Prospecting = Cold calling to see if there is a need.
Discovery = 2nd call to learn more about each other.
BDR 50 calls/day over 16 months = $2M ARR
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Find a trigger or research observation about the account you're targeting
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Build a problem statement, i.e. an assumption about a business challenge that logically relates to the trigger
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Ask the prospect for validation. You won't book a meeting unless they verify your problem statement.
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Brace for objections (they WILL come, trust me.) Use labelling to make the prospect feel heard and open the door for discovery.
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Sell the value of taking a meeting, such as insights, customer case studies, a prepared POV deck or a sneak peek demo. Discovery is about giving and taking - not a one way street.
Triggers: Headcount growth, executive leadership change, funding, geographic expansion, a new product launch, mergers and acquisitions. Other triggers can be intent data, the tech stack they use or Google alerts on named accounts.
If you cannot be account-specific due to lack of information, make sure to be industry specific: what are common trends and challenges in your target industry? can you make generic assumptions about problems this prospect might face? have you spoken to competitors or similar companies that face these issues?
Opener: Hey, John here, is this a bad time to talk?
It suggests that you are interrupting at a bad time. I get the idea of reverse-selling, but consider this: would an IMPORTANT person of power & authority ask you if it's a bad time when they're calling you? No. They would get straight to the point.
The phone lost a lot of its glamour since the advent of ever-growing sales tech stacks.
To me it is still the #1 sales tool. Why?
The phone is the fastest path to achieving your goal: booking a meeting. You can establish trust, credibility and interest over the phone within seconds, or minutes. Impossible to do via any other channel. The phone is the only real time human to human conversation. All other channels are async (aka you have to wait for a response). The phone is high risk, high reward.
Summary:
- Opener: state your name & company. ask the prospect to validate they are the right contact.
- Problem statement: pitch your assumption about a business challenge the prospect might be facing.
- Ask for validation. Educate more about the problem if more context is necessary.
- Insert your value prop, stay high level on the benefits. Don't feature dump. Provide social proof, 2-3 valid customer references.
- Book the meeting! Get it on the calendar, get off the phone. Send the invite + the upfront contract.
Tips:
- It's less important what you say and more important how you say it.
- Talk slowly. With a calm voice. And downward inflection.
- Expect objections. They WILL come. Use labelling techniques.
You worry too much about a clever opener. Stick with one that feels natural.
The average human attention span is 8.25 seconds. Therefore take advantage of a strong opener that positions you as an authority. I'm not a fan of permission-based openers, btw. I prefer to get straight to the point:
Hi Sarah, this is Christian with mParticle. Not sure if this is in your wheelhouse, but I saw you manage ad campaigns over at Nike. Is that still the case?
What's great about this opener is that it puts the ball immediately in the prospect's corner by having them validate you are talking to the right person. Because if not you can save your pitch and ask to be pointed in the right direction.
You need a pain related problem-statement. There is nothing in it for the prospect unless you address a business challenge.
Prospect: Yup, that would be me. What is this about? Where did you say you're calling from?
What we need now is a problem statement.
Instead of pitching our solution, we are pitching a problem. We validate this problem exists, and if not, educate the prospect about it.
Our value prop will fall on deaf ears unless we establish relevancy in the context of a business challenge.
I'm with mParticle. We help marketers with their ad campaigns. Out of curiosity, have you ever considered that you might be overspending on your ad campaigns?
This question works because it immediately focuses on business impact. Who doesn't want to save money on ads?
DO NOT pitch anything, unless specifically asked. If all you do is pitching, you're just another sales rep.
Prospect: Uhm, sure I mean I oversee the budget so I'm always looking for ways to save money on our ad campaigns. How can you help with that?
Before we insert our value prop we educate the prospect more.
Well, we hear from a lot of marketers that they don't have automatic ways to shut down campaigns across channels once their prospects take the desired action. As a result they keep running ads on prospects who already converted in a different channel.
Always ask to validate your assumptions. You need buy-in on your problem-statement. Otherwise there won't be a next step.
Remember, your problem statement is an assumption. It's important to always validate your assumptions with the prospect. Otherwise you have no credibility that you can help them.
How are you tackling that?
Once you ask for validation, SHUT UP. Listen what they have to say. Now the discovery process begins.
Know 3 customer transformation stories really well. When asked you should be able to tell a good story and provide strong social proof.
Prospect: Yeah we actually have a manual process to manage that. Our ad campaigns run separately from email and mobile targeting. We have people cross-check daily and manually stop and launch ad campaigns.
Once we have our problem statement validated we insert our value prop with social proof:
We work with a lot of people in similar roles whose marketing budgets have recently been cut quite dramatically.
We built a platform that shuts down campaigns across all channels once your prospect takes the action you want.
Ensuring you never target converted users or overspend on paid ads.
Now you're ready to ask for time. Get 15-20 minutes on their calendar for a quick deep dive. Get off the phone quick. Send the invite + upfront contract.
Sarah, would it be worth to have a deeper conversation around that?
58% of B2B sellers consider the phone their #1 tool to book meetings. Compared to 22% who favour LinkedIn, and 17% who prefer email.
There's no question on the effectiveness of cold calling. But there's definitely a thing to be said about difficulty:
- Only 2% of cold calls result in a meeting
- It takes on average 18 dials to connect with a buyer
- It takes on average 8 attempts to reach one prospect.
Cold calling isn't easy. It's a brutal rejection game.
The best time to call prospects is when they're not in meetings, i.e. early morning (8-9AM) or late afternoon (5-6PM).
Pro tip: block 2h for cold calling on Friday afternoons. Prospects are more likely to pick up the phone & be in a positive mood as they're headed into the weekend.
Avoid: Monday mornings. People are generally high-stress and more likely to try to get you off the phone to start their busy week.
Your cold calling block is mentally & physically the hardest thing you're gonna do that day.
- Energy management is key! It start's the night before: a healthy dinner, no alcohol, 7-8h of restful sleep.
- Don't waste time on research while you're calling. Have your prospect list prepared the day before. Name, contact information, account research, prospect personalisation.
- Don't start cold. Warm up your script 10 to 20 times before you pick up and dial. Rehearse out loud (like a singer before a concert).
- Remove all distractions. Clean your desk, close Slack + all other browser tabs (except phone, Sales Nav, CRM and your script). Put your smartphone on airplane mode (unless you call with it, of course) or do-not-disturb.
- Body posture is important: get a standing desk! Your lungs and diaphragm will expand and you will have a LOT more energy when calling. Prospects will feel it, trust me.
- Visual cues: have your call script printed out or open on the screen. Have your Objection Handling Flashcards ready or as Post-Its on the wall. Any visual cues that can help you succeed!
- Set a target to hold yourself accountable. For example 10 calls before 8AM, or 30 dials within 1 hour, 5 call connects. Gamify your own success and reward yourself once you achieve it.
1 referral > 100 sales messages
Ask your current customers for introductions.
Hi (CUSTOMER NAME), I noticed you are connected to (PROSPECT NAME) AT (TARGET COMPANY) on LinkedIn. Do you happen to know him/her in person?
If so I'd like to ask you for a short intro message. I believe (TARGET COMPANY) can benefit from (YOUR SOLUTION) in a similar fashion.
Happy to pre-write the message so you can copy & paste it and send it.
What do you think?
Tell them to send this to their contact.
Hi (CUSTOMER NAME), we're a happy user of (YOUR COMPANY) for (USE CASE) and perhaps you can benefit from it, too. I was approached by (YOUR NAME) for a formal introduction. Would it be okay if I make an introduction to him/her so you can see if their offering makes sense for you?
Cold calling is a unique weapon in the salesperson’s arsenal. I send emails, texts, Linked In messages, and heck, even hand-written letters, but nothing compares to picking up the phone and making the call. It’s like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. Here’s my take on a perfect B2B cold calling script which you might find helpful too.
Alternative types of communication are all one-way. Through mediums such as emails, texts, social messages and letters, it doesn’t require the other person to “buy-in” to the communication. Consider that for a moment.
Those contact efforts are easy for the prospect to put-off, save for later, ignore and forget. They definitely serve a purpose, and I believe a great salesperson uses all forms of communication available, but nothing will replace a phone call.
Phone calls are a personal, two-way, real-time interaction. I’ve achieved more in a single call than weeks of touches via other channels. Honestly, while prospects seem “annoyed” at cold callers, they also can appreciate the effort of a human wanting to get in contact with them, especially after multiple attempts.
But there is a right way and a wrong way to execute a cold call, and it can be confronting for both the salesman and the prospect. Immediately, people raise their defences when they receive an unsolicited call, so we need to disarm them and instil trust.
I’ll explain the theories behind each section of my call so you can tailor it to your industry and company.
I’ve conducted a lot of research on how to perfect cold calling, because it’s arguably the most important call in your relationship with a prospect. It’s the “first date” of the business world, so you’d best impress!
The Cold Calling Open/Introduction
Hi John, this is Michael from XYZ, have I caught you at a bad time?
Let’s break this down.
- Introduce yourself in a happy tone. Keep it short, succinct and polite. Speak confidently – like you would talk to a friend.
- Address the prospect by their first name, to infer you’re of equal status. While saying “Mr.” or “Mrs.” can be a sign of respect, it also communicates that the prospect is more important than you. You’re calling with a solution to help them and your time is also of great importance; don’t put the prospect on a pedestal.
- I stopped saying “My name is Michael…” and started announcing “This is Michael…” I found this yields more positive responses, perhaps because it conveys a sense of authority. It also cuts the total number of words down.
- I also experienced better results using my first name and the company, but not my last name. I want to remove any unnecessary words, and simplify my message as much as possible for the prospect. Not to mention, when talking to a friend, you’re on a first name basis.
- I hate it when sales people ask me: “How are you?” I know they don’t care, and it’s honestly a waste of time asking. They’re interrupting my day, they’re a stranger to me AND they’re asking me a shallow question? Save that for people you’re acquainted with. Instead, I’d prefer to be asked “Have I caught you at a bad time?” for four reasons, so I tend to do the same:
- It’s courteous and shows I respect the prospect’s time.
- A question encourages the prospect to “buy-in” to the conversation; it takes two to tango.
- When someone receives an unsolicited phone call, their immediate reaction in their mind is negative and hence no, no, no. By asking if I’ve caught them at a bad time, the answer “no” is actually the positive answer. This isn’t a Jedi mind trick, but it often buys you a bit more time to get your point across.
- Even if I have caught them at a really bad time, the prospect often says “Yes, but can you call back in an hour?”
The Reason
The reason I’m calling is because we’re helping the big law firms in Adelaide with their property valuation needs, and I thought you might be interested too. Then stop talking and wait.
- The aim of stating the intention of my call cuts to the chase and “sets a hook” in the prospect. I want to create enough interest so they want to learn more. But you don’t have to hit the prospect with facts and figures; you just have to arouse curiosity. Remember, people buy from people. Be real and authentic.
- The way you deliver this is crucial. You must be articulate, but excited; clear but upbeat.
- I realise this pitch on paper doesn’t sound exactly exciting, but the reason it works for me is because (most) lawyers are open to learning about how we can benefit them and their clients.
- I tried different variations such as: “The reason I’m calling is because we help save lawyers time and money with property valuations…” but the response I got was that it was “too salesy,” and they became more hostile over the phone.
- “…we’re helping the big law firms in Adelaide…” is social proof that we’re helping companies LIKE them, and we’re local. This cements a trust in the prospect that we can actually provide some value to them.
- “…and I thought you might be interested too.” Who could be angry at that? I disarm the prospect but letting them know I’m not selling anything at this stage; all I’ve done is explain we’ve helped others like them and now I’m thinking we MIGHT be able to help them too. This provides a great avenue for more questions regardless if their response is “yes” or “no.”
- Then stop talking and wait for a response. In many instances, the prospect has already started talking, but if not, use the silence to create an atmosphere where the prospect HAS to say something. Often the prospect is interested and wants to hear how we can help, but on the odd occasion some they say they’re not interested.
Qualify
The aim here is to “investigate” by asking questions. While my hypothesis is that we can help them, I want to make sure they’re a good fit for us. There’s nothing worse than a bad customer, or wasting time with someone that the product/service isn’t going to suit.
Using a date as a scenario, imagine if you just talked the whole time about how good you are. Personally, that would be an awkward situation. The typical salesperson (myself included) is a type-A, extroverted personality who enjoys conversing, talking and having a laugh. Our job is to ask questions, and then shut up, listen, and absorb what they tell us.
If they say they’re interested
Great. If I could ask you real-quick, how many family law clients do you have at the moment?
On average, what percentage of those would need their property valued?
Who do you typically use for property valuations?
What’s your experience been like with those firms?
Sounds like we might be a good fit for you. Lawyers find us useful because we service a bigger area across the state, and we also value all types of property. So we’re able to save you time because we’re more of a one-stop-shop.
If they say they’re not interested
Oh, that’s okay, I understand. If I could ask you real-quick, is it a timing issue or something else?
If it’s a timing issue, organise a time then and there of when they’ll be able to give their full attention, and lock them into a meeting via email calendar. If it’s something else, you should have your objection/complaint responses ready. Then, depending on how that goes, you can re-direct to the questions from the “interested” category.
Closing on a Meeting
I’d love to meet with you and learn more about what you do, are you free sometime next week? Preferably Monday morning or Tuesday afternoon if that suits you?
- Emotional words like “love” create impact and show how interested you are, just to learn more about them. The sales process is all about the prospect and getting them to the “promise land” with your solution.
- Narrow down their options to make it psychologically easier for them, but also leave it open to working around them if need be. That’s polite.
Conclusion
To be a cold calling master, you need to be enthusiastic and deliberate in the words you speak, while engaging the prospect in a two-way communication. Being short, sharp and shiny is effective; don’t beat around the bush. Keep the goal of the call in mind and never forget: people do business with people!
TL;DR - simplicity, deliberate, short, sharp, shiny, script, questions, listen, close meeting and be an empathetic person