Almost every cold call opens with the salesperson asking, “How are you doing?” Which, at first glance, seems like the best and most appropriate thing to ask at the beginning of a cold call. But there are a few reasons why this is not the best way to start a cold call:

  • Empty gesture
  • Flags you as a salesperson
  • Waste of a question and time
  • Trying to Manufacture Rapport

 

Empty Gesture

If it is a cold call, that means the salesperson and prospect do not know each other and have never spoken before. With that, when a salesperson asks, “How are you doing?”, it is an empty gesture, meaning it is an action or statement that has no real meaning, value, or substance, and is often performed to give the appearance of care or intent without any genuine commitment.

 

Flags You as a Salesperson

When I receive a call from someone I don’t know and the first thing they ask is how I am doing, I know it’s most likely a cold call from a salesperson. This is because almost all cold calls start with this question being asked. If I receive a different type of business-related call, in most cases, they will flow into what the call is about and not spend time asking me how I am doing.

When you say something that flags you as a salesperson, you are likely to trigger the prospect’s guardedness. That increases the potential for objections, rejection, and resistance.

 

Waste of A Question and Time

Cold calls are extremely short and fast. You only have a limited amount of time to work with, and that means you can only ask a certain number of questions. When you open a cold call by asking how the prospect is doing, you are wasting time and one of the questions you could ask.

 

Trying to Manufacture Rapport

I believe many salespeople ask, “How are you doing?” as a way to try to establish rapport. If the prospect likes us, it will improve our cold call performance and increase the odds of selling something. And that if we ask how the prospect is doing, it will increase rapport and make the prospect like us a little bit more.

But the interesting thing is that, in my opinion, because of the previous three points, you are more likely to see a slight decrease in rapport when you ask, “How are you doing?” Not that it is a show-stopper mistake, but more that you are having the exact opposite effect of what you are hoping for or expecting – instead of slightly boosting rapport, there is a slight decrease.

 

Another Option for You

You might respond to that with, “I am just trying to be nice. What else am I going to say at the beginning of a cold call?” The answer to that is to replace “How are you doing?” with “Did I catch you in the middle of anything?”

This might seem like a minor change, but it can have a fairly significant impact on your ability to open calls for these reasons:

  • Confirms availability
  • Buys you a window of time
  • Creates a tone of familiarity
  • Builds rapport

 

Confirms Availability

This question is extremely effective at measuring how busy the prospect is. The response you receive to this question will usually indicate whether you have the time and space needed to execute your cold call.

 

Buys You a Window of Time

If you get a response to this question where the prospect says they are not in the middle of anything, you have just bought yourself a 2 to 5-minute window of time to work with for your cold call. Securing this should help you feel more comfortable and provide clarity on what you have to work with.

 

Creates a Tone of Familiarity

When you are selling, you might think that you should be as professional as possible. And on paper, that makes sense. But in real life, the more professional you are, the more you are going to look like a salesperson who is trying to sell something. That means, the more professional you are, specifically when cold calling, the more guardedness and objections you are going to trigger.

If you agree with that, then there can be a benefit from trying to be more informal when cold calling. And the question, “Did I catch you in the middle of anything?” helps you to do that because it creates a tone of familiarity. That is because this is the type of question a colleague or friend would ask. That means this question can flip things around for you, and instead of triggering guardedness, it actually decreases guardedness.

 

Build Rapport

This question is more likely to help the salesperson achieve their goal of building rapport, and there are two key reasons for this. First, when you ask a question like this, you are showing respect for the prospect’s time. That you know and understand how they are likely to get very busy. And that you want to be respectful of that and not waste their time or distract them from something very important.

And secondly, this question can also help to create more rapport by establishing a more familiar, informal, and friendly tone. This tone is more likely to boost rapport than anything else.

 

Try It Out

You can easily test this tactic out by swapping “How are you doing today?” with “Did I catch you in the middle of anything?” See how it goes and let us know your results.