Get Your Foot in The Door With My Cold Call Method (50%-70% appointment rate so far)

Hey Business Owners, this could be a fluke, but …

I’m getting a very high number of appointments from people I don’t know personally. In other words, I get a chance to demonstrate my service and get leads without spending money on advertising. And best of all, using the phone to call people is almost F-R-E-E.

And it’s as simple as talking to someone like a normal human being.

It’s old school and people hate it – but your phone is sitting right there in your business and it could be your biggest marketing asset. I think you are atleast missing out on 20-30% more revenue if you do not use the phone.

Now people hate using the phone to get business. Funny thing is, the calls I am making now are the most pleasant calls on earth. Really. It’s like calling up and old friend and just talking. It feels so natural. Words are failing me to describe it. And it’s fun!

I’ll give you my little method in a moment. But the first thing I think you ought to know is that there are two ways to use the phone. It’s the difference between karate and judo. You can either use a LOT of persistence, rebuttals, smart comebacks and a very thick skin to do cold calls or do it the low pressure and low key way – it depends on your personality. But both methods work.

I prefer the low key way. It’s just who I am. Anyways, here’s my method. Let’s call it…

Raymond’s Way To Get Business With The Telephone:

Start with your intention and expectations. Remove your expectation from the outset. You are not selling over the phone. In my business I can’t sell over the phone, because I don’t know what the client truly needs yet. Therefore I would be doing him a disservice by selling directly over the phone.

Besides, I don’t really care about the sale. Sounds funny doesn’t it? What I really care about is forming a relationship or a partnership with my buyer. Let’s put it this way, I’m more interested in keeping the client’s business than getting it. Know this:

When you start to sell over the phone you will be met by resistance. And the person who “outlasts” the other will make the sale – either the prospect or the salesman. That’s just not my style. There has to be an easier way … and there is!

In my ‘style’ you don’t meet force with force. You don’t seek the sale. You never push for the sale. You never hammer the prospect with well thought out rebuttals. You never rebut. You never disagree and argue. You never become adversarial.

But…

You redirect and you give value immediately. In fact, you get permission to give value and then follow up. 

The method in short is:

Ask for permission to give value > Send value > Get feedback from the buyer > Ask for the appointment

Also:

Seek the truth not the sale. You can’t sell everybody. And all those salesbooks saying you’ve got to keep closing and sell, sell sell are crap. Heck I don’t want to sell everybody, because everybody is not the right client for my service. Next:

Don’t make any assumptions. I made that mistake once. Lesson learned. If you go in and say “oh I can help you, I can do this, why aren’t you doing this” you are going to make your buyer look foolish. Buyers have ego’s. Ask for permission to give value first.

If he is not open to it, then … he is not a qualified prospect anyway. See you don’t want to work with people who are not open to suggestions and who knows ‘better’. Such a relationship is doomed from the start.

So right before I pick up the phone I think “man I hope I can give this guy a killer suggestion to help him increase his business and I hope he has an open mind – but if he doesn’t that’s okay too.”

That’s the mindset I go in with on each call. Your mindset is key. Because your prospects are smart. Your buyer might be a troll in real life, but when it comes to purchasing descisions he is Einstein like clever. You can’t disguise your intention. And if your intention is on selling him right over the phone – you’ll get resistance.

So what is my intention?

My intention is just to get permission to give value. Not sell. Not push a report. Not push a consumer guide. No. There is no pushing involved. Infact the more you “push” the more your buyer “pulls”.

My goal is just to ask for permission to send the buyer some tips on how to improve his ad. See most advertisers want some advice on how to improve their ad. Their paying for it, so they will naturally be open to advice that could help them. See how that works? 

Now ask yourself:

What advice can I give my potential buyer that would be valuable for him?

Are you in real estate? Perhaps you can assemble a little buyers guide for bachelors and call on bachelors looking for cool houses. Are you a tax planner? Maybe you can make a report on 27 ways to save money on tax? Heck if I’m getting smacked with a large SARS tax bill I’d sure want to know how to cut back on my taxes.

Oh I almost forgot! Very, very important. You need to give a solution to someone who has a predetermined need that he knows about, cares about and would like help on. No point in sending your tax guide to a 1 man band when he really doesn’t pay any tax. Get it?

Okay your almost ready to make that call. “Radical Raymond” has one more golden nugget for you. The inspiration comes from Malcom Gladwell in his bestselling book blink. In a nutshell we make descisions instantly. Food good. Salesman avoid. Gang in alley bad. It’s almost caveman like. So it’s important not to identify yourself as a salesperson in the beginning of the call.

“HIII, my name is Daaaavid, how are you this morning”

SALESMAN! LOCK UP!

“I’m from XYZ Consulting, I sure hope it’s going well today”

SALESMAN ALERT!

“Hi, are you interested in abc”

HE’S OUT TO TAKE MY MONEY, RUN!

Don’t come across like that. It’s an uphill battle like trying to break into a bank that can see you coming.

You are not a salesperson, because you don’t know if there is a need yet. You are merely asking for permission to send value to your buyer. There’s much more to this so …

I’ll see if I can upload a video of me doing these calls so you can get a feel for how to do it the no pressure & easy way.

P.S. Like I said in the beginning, this could be a fluke. I just made a handful of calls and didn’t need to do anymore so I don’t have a very large sample – but I’ll test it some more and be back with those videos.

Stick around,

Raymond