“The #1 reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline. And the #1 reason your pipeline is empty is that you avoid cold calling.”
- Jeb Blount, bestselling author of Fanatical Prospecting
I hated cold calling when I was selling double glazing at 17. I was terrible on the phone and made zero sales (yes, 0) in 8 weeks.
I hate cold calling a little less now. But last year, I went from £0 to generating £350,000 because I picked up the phone.
What’s changed?
I’ve got a few grey hairs, aka experience, and I spend time reading, listening and learning.
Cold calling works regardless. It works even better when you’ve got a framework and process to follow. This book has step-by-step breakdowns, talk tracks and examples to help you win at calling.
Embrace the suck and master the frameworks in this book.
In today’s email:
The Book
The First 60 Seconds
Key Takeaways
👇🏾 Listen: The money is in the follow-up.
The Book
Cold Calling Sucks (And That's Why It Works): A Step-by-Step Guide to Calling Strangers in Sales by Arman Farrokh and Nick Cegelski
Cold calling is painful and uncomfortable for every single salesperson on Earth.
The average seller makes a couple of dials, hits six voicemails, and gives up the moment a prospect hits them with a nasty objection.
But every time you decide to pick up the phone despite the suck, you separate yourself from the folks who quit. That's when you get ahead on the leaderboard.
Embrace the suck of cold calling and master the frameworks in this book. Be like the top 10% of reps who book one meeting for every three cold calls that connect.
This is your step-by-step guide to get there.
Cold calling sucks. And that's why it works.
The First 60 Seconds
Most cold calls are won or lost within the first 60 seconds. The goal of the first 60 seconds is to earn the next 60 seconds.
If you can get past the first 60 seconds, you’re having a conversation instead of being brushed off.
OPENERS
The Two Worst Ways to Open a Cold Call:
#1: How’s Your Day Going?
#2: Did I Catch You at a Bad Time? (I used to use this A LOT)
Opener 1: Heard The Name Tossed Around Opener
There are three main pieces to the opener:
Lead with context about the prospect. It can be a customer in the same industry:
Then introduce yourself:
Ask the question:
After you ask the question, they’ll either answer yes or no.
If no, say something like:
“Ha! Guess I’m not as popular as I thought. Well, the reason for my call is …”
“Oh! Normally, we would’ve crossed paths by now. Well, the reason for my call is …”
“Huh! Well, we work with a few other partners in the office, and the reason I called you is …
→ From there, you go into a very short pitch
If yes, continue with:
“Oh good, we’d normally be working with someone like you by now. What’d you hear?”
From there, give the same pitch you’d give if they said no anyway.
Opener 2: The Tailored Permission Opener
There are three steps to this opener:
Lead with context related to a problem you solve, rather than a random piece of information.
Own the cold call so you can attach context to your pitch.
Ask for permission to pitch and give them a sense of control.
What If They Say “No”?
Incentivise the prospect to share more about why they’re saying no.
“Sorry to hear that. Just so nobody from my team calls again - is it that I caught you at a bad time, or do you work with an existing supplier?”
Or
“Appreciate you being upfront. To be honest, I don’t love making these calls either. Look, I did my research on [Company], and this isn’t a random call. Can I take 30 seconds to share what I found, and then you can hang up on me if it’s not relevant.”
THE PROBLEM PROPOSITION
Prospects act on problems more than benefits. Value has no context without a problem.
Your service has no “value” unless it’s solving a problem:
Show a prospect you understand the problem in excruciating detail
Spend 80% of your time talking about the problem, then explain the unique differentiator that allows you to solve that problem in a single sentence.
A Problem Proposition is a problem described in detail.
Step 1: Triggering Problem
For a problem to trigger a painful memory, include some of the following descriptors:
Persona. Who feels the problem? (Housing Association Contract Managers, procurement leaders at Tier 1 fit-out contractors)
Annoyances. What were they annoyed about? (delayed collections, missed SLAs)
Scenery. What was the setting when it happened? (project deadline, rising contractor costs)
Emotion. How would they describe the feeling? (stressed, frustrated)
At the power line
Project Managers might complain about late or missed waste clearances delaying project completions.
Above the power line
Project Directors wouldn’t care about late or missed waste clearances delaying project completions.
They would complain about missing project completion dates and lost profits if several projects overrun.
Another department
Sustainability Managers wouldn’t know about these project delivery headaches. They’d care if the business couldn’t report recycling rates or carbon emissions to meet sustainability KPIs.
Step 2: One-Sentence Solution
After explaining the problem, do two things to explain the solution in one sentence:
Tell them that you can solve the problem.
Give them the minimum level of detail that makes it believable (i.e., what is it about our solution that allows us to solve that problem).→ “we do X so that the problem goes away,”
Avoid:
Buzz Words. They’re vague terms that mean nothing.
Categorizations. Never put yourself in a service category like tenancy cleaning or waste collections. Focus on solving the problem they have, even if they have a solution in place.
Random Accolades.
Step 3: Interest-Based Call-to-Action
Validate a prospect’s interest before anything else.
Only ask your prospect to make one decision at a time.
Interest-based CTA:
“My guess is this came out of left field for you, but open to learning more when I’m not calling you totally outta the blue?”
“I’m sure you have something in place, but does any of that sound even moderately interesting to you?”
“My guess is you’re all set, but would you be opposed to taking a peek at what that looks like?”
Three tricks to remember:
Use softening language like “Would you be open to,” or “Does that sound even moderately interesting?”
Use no-based questions like “Opposed to learning more?”. Prospects tend to feel safer when saying no.
Use mini push-away statements like “My guess is you’re all set” or “I know this came out of left field” to reduce the pressure of the sale.
Landing the Meeting
Ask for a meeting using these four steps:
Suggest time ranges, not specific times.
“Great, well, I know my call totally interrupted you. How’s your Tuesday morning from 9–11 a.m. or Thursday afternoon from 2–4?”Confirm their email address on the call.
Schedule the meeting within the next 1-2 weeks.
Ask them to accept your calendar invite once it hits their inbox.
If they ask to coordinate times over email, always throw a dart at the calendar.
“Here’s what I’ll do—I’ll schedule placeholder on your calendar for around this time later in the week, along with some other times over email. Mind accepting the invite if it works or picking one of the backups if it doesn’t.”
Key Takeaways
Avoid using “How’s your day going?” and “Did I catch you at a bad time?”. Lead with context instead.
Focus on describing specific problems rather than generic value propositions - prospects act on well-defined problems more than abstract benefits.
Buzzwords make you sound like a telemarketer, and benefits fall flat without the context of a problem.
Use a three-step framework:
Triggering Problem: Lead with a problem so specific that it triggers your prospect and reminds them of a painful memory.
One-Sentence Solution. If you get the problem right, all you need is one sentence to explain your solution (we do X so that the problem goes away).
Interest-Based CTA. Validate their interest before you ask for the meeting, using softening language, no-based questions, and mini push-aways.
When scheduling meetings, provide time ranges rather than specific slots and aim to schedule within 1-2 weeks.
Thanks for reading!
Matt @ The Growth Lab
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