How To Book Meetings Through Cold Calls
How to modify your script
Remove:
- questions with ânoâ answers, this adds negativity into the call
- âhow are youâ â doesnât add value for you or the prospect.
- generic language (ex. industry leader) â instead say âWe help {{industryType}} solve {{specific problems}}.
- undervalued time asks â donât only ask for 15-30 seconds, instead ask if they can help you out (example below).
- assumptive asks â donât ask to setup a meeting right away, ask to start a conversation.
- donât use a high pitched voice or have fake high energy, just be yourself
Add:
- a permission to go into questions (ex: But I donât know enough about your situation to even know if this will make sense for you. Would it be okay if I ask you a few questionsâŠâ
- questions that are easy to ask before getting into the harder ones
- âwhatâs in it for meâ straight in the start
- a natural call ask âwhat iâd recommend is to set up a call to help youâŠâ
- specifics about who youâre talking to âex: I speak to a lot of CTOs thatâŠâ
- a bit of cheekiness that makes you human âex: Is this the worst time ever?â
How to prepare for a successful call
- Practice how things sound before making calls so you can be confident when people pick up
- Find a time to make your calls that fits when you have high energy + when your prospects will be available
- How to find leads:
- data suppliers
- tools like Sales Nav
- industry specific data bases
- How to research for cold calls:
- use the research youâve already done based on your email + LinkedIn outreach
- google the company while youâre calling them up
- use relevancy (ex: find the main pain points for a specific group of people like CTOs of manufacturing companies) â use job descriptions for this
Tips to help you meet your goals
- The best SDRs Owen has worked with spend about half the day on the phone. Owenâs goal is to get 1-2 good conversations per hour.
- How to bring your leadâs guard down:
- be extremely honest
- making the conversation permission based
- add your personality, be human
- If you get a gatekeeper saying someone isnât in the office any more, ask for the cell phone number.
- Add a cold call in at the beginning and at end of the sequence
â Can be after a LinkedIn step and first email to give initial context
Examples for each section of the call
- Opener to ask for their time
ââLook I know you werenât expecting my call, can you help me out for a moment?â
â âIâll be honest with you, this is a sales call. But Iâm hoping to have a few moments to tell you why I chose to call you todayâ
- Pitch that answers âwhatâs in it for meâ
â âWe work with (target audience here) to help them achieve (target audienceâs goals)
â âWe work with (target audience here) who are typically battling with challenges such as (target audienceâs challenges)
- When saying who you work with, the more specific the better. If you can bucket calls based on specific roles this is the best, ex. Heads of People for SMBs, CTOs for manufacturing companies, Heads of Sales in bootstrapped startups, etc.)
- When mentioning goals and challenges, use jobs ads to find what people in this specific role need to handle. These tasks are their main challenges.
- Transition to discovery questions
â âNow, I donât know enough about your situation to know if something like this would make sense for you, so would it be okay if I asked you a couple of quick questions?â
â â{{Name}}, I genuinely think we can help you with [some of the learnings you have from their answers]. Iâm going to suggest we book a time to go into more detail on this.
Can I suggest we book 30 minutes for next Wednesday or Thursday? Are mornings or afternoons usually better for you?â
- Wrap-up (summary + next steps)
â âRight, thatâs great {{Name}}. So just to summarize, weâre going to speak again next Friday, November 25th at 2pm and together weâll go over some ways to help you {{solve problem}}. Myself and (Senior Name) will be in the conversation from our side. Is there anyone else youâd like me to invite from yours?â
No problem. So Iâll send you a confirmation email and calendar invite now. Is there anything else you need from me between now and then? Thatâs great. Then Iâll say thank you for your time and look forward to our conversation next Friday.â
- How to handle objections – diffuse, statement, question
â âThatâs absolutely fine, no problem at all. Most of the people I speak to tell me the same thing, I hear it almost every day. {{firstName}} tell me out of interest, (discovery question)â
- When someone says âCan you just send me an email?â you have two choices:
- accept they arenât interested and move on
- call them out on the BS and go back into the conversation
â example from Blissful prospecting: âfirstName, can I ask you an awkward question? Iâve done a lot of these cold calls and generally when someone says this itâs really just their way of telling me they arenât interested in my lame cold call. Am I completely off base with that?â
Owenâs cold call script
âHi {{FirstName}} itâs Owen calling from Air Marketing, you and I havenât spoken before but Iâm just hoping you can help me out for a moment.
We help ambitious SaaS companies whoâs SDRs are struggling to build enough pipeline and hit target. (depending on the current problems your leads are facing)
Obviously I donât know enough about your situation to know if this would be a fit for you, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?