Cold Calling for Winners (not Whiners)
It’s about time I applied the wisdom of Peter F. Drucker, management sage and my late professor, to the art of cold calling.
He said:
“We don’t succeed in areas we don’t respect.”
Clearly, this pertains to dialing for dollars, don’t you think?
How many among us truly admire and respect cold calling?
I know I do, because it has made and re-made my career many times over.
It put me through college and helped with graduate school.
It launched my consulting business on a shoestring. I exploited a leased phone line and a few postage stamps to line-up a distribution network consisting of 40 universities and many trade associations and corporations.
It has enabled me to find publishers for several best-selling books which have spun-off hefty royalties, amazing media exposure, and yet more clients.
In fact, I respect cold calling so much that I favor it over all other business development media, given a choice of tools.
But the stark fact is that most people don’t see it the way I do.
One guy said most salespeople would rather have a route canal than cold call. A bit extreme, but this comment helped him to sell seminars on the topic.
A lot of folks suffer from phone fear, also known as call reluctance. They envision such negative outcomes, such a “parade of horribles,” that they de-skill themselves and fail to use even the most rudimentary tools that would assure their success.
I understand their pain, to borrow a phrase.
Still, they’re losers.
And the field should develop and sophisticate itself without paying attention to them.
If they don’t respect cold calling I can’t respect them, or hold their hands, or be an “enabler” of their avoidance behaviors.
I shouldn’t coddle them and tell them fearing human contact by phone is normal and rational, because it isn’t.
People on the other end of the line cannot zap us with a death ray or make us swallow dumb pills. They don’t give us cold sweats, or devise innumerable excuses and rationalizations for not making calls.
We voluntarily disable ourselves by fearing something that is basically so straightforward and easy as to be doable by teenagers.
I know, because I was a 19 year-old at Time-Life Books who became a top salesperson and sales manager.
Yes, it’s time to focus of developing and disseminating a cold calling corpus or articles, tapes, seminars, coaching and consulting products which are for winners.
We can overcome many things, but disrespect is not one of them.
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Scripts Are Essential, But You Need The Three T's To Bring Them To Life
When I write scripts for customer service and for selling, I test them, tweak them here and there, and then I deploy them at my clients’ sites.
Minimally, it’s a systematic process of validation, and once my scripts have been proven in dozens, hundreds, thousands and even millions of conversations, I can say, very authoritatively, that they work.
From my standpoint it is important to be as scientific as possible, not only to be dispensing solutions that are assured of producing sales and customer satisfaction, but to overcome the perennial cynicism that salespeople, customer service reps, and their managers bring to scripts.
There is always the question, “Will this work?” but an even more pertinent one is, “Will it work for me?”
And the answer is always the same: Unless you’re an alien from a distant galaxy, of course it will work for you!
But this isn’t the whole story, as you might imagine. As a trainer, manager, and consultant I’ve seen that scripts are only part of the answer. They’re helpful and even necessary ingredients of success, but we need more to succeed.
Specifically, we need DIRECTION in bringing them to life.
This is where mere vendors of scripts miss the mark. They might advertise a script for getting insurance appointments, but without the appropriate instructions for breathing vitality into them, it’s like showing words on a page to an 8 month old: they’re gibberish.
Let me give you a quick example of a way of getting through call screening that I invented that should double the frequency with which you succeed.
Instead of asking, “Is Bill Smith in?” which launches secretarial countermeasures, starting with the universal, “May I tell him who’s calling?” we shift the dynamics, entirely.
“Hello, Gary Goodman, Customersatisfaction.com, for Bill Smith please, thank you.”
I invite you to reverse engineer this winning gambit at your leisure, and you’ll see many fascinating, non-traditional facets to it. But for now, let me point out that a script needs 3 T’s, and not one T, to succeed.
It needs the proper Text, Tone & Timing.
(If the Three T’s are new sounding, I forgive you. I invented them, along with THE NEW TELEMARKETING ™ that they are part of.)
Let’s just look at how one of the T’s--Timing--affects the delivery of the screening line I provided.
Purposely, I don’t pause before uttering the words, “Thank you,” because I want those words to be FINAL, for the screener to fetch the person I’m requesting. If I pause before saying thank you, the screener will interpret this as a relinquishing of the call to her, and will encourage her to ask another disqualifying question.
(You're unlikely to figure this out on your own because we normally pause at punctuation instead of talking through it.)
My first generation trainees, the ones whose companies bring me in to speak, to consult, and to write scripts, receive this instruction, but their imitators don’t. That’s why those I haven't directed sound canned and their scripts “aren’t working,” or so they claim.
To be accurate, they should say, the scripts aren’t working FOR THEM.
Again, scripts are essential to success in selling and in providing top customer service, but they need to be accompanied by the proper direction and training so reps can use them, effectively.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, and sales, service, and negotiation consultant. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than a thousand articles. and several popular audio and video training programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary brings over two decades of sales, management and consulting experience to the table, with some of the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry. A Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.
Scripts Are Essential, But You Need The Three T's To Bring Them To Life
When I write scripts for customer service and for selling, I test them, tweak them here and there, and then I deploy them at my clients’ sites.
Minimally, it’s a systematic process of validation, and once my scripts have been proven in dozens, hundreds, thousands and even millions of conversations, I can say, very authoritatively, that they work.
From my standpoint it is important to be as scientific as possible, not only to be dispensing solutions that are assured of producing sales and customer satisfaction, but to overcome the perennial cynicism that salespeople, customer service reps, and their managers bring to scripts.
There is always the question, “Will this work?” but an even more pertinent one is, “Will it work for me?”
And the answer is always the same: Unless you’re an alien from a distant galaxy, of course it will work for you!
But this isn’t the whole story, as you might imagine. As a trainer, manager, and consultant I’ve seen that scripts are only part of the answer. They’re helpful and even necessary ingredients of success, but we need more to succeed.
Specifically, we need DIRECTION in bringing them to life.
This is where mere vendors of scripts miss the mark. They might advertise a script for getting insurance appointments, but without the appropriate instructions for breathing vitality into them, it’s like showing words on a page to an 8 month old: they’re gibberish.
Let me give you a quick example of a way of getting through call screening that I invented that should double the frequency with which you succeed.
Instead of asking, “Is Bill Smith in?” which launches secretarial countermeasures, starting with the universal, “May I tell him who’s calling?” we shift the dynamics, entirely.
“Hello, Gary Goodman, Customersatisfaction.com, for Bill Smith please, thank you.”
I invite you to reverse engineer this winning gambit at your leisure, and you’ll see many fascinating, non-traditional facets to it. But for now, let me point out that a script needs 3 T’s, and not one T, to succeed.
It needs the proper Text, Tone & Timing.
(If the Three T’s are new sounding, I forgive you. I invented them, along with THE NEW TELEMARKETING ™ that they are part of.)
Let’s just look at how one of the T’s--Timing--affects the delivery of the screening line I provided.
Purposely, I don’t pause before uttering the words, “Thank you,” because I want those words to be FINAL, for the screener to fetch the person I’m requesting. If I pause before saying thank you, the screener will interpret this as a relinquishing of the call to her, and will encourage her to ask another disqualifying question.
(You're unlikely to figure this out on your own because we normally pause at punctuation instead of talking through it.)
My first generation trainees, the ones whose companies bring me in to speak, to consult, and to write scripts, receive this instruction, but their imitators don’t. That’s why those I haven't directed sound canned and their scripts “aren’t working,” or so they claim.
To be accurate, they should say, the scripts aren’t working FOR THEM.
Again, scripts are essential to success in selling and in providing top customer service, but they need to be accompanied by the proper direction and training so reps can use them, effectively.
What Kind of Person Makes The Best telephone Sales Agent?
Mark L. was an aspiring TV actor who just started getting good parts on daytime soap operas.
Bob H. was solid student, serious, but I could make him laugh. And when I prodded him to do more than his usual best, especially during contests, he dug down deeper and came up with pure gold.
Randy T. spent a good deal of time under the hood of his car, his face obscured by the rising smoke of a joint.
And Bunny, ah yes, Bunny, was a bunny, cozying her way to one positive reception after the next.
All of these unique characters, and many, many more were my top salespeople at Time-Life.
Each had stories to tell, each was totally colorful and big as life, and all were fiercely independent and planned on staying that way.
Which, of course, starts to address the question every sales manager, personnel executive, and call center director asks, especially given the typically rampant employee turnover that occurs in phone work:
“What kind of person makes the best telephone sales agent?”
I gave away the answer if you refer to the adjectives and adverbs I used, and could have used to describe them.
Aspiring actor, starving student, intoxicated mechanic, cute and cuddly fur-ball; Is there a picture that’s coming to mind that melds these folks into a single category?
I’ll give you a few that come to mind that Careerbuilder and Monster.com don’t recognize—yet.
Individualist, Edgy, Iconoclastic, Marginal, Just Passing Through & On My Way to Something Bigger & Better in Life Thank You Very Much, and maybe Don’t Tread on Me! (Randy, right?)
These aren’t your bread and butter corporate types, software nerds, or lumberjacks.
They remind me of the constellation of characters found in those gritty and puckish war films like “The Dirty Dozen” or “The Great Escape.” Each one has a gift, which by itself won’t get them very far, except into trouble.
One is a pickpocket and escape artist and the next is a forger and so on.
But, if you can give each one proper direction, acknowledge and even encourage their individuality, and meld them into a team, you can reach your goals, and they, theirs.
Some companies get this and they prosper.
Kelly-Springfield Tire Company, one of my training and consulting clients, had a group of telemarketers they called, “The Live Wires.” They were, well, different than the rest of the organization, so different that management built them their own structure, behind headquarters, near the woods.
They thrived, largely because management “got” them, understood their special needs and swagger, and left them alone, to sell, which of course was their chief responsibility.
Maybe, this article should have been titled: “What Kind of Person Makes the Best Telephone Sales MANAGER?”
Hint: It’s someone who “gets” the significance of what I’ve just said.
Sales Smarts 101: Call Back Hot Prospects IMMEDIATELY!
There is an auto consortium that offers some of the classiest names in any showroom: Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Rolls-Royce among them.
It can also boast a very poor batting average when it comes to earning my business, despite the fact that it is the closest venue in which to have my cars serviced. But this natural advantage is something the collective dealerships constantly fritter away.
Recently, I went telephone shopping for a new set of wheels. Because I needed another ride right away, time was of the essence.
I phoned multiple dealerships and tried a number of nameplates.
Finally, I settled on one, and the only question was whether the individual dealership: (1) Had the appropriate car in stock in the color I wanted ; and (2) Whether the dealership would honor the killer of a lease deal that the manufacturer was offering through its web site.
I tried calling the consortium’s dealership three times, leaving two messages, and explaining exactly what I needed to one flesh and blood rep.
Three days later, I got a return call, indicating they had the right car in stock.
But at least 24 hours before that call, I had happily driven away with the car I sought, provided in this case by a competing dealership.
That place did not earn my business because it offered a superior deal, because the deal was the same, described to a T by the manufacturer. So, no matter where I went in the United States, I wasn't going to get a better deal than THAT deal.
The salesperson wasn’t charming; in fact, she was repulsive, and I had to deal with her supervisor to get taken care of.
The only reason they earned my business was that they responded to my initial call, said they had what I wanted in stock, and I set a date to drive it that afternoon, after which I inked the deal.
If you think you have to be a genius to earn business, well, it’s not true.
But minimally, you need to be competent, and this means dropping everything else when you get a hot lead, someone who stands up and all but yells, “I'm qualified and this is what I want. Will you sell it to me?”
5 Reasons Sales & Service Reps Don't Follow Scripts
Let's say your management team has already “scripted success.” They know with 100% certainty that if reps will follow a given sales or service script, they'll double their results.
Why is it then, after being introduced to that winning script, most reps won't agreeably or enthusiastically use it?
There isn’t a single answer, but here are 5 reasons I've come up with as a manager and as a sales, telemarketing, and customer service consultant:
(1) Immature people in business misunderstand money making routines.
They treat business as if it is a liberal arts essay exam where mere opinion, providing it is heartfelt, original, and spontaneous, is to be valued above rote regurgitation. These folks don’t get the fact that their betters have labored ceaselessly to discover and to codify a routine so they don’t have to use trial and error each time they want to earn a paycheck. All they have to do is punch in, do the job the official way, and then punch out, and they’ll be able to pay their bills.
(2) It takes effort and stamina and what my drama teacher in high school referred to as “performance discipline” to put on a show and make it EXACTLY the same before each passing audience.
Outside of the military, the martial arts, a rigorous athletic program, or perhaps strict musical training, most people haven’t learned the necessity of self-discipline and its connection to competence and to mastery.
(3) The lines have blurred beyond recognition in distinguishing work from play.
Countless gurus and hucksters coming out of the “Age of Aquarius” have touted fun and games as being the way to unleash human potential. Work should always be fun, they insist, otherwise something is wrong. If it’s always fun, believe me, something is out of whack, and that something will be corrected, probably by dark market forces before long. Those high-flying tech companies that were awash in Wall Street money because their founders wrote dazzling business plans with outrageous profit predictions came crashing to earth when sales never materialized. But until then, there was free pizza, massages at your desk, on site health clubs, and mixers and fire walking every weekend. Fun and funding go together.
(4) Managers are soft on enforcement.
I’ve known a mere handful of business owners and managers that have had the grit to MAKE PEOPLE STICK TO THEIR SCRIPTS, WORD FOR WORD. Most managers seem to want love and acceptance more than business results. A very famous tech company refused to make people follow brief scripts that were so successful that customers bought new products 50% of the time they were offered. Managers allowed their reps to freely choose whether to earn money for the company and its millions of shareholders. Soon enough, the stock price eroded, and this once shining star is today a mere dwarf.
(5) Nobody wants to start at the bottom.
Following directions, including those that are encoded into sales and service scripts, is something that the lowest of the low are required to do, or so many of today’s workers believe. Why have American phone jobs been outsourced to places like India and the Philippines and to Latin America? It’s not just a matter of a different standard of living. Recruitment and retention of a phone force in America is an incredibly arduous, Sisyphean task. Our workers see themselves as “too good” to be on the phones, unless, of course they can feel more PROFESSIONAL about it, which they equate with choosing their own methods, or non-methods, if you will.
Just as there is no single reason for non-compliance with scripts, the solution isn’t a solitary one, either.
We have to address all of the issues above, and be especially creative and precise in our compensation schemes, as well.
I’ll develop these “cures” in a future article.
5 Tips for Polishing Your Sales Script
There are two kinds of folks who sell by telephone: (1) Those that deliberately use scripts and respect their functionality, and (2) Those that use scripts, but unconsciously. They are unaware of the fact that we unknowingly repeat phrases and terms that seem to be working for us when setting appointments, qualifying prospects, and closing sales by phone.
This article is dedicated to the first group, to those of you who purposely employ a script and who are relentlessly pursuing ways to perfect it.
While I can, and actually have written entire articles about the impact of using a single word in a script, let me give you five overarching tips that should serve you well:
(1) I review and polish scripts for a living, so with that in mind, when I ask clients to email me theirs, typically I receive a sheet of paper that is aimed at selling a decision maker. That’s fine, but if you’re doing business-to-business telemarketing, you need to script what you say to (a) Penetrate call screening and (b) Deal with voice mail. As I say in my audio and video training programs, if you can’t sell your way past the first barrier, you won’t get a chance to pitch the decision maker. So, begin at the beginning, by developing a great script for getting past call screening and voice mail. (If you don’t have one, I do. Contact me.)
(2) Nice doesn’t sell, and despite the title of a recent book, a book for wimps by the way, “the power of nice” is overestimated. In phone calls AUTHORITY SELLS. You don’t get points by sounding like a weasel, using weasel words and phrases, such as: “Is this a good time to talk?” That’s like inviting a stranger to KICK ME NOW! I clicked on some Johnny-come-lately phone guru’s blog and this is exactly what he recommends. Never ask permission to sell someone, and forget about that fairy tale called “permission marketing.” The only approval you need is when you ask them to buy or to agree to a meeting. Just sell them!
(3) Don’t wait for prospects to close themselves. You need to take the lead and to use a close line, such as: “So, let’s get together on Friday, and we’ll take it from there, Okay?” That’s a close. “So, I’ll send this widget out to you right away and I’m sure you’ll find it useful, Okay?” That’s another close. Write them into your script!
(4) Write out answers to objections. Don’t rely on instincts or your phenomenal improvisational capabilities. Which objections should you prepare? Start with the perennials: no time to talk, no interest, using a competitor, no need, no authority to buy, and send me some information.
(5) Test your presentation for the proper amount of FORMALITY. We live in increasingly informal times, so striking a casual pose should work much of the time. But you can sound too “homey” if you’re phoning university officials as I do to set up my seminar programs. They expect to hear a certain amount of distinction, polish, and reserve when I communicate. In a word, they expect to hear a Ph.D. communicating with them, and I need to demonstrate I didn’t buy my degree. If my next call is to a tractor distributor, and yes I have one as a client, I had better sound more like a regular, unpretentious guy.
Is your script polished and working as well as it should?
That’s a hard question to answer.
You might want to reach out to have someone review your script to accentuate its strengths and to shore up any weaknesses.
If you just make one more sale that you would otherwise miss, the exercise will more than pay for itself.
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