Cold Calling

What You Can Learn From Telemarketers
By Leslie Buterin
www.ColdCallingExecutives.com

The title of this article may seem like an oxymoron to some of you ... much like "military intelligence". No offense to our courageous troops who are fighting the good fight, but you know what I mean.

A telemarketer just called me from a call center. She said she was with Discover Credit Card Merchant Center and she had a no-obligation offer for me.

I said, just in case this call is recorded the owners of your call center need to know that the background noise is distracting and evokes immediate distrust. And your opening statement does not address any of my needs.

She apologized all over herself.

I replied, "It's not your fault. You are doing a good job. I know because I help all sorts of companies prosper by coaching them to double, triple, even quadruple the results of their cold calls.

Unfortunately your company is failing to equip you with what you need to do your job - the right background sounds and an effective script. No doubt you are on commission and will do well in the right environment. However, Discover isn't it.

If Discover wants to blast past Visa/MC and American Express leveraging cold calling to the max, then they will give me a call. I am not holding my breath as clearly they are missing the obvious.

You on the other hand are a different story altogether. You can quickly learn and prosper from their mistakes.

1. When you cold call make sure the background noises project the kind of environment you want your prospects to see you in.
2. Make sure your opening line presses their buttons - addresses one or more of your prospects' most pressing business concerns.
3. Like this caller did, apologize when you screw up, not only is it the right thing to do, but it makes you seem human. People want to do business with honest humans. I would give this caller a few minutes of my time, anytime for that one reason alone.
4. Remember, no one cares about who you work for. They only care about what is in the deal for them. All of us who sell know this, chant this mantra, yet fail to alter out phone scripts accordingly. With the first words out of her mouth this caller let me know she was from Discover. Who cares? My mind dismissed her immediately as just another call from a big company during the dinner hour. My reaction would have been different had she said, she was calling with a cash back offer on each of my credit card purchases. I like the idea of getting money back every time I spend it. That kind of opening line would have grabbed my attention. I would have let her get through her script and would have engaged her in conversation.

Sure it is easy to get irritated with telemarketers who call at the wrong time with the wrong phone script. Mostly, we sales pros get irritated because they give our profession a bad name. But think about this. How, can you benefit from their mistakes?

Next time you are on the receiving end of such a prospecting cold call, take the time to think the conversation through. Evaluate the verbal exchange. Then, in light of what you have learned evaluate your own phone script. Do your words irritate your prospects or make them hungry to hear what you have to say.

*****

Forward this article to friends. They will thank you for it!

For your mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit www.ColdCallingExecutives.com or call New Business Development Coach, Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time)

(c) 2008 Leslie Buterin. All Rights Reserved.

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Leslie Buterin, founder Top Dog Consulting
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