Tell me how you get on with this cold call script.

Tried it just now, word for word.

I guess it did what you wanted it to, got me into the nitty gritty part of the conversation, in the end they just didn't have any money to spend with me.

Nice little start to a script I'd say.

I don’t do calls I do door to door and face to face. However the truth is, sales is sales, and certain principles work phone or face to face. I like it Chris, anytime you call out the obvious like that you are doing several things. One you are becoming proactive, two you are calling out the elephant in the room, three you are creating cognitive disassociation, four your are practicing pattern interrupt.

If done correct this should one keep open a door, create rapport, give opportunity for qualifying questions and begin the process of the law of obligation an reciprocity, not to mention the beginning of taking down the wall said client may have up.

To some it up. I like it warrior.

PS: I use the principles lined out here in my pitches live and they are sound. I also teach them to sales people, a little more in-depth of course. I just had a salesperson close three deals in a row using some of the principles you rare starting to point here.

It works... so does tying a note around a dogs neck and sending him to enough doors... all kinds of stuff works that we can discover- if "we" do ("work" that is).

After at least 100,000 phone calls, I can honestly say that you would be surprised at some of the stuff that will work if you are in action actually moving and having momentum.

When I was a young immature telemarketer.... doing charity. I felt so stupid and robotic doing verbatim rebuttals that I pretended to be reading them verbatim on the phone like I was retarded.

I was trying to make a point to my mgr. that "you must think Im retarded to have to read this word for word"....so I read it to ten customers in a row real slow like a retard...kinda slurring my words and talking a little louder...just like I was struggling to read off a page.

Well, guess what? Sales started popping like crazy, and my friends were like "wow", so I just kept acting retarded on the phone for the rest of the day and made a bunch of sales...then I was so bored "after months of the same booth day in and out, same pitch...same routine...", that I just kept doing it all week long.... and I kept getting sales out my ears...

Well the next week.... I got a conscious about it so I decided to go back to sounding professional, and guess what?

Yup, we were using rehash leads from the week before....and people were saying things to me like "Didnt you sound different last week....thats strange".

Yup, I was healed.

Alot of things work guys. Good one Chris.. if you make 100 calls per day you will find new lines like that every other hour. I have a gazillion of them, so do most TMS....its getting past the "pondering" it stage and into the "owning" it stage, that makes the difference.

After that you can take it anywhere you want.

-JD

Ps. "Momentum" is when you have been on for 60 business days straight making hundreds of calls per day and you have been through good bad, energetic days, days when you could barely keep your eyes open....all the seasons, all the colors of the spectrum.

If one is willing to do that then they can "own" it. Or they dont have to....they can find other ways.

Personally, this year Im going to go back in the booth hardcore for a few months as my brother and I build our Bower model.

No, you dont need me to record it so you can listen.... you just need to bust through about a thousand calls and get in there and break down your walls and own it yourself.

Hello, I am new here. This seems like an interesting thread, so excuse me if I just jump in, and use my post as an intro and to share some of what I have gleaned (and practiced) over the years.

I am going to restrict the scope of my post to telephone cold calls only. Just as an aside, I am a web developer (since 95) who produces killer websites for small businesses that want to market themselves and their products online. I generate most of my business from three primary sources- tele-marketing, door to door cold calls, and referrals. I also receive a small share of general inquiries (from website and email marketing).

It seems to me like a whole bunch of folks here are having problems with tele-market cold calling, they are prepared to "give it a go", but are unsure how and where to start. Most seem to see their telephone "script" as the problem, and everyone is looking for a magic bullet or the perfect script.

1. Know that tele-marketing works - and works great!

2. The script is less important than making the call. Even a bad script will produce results over time. There is no magic script, there are only scripts that develop and improve over time as we become more practiced. The key is to make the calls, keep making the calls, and then... make more calls.

Volume produces quality over time, providing we use our wonderful brains and evolve in our thinking- what we say, and how we say it...

3. Know that the "science" of making tele-marketing calls should be broken into three parts. Not the calls themselves, I am talking about the "science" not the "art".

The science dictates that we: PLAN (to make a call) >>> ACT (the making of the call itself) >>> REVIEW (our success or otherwise in making the call).

This is really a self improvement process, the planning is down to having the bones of a script, doing market research and building a list of (or the sourcing of) who you are going to call. The action is the performance and delivery of the call itself, and the review is about taking a cold hard look at what was achieved (or not) on the call. This then leads us back to planning and an evolving of the process- perhaps developing the script, changing the type of prospect on the list and so forth...

4. Be purpose driven. Know the purpose of your call. Do you wish to sell something on the call? do you wish to make an appointment to go visit the prospect? do you wish to use the call to introduce you, your business, and your products - perhaps sending further info with a follow-up later? what???

We gotta KNOW the purpose. My tele-marketing calls are made to generate appointments so I can go visit and sell the prospect. I also have a fall-back position which is to add them to my email marketing list, indeed EVERYONE goes on that list, it just adds to my overall marketing strategy.

5. So we want to make calls to make appointments, huh? NEVER lose sight of this, nothing else matters. You are in the appointment making business, you are not doing telesales, you are not an information center, you are not a salesperson, you are an appointment maker (perhaps a researcher). I make my own calls, my wife also makes calls (we are a small, high quality family business), but it is me who goes to each and every appointment, so what we each say on the phone is slightly different.

6. Know your audience. Before you even get to a script, understand your audience (you are going to tailor your script to that audience), think about your list, where did you get it, what research did you do to build it, how much information do you have?

Personally, I would not even make the call unless I know the prospects name, for me this means the name of the business owner. There are many ways of getting this from cold, and there are a lot of online resources for this, and we find them very useful. Sometimes we make a call (not to speak to the owner) but simply get his or her name, we will then follow up with the actual call at a later stage.

7. Break the actual call down into three distinct sections. The INTRODUCTION >>> the HOOK >>> and the CLOSE. In reality, there can be an additional section the CONNECT, this is about getting through to the person you actually want to speak to. Many of our prospects answer the phone themselves, some have admins or receptionists- a real mix. So I guess we should start with the connect, although this section can be ignored much of the time.

8. Getting connected. Know that you should NEVER release your "script" on anyone except the prospect, in our case the known business owner, why would you want to? We make the dial, simply and politely asking for the prospect by name. We do not give our business name at this stage, and we offer no clue about the subject matter of the call. "Hi! can I speak to Brian Jones please"

This produces a mix of responses. We may actually be speaking to "Brian Jones", or someone other may simply put us through to "Brian Jones", an admin or receptionist may ask us about the nature of the call, or ask "who is calling".

Where asked, our simple rebuttal is that "this is (name) from (business name), I have some research information for him/her, is he/she available at the moment?"

There are a thousand variations on these responses and rebuttals, but the above works in the majority of instances for us. All we want is to be CONNECTED to the prospect, we do not want a conversation. There are of course instances when we are subjected to a third-degree line of questioning, we answer always politely and always follow with a question... "is he in the office today?" and so on... Take a bit of control.

9. Introduce yourself to the prospect. We usually start with, "Hello, is that Brian?" and upon yes, we continue with a VERY brief introduction. "this is (first name) from (business name) the web marketing specialists over in (our town), I have been doing some research I have discovered some very interesting information that I think may be of particular interest to you and your business, do you have a moment so I can explain?"

All we want is a yes, permission to deliver our script. NOTHING more. No launching into a sales call, no procrastination, no time wasting, just us asking for permission to speak. Sometimes the prospect will tell us he/she does not have time and can we phone back, we will draw out that situation by taking time to arrange a specific time to call back, we will confirm the phone number, we will verify that he/she is the business owner, we will tell them very little, and we will phone back...

Most of the time, intrigued, the prospect will simply allow us to continue, or perhaps ask "what information?" and so forth, most responses are taken as permission to deliver our script.

10. The hook. As mentioned earlier, scripts should be tailored to the audience. We have many sources of new business- folks without websites, folks with crappy websites, anyone with a Yellow Book page or site and so on... I will relate this to Yellow Book site users.

"I was researching your business online and I discovered your Yellow Book website, I know you are in the (type of business) and that marketing and bringing new business in the door is important to you. My research has uncovered a whole treasure-trove of information about the (type of business) business in (town/location), I believe this is information that could really benefit your marketing and bottom-line, from what I have managed to uncover I KNOW I can show you a way to reduce costs and increase your marketing effectiveness online, is it fair to say... this something you would like to know more about?"

All we want from the above is yes, perhaps, maybe, "tell me more" or so forth... There are of course objections that come up, here and in the next section (and we should learn to deal with these in a systematic manner, and perhaps this should be the subject of another thread), but in my experience delivering the above script, or similar, or indeed variations thereof for differing types of prospects works sufficiently enough of the time, and give us a sufficient (if not good) ratio of yeses, perhapses, maybes and so on.

11. The close. "Brian, I have in front of me a whole file of great information, additionally there is really powerful data I would like to show you online, and I also have a few question I would like to ask you. If it's ok with you, what I would like to do is arrange a time that I can visit for a chat over a coffee, I guess if we allow about 15-20 minutes that would work, would that work for you?"

All we want is permission to make the appointment, no fancy sharp-angled alternative closing, just a common-sense line of conversation. This is usually followed up with something along the lines of...

"When works best for you? I can call over Thursday afternoon or anytime Friday", whatever my schedule dictates, and so on...

12. Confirmation. I have worked both sides of the pond, US & UK, and there are differing cultural norms. In the UK I NEVER confirmed an appointment, in the US I ALWAYS confirm and appointment (phone call day prior to going).

What I have always done (here in the US or there in the UK) is at the end of the call I slowly repeat "so, that's Friday at 12 midday, at your office/shop/place, I look forward to seeing you then Brian". I also confirm their address and ask if they have a computer online, and let them know I will bring my iPad to help with the online info as well, I don't just end the call abruptly. I am building a RELATIONSHIP.

So there you have it, by way of my introduction to this forum, my own version of twelve steps to telemarketing success. I hope some of my splurge proves of some use to some (sorry it was soooo long). Pleased to meet everyone!

-------
Rob Campbell

I've used to be in that position a lot back when, but I find online research can more often than not give me their name(s). Back in the day, before the web and so on, I had to dedicate a proportion of the front end of the call to getting that name, it used to go something like, "Hello, it's your business-owner/managing-director/financial-director/senior-partner/(whatever by approximated job title) I am looking for, can you give me their name please..." before even asking to be connected. The simply responding with, "thank you, can you put me through to him/her please". Not knowing the name simply reduced the ratio of connects and I used to account for that.

How do you do it currently?

Then you ask if you can speak to the "owner", or "is the owner around"?

Or you say "I was calling about___________ and I wasnt sure who I needed to speak with , I was wondering if you could help me get through to the right person".

In keeping with Scott Voss teaching, this puts the secretary into "helpful" mode. She is usually skeptical, until she is given some credit and offered a chance to fulfill her secretary destiny and be "helpful".

"I was thinking maybe you would be the person who could help me"...works wonders on alot of secs, and gets you through alot of times (not all).

In any event , it shouldnt matter that much whether you get through on any individual call.

Dont worry about any individual on the phone, worry about your session overall.

Dont worry about getting through "this" secretary....worry about getting through "20 secretaries in 3 hours, I dont care which ones"...

The numbers and the work ethic and the momentum will get you that number.

No one line works on "secretaries" or to "get you through'... even though having a solid script is imperative if you are going to be able to quantify and duplicate your results later.... but an "overall" call session ethic... will get you what you need over the numbers.

If you dont get their name, it isnt rocket science.... it's just "My name is _____ with ________ btw, I know Im speaking to the manager but I have to apologize, I didnt catch your name there...? (pause) okay great, sorry about that..."

and move on....

Lol. No biggie. You are going to have to own your call sessions....so be natural. If you didnt get someones name say "Im sorry I didnt catch your name, what was that?"...

Alot of our over thinking is just delaying us from getting on and banging it out. Some of this is just common sense.



I dont care if a sec tells me no or not.... I just keep moving....Im worried about my overall performance , not so much putting a whole lot of salt into any single dial.

lots of golden nuggets from most of the heavies on the forum. definitely a keeper.

Most people dont like cold calls because they are looking for the line that was designed to insult their intelligence.

Be straight up and you will separate yourself and be appreciated. They know you arent calling for your health.

It's too weak, if you have something of value you shouldn't ask people for their time.

Use the classic A.I.D.A approach. Attention Interest Decision Action

Example. I have can get you as many leads as you want. I even have a program where there is $0 upfront, to help you get some leads and make money before buying.

Would you like to meet up to talk about it?

Just and example..