Getting a Warm Response to a Cold Call

There is one thing that can separate any cold call from the crowd: Knowledge. Knowing who your target is and what they need from you is the only way to prevent your call from being banished to the voicemail graveyard.

To succeed, you have to consider the following:

The Who: What’s the first name of your point of contact? Will you likely be speaking with a gatekeeper, like an administrative assistant or receptionist? If you want to play the game, you have to learn the players. It’s as simple as that.

The Why: What is the purpose of the call? Whether you want them to join you for a business lunch or you want to add them to your monthly newsletter mailing list, you have to be clear with your intentions. When you get them on the phone, it’s important not to waste the opportunity by being wishy-washy on the details of your offer.

The Value Proposition: This is probably the most important out of the three steps. You have this one small shot to show that you’re offering something of value. Learn as much as you can about your call’s target and anticipate their specific technology issues, you’ll look like an IT superhero! Take a few minutes to ‘Google Stalk’ them and visit their website and social media pages. Check out the ‘About Us’ for information about your point of contact (POC), their partners and associations, line of business applications, and anything else that could potentially be useful.

Breaking Down the Call

The Greeting: Begin with who you are and where you’re calling from. Then, explain the reason you’re calling, and whenever possible, who referred you to them. Be sure to address the contact by their first name and/or appropriate title. Close your greeting with a question that will likely get a “yes”, but a “no” won’t leave you dead in the water. For example, ask them “Is this a good time to talk?”

Positive Reaction - If they say ‘Yes,’ Great! Let them know that you appreciate their time and that you’ll be brief. They have given you their permission to speak to them, effectively reducing the chance that they will just yell, “NOT INTERESTED” and hang up. You’ve gotten the green light!

Negative Reaction - If they say “No”, let them know that you understand being busy and that you’ll be brief. At that point, it’s a judgement call – you can dive into your best speedy pitch, taking the risk that they might get angry and hang up on you or you can ask to set up a follow-up call and risk being banished to the black hole of voicemail. If that isn’t possible, ask them if there is someone else within the organization that may be better to speak with. Finally, if you still aren’t getting past this call, request permission to put them on your mailing list. Always be courteous and empathetic of their time.

The Value Statement: You only have one shot at this (no pressure or anything). This is where you’ll deliver your value statement. Businesses have pain points and you want to compel them to hear how you can alleviate them. Consider something along the lines of: “We’ve found out about several businesses that were losing money on technology issues that were all related to undetected malware.” Followed by a sentence that will take the pressure off them, setting them at ease: “I’m not even sure if you even need our services, but if you’d like we can talk about our services.”

Question 1: Now, it’s time to pop the first question! “Is it okay to discuss ways to make sure that you’re not wasting money on preventable IT issues?”

The Ultimate Elevator Pitch: Next comes your pitch. Talk about a few things that your services can offer them and then ask them if they relate. You know the answer is going to be “yes”. “Many small businesses have computers that are running slow, missing security patches, computers that aren’t working require a call to a repair shop, time for a technician to come down and look at it, effectively stopping daily operations. Does this sound like issues you have with your IT?”

Question 2: This is it. The point we’ve been building up to! You ask them to take the next step. Here’s where you’d ask them to set up a time for a full demo, network audit, lunch meeting, etc. “I know I kind of called you out of the blue today. What time next week would be a good time for my team to perform a network audit to find vulnerabilities and threats?”

Positive Reaction – At this point, it’s up to you to settle up the details of your next step. And since you had all the information about this client together, it’s easy to make sure the next steps in the sales cycle are laid out.

Negative Reaction – You got this far! Don’t let them go without a fight. Think of the best next step. Try first for an alternative to demos/onsite visit. Their answer will help you to determine what their hesitation is, and what your next step should be. Is it time? Money? Not a fit for their needs? Still a “No.”? Set up a follow-up call and add them to a mailing list or drip campaign. Let them know that you’re not going to go away so easily.

Keep in mind that while you may want to write a script to help you make sure you have all the answers in front of you - but you can’t sound like you’re READING from that script. You need to polish your cold calling in the same way that you have perfected your sales pitch. Click here to download a free template you can use to get your cold calls off the ground. Still looking to further refine your cold calling script or want marketing advice in general? Let us know.