I really like these cold calling tips by Jim Bennett, a great entrepeneur!
"To me, cold calling
techniques differ depending on the size of the business you're calling.
My focus is on local small business for promo advertising. My opening
line for every call is "Hello. My name is Jim. I was wondering if you
can help me find the person that handles your marketing?" There are 3
keywords here that I believe makes it easier to break through..
1. Help. Who doesn't like to help?
2. Handle. It's a nicer way to say "in charge of". Doesn't seem like you're asking for a person of authority.
3. Marketing. I used to say advertising. But businesses get advertising
calls many times during a standard week. Changing it to marketing makes
it seem less invasive, to me.
Another reason why I use this statement right up front is it already answers all the questions they may have for me.
After that, if I get someone on the phone of authority, I try to
remember that I'm just trying to sell the appointment, not the product.
While giving them a reason to take the appointment is necessary,
overwhelming them with promotional product advertising can be off
putting. So just keep it simple. Develop a good elevator speech of 15-30
seconds to explain what you do and why they need you. Spend 2-4 minutes
building as much rapport as you can and another minute gaining the
appointment.
Keep the initial call under 5 minutes. That's always my goal. I want my
customers to know that I'm respectful of their time and that I know that
I'm calling them at what could be an inopportune time, and I don't want
them to spend a lot of their precious day talking to me."
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