Smart Calling

Telephone prospecting is essential for business sustainability and growth.

Mike Weinberg, author of the great books New Sales. Simplified., Sales Management. Simplified., and #SalesTruth says it perfectly: “Sales is a verb.” He adds, “Top performers in sales don’t wait for anything or anyone … Top performers act … Waiting is the key for new business failure.” I couldn’t agree more. When you have identified a prospect you feel would be a great customer—someone you just know would benefit wildly from a business relationship—you may very well grow old and poor waiting forever for that person to respond to a marketing campaign.

Telephone prospecting is the quickest, cheapest, and most interactive way to make a contact and a sale.

Cold Calling Myth: “It’s just a numbers game.” Smart Calling Truth: It’s a quality game.

Cold Calling Myth: “For every no you get, you’re that much closer to a yes.” Smart Calling Truth: You are no closer to a yes unless you are doing the right things to get the yes.

Cold Calling Myth: “You need to love rejection to be successful at prospecting.” Smart Calling Truth: You want to avoid rejection.

Let’s define in three steps exactly what Smart Calling is: Acquiring intelligence about people—and their situations—companies, and industries prior to speaking with a decision maker. Using that information within a proven prospecting and sales process, engaging in a consultative conversation that puts both you and the prospect at ease. Consequently helping prospects take actions (meeting with you and buying from you) that they feel good about and from which they gain value.

People buy for their reasons, not yours.

Understand the motivators of people who do and would buy from you.

People buy the hole, not the drill.

Salespeople similarly fail because they try to sell what they think is cool, as opposed to understanding what the prospects they are talking to might want.

As salespeople, we have opinions and feelings about why people should buy from us. However, our prospects might—and often do—have quite different thoughts and feelings. And what matters most? That’s right: what they think.

So, what makes you different? What sets you and your company apart? What are the advantages you have over your competition?

I heard a great differential advantage on a radio commercial: “There are lots of services you could pick from, but at One-Hour Heating and Air, if we’re not on time, you don’t pay a dime.”

There’s a local computer company that runs a great ad differentiating itself from the chain electronics retailers by making fun of how technical and impersonal the big-box boys are with customers. Their ads end with this differentiating line: “Bottom line, we will be cheaper, faster, and more polite than the computer chain stores.”

Here’s a much better version that differentiates the caller: Hi Ms. Prospect, I’m Joe Seller with Contractor’s Supply. In talking with Jean in your office, I understand that your installers now spend quite a bit of time leaving jobs and running to your supplier to pick up materials when they need something. What sets us apart is that we have trucks out that offer delivery within an hour when contractors need something. I’d like to ask a few questions to see if what we offer might be of value to you.

Now it’s time for you to define your own differential advantages. Brainstorm and simply fill in the blanks: What sets us apart is _______. What makes us different is ______.

Something that you’ll get from us that no one else offers is _______.

We can modify the old saying “It’s all about who you know” to “It’s all about WHAT you know, about who you want to know, in order to actually get to know them.”

When establishing your primary objective, think big. One thing’s for sure: If you aim low, you’ll rarely hit above your target. I suggest that you adopt the attitude that all elite athletes have regarding your call objectives. Michael Phelps expected to win every time he dove into the pool. Why wouldn’t you do the same?

High achievers, on the other hand, expect to take the call as far as possible—and they do.

What’s interesting to ask about rejection is: Is it something that happens to you, or is it the way you react to it?

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” In sales, no one can reject you without your consent.

Let’s look at two sales reps, both of whom just heard a no on a call. The first rep thinks, Geez, another no. This rejection is getting to me. What’s wrong with me? It’s depressing. I think I’ll go check what’s in the vending machine. The second rep says, Oh, well. He wasn’t a prospect today. I did ask him if we could keep the door open for the future, and he agreed to receive our e-mail newsletter. Another small win—on to the next one!

Unless you proactively look for and find wins—regardless of how small—you will be pulled down by prospecting. Therefore, for your Smart Calling mental health, you need to set a secondary objective for every call, which is what you can attempt, at minimum, on your calls.

“I want to ask who they are now buying their supplies from.” “I will ask if I could contact them again in the future.” This doesn’t need to be high-level stuff. It is for your attitude.

“You can achieve virtually anything you want—if you’re willing to hear ‘no’ often enough.”

I replied that I was not a prospect for him. He surprised me by responding, “Oh?” It was brilliant because it got me talking.

“Kind of curious—what would have to happen that would be so severe that would cause you to even consider someone else?”

“Matt, even though there is not a fit today, if you find that your volume gets to the point where it would make sense to outsource your peak-level jobs, keep in mind that we can turn those around quickly for you.”

Your secondary objective has two major benefits: It ensures that you will never be rejected again, because you will always have some type of a win. It allows you to plant seeds that you might harvest later.

Based on over 30 years of unscientific experience attending the School of Real World Observation and Calling, my findings are that if you are not calling, you are not uncovering opportunities.

“The best time to call is anytime.

“I set a target of how many calls per hour I want. Once I reach that target I take a breather, grab a coffee, get some fresh air and review my calls and how I might have been better. Then at the top of the hour I start again. Therefore every hour of the workday has some calls placed and as we know, it’s in the numbers and in the activity. No calls equals no results.” —Janette Wittwer

“I’ve always believed the best time to call someone is anytime because everyone has a different situation. My best time is when I’m feeling on top of the world because everyone is going to say ‘yes.’” —Ann Mayer “The best time to call is now.”

Great Days to Call: When Others Don’t

Want to avoid the call clutter? Call when others don’t: around holidays, summer vacations, and long weekends. Many people traditionally write off these times—either by taking official vacation days or by mentally taking off, even though they are physically present. Some prospects may not be in, but how is that any different from reaching voicemail any other day?

Here’s an email that caught my attention. It started out: Art, thought you might be interested in hearing about how another sales trainer like you was able to get new customers and maintain them at a high lifetime value

Instead of sending a plain old email, I made a 30-ish second personalized video for you here. (video image)

What to Avoid Saying in the First 10 Seconds of Your Opening to Decision Makers  “Just” anything. The word just sounds weak and diminishes everything that follows it: “I’m just calling to see if I could ask a few questions.” Just get rid of “just.”

“You and I have not spoken before.” That states the obvious; it’s a waste of words.

“Just wanted to reach out to you.” On

“We specialize in working with _____.” “My specialty is collaborating with ____.”