Having a good cold call script can sometimes be the difference when trying to get a prospect to open up. And there is one component we can easily leave out: pre-qualifying questions.

 

What are pre-qualifying questions?

Pre-qualifying questions help determine how well the prospect fits with what you have to offer. If the prospect does not even have a slight fit, it really does not make sense for you to spend your valuable time continuing to talk with them.

The first place to look is whether the prospect has any needs in the area you help with. Is the prospect great, good, OK, or could it be better? If they are great or good, they might not be interested in what you have to offer. And even if you are persuasive enough to get them interested when things are great, they will likely not be able to justify making a purchase when it comes time to pull the trigger and spend money.

Another place where your pre-qualifying needs to focus in your cold call script is on whether the prospect is the right person to speak with. This does not necessarily mean you need to find out whether the prospect is the ultimate decision-maker during the cold call, as it may still be worth your time to talk to an influencer. What you want to find out here is whether or not the person you are talking to is even in the right general area.

Why is this important?

Including pre-qualifying questions in your cold call script is helpful for a couple of reasons:

Protects your valuable time
Your time is the most valuable resource that you have. There is nothing you can do to add more hours to the week or to replace time wasted. As a result, you must protect your time as much as possible.

Asking pre-qualifying questions you wouldn’t have asked before will help you ensure you are talking to better-quality prospects. This will help you reduce the time wasted on lower-quality prospects.

Sets you apart from other salespeople
Most salespeople are focused on always selling and closing. Asking pre-qualifying questions in your cold call script is somewhat the opposite, as you are assessing the prospect instead of trying to sell them on what you have to offer. This can help you to stand out from the other salespeople that a prospect might be dealing with.

Helps to build rapport
When you stand out from the other salespeople, you might gain more respect from the prospect, and this can help you build rapport and foster the beginning of a relationship.

 

SalesScripter provides tools to help sales pros to build a good cold call script.