In this video, we discuss the best way to open cold calls. This is critical because what you do and say in the first 30 seconds of a cold call will determine your success.
Goal
Before we talk about tactics for opening cold calls, let’s take a step back and clarify the goal at that moment. When the prospect first answers the phone, the goal is not to sell the product – it is simply to establish the call and buy a short window of time.
Confirming Availability
One of the first things you do when opening a cold call is confirm that the prospect is available for your call. This is a fairly debatable topic, as many salespeople believe that trying to confirm the prospect’s availability invites an objection and gives the prospect the opportunity to get rid of you. I don’t agree with that, and I believe you should try to confirm that the prospect is available to get an idea of whether they are “normal” busy or crazy busy.
If the prospect is crazy busy, it probably isn’t a good time to make a cold call. If you can identify that, you can stop the call and regroup on another day. And if the prospect is “normal” busy and you get the green light to move forward, you have just bought yourself a short window to execute your cold call.
How to Confirm Availability
The key to confirming availability is how you ask the prospect. Instead of asking if the prospect is busy because we know they are, ask the prospect if you have caught them in the middle of anything. Not only will this question do a good job of figuring out whether the prospect is “normal” busy or crazy busy, but it is also a very casual and friendly way to talk to the prospect, which can help decrease their guardedness and build rapport.
Don’t Trigger Guardedness
The first thing you need to do to improve the first 30 seconds of a cold call and opening cold calls is to avoid triggering more guardedness. I say more guardedness because it is safe to assume the prospect’s guard will already be at a medium level when they answer your call.
Prospects get sold to a lot, so when they answer a call from someone they don’t know, they are guarded and trying to figure out whether you are the next salesperson calling them to sell something. With all of that, the first goal when opening a cold call is to minimize how much you sound like a salesperson.
Don’t Talk About Your Product
One key to a good cold-call open is to minimize the appearance of a salesperson by talking less about your product or service. It is very simple – most salespeople open by saying something like this:
I am with Websites Designed For You. We provide Web Design Services. Are you interested in redesigning your website?
I would refer to this as a product cold call opener, basically the salesperson sharing the company they work for and the product they sell. This might sound like a logical thing to say at the beginning of a cold call, but the problem is that it flags you as a salesperson who is trying to sell something and will instantly increase the prospect’s guardedness.
Share the Purpose of the Call
Once you have confirmed that the prospect is available, the next step in opening cold calls is to share the purpose of the call. Here are some options for that:
- Discuss research: If you had time to research the prospect and found a reason to talk or an area that you can help them with, share that as the reason for your call and purpose for talking.
- Internal referral/name drop: If you spoke to someone else in the prospect’s organization or company, share that name and details of the conversation to warm up your cold outreach.
- Recap previous conversations: If you are following up with a prospect that you have spoken to before, recap the previous conversation and the reason for following up as the purpose for your call.
- Value points: If your product helps in any way, you can share that as the purpose of your call.
- Pain points: If your product helps to solve problems or challenges, you can share that as the reason for your outreach.
- Customer example: If your product has helped another business, you could share that as the reason for your call.
Share Your Value Proposition
You may hear the previous tip and think it makes sense, but question what you’ll say if you don’t talk about your product or service. The answer to that is to replace your product introduction with your value proposition. Staying with the same example, could shift to:
We help small businesses to get more traffic to their website and convert more of that traffic to leads.
Not only does this trigger fewer alarms about you being an annoying salesperson trying to sell something, but it also shifts your focus to what is more important: answering the prospect’s question of “What is in it for me?”
Add a Soft Sales Takeaway
A nice little trick to use after you share your value prop is to use a soft sales takeaway. This is to express a little doubt after the value proposition by saying something like:
I don’t know if those are areas that you want to improve.
I don’t know if you are concerned about any of those areas.
I don’t know if we can help you in the same way or not.
I don’t know if you are the right person for me to speak with.
Not only does that create a little curiosity on the prospect’s side, but it can actually decrease their guardedness because that is the last thing a salesperson who is just trying to sell something would say.
Don’t Ask the Prospect How They Are Doing
99% of salespeople do the same thing at the beginning of a cold call: ask the prospect, “How are you doing today?” And while this seems like a logical or nice thing to say when you first get on the phone with a prospect, the problem is that if you are talking with someone whom you do not know and have never spoken to, it is an empty gesture that makes you sound like a salesperson who is about to try to sell something and trigger guardedness.
You may hear that and think, ” You are just trying to be nice, and what are you going to say instead? For the best way to open cold calls, replace asking the prospect how they are doing with this question:
Have I caught you in the middle of anything?
This question is actually more polite because, instead of an empty “how are you doing?” question, you are showing respect and concern for the prospect’s time. And when the prospect confirms they are not in the middle of anything, you have just bought yourself a window of 2 to 5 minutes to work with for your cold call. Asking this question can also reduce guardedness by communicating in a more familiar, less formal way.
We hope this provides new ideas for the best way to open cold calls!
