Cold Calling

Cold Calling:
How to Nail the
First 20 Seconds and
Engage the Prospect

Cold calling is not an optional skill
Cold-calling to fill your sales funnel with new prospects isn’t an optional
skill for an ambitious salesperson. If you don’t do it, or do it ineffectively, you
won’t hit your numbers next quarter, and the quarter after that. And yet …
most salespeople resist it.
Cold-callreluctance is no mystery. People don’t like to get rejected, and
that’s how it feels when you call somebody out of the blue and they don’t
want what you’re selling.

T his report will help:
· Beginners who go about cold calling all wrong and get hammered day in
and day out.
· Capable sellers who do some things right but still often feel rejected.
· Seasoned vets who have to really kickthemselves to do cold calling
regularly.

You will learn:
1. The number 1 mistake that triggers a prospect’s “flight response,”
guarantees rejection and fuels cold-call reluctance
2. Why cold calling is NOT a numbers game
3. The three parts of a rock-solid cold-calling script (and yes, you
absolutely need one)
4. And why the best salespeople rarely feel the sting of rejection, even on
thecoldest of cold calls

The #1 mistake in cold calling
Let’s start with the #1 mistake. The worst thing you can possibly do during
the first 20 seconds of a cold call is talk about your products and your
company. When you do that, you’re making the call about ‘me me me.”
How would you feel if you met a stranger at a party and his first 20 seconds
with you sounded like this? “Hi I’m Larry. I comefrom an old money family
on Long Island. After graduating Harvard, I worked 10 years on Wall Street
and now run my own hedge fund.”
You’d being thinking, “How fast can I get away from this guy?” Why do
people like this trigger your flight response? Because you – like everyone else
– are hard-wired to seek out people who are interested in YOU and your wellbeing. Larry has no interest in you. Infact, your subconscious perceives him
as poised to suck the life out of you.

Copyright 2010 Rapid Learning Institute

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Too much “me” sucks the life out of a sale
But isn’t that similar to what salespeople do when they call prospects and
say, “Hi, I’m Joe from Mega Widget Company. We’re the premium global
producer of Widgets. We’re known for our outstanding service and dedicatedtechnical support. I’d like to meet with you and tell you about all the products
and services that make us the market leader.”
The psychological reaction is identical to the one we had with Larry. What
prospect wouldn’t be thinking, “How fast can I get this guy off the phone?”
Amateurs do this all the time because they simply don’t know any better. But
even experienced sellers get lazy and makecold calls that are too much about
“me- me.” The slightest hint of “me-talk” can trigger a flight mechanism.

Q uality matters in cold calling
The fact is, impersonating Long Island Larry is the easy way to go. You’re
an expert on your company, its products and the benefits you deliver. You
could recite a cold-call script about your products in your sleep. If you make
enough “me…me…me”calls, eventually you’ll find a real prospect. Even a
blind squirrel finds an acorn from time to time.
But the cost of dialing for dollars is huge. Rejection takes its toll. Eventually
it fuels call reluctance. You cut back on the calls. Your funnel dries up. You
miss your numbers. There’s a better way, and it starts with a simple maxim:
Cold calling is NOT just a numbers game. Quality matters.What’s that mean? It means from now on don’t ever make a cold call to
someone you know nothing about. Do your homework before every call. That
way you never sound like you’re dialing for dollars or cold-calling an
anonymous list.

I ntelligence is key
How do you find out about people? Successful salespeople know the
awesome power of tools like the prospect’s Website, Internet searches and...