We have found that any times, salespeople do not even realize they are committing these mistakes. . .
Can we all agree that these can be common issues when prospecting:
- Coming across as fake and disingenuous
- Unoriginal - offering no differentiation
- Screams “Sales Call” which triggers your prospect to hang up
- Encourages prospects to put up a defensive wall
You may be thinking to yourself right now “What is this guy talking about?” “I have never done that!"
Have you ever started off a cold call with the dreaded . . .
How Are You Today?
The problem with “How Are You Today’s” is that everyone says it and you get lumped in with everyone else. Your job is to change the format and use great techniques like pattern interrupts to engage the prospect prior to just throwing up all your features and benefits with the hope that something you say might interest your prospect. Your job is to sound different. Below are some great examples of pattern interrupts you can use.
Hi Bob, this is Sally Smith from ABC Company, not sure if you are familiar with my name or organization?
Hi, Bob, this is Sally Smith from ABC. This is a sales call, I know you hate getting them and I hate making them, but do you have 20 seconds?
Hi Bob, this is Sally Smith from ABC. I’m looking for a little help?
After the Pattern Interrupt, you want to establish the mini up-front contract, just like Sally Smith does in the second example above. She is asking for 20 seconds. She can further elaborate by stating “after the 20 seconds if you have no interest in learning more, it is perfectly ok to hang up”
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As the owner of a Sales Training and Performance Development Organization, it forces me to listen to every cold call I receive as they are all prospects for my business. Does anyone believe that robo-dialers actually work? When the recorded voice says, this is not a sales call, do not hang up, does that encourage you to want to stay on the line?
What you don’t want to do with Pattern Interrupts is make them sound annoying or “corny.” The only call I do hang up on is the organization that abuses pattern interrupts like this:
“Scott, wow, you are harder to reach than the summit of Mount Everest”
“Scott, wow, you are harder to reach than my grandmother on bingo night”
In closing, now that you know the dangers of committing these types of mistakes while prospecting - you may want to STOP them immediately.
There are many who believe that cold calling is dead. My answer to that is cold calling is alive and well if you do it right and we can teach you how to have fun while doing it.
For those that believe cold calling is dead, could it be maybe you’re just not very good at it?
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Scott Bliss
President | Maximum Performance Management, LLC Scott's mission is to help sales leaders and other business professionals improve performance as they lead, communicate and sell more effectively and persuasively. Contact him at scott.biss@sandler.com or 732-255-6672.
