Cold Calling Let Me Count The Ways

Well that's one way you could do it, Robert.

Or you could intelligently sort your prospects into people you do and don't want to talk to.

Also, there IS a way to get past that headtrash and panic...but it's not well-known.

Thanks for your post, because every little bit helps.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to write up this thread. I enjoyed reading through it for the most part, even if we don't see eye-to-eye on everything within.

This is untrue, and definitely quite the assumption. I'm 16 years old. I sell websites. I'm offering something, and I'm hungry to connect with people of whom have an interest in said service. I'm ambitious. I understand the potential there is for making money within one simple cold calling session. I love it. I like connecting with people.

I worked in a call center part time, and it was FULL of miserable adults - It was rare to see somebody smiling in my place of work, yet I always did my very best to put a smile on my face and drive as much positivity and confidence into every single call as I could without over-doing it. & guess what? I was breaking company records and destroying my fellow colleagues in terms of conversions. Why was that? Because I was passionate and I didn't call with a half-assed attitude.

I think that is the main reason telemarketing is so-often equated with misery and negativity is because of the fact that people making these cold calls aren't willing to truly get their head in the game. It's all about perspective. I consider every dial to be a massive opportunity - and I love doing what I do.

You can make your assumptions but keep in mind that the people who hate cold calling so much are generally the ones who suck at it. On the other side of the spectrum, those of which enjoy cold calling are typically quite good at what they do. In most cases, at least.

I forgot to mention that I wasn't trying to sound cocky in any way when describing how I dominated within the call center realm -- just providing the story in order to get the point across! I'm a humble guy, promise! haha.

Thanks, Kirby! That's the plan.

Great post and correct on both points. With so many other methods available, cold calling really should not be anyone's first choice.

Corporations and medium to large sized companies have deep pockets, so even based on numbers alone, they can make it work for them. For the average local business consultant, I remain unconvinced that it's not going to be a soul destroying activity.

Plus, when we approach clients to help them with their business development and marketing, it's very rare to advise them to lay emphasis on cold-calling because, while it can and does work, we as professionals, know there are other more effective ways to attract business.

Great post and perspective.

Bayo

Taking action on what you learn will prove far more fruitful than simply learning and taking no action at all. Winners take action. Jon I think you might be a winner.

A couple points I wanted to address:

People who are not qualified to be cold calling should not do it, they give us all a bad name!

Lopaca, the approach you mentioned would work in many cases.

Overall all though the point is that you should be calling someone that would possibly have an interest in what you are selling before you even call. For example, getting more clients or for building a website (if you see they don't have one & it would benefit their business). If you are calling a shoe repair business to try and sell a vacation package, thats a whole different story, you should have your phone line disconnected.

When you call these businesses YOU NEED TO QUALIFY! Not everyone is the right client for you so they should not be approached like that. What you need to do is to describe possible benefits to get their attention and then lead them in to questioning. If the questioning is done right, it will make them realize they need you.
(Example) How do you stay in contact with your clients between visits?
(biz owner) I don't
(me) Well in working with other businesses like yours we've seen that not staying in contact makes it easier for them use another biz next time around.

That kind of questioning may set off some light bulbs and can lead to a sale. It allows them to see holes in their operations they never knew about or realized. Thats the point of the questioning, find out if they are a good potential client for you, and make them realize that. As Lopaca said, don't sell to them. Make them realize they need you!

Another thing about cold calling is that you get all the no's. I don't care what you sell, there are going to be people who don't want it. When you are cold calling you hear it first hand. When you do direct mailing you never hear the no, when you do online ads, you never hear the no. That scares many away, but it doesn't deter the true salespeople because they know that no's are part of the game. With cold calling however you actually hear them. This is a benefit tho because it makes you a stronger sales person and allows you to refine your approach and even your product in some cases. No other form of selling gives you this kind of feedback.

If done the right way, in the right industry telemarketing can be your most effective form of marketing. In some industries or for some products cold calling is not the answer. People just need to learn to identify where those strengths and weaknesses are.

cold calling is effective.. so is going out and making cold sales calls

but in my opinion they are both costly and inefficient.

Let me just say .. I am NOT against cold calling and it does WORK.

but I think its always better to generate warm leads whereas you are following up on people calling you back for more info..

if you ever seen the movie Boiler room..( if you have not go see it) this was the mainstay of their sales process.

you had front end lead guys that would cold call just to send them a info packet.. then someone would follow up with them later on. the info packet was NOT important and was just a reason to call them back. then they proceeded to go for the close

once in a while a whale would want info NOW which would then be transferred to a closer.



there is a psychological advantage to calling someone back then to call them up front.

so now your not wasting as much time with all the negative rejections.

so create lead funnels.. and set them up where you call them back.

or you can get on the phone and cold call it's up to you

we all have 24 hours in a day and I have found it's best to leverage your time as best as possible.

just like billing

you can waste time sending invoices to clients and follow up when they don't pay and waste more time

OR

you can automatically draft thier checking account

I can just picture in my minds eye

I am nameless as he sits in the beginning of each month and fires up his computer and prints up a bunch of check drafts and mosys along to the bank and deposits them.

sure as heck beats

the checks in the mail lol

i used to sell to restaurants.. and the first month we kicked ass and sold a ton of restaurants and I thought i was going to make a bookoo bunch of dollars

well reality came when I sent out all the invoices and less than 40% actually paid them.. it was a nightmare chasing people for money

live and learn


eddie

I'm loving the input from you folks so keep it coming but I want to go back to my example to kinda make another key point.

Calling the business owner is not to make a presentation to sell him your services or to uncover his needs through needs analysis or let him know his site sucks and you can make it better. Your call to the business owner is to provide what he is in business for. If he sells widgets your call to him is "Can you handle an order of xx widgets?" He is motivated to know how he can provide his widgets and you have the solution. If it's to build a more effective web site or SEO or PPC or whatever. You have the solution to his pain and you are not selling it to him you are providing it to him.

More stuff from the old marketing guy

So here's another method that has worked for many it seems.

Stopping in the business and hand a flyer to them. Nothing more.
Just stopping by & sharing some information. Of course, a call to action surely helps!

Then you follow-up with a cold (semi warm) call.

It seems to work for some! Just sharing

I will shortly start promoting/selling a new service - will let you know how it goes!

@ Lopaca

As a very busy owner of a couple of small local businesses my self, the issue I have with your script is that it is initially misleading. You call up giving the impression you're a customer and then turn out not to be. That's gonna piss me off!!!

Just to be clear here, I am all in favour of cold calling or any other marketing method that works. I am most definitely firmly in the pro-calling camp. My motivation in posting is to find out if I am mis-interpreting this.

It's just that the way I read your script it seems to me like you're presenting yourself initially as a customer without actually saying so. Assuming that what you've written down is verbatim from the start of the call, the questions you're asking and the order in which they're asked are designed to keep the prospect's interest for a few seconds by allowing him to believe that you're about to make a purchasing enquiry. So I'm going "Great! Potential customer" and then I find out no, actually you're selling something. That's why I said it's misleading.

I get cold calls every day in my B&M businesses. If I was on the receiving end of this call I would be first disappointed and then pissed. Seriously.

I suppose because I only provided the initial part of the call is because I figured you would see the approach.

Yes the idea is to get the business owner to think I may be a prospect but as the conversation continues I let him know that I represent more than one client and before I can send any business his way I need to know he can do the job. My services are in high demand and if you want me to go to work for you then you must meet my requirements. Two things have to be met. 1. You have to be able to do the job and 2. You have to be able to meet my price for my services. If you can do that then we have something to talk about if not I appreciate your time.

I'm not calling him to make him my best buddy although most of my clients become good friends, I'm calling to put together a business arrangement. I'm surely not a Donald Trump but I can asure you he approaches every deal in the same way.

The problem is that you have already asked 3 question before you even hint at the fact you are offering something. He may be thinking you asking about a schedule because you want to book an appointment. This would upset some people.

Also just because he is the owner does not mean he is the decision maker or handles the marketing aspect. How do you not know all he knows is carpets and his wife handles everything else.

I like using the unsure method that Jason Kanigan uses to get the dm. Once you get the dm grab their attention with possible benefits and then qualify them.

"Hi, im not sure who I should be talking to. I work with carpet cleaners to book them more jobs and I wanted to see if what I do is right for you. Who would I talk to about that?"

Gets you to the right person so you don't waste anybodys time. Also it is fact that asking for help makes more people more receptive. Many times to it gets me the name of the DM. They usually say "Mark handles that, hold on."

Once he gets on the phone you can now greet him by name.

"Hi Mark, I work with carpet cleaners to book them more jobs by doing...... I wanted to ask a few questions to see if what I do is right for you.

you could use a more attention getting opening for the dm but you get the picture.

Colm I think you missed the object of the Thread. I close 90% of the calls I make and I suppose it's the other 10% that are put off by my approach. I'm not worried about that but I can say that 90% is far better than most telemarketing services and I can assure you they put off considerably more than 10% of those they approach. My approach may not appeal to you and that's OK you are entitled to your view and I respect that. Again the purpose of this thread was to get members of the forum to think outside the box and think that there might be other ways. I think I accomplished that.

Thank you for your input. Others in the group may agree with you but what this thread has done is to get them to think about it. Some may try my approach and as such may do well or they may put some folks off but the point is they are taking steps to improve how things are done.

Sue & Lopaca,

I understand this is a basic script that is for example. Just wanted to share what I see as a flaw in it and another way it could be interpreted.

"Hello Jerry are you the owner of Cool Carpet cleaners?
(Yes, how can I help You?)

It would be a big help to a lot of newbies to give your hints on getting past the gatekeeper. I know you simplified it to make your points. Newbies have a huge problem with this and I'd like to see your response as well.
IMO no dilly dallying around and getting straight to the point, gives the decision maker less chance to end the call. Good one.

They could be thinking "Hope im not in trouble lol, this never starts out good." Usually asking directly for the owner can put them on the defensive. Some people don't even feel comfortable sharing that kind of info. You may get, "What is this about" in which they are starting to think negative. Sue i like to just ask "I do this, who I talk to about this?" People love to help, most of the time if you ask they will conect you with the right person.

Could you tell me do you do large commercial accounts?
(Oh yes we sure do)

Perfect and smooth. you have his interest immediately. The chance of him saying "bye" are zero at this point.

He may be thinking "Hopefully this guy has a large job he may want me to do!" and say "Yes we can handle any job!"

Well, maybe you could tell me how tight your present schedule is?
(We stay pretty busy but we can always handle more)

Now he's seeing dollar signs.

This may invite them to say "Im busy but I can fit you in. What do you need" Once they say that you have to back track a bit and say no i want to offer you more customers.

So if I was to bring you say 4 or five new jobs per week you could handle that?
(Sure No problem)

They may have already started counting up the potential dollars thinking you were a customer by the last question but now they say you are selling a service and may be feeling a bit let down. Imagine if they were at the desk with a pencil in hand ready to write you in their schedule. Now they may put the pen down in disappointment.

Now he's adding up in his head, 5 jobs a wk. times x amount of dollars.

That's only if he truly beleives you can deliver and you have provided no proof of that. No statistics, references or even mention that you have help other carpet cleaners. They don't even know what you do or how you do it. The only thing they may be counting is the money they though you were going to pay them for a big job.

Well Jerry your a life sent. My name is XXXXXX would you right that down for me? My number is 555-1212 I'm actually about 50 miles away from you but I would like to discuss how we might be able to do some business have you got a few more minutes?

These are good qualifying questions that have been provided but you need to introduce yourself first, make sure you have the right person and give them a hint of what you can do and how or why you think you can do it. People need proof of what you can do.

I like to throw in the statement to disarm them, usually works. "Just wanted to ask a couple questions to see if what I do is right for you" Makes you sound like you won't be pushy and really want to help if there is the opportunity, makes you sound like you are genuinely looking to help.

Just wanted to add my input so others could improve on these examples.

I wouldn't be sitting by the phone anyway I'm probably calling his competition.

Just do it and improve from there. What is the most important thing is, you have to try.

This might get a little long but let me see if I can answer each comment

"Hello Jerry are you the owner of Cool Carpet cleaners?
(Yes, how can I help You?)

It would be a big help to a lot of newbies to give your hints on getting past the gatekeeper. I know you simplified it to make your points. Newbies have a huge problem with this and I'd like to see your response as well.
IMO no dilly dallying around and getting straight to the point, gives the decision maker less chance to end the call. Good one.

They could be thinking "Hope im not in trouble lol, this never starts out good." Usually asking directly for the owner can put them on the defensive. Some people don't even feel comfortable sharing that kind of info. You may get, "What is this about" in which they are starting to think negative. Sue i like to just ask "I do this, who I talk to about this?" People love to help, most of the time if you ask they will conect you with the right person.

It's OK. Remember your calling to put together a business deal to provide this business with exactly what your calling about. If they ask what it's about tell them.

"My company can provide 3 to 4 new projects every month or week" or whatever you feel you can do for this business and I usually underestimate what can be done in their niche but I bet it is more than what they are doing.

This whole approach is a matter of attitude you have to look at what your doing as qualifying. You are the one in control.

Could you tell me do you do large commercial accounts?
(Oh yes we sure do)

Perfect and smooth. you have his interest immediately. The chance of him saying "bye" are zero at this point.

He may be thinking "Hopefully this guy has a large job he may want me to do!" and say "Yes we can handle any job!" Good because that is what we can do. with the abilities we have as marketers we can target specific niches within niches by targeting specific keywords and other online methods that we know will produce exactly what we say we can do. If you promise him commercial accounts we go after keywords and other methods to drive commercial work to him. You have not lied or misled unless you can't produce and if that the case don't use this approach

Well, maybe you could tell me how tight your present schedule is?
(We stay pretty busy but we can always handle more)

Now he's seeing dollar signs.

This may invite them to say "Im busy but I can fit you in. What do you need" Once they say that you have to back track a bit and say no i want to offer you more customers. Why would you back track? "So things are going pretty good for you right now? so then you say you might only be able to handle 1 to 2 new jobs.

Oh no we can do more (You were taking it away) Now he's back

So if I was to bring you say 4 or five new jobs per week you could handle that?
(Sure No problem)

They may have already started counting up the potential dollars thinking you were a customer by the last question but now they say you are selling a service and may be feeling a bit let down. Imagine if they were at the desk with a pencil in hand ready to write you in their schedule. Now they may put the pen down in disappointment. Does an Insurance company care who provides a lead or a Real Estate Agent? No they just want to make the sale. Makes no difference whether it walked in the door or I sent them in all the business owner wants is cash on the table. If the business owner says yea I can do a job for you next week my answer would be great let's you and I get together and work out the details.

Now he's adding up in his head, 5 jobs a wk. times x amount of dollars.

That's only if he truly beleives you can deliver and you have provided no proof of that. No statistics, references or even mention that you have help other carpet cleaners. They don't even know what you do or how you do it. The only thing they may be counting is the money they though you were going to pay them for a big job.

He doesn't want statistics he wants a signed contract to do a job. If you were the owner of the carpet service would you ask a client for references or question his ability to buy? At this point it doesn't matter how I get him more business all he cares about is that your going to supply him with 2 to 3 new jobs a week or month. You want them to be counting the money that is going to come in. Why would you even worry about that if you know you can produce?

Well Jerry your a life sent. My name is XXXXXX would you right that down for me? My number is 555-1212 I'm actually about 50 miles away from you but I would like to discuss how we might be able to do some business have you got a few more minutes?

These are good qualifying questions that have been provided but you need to introduce yourself first, make sure you have the right person and give them a hint of what you can do and how or why you think you can do it. People need proof of what you can do.

It is always good to know they are the decision makers. It could be that your talking to a partner and the other partner isn't there but that is why you say we need to get together and work out the details. You then set that up and ask if he has a partner or is he the person who can make the final arrangements.

I don't need to give them any hints of how I plan to do it. Again we will go over the details when we get together.

I like to throw in the statement to disarm them, usually works. "Just wanted to ask a couple questions to see if what I do is right for you" Makes you sound like you won't be pushy and really want to help if there is the opportunity, makes you sound like you are genuinely looking to help. This is good

Just wanted to add my input so others could improve on these examples. That is what this thread is all about and I appreciate everything you have offered Your a right on dude in my book and you have helped a lot of people.

Lopaca, what are you selling with this script - because if you're selling pre-qualified leads then it's great but I still don't like that approach for selling SEO etc.

Also, you close 90% of your calls? Or is it 90% of the decision makers you actually reach?

Thanks for your comments guys your right on

Very true Jon. I think the bottom line is we work to provide for our families and that is our motivating factor. Some, and I'm guilty my wife gives me shit about it but i do trust sometimes farther than I should but bottom line I'm a man of my word if I shake your hand you can take it to the bank. it's just a shame there are some that don't have that moral view. I've been burned many times but I look back on it and I hold no animosity or anger, but I did learn from it and maybe the cost of the education was well worth it. The only thing I'm a mad dog about is my family. F**# with that and you will not realize the pain you will suffer. As for business I've won and I've lost but you can be assured I will always be a winner.

Thanks guys for all your positive and objective comments. Hopefully others will benefit fro it all.

Just a comment from an old marketer

Re: "Selling yourself first".

This is true. The way I sell myself first is through "tone".

I deliver a "tone" that is loving and caring... and some dont buy it, and some do... but its what sells me.

Generally Im off the phone fast if Im not closing someone...because I can tell they either buy my tone or dont fairly quickly after hello.

But yes, in my case "selling yourself first", is done on "Hello".

Now...having said that- I might have different tones on different days, but a phone pitch happens fast or not at all usually, and they are either buying my tone or not.

You can have the greatest product in the world and turn people off by bragging about it too hard or whatever...the way they "feel" talking to you is what generally sells them or not...

Again, there are many truths and styles...you can also be a jerk and people buy that because they have anchors that anyone who isnt a jerk isnt a serious businessman, and the anchors tell them not to trust people who come across as too caring.

It goes back again to what Ken said, there is truth to all of it. Its very relative, but to close my case, I dont sell through words as much as I do undertones.

I teach "technique" because most people here havent got enough telemarketing experience to command their tone so well... so, knowing the strategy and numbers laws and all that is the way to go when you are new, after awhile you learn from "hello" almost whether you are going to close someone or not.

I guard my tone above all, and I keep my ears peeled for the guy who is ultra responsive to it- letting go quickly of anyone who doesnt buy it.

Og mandino calls this saying "I love you" not with your mouth, but from the place behind your eyes..., and that brings a smile tone to your voice that people feel.

Not to go all philosophical on you, thats a whole nother book...

@ john, once again, you are able to put the process into words, in a way even the most
rudimentary layman would understand.

i am so jealous of your teaching / writing skill.

props brotha, props

P.S socialentry asked a question ( not in this thread, i answered best i could, but you prob have a better
/ different take on it. ) if you don't mind

Thanks Sue.:>) This has worked for me and it can work for others but you kinda have to have an attitude that your hiring his business to service the customers I can provide. The only difference is he will have to pay me for that privilege. This is exactly what Groupon and Living Social are doing. They provide the customers and the business owner pays them 50% of their profits. I don't like the daily deal companies due to the fact that I think they are ripping the business owners off but you can't ignore the genius behind their model.

Cold calling is so much easier if you can establish your credibility to the potential buyer is a plausible way. Testimonials are great for this but the problem is that many buyers are sceptical of random testimonials on a website or what have you because they can be either 1) fake or 2) cherry-picked.

You have to build your cold calling presentation to fit your personality so that it comes off clean and the person on the other end of the phone feels your enthusiasm as well as your credibility. If you come off like your reading the same old dry phone pitch you will hear a click on the other end. If your credible testimonials are who cares kind of material. Like you say anyone can throw out a testimonial.