Jun
04
How To (EWWWWW!) Cold Call
This is a guest post by one of the great loves of my life, Tim Brownson. He’ll get a proper byline at the end.
My guess is that if you are reading this fine blog you are in some way interested in either marketing, selling online or foul and abusive language. Or maybe you are heavily into foul and abusive language online about marketing and this place is your little corner of heaven.
On the other hand, you may have absolutely no interest in sales whatsoever and are contemplating heading off to YouTube to look for amusing videos of squirrels nibbling through power cables, dogs skateboarding and crop circles in the shape of the Virgin Mary’s underwear. Well before you do, humor me by answering the following questions:
Do you sell to other businesses?
Do you ever have to sell yourself over the phone?
Will you ever have to enlist the help of other people in a project?
Are you a writer that has a book to sell or has articles to get published?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then you will get something out of this post so resist the urge to hit that back button.
Let me kick off by making this rather contentious statement:
Most solopreneurs and bloggers are shit at selling. I don’t mean a bit shit either, I’m talking completely incompetent buffoons that wouldn’t know the difference between a sales cycle and a menstrual cycle.
I told you it was contentious.
In my less than humble opinion, there are two main reasons they’re no good… (as well as lots of little ones):
Firstly, they think they know what they’re doing because somebody once bought something off them.
This is akin to me thinking I am a top class soccer player because I once scored a goal when the ball bounced into the net off my arse as I was leaning over trying to get my breath back.
Many realtors made lots of money prior to the current economic situation. But it’s not difficult selling something if people are lining up to buy it. Watch the guy that sells the weed at a rock festival if you have any doubts. He probably isn’t utilizing any sales skills other than saying “No honest, buddy, it’s brilliant.”
Secondly, and probably more worryingly, they don’t see the importance of being able to sell.
After all, good products sell themselves. Everybody knows that, right? Well maybe not everybody, but what do Mercedes Benz, IBM, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson and Xerox and their huge sales organizations know about it anyway?
If I asked you what most sales people hate with a passion, and what a lot will admit is the weakest area of their sales game, what do you think it would be?
If you are in any doubt, I’ll also throw in that it is the most important part of new business sales, and the people that are very good at it get paid the most money.
Yep you’ve guessed it, it’s the dreaded cold calling.
The mere words send chills down sales peoples’ backs. If you’re a sales manager and you want an office tidied up, just announce a cold calling session because your salespeople will then do anything to avoid picking the phone up.
But it has to be done, and my guess is at some time in your life you’ll need to know how to generate a meeting or sale with somebody you don’t know. So you may as well know how.
Probably the biggest truism in cold calling is that it’s a numbers game. The more calls you make, the more success you’ll have. However, you also have to follow a plan rather than setting off like a headless chicken being chased by a very hungry blind fox. And I’m the man to give you that plan and right about now I wish my name were Stan or maybe even Dan, but it isn’t, so let’s get on with it nevertheless.
Belief:
The first thing you need to do when setting up a prospect session is have the right attitude. Believe you can do this because you can. You decide what is possible for you so think big and start off with the attitude that people who don’t want to speak to you are missing a treat.
I could bang on all day about the power of beliefs and often do, but there is only really one thing you need to know. Beliefs are not set in stone and you create your own, so make sure they’re good ones.
Many times I’ve seen seasoned salespeople start off hunched over their phone, believing they will be rejected and feeling miserable about life. Then, when the first couple of calls go badly they cheerfully announce that they were right after all and that this it is waste of time. Quite brilliant!
Material:
Do not sit down with a Yellow Pages in front of you, dialing number after number. Find as much information about your target company and the person you need to speak to beforehand. Calls that start, ‘Can I speak to the person that in charge of signing the checks?’ are doomed to failure. Whereas a call that starts ‘Can I speak to Bob in HR please? It’s Tim from A Daring Adventure’ is infinitely more likely to get past a gatekeeper.
If they ask you what it’s about, tell them it is of a personal nature. A fib? Well not really, it should be very personal when you’re talking about your business. (Editor’s Note: To the woowoos among us, chill the fuck out.)
A word of warning: This can backfire so be prepared to roll with the punches. I once called a company and asked to speak to Bob, the CFO. His secretary was absolutely appalled and screamed, “BOB!? BOB!? Do you mean Robert?” Needless to say, Bob and I didn’t have a good old chin wag that day, or any subsequent day for that matter.
Rejection:
The person that just yelled at you has probably had a bad day. Maybe Bob’s secretary’s cat had just been run over by the garbage truck, or she’d just discovered a nasty little rash after a dalliance with Dave in Accounting. I don’t know, and more importantly, neither do you. So thank them for their time and move on to that next juicy prospect that is just bound to say ‘yes please’.
Time:
Do not attempt to hit the phone for 5 hours non-stop fueled by 14 cups of coffee. Take breaks at least hourly. Have a walk around, get a drink, boil an egg, anything that breaks your state and allows you to disengage. Then, just before you sit back down, focus on how many calls you want to make in the next hour or however long and just do it.
Stats:
These can be important as you do more prospecting, as you’ll get an idea of how many calls you need to make to get an appointment. It can also encourage you to beat your own personal best each time if you’re the competitive type.
Comfort:
Some people prefer to make calls stood up or even walking around whereas other prefer the more traditional method of sitting at a desk. Whichever you’re most comfortable with is fine, as long as you come across as enthusiastic and awake. If you’re lying on the floor fiddling with your crotch, the other person will probably know something is amiss. (Editor’s note: I do this all the time and nobody ever thinks anything is amiss. The topless Skype call should probably be The People’s Exhibit A.)
Script:
Every successful sales person I know uses a script, be it written down or in their head. Know exactly what that first 20 or 30 second pitch is going to be, and make sure that speech is relevant and demonstrates the benefits of you or your service/product. Conversations that start off “ah” and “er” usually end up with a speedy good and bye.
Availability:
You may have been passed through inadvertently to somebody that is in the middle of drawing up plans to conquer the world by the end of the quarter. Simply ask ‘Are you free to speak for 2 minutes, Bob, about something that is going to help you and your business be more efficient and profitable?’ If Bob says no, he’s got this world-conquering thing to finish, ask for a time that would be more convenient.
Selling:
Unless you are in telesales or have no intention of meeting the person at a later date, do no try and sell. This is very important. Telephones are for making appointments and ordering pizza, not selling. Give the reasons why you should meet and then assume the meeting, offering them two or three alternative dates that you can make.
Enjoy:
Remember, this isn’t life or death It’s a few phone calls, a few opportunities to chat to interesting people and most importantly, a chance to make some friends, some lovely money and feel wanted again.
Sales and prospecting are skills. Skills need fine-tuning and practice so go easy on yourself. Naomi Dunford didn’t make a million in her first week — it probably took her at least 2 or 3 as she refined her methods and got important feedback on what was and wasn’t working for her. That same goes for you.
One final thing. If you wait until you need customers before you start to look for them you’re already in trouble. You should be filling your pipeline as a matter of course because this is a process that takes time and people can sniff a desperate sales person quicker than my dog can sniff my dirty boxer shorts kicked under the bed.
***
Tim Brownson is my long term life coach. Before that, he was a rich salesman. Despite his appalling spelling and grammar, he is one of the coolest people I know and one of the first I recommend to anyone who doesn’t wake up admiring the field of pretty buttercups and butterflies growing out of their ass. If your life is fucked up, you really should call him. He also has a really hot voice.
Wow, Tim. You kinda made me wish I had to do some cold calls tomorrow. Now cold-calling sounds like a good ol’ game of Monopoly!
Great advice, all the way around. I wish the “hot voice” was in the intial byline. I would have read the article all hot voicy and such.
I’m ready to call the world now. Awesome.
This is where years in the trenches of a part-time network marketing business really pay off! I’m proud to report that several of my best clients relationships began with an effective cold-call.
In almost all cases, though, I called with a variation of, “Hi Mary Jo. My name is Suzanne, and I was reading your comment on Such-and-Such blog today where you asked how to … (or said you needed help with X, or …) and thought – I should give her a call because I might be able to help her – so here I am. You can try — for X and see if that helps. (or I use X Plugin to do that on my site, give it a try…)
Everyone I’ve called like that has been a) blown away that I’d take the time to look up how to call them and b) knocked out that I actually called and c) completely impressed that I wanted to help without asking anything in return.
If I get voice mail, I share my tip and my own phone number and invite them to call me back, in case they have questions. Or, if they just want to say hi. And, yes – I tell them how they can check me out online (to either confirm or quell their fears that I’m some kind of crazy loon.)
With this kind of relationship-starting agenda – spreading goodwill and useful tips – cold-calling is actually fun and if you don’t get the appointment, you most likely left a great first impression, which is the next best thing.
I spent a year working as a telemarketer about 9 years ago. I was actually really good at it and several people said I was the “nicest telemarketer they ever talked to”. Not that that’s really all that hard, lol.
What helped me the most was staying relaxed. Smile when you talk and people sense it and feel more open to chatting with you.
Not sure about the saying it’s of a personal nature bit. I feel that’s a tad misleading, but to each his own.
Anyway, the telemarketing stint was still traumatic. Calling people and getting rejected all day can be really demoralizing. Thinking of cold calling again makes me wheezy. Not having the pressure of of having to close a sale right away is definitely a plus though.
Oops, meant to say queasy, not wheezy, lol. Although both might apply.
@ Suzanne – That’s interesting because I used to swing backwards and forwards on the voice mail thing. I must admit I’d seldom leave a message the first time because my success rate of getting a reply was abysmal. Sometimes it is necessary though and your method is very useful.
@ Naomi – I understand your take on that, but I wanted to make business personal and build relationships. The thing is, once I got through I then had to make it personal and demonstrate value to the person I was talking to because using that approach wouldn’t usually get me a second chance ;-)
Oh my gosh Tim, I was drinking coffee when I read the line about not knowing the difference between a sales cycle and a menstrual cycle! Now I need to clean coffee off my screen… That post should have come with a spit warning!
Haha, Tim is an awesome guy and blogger. I love the title for this post ;)
Thankfully I’ve never had to cold call to bring in clients but if I ever have to, I know where to come!
Cheers,
Glen
personal/business? I can only imagine that if I had an assistant and they told me someone wanted to speak to me about a personal matter, my response would be something like “Tell this bozo to call during my personal time, then!”
(I came to this post directly from a discussion on my professional mailing list about playing phone tag with clients. ; ) It must be the phase of the moon.)
@ Mary Anne – Thanks for that because you made me realize that I hadn’t explained something as clearly as I thought.
I am offering massive generalizations built over 20 years in filed sales and sales management. I have undertaken hundreds and hundreds of hours training and read well over 100 books on the subject and I still think I’m learning.
What I am trying to do here is give my experience of what works best on the whole. Will it work every time? No of course not, nothing will, in fact nothing will come even close. Will you get abused and called a bozo? Of course, if you are pushing the boundaries that will happen whatever you do because you are dealing with people.
If you are struggling to get past gatekeepers then sometimes it’s necessary to be creative. I’m not saying do this every time, but learn to judge each situation on its merits. The more experience you have the more likely you are to make an instant decision that is right.
If you have a product you believe can help the person/company then you should be doing what you can to get them to see that otherwise you’re in the wrong industry imho.
This is a short blog post and I didn’t even talk about rapid rapport building, the structure of the sale, creating desire etc. It is very down and dirty, just to get people thinking.
Finally, one thing I used to tell people in sales is “Forget what YOU think, and forget it fast” You may very well reply to that approach as you suggested, so what? You’re not selling to yourself and that is a critical to understand. If you use tactics that would work on you, then you will only sell to people that think like you, and that is the minority.
I appreciate your comment though because it made me think in a bit more detail and apologies if I was unclear.
Eww sums up cold calling nicely!
I hate them…..but alas, they are a necessity.
I loved this article and learned what the meaning of dalliance is…..I think I’ll have one!
Thanks!
Cold calling is hard, no way around it. It is also one of the best ways to start a relationship. There is nothing better than getting to know someone, warming the relationship up, before meeting them in person.
I’m working on my cold calling technique right now. I’m trying to sell work happiness speeches. I get a little better every time. That’s what being in business for yourself, getting a little better every day.
“Forget what YOU think, and forget it fast”
Now see, that’s what I have trouble figuring out how to do. I just don’t grok the whole cold calling thing, because in my business (dog grooming) I only have to sell myself On The Phone _after_ the potential client calls me. They want information from me; I want information from them; it’s all even. Getting the call involves word of mouth (still and always the best), leaving cards or flyers at dog populated places, and a yellow pages listing. In some areas people look for web sites, but in my rural location the phone book still matters most.
I’d starve if I had to do cold calls. I hate hate hate the phone. I have no problem handing my card to people with dogs in public places, or striking up conversations and mentioning that I groom. The face to face version is much easier.
Wait. Wait. Tim’s talking about sales again? That’d be like me talking about real estate. Doesn’t it make you barf, Tim?
Before you start, check if you are allowed to do that at all. In Germany cold-calling private customers is forbidden by the Act Against Unfair Practices (“Gesetz gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb”), there is also EU law against it (Data Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC). ;)
@ Mary Anne – Of course face to face is always better and referrals the best of the lot, but when you have neither, the phone is the next best option.
@ Johnny – Nah, I love it! The whole sales process is fun to me. What I hated was working for unethical companies that just chased profit to any end.
@ Michael – Well yeh I guess there is that if you’re looking for ways to avoid cold calling. It’s not illegal in the US or UK, although both have a ‘Do not call’ register (it’s called Telephone Preference Service or TPS in the UK). Large companies often have a database tied into that so sales people get warned not to call restricted numbers.
I have never heard of any individual even being reprimanded never mind prosecuted for such an action. I have heard of large companies being rapped on the knuckles for calling DNC numbers though.
I understand what you’re saying, and as I said, don’t just batter numbers out of a phone directory, but if you really are looking to help people with whatever it is you have, then call them and seek forgiveness not permission if they are on a register.
I’ve done cold calls and I would rather sniff Satan’s armpits than go through that desperate process again. There are other ways to do marketing but if cold calls float your boat and bring in more cash, then go for it!
I ignored the temptation to click on the “topless Skype call” link. While I am always open to meeting a new nipple, I was concerned that I would instead be lead to some porn image, such as a photo of Johnny B Truant investing more money into Cleveland real estate.
In the meantime, good luck cold calling. I’ve got a date with Satan. SNIFF!
I thought this post was very well written. I also disagree with it wholeheartedly.
I did sales for over a decade. I did the whole cold-calling thing, and i found it to be one of the most inefficient methods of lead generation.
Everything Tim said in here was spot on, for the old way of doing sales. I am sure he enjoyed tremendous success doing it this way, at one time.
But the business climate (at least in the USA) has changed. And people who do things the old ways are going to find themselves extinct before long.
Again, not to bash Tim, or Naomi, or anyone else. This is the opinion of one warrior from the trenches that happens to contrast with another trench-warrior’s opinion. Your mileage may vary.
@ Brent – LMAO – That’s fighting talk ;-) You can’t say that and bugger off. Tell us why you disagree and what you do differently.
I accept I have been out of sales 5 years, although I do still coach people from time to time and still read sales books and love the sales process and I’m not seeing many changes in the fundamentals. I also still have plenty of friends in sales that I talk to regularly too.
The one thing I did see change over my last few years was the security round business’s and the fact that you could no longer wander into many reception areas and hope to get to see somebody prior to 9/11.
Remember I am talking about small and often one man business’s dealing more often that not with the same, not Fortune 500 companies.
I’m really intrigued to know what you’d do differently because to disagree wholeheartedly presumably means you wouldn’t call companies, wouldn’t prepare what you were going to say, wouldn’t gather data and as much information as possible and would be put off by the first no and fear rejection as well as try and close the deal on the phone, eh? ;-)
Playing Devils Advocate, have you considered that you may just not have been very good at cold calling? Seriously, just because it didn’t work for you, doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t work per se, does it?
I genuinely want to hear what you say because I’m always looking to learn.
@ Tim – You bring up fair points. I didn’t want to go into exhaustive detail because I didn’t want to hijack the thread.
As I said, everything about HOW to cold-call that you put in your post was spot on. It is the contention that Cold Calling is still significantly effective that I disagree with.
Large companies have gate keepers. And the gate keepers have gate keepers. Your ability to reach a decision maker cold is severely limited.
With small companies, yes you can often reach the owner. He is the guy who answers the phone. If you are lucky, he will give you a Yes or No answer, and follow through on it. Some people hate confrontation, however, so they will say Yes, allow you to schedule an appointment, and then conveniently forget or deliberately avoid it. They do this in the hopes that you will give up.
Those salespeople who focus on cold-calling are often focused on the mindset of “The key to success is getting new customers.” This means they usually neglect their current client base until the clients contact them.
I say you are much better off implementing a system where you constantly meet new people, get referrals, and have a steady stream of new business coming to you. Keep in steady contact with your existing clients, develop solid relationships and loyalty, and you will still get new clients, but you won’t NEED as many new clients because your previous clients are also selling you to their friends, and also doing more business with you.
Sound like a pipe dream? It isn’t.
People are bombarded with sales messages every time they turn on the TV, drive down the road, pick up a newspaper, or go to their mailboxes (real or virtual). We have evolved an amazingly sophisticated filtering system, so whenever we get a phone call that sounds the least bit salesy (I just made up a word!), the person on the other end had better knock our socks off or the conversation is over. You could be selling the secret to eternal life, if your cold call strikes me as being a sales pitch, you lose.
Another strike against the “old ways” is that they have become cliche’. People have adopted the very methods you wrote about, and twisted them into hideous abominations. The script,t he test for availability, they have all become over-used. Back when I had my insurance license, I got 2-4 calls per week from a specific company looking to recruit me. Each time, they used the exact same script, so I knew within the first 5 seconds who was calling me and why.
I think this is a very interesting debate, especially because you seem to be approaching it in a friendly way, and I certainly thank and respect you for that.
Later this evening, I will post about this on my own blog at http://www.BizWarriorOnline.com. You are welcome to come comment and we can continue this discussion. I would even welcome you as a guest poster.
If Naomi feels this is all too self-promotional, she can remove the last few paragraphs. (Or heck, it’s her blog, she can remove the whole comment!) It was not my intention to hijack this thread.
@ Brent – I had jobs where I ONLY did new business and had others where I only did client business or account management. New business sales are the hardest jobs in sales and as such the highest paid and if you are in a new business team you can’t foster relations with established clients, that’s not your job.
I’m sure most people know that referral business and building up solid long lasting relationships is always going to be the best option. There are enough stats to suggest that it’s between 5x and 9x cheaper to retain a current client than gain a new one.
What you said isn’t a pipe dream, it is what successful sales people do do and have done for years in ADDITION to cold calling. I was talking about one aspect of gaining business, not the only aspect by any means.
When a business is new it needs clients and by default they can’t come from referrals. Also, every business need new clients and the best bring those in through multiple approaches. I doubt there is a single Fortune 500 comapny that doesn’t operate new business sales teams. It is their lifeblood.
True, people are bombarded by sales messages. I get about 10 offers from credit card companies per week. They simple don’t work. Or rather they do work and work well on an ROI model. The banks know the take up rates and they know what they need to make them successful. As soon as they stop working (and imho they will) they’ll dry up. Do you know the life time worth of a customer to AMEX? Let me tell you it pays for several thousand mailers.
With scripts, they have to sound conversational and as such I tell people to write what they would say in an ideal world without the um’s and ah’s and stopping to think what to say next. There are scripts like you hear from call centers and there are individual scripts used by successful sales people that you never know are scripts and that is the point.
I’m sure Naomi will be cool with this, cuz she’s a cool person ;-)
@ Tim – If you were part of a “New Business Development” team, and your sole purpose was getting NEW clients, then yes, I can see how cold calling would be your life blood. Although, depending on the product and business model, there may still be better ways of lead generation, such as somehow getting people to raise their hands on an offer. Might work for, say, golf memberships, but probably not for credit cards.
Personally, having my entire job be that kind of “churn n’ burn” role would probably launch me on a tri-state killing spree before long.
I guess the conclusion we can reach is this. IF you have to cold call, then the information you posted in your original post was spot on. But if you don’t HAVE TO cold call, there are other methods that could work better.