Question For You Cold Callers!

I prospect on behalf of clients all the time. Often I don't know who the exact person is that I need to speak with (a municipal manager, for example), but if it's a business owner I can look that up. I will spend about 30 seconds looking at the website if they have one so that I understand what field they are in. Typically, though, I'm calling one type of business at a time (eg. plumbers).

It is important not to get overawed by the background of the person you're going to call. First of all, only 1/4 of your dials are going to get through. Half the time the person isn't going to be in, and if they are, half of that time they are not going to want to talk right then. So you don't want to burn up much of your time investing on individual research.

Second, I use three typical reasons businesses of that type do business with me or my client in the script. One or more of these usually resonates with the prospect. They realize I understand their business, and I don't sound like a typical cold caller. Because of these things, they share more of what is going on in their world.

So some research, to show you know *something* about their business is good; but the threat of "analysis paralysis" or becoming overawed by what you read about your prospect can be bad. Also, given that people will find just about any reason to avoid prospecting, it's very easy to fall into the "I'll just do some more research--oh look! my work day is over and there's no time left to do calling" trap.