Episode #151: Cold Calling

Cold calling is an unheralded intervention into someone's already packed schedule. They are distracted by the phone from what they were concentrating on, so they are automatically annoyed. They are time conscious because this call was not planned. The person calling them is an unknown quantity, so the trust factor is zero or less. They have been cold called by idiots in the past, who say dumb things like "How are you today" which is an immediate warning bell that we are talking to a nincompoop.

So how do we call people in a way that we can add value to their business?

Here is how it can go: "Hello, may I speak with Bill please?" This presumes we have a name to ask for. Usually in Japan if you only have a title, you will get killed at the entry point by some lowly minion, whose only joy in life is getting rid of salespeople who call unannounced.

Let's continue: "speaking" "Bill my name is Greg Story, I am with Dale Carnegie. Do you have a moment to speak? When I say my name, I slow down and put a little gap between the Greg and the Story, so that they can easily catch my name.

I ask for permission to speak with them, respecting their schedule. If they a too busy to speak, it won't matter what I say, I will only be annoying and will blot my copy book for a later call. If they are too busy, I say: "Thank you for letting me know, I will give you a call later in the week".

I don't ask for a day or time because they have already told me they are busy and I want to show I respect their schedule.

If they say, “Fine", then I know I have their agreed attention.

"Bill, thank you. We are in the XYZ business. I have done some research and I see that your company profile fits with what our typical clients looks like. We have been able to improve the results for our clients who fit this profile, because we have ABC. I was just wondering if our ABC were able to grow your business, like it has for our other clients, would getting those sort of outcomes, also be of benefit to your company?"

We let them know what business we are in so that they can garner some context for this unexpected call. We mention we have done research and they are not the product of random selection through the phone book, but of some analysis and intelligence. We mention we have had success for people who look like them and not unreasonably wonder if lightening could strike twice for them as well. We ask if they would like to grow their business.

It doesn't matter if they say "Yes" or "No" next, because we are ready for both. If they say "Yes" then we say: Thank you. I am not sure if what we have is a perfect fit for you or not but let me swing by and show you what we have and how it works. Then you can make a judgement if it is helpful or not. Would this week or next week better."

If they say "no" to wanting to improve the results of their business we say: “Thank you for telling me, may I ask why you say that." And then we shut up and say absolutely nothing.

There may a thousand good reasons why they don't want to meet and we should be prepared to accept the referees decision and not try to force the issue. They may say something however which allows us to reframe the value of meeting and we can ask about this week or next week and so on.