Components of a Successful Cold Call

Itโ€™s Friday! Youโ€™re smiling โ€“ youโ€™re dialing โ€“ youโ€™re working the phones and excited to get that next person on the line.

Or maybe itโ€™s your first day on the phones and your nervous and just want to get that first connect out of the way.

Either way hereโ€™s some quick tips on how to get through that cold call with ease and warm up your prospect list.

Establish Rapport And Ask For Their Time (Upfront Contract)

-It can be tough to sneak in Time โ€“ Purpose โ€“ Agenda and Outcomes into a cold call intro but, you can do it. Sandler teaches us in the โ€œNo-Pressure Cold Callโ€ to make sure weโ€™re not steamrolling our way through the conversation. We do so by establishing rapport and asking for the prospects time. This should hint to the prospect weโ€™re not going to do all the talking and we recognize their time is valuable.

Get To The Point

-In most cold calls either the prospect will tell you to get to the point by saying something like, โ€œyouโ€™ve got 30 secondsโ€ or you should recognize a moment of silence which is your chance to stay in control and start asking questions.

Set Up Your 30 Second Commercial

-At some point we have to tell the story of what our company does. The earlier in the conversation the better as it sets a reference for where the rest of the conversation should go. Have a few setup questions prepared so you can get to your 30 second commercial. Examples of setup questions areโ€ฆ

1. Are you familiar with what my company does?

2. Have you heard of XYZ company before?

3. Are you familiar with our offerings?

4. With your tenured experience, can you help me understand what you know about us?

30 Second Commercial

-This is your pitch. There are a few very important components to this. Yes, you do want to inform your potential customer about everything you company does but now isnโ€™t the time. Give them the long of the short of it, the cliff notes. But make sure youโ€™re tailoring the message to the title of the person youโ€™re speaking with and most importantly referencing potential problems your product can solve. In a short form, it should look something like thisโ€ฆ.

โ€œBizlibrary is a leading provider of E-learning content and solutions with thousands of short form videos that help companies just like yours โ€“ train and develop leaders, reduce employee turnover and act as a preventative for HR and compliance issues.โ€

Quite possibly the second most important piece of your 30 second commercial is the hook. Which goes a little something like this.

โ€œBizlibrary is a leading provider of E-learning content and solutions with thousands of short form videos that help companies just like yours โ€“ train and develop leaders, reduce employee turnover and act as a preventative for HR and compliance issues.What training programs does your company currently have in place?โ€

Ask Questions Relating To Your Benefit Statements

-Ok so weโ€™ve gotten through what I would call the โ€œscriptedโ€ part of the call. This is where teaching active listening and role playing will come in handy during your training program. Your salespeople need to know your value proposition and also have a list of questions to ask in the middle of the call that will lead your prospect down the right path. Like good art or a great movie script, every aspect of your conversation should have some sort of meaning. Donโ€™t ask questions that donโ€™t directly relate to issues your company is trying to solve. The point here is to ask questions that will help in the alignment of your solution to their companyโ€™s pain points. Hereโ€™s some examples of good questions to ask in the middle of the call.

-What does your current training program look like?

-Are you looking to supplement your current training program?

-Is employee training a focus for you at this point?

-If thereโ€™s one thing youโ€™d like to see improved with your existing training program, what would that be?

-What would the long-term benefits of expanding your training program be?

-What impact would there be on production if you could have access to more training resources?

-What value would there be if employees had easier access to training resources?

-If you could speed up the training process what would that give your team more time to do?

-How important is it to reduce the cost of your current training programs?

-What would prevent you from improving your current training and development programs?

-If your current training programs didnโ€™t improve, how concerned would you be?

-Have you done a needs analysis for what your company needs?

-What is more important for you, the content or the technology?

-Why now?

Take Note Of Pain Points

-As youโ€™re methodically questioning the prospect and letting them vent about the issues their company is currently experiencing, make sure to take note of each one. Keep a separate list in your notes for these so you can quickly use them to repeat the pain points back to them.

Take Them To The Pain Funnel

-Now you have enough surface level pain to take them into the โ€œpain funnelโ€. Use those notes with surface level pains and recap them into the funnel. It should sound something like thisโ€ฆ

โ€œLet me make sure Iโ€™m hearing you correctly. Youโ€™re currently focused on management training as well as onboarding. Can you tell me more about that?โ€

Then use the funnelโ€ฆ

Tell me more about that?

Can you be a bit more specific?

Do you have a specific example?
How long has that been a problem?

What have you tried to do about that?
And did that work?
How much do you think that has cost you?
How do you feel about that?
Have you given up trying to deal with the problem?
Somewhere in the funnel youโ€™ll either get some pushback or the pain level will get too high and the prospect wonโ€™t want to answer the question. Thatโ€™s when youโ€ฆ

Recognize When You Have Enough Ammo

โ€“ Based off of the amount of pain points and how painful each point is, you should be able to recognize when you have enough ammo to start firing back. Another good way to explain this is being able to smell when there is blood in the water. Like a shark waiting to attack, your sales sense should go off at some point to start wrapping up the call.

Qualify In Or Out Based Off Solution Alignment

-Throughout the entire call we should be listening for key indicators of whether or not this conversation is worth continuing. In Aaron Rossโ€™s book, โ€œPredictable Revenueโ€ he stresses over and over that we always recognize when weโ€™re wasting each otherโ€™s time. If you recognize that this isnโ€™t going to be a good fit, then fine! Qualifying someone out is just as good as qualifying someone in. But you have a job to do, so keep it short and let the prospect know when theyโ€™re not a good fit. Theyโ€™ll do nothing but thank you for not wasting their precious time.

However, if it is a good fit, thenโ€ฆ.

Align Your Solution With Their Pain

-From the surface level pain and pain funnel questions you should have tons of notes. Nowโ€™s the time to use them.

โ€œMr. Customer, based off of everything youโ€™ve told me so far it sounds like weโ€™ll be a good fit. As I mentioned earlier, our company helps companies like yours with XYZ issues which directly aligns with your initiatives for next quarter.โ€

Ask For A Next Step

-Always have a next step locked down with an exact date and time. This will help weed out any tire kickers and increase the chances of you meeting with them again. Each time we have to play email or phone tag for a next meeting your chances of getting these people back on the line extremely deteriorates. The ask should sound something like thisโ€ฆ

โ€œMr. Customer, based off of everything youโ€™ve told me so far it sounds like weโ€™ll be a good fit. As I mentioned earlier, our company helps companies like yours with XYZ issues which directly aligns with your initiatives for next quarter. Our best next steps would be to schedule 15 or 30 minutes to discuss further. What does your schedule look like for after lunch this Wednesday or early morning Thursday?โ€

Verify Contact Information โ€“ Email/Direct Line & Cell Phone

-So theyโ€™ve agreed to meet with you, letโ€™s make sure theyโ€™re actually going to attend by verifying their contact information. Yah I know youโ€™ve already sent them a few emails and youโ€™re pretty sure itโ€™s the right one, but letโ€™s just make sure. Be careful to work this correctly and DO NOT read to them what you have in your CRM. Let them tell you what email address works best for them and repeat it back. Also, ask for a direct line or cell phone number that way if youโ€™ll be calling them back you donโ€™t have to go through the operator. This is also a good indicator of how serious you are and that they can anticipate you contacting them again.

Ask Qualifying Questions

-Letโ€™s be mindful of their time here but make sure weโ€™ve answered all of your qualifying questions. This is a good chance to recap the prospect with their pain again and make sure you have everything youโ€™ll need for your next call. For an SDR, the ask should sound something like thisโ€ฆ

โ€œOk I think I have just about everything I need here. Just to make sure that Iโ€™ve got everything for our next meeting I have a few housekeeping questions, then Iโ€™ll get you back to your day.โ€

If youโ€™ve done all of this you should be confident that youโ€™ve qualified the prospect in or out, have a next step and most importantly related to the prospect during your solution alignment. Send out that calendar invite and put your notes into the system!

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