This is a cold call script example from a call I received from a stock broker.

What Went Well
One thing this salesperson did well on this cold call script example is that he had good energy. He almost sounded like he had just had a cup of coffee and that he enjoyed his job, and I think that is good. He also had good pacing, where he did not rush through the call and took his time with what he had to say, and that was also good.

What Could Have Been Done Better
One very big thing that this guy did that I did not like or really understand is that he fabricated some history of us talking in the past by saying that we had spoken before when I am almost 100% positive that we have never spoken. This is a very bad thing to do, as it can do tremendous harm to trust and credibility.

Another thing that I did not like in this cold call script example is that he sounded like a salesperson trying to sell something. One of our core philosophies is that cold calling can be easier and more successful if do what you can to minimize how much you look like a salesperson trying to sell something. We explain why we believe this and how to do this in almost every training module that we provide, and you can watch all of those for free on our blog or our YouTube channel.

What Objections Came Up
I recommend that after every cold call, you reflect on what objections came up and how you or the salesperson responded to them. In this cold call script example, the objection that I gave the stockbroker was that I was not interested. This guy responded in a way that we recommend, which is asking another question, which is good, but he asked a horrible question.

We recommend that you respond to the objection of “I am not interested” with one of your pre-qualifying questions, which is a soft question that probes for what is going on with the prospect. This guy asked a hard qualifying question, which is a filtering question that identifies if the prospect has the need to purchase, authority to purchase, ability to purchase, and/or the intent to purchase.

It is good to ask hard qualifying questions, but it does not make sense to ask those on cold calls because 1) it is too early to ask such hard questions and 2) your goal on a cold call should be to progress to a large conversation, and you don’t need to ask a hard qualifying question to determine if it makes sense to progress to that step in the sales process.

What Questions Could Have Been Asked
The goal of the stock broker’s cold call should have been to get me to progress to a real conversation and that could either be setting an appointment or having a longer conversation right than on the phone. To find a reason to close for that, he could have asked some good pre-qualifying questions either before my objection or as a response to my objection.

If he then got a good response from me to one of his questions in his cold call script example, he could have then tried to close me for the next step in his sales process.