Unique Cold Calling Technique Helps Increase Prospecting Success

Successful sales racehorses understand that most prospects hate to receive traditional cold calls, and their first thought when they answer the phone is typically, “Oh no. How do I get rid of this caller?” The primary reason for this is that nobody likes to be sold. As a result, sales laggards often dread-and even fear-telephone prospecting. Consequently, they fail to execute one of the most important components of their profession: Qualified Lead Generation.

The successful technique I describe below capitalizes on the fact that prospects are often willing to help the caller if it provides a means for avoiding a sales pitch! Sales racehorses actually enjoy cold calling, because their objectives and goals for the process are different. With this technique, the opportunity for cold call rejection is minimized while the opportunity to grow the sales pipeline is greatly increased.

Prevent Cold Calling Objections

It’s amazing at how infrequently this unique and highly successful cold calling technique is used. This technique will prevent initial cold calling objections, and will help you to convert “screeners” into “coaches”. Ultimately, a coach can play a significant role in helping you to develop a new customer account.

So, don’t be a rookie and launch into your sales pitch!  Use your initial cold calling as part of your prospect research process. Don’t make the assumption that this prospect will buy from you, or even has the authority to do so. Assume that (s)he is someone who is in a position to help you identify individuals within his or her organization who might benefit from your products or services. This assumption will, in most cases, be accurate.

Begin by first introducing yourself and your organization, and briefly describe what it is that your company does.

Help Your Prospect Do What They Already Want to Do

Ask your prospect if they would be willing to help you. Your introduction might sound something like this:

• “Good morning. I’m Scott Trunkett with Wid-Jitco. Our company extends the life of the type of equipment you use to manufacture your product, (don’t pause) and since this is the first time I’ve spoken with someone directly in your company, I was wondering if you would be able to help me please.”
• If this contact is a referred contact, then let him or her know who it was that recommended you call.
• If the prospect has any questions, go ahead and answer them and follow up with one of your qualifying or research questions.
• Then move quickly to the reason for your call, which is to get some help. Your next question should be something like:
• “Would you be able to tell me who in your organization is responsible for making decisions regarding productivity upgrades for your company’s equipment?” Ask your contact first for the highest level influencer he can recommend, and ask him if there are any others who might benefit from your capabilities in this area.
• End the call by saying “Thank you for your help. I will follow up with you to let you know how I progress.”
• Say goodbye, and let your contact get back to his/her busy day.

Throughout the call, pay attention to key methods for building trust and rapport over the telephone.

If you’re unable to reach your contact directly, leave a compelling voicemail that generates callbacks, then exit out of voicemail and try to reach another contact using the same prospecting strategy.

By simply asking your contact for a referral, you have not threatened him with a sales pitch or presentation, and you have begun to develop a non-threatening personal relationship. You have also gained some insightful information into the prospect’s business and collected a few potentially valuable referrals.

In a later post, we will discuss some processes for following up with warm calls and referral calls.