PART I
WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUāRE PROSPECTING
Prospecting is essential to the sales cycle. Itās something salespeople should doāmust doāevery day. Elsewhere Iāve talked about the importance of keeping up your numbers, your cold-call-to-appointments ratio. As weāll see, choosing the right words is an invaluable tool in that process.
CHAPTER 1
The Right Words for a Cold Call
Cold calling is one of the most basic parts of the sales process. The cold call plays an essential role in successful prospecting. Itās the best and most economical way for you to develop sales leads into prospects on an ongoing basis. And itās a place where using the right words and phrases can make a huge difference in how the call goes.
- In the introduction: Hello, Mr. Smith. My nameās Bob Johnson.
- In the reason for your call: Iād like to talk to you about improving your sales performance by at least 25 percent.
- In asking for an appointment: Weāve got a lot to talk about, Mr. Smith. How about meeting this Friday at 2:00 P.M.?
This may seem simple, but straying too much from these key words and phrases can cause your cold call to go badly off track. Above all, you have to keep this in mind: When youāre following up with leads, your first and most important step is to get the appointment. So the main task of a cold call is to get an appointment. Itās as simple as that.
Cold Call Mechanics
There are five basic elements to the initial cold call:
- Get the personās attention
- Identify yourself and your company
- Give the reason for your call
- Make a qualifying/questioning statement
- Set the appointment
Iām going to cover these in order, explaining key words and phrases that are appropriate to each element.
Here then are the five elements.
1. Get the Personās Attention
Letās assume Iām calling you. Depending upon what I say, youāre going to respond. No matter what I say, youāre going to respond somehow. And the better I get at my opening, the more likely I am to get a good response from you!
People Respond in Kind
When you try to get the personās attention, remember that people respond in kind. Most salespeople think they have to say something unique or provocative to grab a prospectās attention. The easiest, simplest way of opening up and getting the prospectās attention is by saying his or her name. Call up and say, āGood morning, Mr. Jones.ā
Words and Phrases to Introduce Yourself
Good morning
Good afternoon
How are you?
Itās good to speak with you
The opening of your call is going to lead to a response. You can anticipate that response. You are then going to produce an appropriate turnaround, which should get the appointment. The key to the call is actually not the opening. The reality is no matter what you say in the opening, people are going to respond to you, and you can prepare for those responses.
2. Identify Yourself and Your Company
If I called you up and simply said, āGood morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc.,ā you probably would not know who I wasāor what D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc. wasāand you probably wouldnāt give me the kind of response I wanted. Therefore, I have to go further. I have to build a brief introduction, or commercial, into the call. For example, I could say, āGood morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. here in New York City. Weāre a major sales training company thatās worked with over 500,000 salespeople.ā
Words and Phrases to Identify You and Your Company
This is John Johnson from the XYZ Company. We specialize in information systems maintenance and repair.
This is Alice Allison from ABC Company, Inc. Weāre a nationwide dealership in used electronics.
We make
We create
We service
We provide
We assemble
We manufacture
We innovate
We communicate
Good morning, Mr. Jones. My name is David Davidson from ClickClack Company. We do a lot of our business in the Midwest, servicing farm implements. We have offices in Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, and Sioux City, Iowa. We have over 800 employees, and we offer full-service contracts every year for more than 10,000 machines in the following statesā¦
āClick.ā The lead has already hung up. You gave too much information at the wrong time. For right now, keep it simple and one sentence long.
3. Give the Reason for Your Call
Now, the third step, the reason for the call, becomes important. Of course, if you make enough cold calls, youāll get some kind of response. What weāre interested in here is improving the response you get.
When calling for an appointment, I suggest you say the following: āThe reason Iām calling you today specifically is to set an appointment.ā
Now, if that were all I said, if that were my entire program, what do you think would happen? I would get appointments.
If I simply say, āThe reason Iām calling today is to set an appointment,ā someone will see me. In fact, my experience is that something like one person out of twelve will see you simply because that person is not sure what youāre calling about and will agree to meet with you because you asked. Now do you see why it begins to make sense just to ask for an appointment in a straightforward way?
I can enhance that third element of the script. Instead of simply saying, āThe reason Iām calling is to set an appointment,ā I can turn it into something more compelling by saying, for instance, āThe reason Iām calling you today specifically is to set an appointment so I can stop by and tell you about our new sales training programs and how they can increase the productivity of your sales force.ā
Notice that what Iāve just said paints a picture for Mr. Jones. Iāve really given him a reason for my call. Iāve talked about increasing productivity. Iāve actually given him some reasons we should get together.
Words and Phrases to Say Why You Called
The reason Iām calling you today is to set up an appointment
Our program can benefit your company
My companyās systems can increase your workforce productivity
Weāll work with you to develop new customer service solutions
improve
expand
further develop
4. Make a Questioning or Qualifying Statement
Now, Iām going to add a questioning statement thatās going to allow the prospect an opportunity to respond to me in kindāfavorably. The question that Iām going to ask has to be based on my reason for calling Mr. Jones.
My qualifying or questioning statement has to follow easily and logically from that statement. It has to be a reasonable and nonmanipulative extension of whatās come before.
I can start out with, āMr. Jones, Iām sure that you, like a lot of the other companies that I work withā¦ā and here I insert some real names. I might mention a computer company, an HMO, or a life insurance company. It could sound like this: āIām sure that you, like ABC Company, are interested in having a more effective sales staff.ā We now have a name inserted as a reference. Mr. Jones is much more likely to say, āYes, Iām interested.ā
Words and Phrases for a Questioning Statement
Like the XYZ Corporation, Iām sure youād be interested in improving your customer service response times.
Since the BigSales Corporation has increased its market penetration by more than 15 percent, Iām sure youād like to match them in that.
Would you be interested, like the ABC Company, in seeing a growth in your door-to-door delivery times of around 20 percent?
expanded its area
increased sales
more effective staff
developed outreach
5. Set the Appointment
Now Iām ready to set the appointment. Hereās how:
āThatās great, Mr. Jones, then we should get together. How about Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.?ā
Thatās it. Look at it again! You are simply going to say something like the following: āThatās great, Mr. Jones, then we should get together. Howās Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.?ā Be specific. The request must be this direct, this brief, and this specific. Donāt change it!
The discussion should focus on when weāre going to get together, not whether weāre going to get together. Now I have a better chance of getting the appointment.
The biggest mistake most salespeople make is that they fail to ask directly and specifically for the appointment. When I say, āLetās get together Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.,ā Iām being specific, and Iām going to get a response in kindāthat is, a specific answer about the appointment on Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.ābecause as I told you earlier, people respond in kind.
Words and Phrases to Get the Appointment
We should talk further. Howās Monday at 4:00 P.M.?
We certainly have a lot to discuss. Are you free Tuesday at noon?
Iād like this to be the basis for further discussion. Shall we say Friday at 9:00 A.M.?
Letās talk more about this Wednesday at 2:00 P.M.
āBut I Donāt Want to Use a Script!ā
Have you recently seen a movie or a television show that you really enjoyed? Sure you have. Did the actors in that drama or that comedy sound like they were reading from a script? No. It doesnāt sound like a script because the actor has internalized what has to be said. Thatās what you must do. You should use a script, but you donāt have to just read mechanically from the paper in front of you. Instead, you have to internalize what youāre going to say so it sounds natural.
For example, Iāve been teaching the Cold Calling Techniques program for years. Iāve learned it, Iāve memorized it, and Iāve internalized it. I can, therefore, take that program and change it and adjust it as the circumstances require. It always sounds natural.
The objective here is not to āhandcuffā you with a script. The objective is to help you develop a script that will help you say what you need to say, while freeing you to pay attention to the prospectās response, which is whatās really important.
What is the response? What is the person saying? Are we creating an atmosphere that will make it easy to prompt positive responses? Or are people responding negatively because weāve asked the wrong questions, or asked the right questions in the wrong way? Using a script makes it easier for you to listen for crucial information, since you know exactly what youāre going to say.
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