Category: Cold Calling Scripts

First, for those of you who have seen me live, you know that I am big on questioning your prospects during the qualification stage. As I’ve said – your prospects have all the answers as to why they will buy or not buy, and it is your job to get them to reveal this to you.

While asking well thought out, scripted questions is certainly a good start, you will get the most thorough and complete information if you learn to use layering questions.

Only the top sales reps use layering questions, and the reason they are so valuable is because they get your prospect to go a little deeper into an area of interest they have, or in an area of concern. By scripting out and using layering questions, you will be able to fully understand what is driving your prospect to make a decision, and/or why your prospect might not be ready to do business with you.

Obviously, knowing this information will move you that much closer to getting the sale.

Here are some examples of layering questions you can use during the prospecting phase to learn who and what is motivating the buying decision:

When qualifying to find out who is involved in the decision process, you’re going to start with a nice assumptive question like:

“Besides yourself, who else is involved in the decision process?”

And when they say their spouse, manager, or boss, etc., you then layer the question by asking –

“And what do you think they would do?” Or, “What direction are they leaning in regards to this?” Or, “What do they usually do in this kind of situation?”

Another example of effective layering questions to expose possible objections before you get ambushed by them while closing:

If your prospect is looking at other vendors:

“Tell me __________, who else are you looking at in regards to this solution?”

And your layering questions:

“And which companies look good to you so far?” Or, “Who are you leaning towards right now?” Or, “If you had to make a decision today, who would you go with?”

And then ask, “Why is that?”

You must listen carefully to each response you get because your prospects will often reveal the objection that is going to kill your sale later on. Top 20% reps would rather know this information NOW rather than send out their info, go through the trouble of trying to track them down, go through a long presentation, and then get the no. I’m sure you can understand why…

Layering questions are effective, powerful and easy to ask. If you want to get instantly better, then use the two above (or adapt them to your sale), and begin to write more of your own.

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Because you only have a few precious seconds to make a connection and establish interest, you’d better have a good opening prepared in advance. Besides being very busy, your prospects probably get a lot of sales calls every week, and many of them from your direct competition. So why would they want to talk to you? What can you do to separate yourself from all the other calls they get?

The answer is that you have to establish a real connection with your prospect and stop sounding like all the other sales reps who call them. Here is what your competition usually sounds like (I hope you’re not doing this!):

“Oh hi Mr. __________, this is _______ _______ with the MLT Group. __________, we are an industry supply manufacturer and we help companies streamline their production process. We work with many companies in your field and save them between 10 to 15% on the cost of their storage and delivery process. What I’d like to do is ask you some questions to see how our process may save you that kind of money as well. Where are you currently getting your…”

Do you see how this opening makes no connection with the prospect? Do you see how it just starts pitching at the prospect and doesn’t acknowledge that the prospect might be busy, or not interested? Do you see how there is no rapport built here and how it’s a one sided conversation?

How do you feel when someone barges in on your day and starts in with a pitch like this? You’re probably thinking what most prospects are thinking: “How do I get this sales rep off the phone?!”

Now let’s look at the right way to open your call. Your goal in the first few seconds is to make a connection and get them to interact. You have to acknowledge that they may be busy or that you respect their time and you need to establish some rapport and separate yourself from all the other sales reps calling them.

Try this:

“Hi ________ this is _______ _______ with (your company), how’s your Tuesday going? Great. Listen, _______, I know you probably get a ton of calls so I’ll make this brief.

Let me ask you, if I could show you a better way of tracking and shipping (or) and save you money doing it, would it be worth spending five minutes with me next week to show you how?”
Or,

“What is the one thing you could change that would have a dramatic impact on your productivity and that would save your company money?”

Or,

“If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about how you currently do (their business), what would it be?”

Can you see how this quick questioning approach is more effective than what you may currently be using now? Eighty percent of your competition still barge in on their prospects and open their calls up with a long explanation about what they do and what they offer, and pitch their products and services without checking in with their prospects or establishing any kind of connection. No wonder most people brush them off the phone!

You can separate yourself from this group instantly, starting today, by using the opening technique above. Once again, adapt it to fit your product or service, and then practice it until it’s natural and easy for you to use. As you do, you’ll begin to notice yourself struggling less, making more connections with interested and qualified buyers, and you’ll have more confidence and feel better about yourself.  Just like the top 20% do!

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If you have to make cold calls as part of your sales process – either to set appointments or to find potential clients to sell your products and services to – then you know how hard it is to overcome initial resistance and establish rapport. Let’s face it, people don’t like to be bothered by a sales rep they don’t know.

Think about your own reaction when you get a call at home from a telemarketer you don’t know. As soon as they begin their pitch, your eyes probably roll up and you begin thinking of ways to get off the phone. Even if they are personable (which is rare) or have something you’re actually interested in (which is rarer), most telesales calls feel like an intrusion and end up being ineffective.

One of the biggest reasons for this is that most sales reps making cold calls have no idea how to engage a prospect and make a connection in the opening ten seconds. Making that connection is the most important thing you can do to lower or eliminate initial resistance and give yourself a real chance to see if what you’re offering is a fit for the person you’re speaking with.

Here is the one sentence you can use that will give you the best chance to make that connection:

“Hi _______, this is ________ _________. We haven’t spoken yet but I’m calling you because you (use your product or could benefit from it) and I have (your product offering or benefit) and wanted to run something by you. Let me ask you a quick question, if I could…”

The power in this technique is that by leveling with your prospect that you don’t know them, you are immediately eliminating the natural resistance that is there when this goes unspoken. Prospects respect this honesty, and you’ll feel a natural connection form as a result.

Don’t underestimate the power of this technique, but rather, try it for a few days and see for yourself how effective it is. Obviously, you’ll want to adapt it to fit your product or service, but taking the time to do this will pay big dividends.

Remember – making an immediate connection is the most important thing you can do, and this technique will help you do that.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

One of the biggest mistakes 80% of salespeople make when qualifying is to overlook or not react to obvious Red Flags prospects give during the initial call.

In their haste or desperation to “generate a lead” or to “fill their pipeline,” most sales reps hope that the possible objection they just heard will miraculously go away once the prospect sees their information or product or service, etc.

But you all know from experience — it never does.  In fact, the law for calling back leads is that:

“Leads Never Get Better.”

What appears to be an objection or deal killer always is.

Someone wrote me once about a prospect who wasn’t calling him back only to find out the prospect was leaving the company.  He wrote me and said, “I guess intuitively I knew he wasn’t the right guy to make the decision anyway.”

And I’ll bet he knew intuitively because he heard (but didn’t question!) the Red Flags that came up during the initial qualification call.

So how do you deal with obvious Red Flags?  Do what the Top 20% — as soon as you hear something that triggers your intuition or that gives you that sick feeling in your gut, stop and ask the tough questions!

Here’s how you do it:

If someone says that they usually buy from ________, but would like to see your information, ask:

“Why would you switch vendors?”  Or

“How many other companies have you looked at in the last six months?”

And then: “And how many did you go with?”

If someone says that they will pass it on to ________, say:

“Thanks.  So that I make sure I’m not wasting her time it’s best that I speak with her for just a few minutes.  Can you please tell her that (your name) is holding please?”  (If you’re then told they are not available, make sure and get their direct line or the person’s extension and keep calling until she picks up.

If someone says that they’d be glad to look at over, ask:

“Great, after you do, if you think that it can help you (or your business, etc.), when would you move on it?”

And so on.

The bottom line is that if you want to close like the Top 20% then you have to start questioning the Red Flags.

Remember: It’s better to disqualify the non buyers early then to spend your time and energy chasing and pitching people who are never going to buy.

Plus it means that you have more time to find real buyers.

So this week, write up questions to the Red Flags you currently get and begin using them!  You’ll feel so much stronger as a closer, and you’ll begin making more money.  Believe me, it’s a win/win.

Please let me know your thoughts on this post in the comments section below.