Cold Calling. Debates W/ Myself.

In My Humble Opinion
21

The cold callers we have here usually get voice mail and leave their spiel, then follow up a week or month later.

In my previous job, the sole purpose of the employees was to cold call, every day, all day. They had several techniques. One was to leave a voice mail and then hope for the “press 0” for more options, and then troll through the company directory trying to find a real person to talk to. They had a script designed to get through the “firewall”. They also followed up very frequently, to the point where one CEO actually told the employee, “you know, this is the 8th time you’ve called me about this.” And when they told them not to call again, they were put on a list to “follow up in 6 months”.

On second thought, don’t do any of that. It was a shitty company and the employees were sheep. I’m not insinuating you are, but they certainly were. They could barely order food at a restaurant; it was amazing to watch grown people fuss over a seafood menu for 20 minutes, order samples, ask a billion questions, and then not leave a tip for the poor guy they ran ragged.

Good luck.

22

I think a lot of your problem is the books that you have read on the subject. Most of them are pure hogwash. Read all of the famous salesmen’s books, and whatever they say does not happen in a real sales environment. They are lies. But, they do sell; they just don’t tell/know what the secret is.
So, just fake it. There is no ‘secret’, except to get their attention, and keep them from hating you, not getting them to *like *you. If you have a good product, you can sell it.
Also, ask the boss what script to use when the customer says “Email me.” If it is good, use it. If not, think up a script of your own. If it sounds reasonable to you, it is reasonable.
Best wishes.

23

Best advice in the thread.

24

First of all, thank you for paying attention to my debates not-only-with (thank God) myself. Unfortunately (or not?), I hardly ever “hit” the wall of IVR, so usually there is always somebody. I do get annoyed sometimes w/ people when they fight back and won’t connect me to the person I need to talk to. As if I were their worst enemy. I seem to get into “fight” w/ many secretaries (understandable, since it is their job.) In general, people are trying desperately to be polite but they fail b/c there is nothing business-like in my voice. I have a high-pitched “baby’s” voice which is not a good thing IMO, of course. However, my employees before the actual job interview recorded my voice, so it was no surprise for them. my colleague’s voice is quite low and pleasant to my ears. When I try to lower my pitch, it doesn’t work, my voice sounds hoarse, and not a music to her/his ears. I have stopped drinking a lot of coffee that would eventually do a lot of damage to my vocal cords. BTW, I succeed a lot often when I speak slowly. I have heard from musicians that opera singers w/ high-pitched voice are more difficult to understand b/c vowels seem to merge together, and sometimes it is quite impossible to decipher the lyrics of (even well-known) arias. Taking this into consideration, I do try to speak slowly and pronounce all the words carefully.

handsomeharry I think that there is no universal “sales environment.” Each and every company tries to implement sth new to deal with reluctant secretaries etc. As to scripts, sometimes I don’t get the chance to use it b/c people in general are not interested in changing anything related to telco. It seems a huge step very few are ready to consider.

25

Another day has come to its logical end… I do think that no matter how much I want to succeed sometimes things just happen, and there is nothing I can do. I guess very few things depend on me, my power of persuasion etc. I feel that a person who picks up the phone has already made up their mind that everyone who cold-calls tries to sell low-quality services, hence the attitude. I understand that it’s not aimed at me directly, I am just a messenger who is at the receiving end of all the annoyance and… whatever there is. Yes, I do my job. I am a good person, or at least I try to be. I try to use as much info as I can during the conversation. Heck, there are many “devices” that are described in many books, but I feel that there aren’t many open-minded people who are ready to overcome their fear of (relatively) new technologies and embrace new, high-tech future.
BTW, my supervisor has advised me to watch a movie Boil Room. I had no time to watch it. Is it any good? Should it help me in any way? Has anybody actually seen it?

Very many people are using way outdated POTS at a ridiculous price. I would really want them to understand how important it is to use advanced technologies that are reliable and safe. I wanna know THE WAY to persuade people at least to see that IPBX IS RELIABLE AND OBTAINABLE.

We shall see.

26

I’ve had the most success by treating each call as a conversation, not a sales pitch. I try to find out what the company has set up at the moment, and then explain what we have and how it is better. By letting them talk first, you can get an idea of their priorities and use them to influence what you talk about.

You get rude people, but you get some cool people as well. Try and be interested in what people have to say and treat them as a person rather than a target, and they’ll respond in kind.

This might not fit in with the pitch you’re using, though.

Don’t lie to switchboards. That’s what gives the industry a bad name (along with everything else).

To deal with being asked to send an email: explain that you don’t want to second-guess what they’re interested in and just send over boilerplate information. A meeting would be able to demonstrate how the product works in a real situation, and answer questions more fully.

Hope this helps, but I have a lot of freedom at work - I write the pitches we use, and encourage feedback from my team about what works, but I started off in a company that didn’t allow me to deviate from the pitch at all.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions - I don’t want to give away all the trade secrets to the public :wink:

27

Double Foolscap thanks a lot for your proposal to PM you, I just don’t want to bother you w/ my internal struggle and professional deficiency… Maybe my problem is that we are dealing w/ different kind of mindset b/c I live in a European country where open-minded people are quite often treated as if they were mentally ill. I am unable to let them talk b/c nobody would open up to me or at least say what technology they are currently using, not to mention anything related to the way their business operates. I have to approach them w/ general understanding of obstacles a particular enterprise is dealing w/; quite often I get questions “why the hell r u calling US?” Yesterday I had a wonderful dialogue w/ a secretary. When I mentioned CEO I wanted to arrange a meet w/, she said: “How did you find out his name?” I replied: “Well, your clients are our clients” etc. Of course, it wasn’t true, but, as you can see, people are not willing at all to communicate about anything related to their business, even mention CEO’s names!

As to your advice about dealing w/ send-me-email routine, thanks a lot, I have tried to point at the advantages of finding out more info on the PBX they are currently using, and I got a reply “Well, then I definitely can’t help you.” I have no idea if cold-calling actually works under those circumstances. Yeah, making people believe that techs their are currently using should be… replaced? Mwahahaha.

BTW, sometimes the quality of a call is awful; I know nothing is wrong w/ us, so… I mean, static/interference is awful. Don’t they ever test inbound call quality? The question is whether I should tell them or not… I mean, if I do, then I am criticizing their current telco, which is a no-no thing for a cold-caller. Never criticize your opponents. On the other hand, sometimes the noise is so unbearable that I have to round up my conversation as quickly as possible. I mean, I may have sounded rood b/c I just couldn’t bear interference. What should I tell in this case or should I just ignore it?

As to your advice about dealing w/ send-me-email routine, thanks a lot, I have tried to point at the advantages of finding out more info on the PBX they are currently using, and I got a reply “Well, then I definitely can’t help you.” I have no idea if cold-calling actually works under those circumstances. Yeah, making people believe that techs their are currenly using should be… replaced? Mwahahaha.

BTW, sometimes the quality of a call is awful; I know nothing is wrong w/ us, so… I mean, static/interference is awful. Don’t they ever test inbound call quality? The question is whether I should tell them or not… I mean, if I do, then I am criticizing their current telco, which is a no-no thing for a cold-caller. Never criticize your opponents. On the other hand, sometimes the noise is so unberable that I have to round up my conversation as quicly as possible. I mean, I may have sounded rood b/c I just couldn’t bear interference. What should I tell in this case or should I just ignore it?

28

It sounds like one of the things you’re struggling with is trying to convince your targets that they need the product your company sells? But I got the impression from your OP that your task is to get another salesperson in the door? Is that correct? You yourself aren’t trying to sell the product?

If that is the case, I think you need a small shift in your approach to the task. You need to focus on what your target is. IE You are trying to sell an appointment, you are not trying to sell the product. It is actually quite a different proposition. All you need to do is set the hook, that a half hour/hour, however long the normal sales call goes for, is a reasonable impost on the individual for the potential benefit.

One other point - be careful with a script written by someone else. I absolutely hate talking to someone who is obviously reading from a script. Take the content of the script prepared by your boss and rewrite/paraphrase it into your language and syntax. Practice it while not on the phone, either in front of a mirror, or if you have a tolerant partner or colleague practice with them. Get it to the point where even if you are following the script word for word it doesn’t sound like you are. And be prepared to go off script where necessary - nothing annoys me more when you can tell a question you’ve asked isn’t in the script so they don’t know how to handle it.

I personally hate cold calling, and I left a previous job not long after they decided it was part of my job.

But good luck.

29

When I’ve had to market software, I usually started by asking if they ever reviewed their current systems, to try and get them in the mindset that if they didn’t, they should be.

30

GreedySmurf I have to sell a meeting, that’s right! The problem is that people are reluctant to spare 30min on sth they don’t intend to buy, hence the situ I’m in: I have to persuade them that they actually need to change their current sys. If they don’t want to talk to me on the phone, there is no way I can make them spare more mins for an actual meet.

Often I have a reply that there have been many telcos calling lately blah blah blah I have a feeling that I have to change my approach but I honestly don’t know where to start. How to set a hook? (Rhetorical question. Or not)

As to the script, I try to be as personal as I can, adding my own wording. I just want to find a universal formula that would enable me the access to different potential clients. I want to make them open up to me, to feel that the info they are giving is safe w/ me (which is so, of course.) I feel reluctance from their part to share anything maybe b/c of previous cold-callers or meetings w/ salespeople. I want to make them forget everything that happened prior to my call. Is it correct to ask them the source of their annoyance? Or not?

I definitely don’t hate cold-calling; if I did, I woould have never applied for this position in the first place. It just suits me well, I think. I am genuinely interested in helping people. Before the call I find out their current telco; I never call to businesses that use overly cheap telcos, only those that are known for their “sharky” business plans w/ terminated contracts. I know that what they are currently paying (even w/ “individual price list”) for “standard” PBX is way too much for the existing quality.

Double Foolscap thanks! I’ll definitely use this one.

31

Another day has gone by. I have arranged a few meetings; however, questions are left unanswered.

32

People have been giving me a lot of advice lately, which I find enlightening; nevertheless, I am just a human being and I am not a prophet, so there might be answers that I can’t foresee. Right, inasmuch as I love to use “I” & “WE” I now try to substitute my favorite pronouns w/ the opposite ones :wink: I say that it helps, at least people react more seriously to “you,” which is understandable, of course. No one wants to talk w/ & about a stranger, much less on the phone. No. “You” sounds more reasonable; after all, I talk to people who tend to focus their attention on themselves. Whatever is on their minds, I want to occupy as much conscious space as possible to be able to intervene w/ their routine. I want them to snap from the get-the-hell-outta-here mood they are largely in (at least sometimes I have that impression.)

Yeah, be positive is rule Nr1 in dealing w/ people. Well… Positive. There is nothing particular about this notion. It’s neutral. Void. Faceless. Obscure. There has to be a key to this riddle. I believe so. Or not.

33

Yeah, for the customer, too.

34

Yeah, the more I talk to people the more I understand basic concerns that occupy their heads. I guess everything depends on the human faulty nature and nothing on my competence. I wondered all the time why on earth I was picked up for this job (apparently, one of the most obvious answers is that there were not many people enthusiastic enough to apply for this type of job.) If somebody calls to the right people at the right time, business is done. SAD but TRUE. Truth is always sad, though. Of course, there are various techniques that can help to deal w/ anxiety etc, but those are merely psychological solutions.

Many cold-calling techniques work or don’t not because of their nature, but because techniques are placebos that have a nice wrapping, but they are void inside. No matter how good or bad cold-caller is, nothing depends on the way you convey your message. The only thing that matters is a chance of calling at the right time. I have always wondered how come there are so many books on the subject and there has been a few (to none) success stories. It’s because everything is circumstantial. Had there been anything related to efficient cold-calling, everything would have been so much easier for business to find quickly their customers, alas no, it never happens. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to build a rapport between u and a stranger, it is still just a pattern of conversation, nothing more.

At least sweaty palms are gone, thank God. It’s so nice to feel that hardly anything depends on me. I know the drill, and I do research as meticulously as I can; however, I am less susceptible now to any negative response from my “victims.”

Whatever I do, I do it as I see fit. I do everything by “the books.” Whatever there is to use, I use it, even this message board. That’s why I love you guys :wink:

35

Hi folks. Still doin’ the same stuff. The only difference is that now I am trying to promote telco’s bulk sms service, which has virtually no advantages in comparison 2 too many services we have. Right. Hopeless. Whatever.

36

OK, bulk sms aside, I’ve done a helluva job to maintain any sense of what I do. Anyway, now I try to focus solely on my perhaps-not-very-soon-to-be customers. I can’t say that I luuuuv my job, but hey, it gives me plenty of time to think over… Whatever. All I want to say that another month has one by w/ out any disruptions, which is good. I have completely overcome my fear, which is great.