Episode #191: The Cold Calling Zoom Salesperson- Part One

Cold calling is always a subject of great debate and interest. I have been doing podcasts for the last seven years and episodes which feature the subject of cold calling, always get a lot of downloads. When I re-purpose these episodes as blogs on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook these posts will certainly have people leaving comments. Many buyers are locked away at home, or in the office, but not receiving visitors. How can we cold call companies who we have deduced are a perfect match for our solutions?

The arrangements are not that different. We call their company general number, the person answering the phone gives us the bum’s rush and abruptly ends the call. We have been unsuccessful in speaking with the buyer. At this point we make one more call and experience the same miserable result. We promptly give up on cold calling clients and find some busy work to take our mind off our incompetence. Do we try to rework our hook to generate interest inside that company, such that we will get transferred to the buyer? No, we just crawl off and lick our wounds.

The hook has to exude value for the client company. The buyer may be at home and only receive a message that you called, if you are lucky. If they are in the office, the person answering the phone wants to get rid of you, because they don’t want to be criticised for transferring the call and wasting the buyer’s time. In most cases, in my brutal experience, Japanese companies won’t release email addresses or mobile phone numbers to callers, even when you know the name of the person you wish to reach, let alone cases where you don’t have a name. You need toughness in sales and always be clear, they are not rejecting you personally, only your offer.

The hook can go like this: “Hello, this is Greg Story from Dale Carnegie Training. Do you have a moment to speak? Thank you. The reason for my call is we have a new solution for ‘X’ which companies just like yours in the your industry love, because it generates excellent results. By the way, your competitors are very much appreciating the outcomes we are producing for them, so I thought maybe we could do the same for your company. I am not sure if there is a match between the need we are fulfilling and your current needs, but I would like to speak with your head of HR to find out if there is in fact a match. May I ask you to transfer me please?”.

The structure here is be polite, be clear about who you are and why you are calling. Reference success for others, especially their competitors. Say “maybe” rather than “certainly”, because it comes across as less hard sell. Ask to be transferred to the right person. Japanese buyers like things which are “new” and which others are already using. They are also curious about what their rivals are up to.

Even with the most appetising hook, the call transfer rate is low. Japanese employees would rather forego their company a business chance or advantage, than possibly make a mistake or get into any trouble. Therefore, the easiest thing in the world for them, is to do absolutely nothing and they are masters at it. Don’t worry about rejection and keep calling. You will find a company open to a conversation with the buyer, but only if you don’t quit.

Let’s assume you finally do get to speak with the buyer. Certainly try to get a face to face meeting. If that is not possible because of anti Covid-19 related company measures, then ask them for an online meeting date and for them to click on the link you will send them, to have the virtual meeting. Make their role as easy and simple as possible, as they may not be familiar with the required tech.

When doing this, of course use the alternative of choice approach, rather than suggesting a “yes” or “no” outcome. You can say, “Can I meet you this week or is next week better?. Next week. Then how about Tuesday or Thursday? I see, Friday is better. How about in the morning or do you prefer the afternoon? Morning. Then how about 10.00am. Great I look forward to meeting you next Friday at 10.00am on Zoom. By the way, does your company policy allow meetings over Zoom? I see, how about WebEx. Great. What is the best email address for me to send the link to? Thank you and please look for my email. I look forward to speaking with you again soon”.

In Part Two, we will go through how to conduct the sales call with the potential new client. Selling virtually, actually has some advantages over selling in person. All will be revealed in the next instalment.