I talk to salespeople every day who think they do not need a cold calling script because they have so much experience. I have around 20 years of sales experience, and I just created a cold call script, so I thought I would write about why I created one and why it will help me.

 

Background

In addition to my day job, I am also President of the Houston Chapter of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. And in an effort to build up our chapter, my officers and I are going to do some outbound cold calling to inside sales managers in the area.

 

Why do I need a cold calling script

Not only do I have decades of experience making cold calls, but I also wrote a book on how to improve cold calling called The Cold Calling Equation – PROBLEM SOLVED. You got to figure that with all of that, I don’t need a cold call script, right?

Well, the reality is that I do. Not because my skills are not great, but because there is so much that I would want to talk with an inside sales manager about. When I get one on the phone, I am only going to have a few minutes to work with, and it could be hard to figure out what best to say from all of the thoughts that I want to share.

 

I needed to figure out what benefits I offered

In order to avoid sounding like someone trying to sell something and getting shot down with “I am not interested,” I had to really figure out what I had to offer an inside sales manager. Building a cold calling script gave me a chance to do this, and I came up with this:

We help inside sales managers to have an additional resource for inside sales best practices and expertise.
We help inside sales managers to improve their ability to get the most out of their inside sales teams.
We help inside sales managers to improve everything from hiring, compensation, training, and day-to-day management of inside sales resource.
We help inside sales managers to network with other inside sales managers in the Houston area.
We help inside sales managers to provide an additional source of inside sales training and materials to their frontline resources.
We help inside sales managers to improve their ability to get the most out of their inside sales teams.

 

I needed to figure out what pain I help to resolve

Once I had those benefits, I could reverse engineer them to figure out some of the problems that I fix for my cold calling script, and I came up with these:

They could benefit from sharing inside sales best practices and expertise with other sales leaders
They could use new ways to get the most out of their inside sales resources
There is often room for improvement in areas of hiring, compensation, training, or day-to-day management
They don’t ever network and share experiences and expertise with other inside sales managers
Their frontline resources could use more training materials and sales tools

 

I need to be ready with some good questions to ask

My goal is to create a conversation with inside sales managers, not sell them anything. In order to do that, I need to have some good questions to ask them. Questions that probe for the pain that I fix would probably work best.

I was able to take the problems that I fix and compose one good pre-qualifying question for each and put those into my cold calling script.

How interested are you in sharing inside sales best practices and expertise with other sales leaders?
How important is it for you to find new ways to get the most out of your inside sales resources?
Do you feel like there is ever room for improvement in the areas of hiring, compensation, training, or day-to-day management of your inside sales resources?
Are you currently networking and collaborating at all with other inside sales managers (outside company)?
Do you think your inside sales resources could benefit from having access to more training materials and sales tools?

 

I am now ready to go

Now that I have all of those key points organized, I am much more confident calling an inside sales manager. Did I know all of that already? Yes, of course. I am the person who just put all of that together.

But when you mix all of that knowledge with everything else that I have floating around in my head, I do not know if I would be able to find those powerful points on the fly when my prospect answers the phone.

This is how having a cold calling script can help even the most experienced of salespeople.

Once I had all of those key thoughts together, I was able to put this cold calling script together.

Introduction

Hello [Contact’s Name], this is [Your name] from the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Houston Chapter, have I caught you in the middle of anything?

(If not available respond with below)

Oh, I understand. I can be very brief or I can call you back at another time, which do you prefer?

-or-

Oh, I understand. When would be the best time for me to call you back?

Attention Grabbing Statement

Great. The Purpose of my call is that – (Choose one of the below)

  • We help inside sales managers/directors to have an additional resource for inside sales best practices and expertise.
  • We help inside sales managers/directors to improve their ability to get the most out of their inside sales teams.
  • We help inside sales managers/directors to improve everything from hiring, compensation, training, and day-to-day management of inside sales resources.
  • We help inside sales managers/directors to network with other inside sales managers in the Houston area.
  • We help inside sales managers/directors to provide an additional source of inside sales training and materials to their frontline resources.

Optional Disqualify Statement: I actually don’t know if you are a good fit for what we provide so I just had a question or two.

Pre-Qualifying Questions

Great, if I could ask you real quick:

(Ask 3 to 5 of the questions below)

  • How interested are you in sharing inside sales best practices and expertise with other sales leaders?
  • How important is it for you to find new ways to get the most out of your inside sales resources?
  • Do you feel like there is ever room for improvement in the areas of hiring, compensation, training, or day-to-day management of your inside sales resources?
  • Are you currently networking and collaborating at all with other inside sales managers (outside the company)?
  • Do you think your inside sales resources could benefit from having access to more training materials and sales tools?

Common Pain Examples

Oh, OK. Well, as we talk with other inside sales managers/directors, we have noticed that they often express challenges with (or concerns around) :

  • could benefit from sharing inside sales best practices and expertise with other sales leaders
  • they could use new ways to get the most out of their inside sales resources
  • often room for improvement in areas of hiring, compensation, training, or day-to-day management
  • don’t ever network and share experiences and expertise with other inside sales managers
  • their frontline resources could use more training materials and sales tools

Can you relate to any of those?

Information About Us

Well, based on what you shared, it might be productive for us to talk in more detail. The reason why is
(Share any of the below as appropriate as you try to trigger interest)

Product Details:

  • As I said, I am with the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Houston Chapter and we provide AA-ISP Houston Chapter
  • Our AA-ISP Houston Chapter provides inside sales knowledge and best practice sharing and networking for inside sales professionals and managers in the Houston area

Differentiation:
Some ways that we differ from other options out there are:

  • we offer help and are much cheaper than sales training and consulting firms.
  • we bring together expertise from many different inside sales experts from around the globe.
  • we provide a place for you to help other inside sales pros and managers.

Threats of Doing Nothing:
Some things to be concerned with when not doing anything in this area are:

  • could benefit from sharing inside sales best practices and expertise with other sales leaders
  • they could use new ways to get the most out of their inside sales resouces
  • often room for improvement in areas of hiring, compensation, training, or day-to-day management
  • don’t ever network and share experiences and expertise with other inside sales managers
  • their frontline resources could use more training materials and sales tools

Company Facts:
Other key details about us are that we:

we are the Houston chapter of the world’s largest collection of inside sales experts and resources.

the association is loaded with training and best practice information – webinars, ebooks, whitepapers, Ask the Expert, and more.

over 6,000 members world-wide.

Close

But, since I have called you out of the blue, I do not want to take any more of your time to talk right now.

Trial Close:

  • What do you think about what we have discussed so far?
  • Is this something that you are interested in discussing in more detail?

Soft Close:

  • A great next step would be for us to schedule a/an brief 15 to 20-minute meeting where we can discuss your goals and challenges and share with you a little about the AA-ISP Houston Chapter and some of the ways that we help inside sales managers.
  • Is that something that you would like to put on the calendar?

Hard Close:

How does your calendar look next Tuesday or Thursday morning for us to schedule a/an brief 15 to 20-minute meeting where discuss your goals and challenges and share with you a little about the AA-ISP Houston Chapter and some of the ways that we help inside sales managers?