The Point of Cold Calling is NOT to Fnd Out About Them

Think about it. You call a high-level decision-maker cold and can expect to have 90-seconds of time with him or her on the phone. Focus on getting an appointment with the prospect. After all you do best when you are face-to-face with people.

Avoid the temptation to ask about what they do and what their needs are.

After all, they don't know you from Adam (or Eve) and aren't inclined to waste time educating strangers about the inner most points of their business. You have 90-seconds. Make the most of them.

DO, however, spend several seconds identifying what you can do for them.

Now, you may be wondering how on earth you are going to know what you can do for them if you don't know about their business?

You know more than you think you know.

You know your business and what you have been able to do for others. The purpose of your cold call is to determine whether or not you can do the same for this prospect.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Three Topics that Grab the Interest of Top Dog Prospects

When it gets down to it there are three and only three topics that command the interest of high-level decision makers.

1. How to increase revenues
2. How to decrease expenses
3. How to improve communications

The "elevator speech", that 30-second commercial, also known as your unique selling proposition (USP) that'll capture the attention of your executive-level prospect will clearly speak to one of these three areas.

Ask your satisfied clients what it is about your product/service that made a difference for them in these areas. Then, craft your USP around the feedback provided by them.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Connecting with Your Prospect During Cold Calls

A sales guy called our offices and got a hold of me directly.

I was in the midst of working on a deal (surprise, surprise) when the sales person said, "Hi, Ms. Buterin. Who makes the decisions in your company?"

"I do. How can I help you."

He then asked, "How are you today?"

I replied honestly, in a "top dog" kind of bottom line way ... "I'm doing well and I'm in the middle of something, glad to hear about what you have to sell if you can get to the point quickly."

To which he said, "OK." and hung up.

I smiled, shook my head, and went about my business. I would go on to use that scenario to teach others how to cold call prospect. No doubt that sales guy went on to more and more frustration. Odds are he didn't learn a thing from our interaction.

Here's one point, when you aren't used to talking to "top dog decision makers" odds are you will react emotionally to what is said by the "top dog prospect" on the other end of the line.

"Top dog" are likely to speak in bottom line terms, quickly convey exactly what they need and are interested in. If bottom line conversations are too abrupt for you to handle at this point, be sure to build up your tolerance for fast paced, high-level conversations.

Role playing is a great way to "condition you." Role playing helps you build control over your emotional reactions so that you can "hear what the decision maker is saying" and stop misreading bottom line conversations as "rudeness."

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Engage Your Cold Calling Prosect

Coney wrote, "The toughest part is cold-calling a Middle-Market CFO or CEO and saying something on the phone that will get you an appointment. I’ve tried saying, “Hi, my name is Coney XXXXX , I’m a lender for XYZ Bank, the Xth largest bank in the U.S.. I’d like to come by and tell you more about the bank and also learn more about your company.” That doesn’t work. They could care less about learning about XYZ Bank and since they have an existing bank, they don’t want to take the time to tell you about their company unless there’s a good reason—like they’re in the market for a bank. How do I engage them and get them interested in meeting with me?"

We'll cover this great question that gets to the heart of the matter -- this week.

I know you said your prospect could care less about learning about XYZ Bank -- and you are absolutely right. Let's drill down on that very thought.

Many sales pros feel as though they MUST announce their company name when making cold calls. There is absolutely no need to do so.

Don't let the simple power of that statement slip by you.

There really is NO NEED to state the name of your company when you are cold call prospecting.

In fact stating your company's name can cause a mental switch to flip in the brain of your prospect -- a switch that says, "I don't care, I''m waaaaay busy with other things, goodbye."

So, begin the process of "engaging" with your prospects by doing this immediately, STOP saying who you work for when you make your cold calls. Take that phrase out of your cold calling script immediately if not sooner!

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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More about Your Unique Selling Proposition

Take a bit of time to interview your happy clients and you'll glean important, valuable information.

By way of brief example, when you visit our cold calling site you'll see several statements made by a handful of our clients. Their comments range from:

"I called 4 prospects who said 'no' before ... and I got appointments with all 4 prospects on the first call." to

"The 'Top Dog' techniques increased our business multifold. Just one call to one prospect resulted in a contract that increased our revenues by 50% for several consecutive years."

You will hear similar comments from your happy clients as well. Especially those who do what you advise them to do and see the project through to a successful end. After all you are the expert in your field and know the sublties of your products and services far better than your prospects as your business life is devoted to close examination of your profession.

When you receive these kinds of comments you can start crafting the "killer" benefit statement that will get you in the door - with face to face meetings with high-level decision makers. Where you can sell your products and services quickly and effectively.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Your Cold Calling USP

A "Top Dog Classic" opening line for those in the Staffing and Placement Industry is, "I'm calling for an appointment to see whether or not I can reduce your workforce expenses by 20%."

David asked, "By the way, the 20-40% cost savings for staffing/recruiting services is based on what data?"

Re: 20-40% cost savings. The 20% is a good number to catch the attention of the decision maker. A lower number doesn’t do much for getting a high-level prospect to notice you. A higher number (even if it is accurate) seems to divert the prospect into thinking “this is outside of the realm of possibility.”

As for a basis for the 20% figure, when you think about the hard costs:
- recruitment efforts (training of recruiters, travel expenses, building familiarity with each segment of the workforce)
- the ability to “try out” an employee before making the commitment to employ them full time
- the value add of your strong file of contacts because you do this full time and have the ease of moving across industries nationwide (something most in-house recruiters do not have the luxury of doing)
- your ability to meet with “top decision makers” (which most in-house recruiters don’t have even within their own companies)

These factors make 20% savings a conservative estimate, that high-level decision-makers understand and appreciate.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Key to a Killer Cold Call Script

Think about your products/service.

Think about what your satisfied clients think about your products/service.

Quantify what your clients really want from you and put it into your killer cold call script. This is your USP. Your Unique Selling Proposition.

One of the most famous examples of such a USP is "Domino's Pizza Delivers in 30 Minutes or Less -- Guaranteed!"

Don't know whether this is fact or fiction, but I've heard that Domino's dropped the "30 minutes or less" portion of their original USP because their delivery guys were getting into or causing accidents doing their best to honor that commitment!

Notice the USP doesn't say "delivers great tasting pizza loaded with organic toppings." That's not what Domino's clients are interested in. They want fast delivery and that's what precisely what Domino's gives 'em.

Notice how, at least in the beginning days of using this phrase, Domino's quantified their delivery, they'd get it to you in 30 minutes or less.

Now, think about what's meaningful to your clients about your business. How can you quantify that meaningful component? How can you put it into a USP of your own? Feel free to share it here if you want and let your colleagues provide you with feedback.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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The Non-Generic Cold Calling Script

When David and I were talking on the phone, he confessed, "I'm impatient. Any chance you have a batch of generic cold calling scripts I can use that'll work?"

Big smile.

I'm impatient too. In fact we sales professionals are notorious for having the attention span of a gnat! However, patience is a virtue for those of us who want to build an excellent cold calling script.

The pattern of successful scripts is the same: you're calling to get an appointment to see whether or not your product/services can help your prospect achieve specific business goals.

The phrasing of the words within that pattern is unique to your business. To come up with a killer opening line you need to do some research. Start out by interviewing your happy clients and getting them to identify in quantifiable terms how in fact your product/services helped them achieve their business goals. Use their words to begin crafting your phrasing.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Craft a Compelling Benefit Statement

Bob says, "I have lot of trouble coming up with a good benefit statement ... and not being shipped off to HR. All of my contact will always be on the phone. I am an executive recruiter who does permanent placements and specializes in the food manufacturing industry. I have a phenomenal candidate that most companies would love to talk to if they had an opening. He was salesman of the year for several years at XYZ Company.

My technique is to start the conversation with the president talking about this candidate and if he is not interested find out what type of people he would be interested in hearing about. Does this make sense??What can I say to the executive assistant that would not get me shipped off to HR?? 'The purpose of the meeting is....'

Great questions - great topic that we'll spend examining over the next couple of weeks.

To begin with put yourself in your client's chair. Think about the kinds of business results your client wants/needs help attaining? Focus on those results then let your client know about the specific people you have that will help him/her achieve those results.

As you shift your focus from the people you want to place ... to the problems your candidate(s) can solve -- a couple of things will happen.

1. You'll see your candidates in a whole new way.
2. Your clients will see you in a whole new way.
3. You'll become the "go to guy" for clients who want to find people to move them towards their business goals.

The reason you get shuffled off to HR is because your conversations focus on the attributes of your candidates. HR handles people. So it makes sense to most decision makers that you belong with HR.

No offense to HR but most of these folks are perceived as a necessary evil that handles "administrivia" such as benefits and payroll. Important as administrative backup that dots "i"s and crosses "t"s ... NOT as a significant resource for bottom line decision makers.

Your words will either make you sound like "another HR person" or a "high level player, decision-maker". Move your focus to talking about business results and you will have made the transition to "top dog talk." This shift will help you break through to and gain audience with decision makers.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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