALL CHECK LIST
      Before you make that cold call, have you done some RESEARCH on the person you are calling?

      Here's a 30 second check sheet you could use. It assumes that you are calling to make an appointment to visit a client, but you can adapt it if you do ALL your selling on the phone.

      Step One
      List 4 to 5 PAINS (problems you help them solve) that your clients typically express to you:
      1.
      2.
      3.
      4.
      5.

      Begin: "Hi ___.This is_________. You know how some people have a problem with _________? We help to solve such problems, and cure the pain of _________. Is this something YOU would perhaps like some help with now or in the near future?"

      (If they say: "No!", say "Thankyouverymuch. Goodbye" -- and see if you can get your phone down before they do. It's a great game.)

      If they say "Could be." or "Hmmnn ...." or "Uh???"
      Then ...

      Step Two
      List your clients who are in similar situations:
      1.
      2.
      3.
      4.
      5.

      Now say:
      "We have helped these clients ....." (pick two or three from your List above)

      Step Three
      "Attract: ___________
      "Avoid: ____________
      "Increase: _____________
      "Prevent: ___________
      "Improve: _____________
      (pick one or two from above)

      " .... Are any of these things important enough for to you to spend two minutes talking about? If so, I'd like your permission to ask you a couple of questions to see if we can help YOU."

      If we can't help, I'll tell you at once and not waste any of your time or mine. If we can, then we might schedule some time to talk again in more depth. Do you mind if I ask .....?"

      And you are away into your conversation.

      That's 15 things you need on your checklist:
      • Five pains (or problems)
      • Five satisfied customers in the same area of business as the person you are calling
      • Five solutions (a solution to each pain)

      If you can set up a GOOD checklist before you call, ALL your calls will go better.

      The 'pains' and 'problems' will probably be the same for each client you approach. Your list of other clients who are 'just like' this one can be more difficult to fill.

      Hope this helps
      Roy
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