Episode #2: The Top Three Most Critical Things You Must Do When Cold Calling

Cold calling is dead! No cold calling is not dead! Lots of debate and advice on this subject and many a fortune funded as a result no doubt. For Japan it is not dead but it is diabolically hard. We need to select ideal prospects who are not presently clients. We need to list companies up who are look-a-likes for current clients or fit into our sweet spot. We have what they need, they just don’t know it yet. It is our duty to help them solve their problems with our help.

Step 1. Expect resistance, barriers, fear, timidity, non-cooperation from the young lady (it is always a young lady!) who has been designated to answer the phone. Her job is to get rid of you and she doesn’t want to get balled out by her boss by letting you slip through the protective wall. You know this, so you must design a killer opening to woo her to let you speak to her boss.

Step 2. Introduce your name and company, very, very slowly and tremendously clearly. It doesn’t matter what language you are speaking. All that katakana is a total brain whiteout for her. “This is Greg Story, from Dale Carnegie Training Japan”. She was freaking out from the get go that it was a foreigner calling and all she can think about is that she can’t speak English well and then you hit her with all those unfamiliar strange sounding names.

Step 3. Slowly explain what you do and include a massive hook in there to get interest. “We are global experts in corporate soft skills training. We recently worked with XYZ company, your competitor, to increase their revenues by finding new clients. It was a great success and they have seen a 35% jump in new business sales already. Maybe we could do the same for you, I am not sure.

Please transfer me through to your Sales Director, so that he can make a judgment about whether this is something your company would like to know more about or whether you are okay for your rival to grab greater market share? If you are not getting the new business, then that will have a big impact on your business survival. I know your Sales Director won’t want to see that happen, so please let me discuss this with him.

If you don’t allow me to speak with him, then my next call will be to another one of your competitors and so the problem will just get worse won’t it. We don’t want that do we? Please put me through to him”.

Yes it is a bit hard core for Japan you might be thinking, but in cold calling here you need dynamite to blow up that defensive wall. If they won’t put you through, call you back or answer your email, then keep approaching their competitors and one of them will want to hear what you have to say.

So the three steps are: One, mentally brace for getting the bum’s rush. Two, introduce your name and company name very slowly and clearly. Three, explain why you can help them and put a big hook in there to get them to bite.