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Cold Call to Kick a$$ - Seven Lessons from My 'Summer on the Phone'

Tapp001

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This past summer I decided to get a second job cold calling, for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to learn to sell, two, I wanted to overcome my own fears about contacting others, and three, I wanted to get accustomed to bringing in money aside from my nine-to-five. It wasn’t fastlane income, but it sure was fastlane education.

Here’s what I learned spending my summer on the phone. I should mention that I was using warm leads, though some of them were from pre-2001, making them older than a couple of forum members.

1) The product makes the difference. If I am calling, I can be confident if I’m confident in the product. I’m not trying to trick people into buying something, I’m introducing them to something that will make their life better.


2) Cold calling is a great place to deploy those tripwire offers. I do painting services, but the opener is a free estimate. Sure, it’s an opening into the sales funnel, but a professionally done estimate still has value in and of itself.


3) Most people who aren’t interested really aren’t interested, and if they give you a straight NO it’s probably best to end the conversation politely right there. Then, they will remember you as that one sales guy that treated them with respect rather than yet another annoying pest. Also, multiple interactions with one or two asks may work better than multiple asks in one, epic-length session (still testing this). I had one customer finally say ‘yes’ after a couple of these low-annoyance level interactions.


4) By the same token, if they say no, but give me a reason, it is sweet music to my ears. The first time I overcame an objection to book an estimate, I set the phone down in sheer amazement at my utter slickness (or how a well thought out and communicated sentence can make you feel like utter slickness ;) )


5) Personality is so very, very important. Keep it friendly, and professional, and don’t be afraid to back off. I had this brought home to me recently. As mentioned above, I called a person for a third time (by accident, actually), and finally got some business from them. He joked about my persistence, but didn’t seem to find it that aggravating as he didn’t find me that aggravating.


I’m going to turn this into an axiom, because it’s just that important: The difference between pushy and persistent is personality! (With alliteration like that, I could be a guru!)


6) Some days are better than others, but to keep motivated you should calculate your average per call income and then try to raise it from week to week. If your income-per-call is $0.40, then you get that $0.40 no matter what. Rude call? Answering machine? Fax machine that takes sandpaper to your eardrums? Doesn’t matter. $0.40.


7) Familiarity (and money-dollars) turns the terrifying into the exciting. At the beginning, I dreaded getting a person on the phone, and breathed a sigh of relief when I got the machine (favoring busy work over scary real-work). I kept at it though, and eventually that stab of anxiety whenever somebody picked up turned into a neutral blank, and then finally a thrill of excitement.

Hope this is useful! I’ve gotten so much info, knowledge, and motivation from this forum that I wanted to add to it myself. Please let me know if you have any similar experiences, if I missed anything big, or if any of these ‘lessons’ are actually disastrous.
 
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Thiago Machado

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Awesome thread!

First time I ever got on a cold call I stumbled sooooo badly (I screwed up the entire script. The secretary literally didn't even know what I was saying, HA!)

Anyways... You mentioned that you do painting services and your opener is a free estimate, right?

My father's in the painting business and I've been trying to convince him to try out some new marketing methods.

I was just curious to see how you applied this to the industry.

So essentially...
The company you work for already has warm leads?
How did they warm them up? (Direct mail? Internet leads? D2D?)
You'd call to set an appointment for a free estimate?

Gonna have a talk with the old man. I can definitely see him drum up some more business with this.

Thanks!
 

HoneyBadger

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My first job out of college was cold calling inside sales. That tip you said - the one about earnings per call - that's really neat.
 
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Fox

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Want a free personalized course on cold calling?

- Make up a list of the typical objections you are facing within your own company
- Call up your main competitor or email and ask then to have a sales guy contact you
- Pretend you are a customer and go through the list
- Record and note their response and use of persuasion
- Use those tactics yourself

This also applies to email quotes and marketing material "can you send me that in en email too please".

Sneaky but effective.
 
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Tapp001

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Awesome thread!

First time I ever got on a cold call I stumbled sooooo badly (I screwed up the entire script. The secretary literally didn't even know what I was saying, HA!)

Anyways... You mentioned that you do painting services and your opener is a free estimate, right?

My father's in the painting business and I've been trying to convince him to try out some new marketing methods.

I was just curious to see how you applied this to the industry.

So essentially...
The company you work for already has warm leads?
How did they warm them up? (Direct mail? Internet leads? D2D?)
You'd call to set an appointment for a free estimate?

Gonna have a talk with the old man. I can definitely see him drum up some more business with this.

Thanks!

Thanks @Thiago Machado!

To answer your questions:

1. The warm leads came in the form of a previous customer list, that had been compiled by various area franchisees over the past 15 years. The later years were more fruitful, and a lot of the numbers ended up being out of service, but it was better than dialing straight out of the phone book. Plus, I believe that having a person in a previous customer database allows you to contact them even if they are registered on the Do Not Call list. I believe that some customers were also warmed up with door to door sales, flyer distribution, signage, and a company presence at home shows.

2. My call would be to set up a free estimate. That was my main purpose. I would introduce myself, ask if they had heard of the company, and then no matter their response (which was often positive), offer to set up a no-obligation estimate. To book an estimate, the customer had to be onsite and set aside at least an hour and half. I believe the purpose of this was 1) To ensure the customer was already committing resources (time and attention) to the offer (thus making them more likely to spend money), and 2) to ensure the person who was doing the estimate could continue the sales process directly with decision maker.
 

CPisHere

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What about using cold calling to just get a prospecting list, which you then e-mail regularly - rather than push for the immediate "free quote"?

Alternatively, if you push to get the free quote but they aren't interested - what about getting their e-mail & doing an auto-responder sequence?
 

HoneyBadger

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What about using cold calling to just get a prospecting list, which you then e-mail regularly - rather than push for the immediate "free quote"?

Alternatively, if you push to get the free quote but they aren't interested - what about getting their e-mail & doing an auto-responder sequence?
If you get someone on the phone and then you do your selling through passive emails you are a confused salesman.
 
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Thiago Machado

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Thanks @Thiago Machado!

To answer your questions:

1. The warm leads came in the form of a previous customer list, that had been compiled by various area franchisees over the past 15 years. The later years were more fruitful, and a lot of the numbers ended up being out of service, but it was better than dialing straight out of the phone book. Plus, I believe that having a person in a previous customer database allows you to contact them even if they are registered on the Do Not Call list. I believe that some customers were also warmed up with door to door sales, flyer distribution, signage, and a company presence at home shows.

2. My call would be to set up a free estimate. That was my main purpose. I would introduce myself, ask if they had heard of the company, and then no matter their response (which was often positive), offer to set up a no-obligation estimate. To book an estimate, the customer had to be onsite and set aside at least an hour and half. I believe the purpose of this was 1) To ensure the customer was already committing resources (time and attention) to the offer (thus making them more likely to spend money), and 2) to ensure the person who was doing the estimate could continue the sales process directly with decision maker.


Awesome response. Thanks!

One of the things my old man constantly complains about are people who waste his time on the free estimates. He thinks that many people who opt into these offers are just price shopping. At the company you work with, when the salesman stops by for an estimate, does he bring any sales literature with him? Any thing such as catalogs, brochures, flyers, case studies, basically anything to entice the offer if he happens to charge a premium price?

It's crazy how many professionals that work in trades have no marketing knowledge whatsoever. My pop ocassionally uses some before and after photos to convince clients. He's really stubborn so it's hard to get him onboard with something "new".
Most jobs are just referrals or word of mouth though. So I would be curious to know how someone can close better in an industry where the barrier to entry is low and people are constantly low-balling on jobs.
 

JohnD Realestate

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This past summer I decided to get a second job cold calling, for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to learn to sell, two, I wanted to overcome my own fears about contacting others, and three, I wanted to get accustomed to bringing in money aside from my nine-to-five. It wasn’t fastlane income, but it sure was fastlane education.

Here’s what I learned spending my summer on the phone. I should mention that I was using warm leads, though some of them were from pre-2001, making them older than a couple of forum members.

1) The product makes the difference. If I am calling, I can be confident if I’m confident in the product. I’m not trying to trick people into buying something, I’m introducing them to something that will make their life better.


2) Cold calling is a great place to deploy those tripwire offers. I do painting services, but the opener is a free estimate. Sure, it’s an opening into the sales funnel, but a professionally done estimate still has value in and of itself.


3) Most people who aren’t interested really aren’t interested, and if they give you a straight NO it’s probably best to end the conversation politely right there. Then, they will remember you as that one sales guy that treated them with respect rather than yet another annoying pest. Also, multiple interactions with one or two asks may work better than multiple asks in one, epic-length session (still testing this). I had one customer finally say ‘yes’ after a couple of these low-annoyance level interactions.


4) By the same token, if they say no, but give me a reason, it is sweet music to my ears. The first time I overcame an objection to book an estimate, I set the phone down in sheer amazement at my utter slickness (or how a well thought out and communicated sentence can make you feel like utter slickness ;) )


5) Personality is so very, very important. Keep it friendly, and professional, and don’t be afraid to back off. I had this brought home to me recently. As mentioned above, I called a person for a third time (by accident, actually), and finally got some business from them. He joked about my persistence, but didn’t seem to find it that aggravating as he didn’t find me that aggravating.


I’m going to turn this into an axiom, because it’s just that important: The difference between pushy and persistent is personality! (With alliteration like that, I could be a guru!)


6) Some days are better than others, but to keep motivated you should calculate your average per call income and then try to raise it from week to week. If your income-per-call is $0.40, then you get that $0.40 no matter what. Rude call? Answering machine? Fax machine that takes sandpaper to your eardrums? Doesn’t matter. $0.40.


7) Familiarity (and money-dollars) turns the terrifying into the exciting. At the beginning, I dreaded getting a person on the phone, and breathed a sigh of relief when I got the machine (favoring busy work over scary real-work). I kept at it though, and eventually that stab of anxiety whenever somebody picked up turned into a neutral blank, and then finally a thrill of excitement.

Hope this is useful! I’ve gotten so much info, knowledge, and motivation from this forum that I wanted to add to it myself. Please let me know if you have any similar experiences, if I missed anything big, or if any of these ‘lessons’ are actually disastrous.

Thanks.
+Rep
 

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