In this video, we provide a sales call example of a salesperson cold calling to set appointments for marketing consulting services. This is actually one of the better cold calls I have heard, and I explain why in the video and in the blog below.

 

TLDR

Here are the main points why this is a good sales call example:

  • She made the sales call more about the prospect than the product.
  • She did that by asking many questions.
  • The questions she asked were an attempt to identify areas of pain.
  • It is good to ask questions, but you need to ask good questions.
  • She could have asked better questions.
  • By improving her questions, we could improve her results.
  • We show examples of new questions in the video.

 

The Sales Call Example Was All About the Prospect

One thing that made this sales call different from others was that she focused more on the prospect. This is different from what most salespeople do on calls I receive: they talk primarily about themselves by talking about their product and company.

By making the cold call more about the prospect, you can not only create a more balanced and engaging conversation but also gather valuable information that can help you find opportunities, generate leads, and justify talking more.

 

The Salesperson Asked Questions to Learn About the Prospect

To make the sales call more about the prospect than about the product, the only thing this salesperson had to do was ask a lot of questions. By doing this, you flip the call from being all about me to being all about the prospect.

This will take the call away from the salesperson talking about their product and company and make it more about the prospect and what they are doing today. This switch is very easy; you just have to figure out good questions to ask.

 

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The Salesperson Did Not Ask Great Sales Questions

The main area for improvement for this salesperson was the questions she asked. It is great that this salesperson asked many questions. But it is important that you ask good questions.

Here are the questions she asked:

  • What is that looking like? (regarding customer acquisition)
  • What is your personal brand looking like?
  • Which platforms are you performing strongest on?
  • How many qualified leads are coming per week from YouTube?
  • Do you feel like it’s working the way you want it to, or is there an area for improvement?
  • Why do you think YouTube is not working the way you want it to?
  • The quality of the leads from YouTube is pretty good?
  • They are converting into booked calls?

These questions are not great. They were either too broad and led nowhere, or too specific and detailed for a short cold call.

 

Creating Effective Sales Questions

Here is a process she can use to create effective sales questions; you can use the same process for your product or service.

 

Pain Questions

We recommend you create pain questions. These questions align with the pain points you help solve and can be used to determine whether the prospect has pain, challenges, or concerns in the specific area where our product helps.

Here are pain questions for this salesperson:

  • How do you feel about the rate your business is currently growing at?
  • How important is it to boost lead generation?
  • How happy are you with your hiring process and the people you are recruiting?
  • How much of a priority is it to optimize and improve your internal processes?

 

Current State Questions

A second category of questions to ask is about the current state. These are designed to gather details about what the prospect is doing in the area where the product or service fits. While these questions are primarily designed to see what is going on, they can also uncover pain in many instances.

Here are the current state questions for this sales call example:

  • Are you doing any type of lead generation or cold outreach activities?
  • How are you generating leads or getting business?
  • What channels or social platforms are you currently using for marketing?
  • How many leads are you generating per week? Month?
  • What are your growth goals or targets?
  • Have you ever worked with a marketing consultant or coach?
  • What does your organization look like?
  • How many employees do you have?

 

Recommended Cold Call Script

In the attached video, we show what a cold call would look like with these questions being incorporated. This small change would likely lead to a significant improvement in this salesperson’s cold calling efforts.

We hope this sales call example provides some new ideas that help you with your sales efforts!