“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
-Robert Collier
The Basics
99% of internet markers (me included) don’t like cold calling. In the world of offline marketing it is probably the hardest part of the job. Quite frankly if you don’t like it and you can afford it, I would recommend outsourcing it. Hopefully you can get to the point where you no longer need to make cold calls, instead you can rely on online lead generation methods and referrals. However if your just starting out and you can’t afford to outsource it cold calling is a great way to get real paying clients.
Cold calling is the most effective lead generation tool, that’s why there is endless training material on how and how not to do it. I don’t consider myself a cold calling expert and like I said I don’t enjoy doing it, but I have done it with some success. Therefore this training will just be my own little spin on cold calling.
First and foremost when cold calling for me I know there is one thing that kept me from doing it as often as I should have…. fear. No matter what I called it or what I pretended it was all it really was fear. Now I was just fine in one on one meetings, in fact I excelled at closing deals. But there was just something about picking up a phone and calling 50 businesses every day and I wanted no part of it.
So what changed for me, well I realized two things. First the one thing that I hated more than cold calling was NOT HAVING CLIENTS and its repercussions. Second everything that I was doing was passive and I wasn’t doing anything that produced leads on a regular basis. With that in mind I decided that I had to focus on cold calling no matter what so that I could reasonable expect, legitimate meetings with business owners interested in my services.
Fear
I don’t know what it was like for you but I’m a fairly confident person. However there was something about cold calling that made me scared out of my mind. It wasn’t just hearing people say no but something more than that. So I knew that if I were going to do cold calling I had to do something about this fear that I was having. The problem was I would let my imagination go crazy with all of the things that could go wrong during the call.
My solution was twofold. First if for some reason I was feeling nervous or scared before a call I would just give myself 3 seconds and acknowledge it. Following that I would take 5-7 seconds take some deep breathes and visualize speaking with a business owner that is 100% happy and excited that I called because I can help grow his/her business. I visualized having a fun and enjoyable call with the business owner and setting a meeting to talk more about how I can help them. I take a couple more deep breathes and start to dial.
Value
Another problem I had when cold calling was a general lack in confidence. Not because I wasn’t confident in my skills or services I was offering but a lack in confidence in my approach. When I first started I was just trying to cold call to get a sale and do everything on the phone. Going back to the fear a little bit, I didn’t feel like I was adding any value to a business by just cold calling.
To help with this I decided to only call with some type of benefit to the business owner. Instead of calling with the “hey I can get you higher rankings” I offer some type of report, mockup, analysis just something to add value from my call. This way I know the business owner will get immediate value from my call and be more likely to have a meeting.
Offer
My last issue with cold calling was trying to close over the phone. I was never good at closing over the phone during first contact with a business owner. The easiest way for me to get around this was to stop trying! I felt more comfortable in a one on one meeting with a business owner so over the phone I would only to close a meeting and NOT a sale.
Script
Finally I developed that I was 100% comfortable with and could repeat in my sleep. Having a reliable script gave me more confidence and helped me close more meetings. Another thing it did was give me a foundation to use no matter who was calling my business. For example if a business owner calls me right now interested in a website redesign then I basically just start into my “website redesign script.” Obviously this is done in a natural manner and doesn’t sound like a script, but I am always ready to field a call and close a potential meeting.
So here is my exact script:
“Hello, this is Heidi can I speak to the owner (say business owner name if you know it)?”
“What is this call in reference too?” (Gatekeeper)
“Who am I speaking with?”
“This is Pam”
“Hi Pam I’m hoping that you can help me out. <vague info about service>.” (note you never want to pitch the gatekeeper, by keeping the information vague she will be force to connect you with the owner)
“Oh ok. Well you can just leave the information with me” (expect objections, just continue to until you speak with the business owner)
“Actually I should leave it with the owner directly”
“One moment please”
“Thanks”
…..
“This is {Owner Name}”
“Hello John, this is Heidi….. is this a good time to talk? I have some information about your business that will take 2 minutes”
“Alright”
“I work with a company’s in <insert industry> that want to get more customers and more profits”
“What we do is help these companies increase the effectiveness of their current marketing by 300% or more”
“<Additional benefit of your service 2>”
“<Additional benefit of your service 3>”
“Are you the type of business that wants: more new customers, <benefit 2> and <benefit 3>?”
(do not say anything let them respond)
“Uhhh yes”
“What exactly do you do?”
“Well I would love to explain more of it to you so… lets schedule a meeting and I will go over <value proposition>. I have Tuesday’s and Thursday available which works best for you?”
“Tuesday I will have some free time”
“Great. My morning schedule is tight when will you be available in the afternoon, I only need about 15 mins”
“Let’s do 4 PM”
“Great see you then John”
I will modify this script accordingly to match whatever service I’m offering. Now as I mentioned before I don’t have to do any cold calling for my business. The only time I do any cold calling is when I want to get more leads into my funnel with one off services. So I may cold call a businesses that I think can use YouTube Optimization package or a new services I come up with. Having a reliable script that is natural is very important for your cold calling success.
What’s Next
You now have access to the exact script I use to promote my business and services. Please adjust it accordingly to match you and your services. It doesn’t not have to be exactly what I have here, you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. The most important thing with cold calling is that you do it until you achieve your goals. Also start early with your cold calling most business owners have the morning open doing office work and finishing work from the previous day.
If you want more information about cold calling be sure to check out the WarriorForum. There are lots of great threads and WSO’s about how to effectively cold call and build a successful business.