A Cold Call Doesn’t Need To Be Freezing

I’d like to share with you an experience I just had which left me with an incredibly bad taste in my mouth.

I received a phone call from a blocked number [1] on my mobile phone. Expecting another call, I answered; here is a rough approximation of the conversation:

Random Woman: Hello, is the technical decision maker there? [2]
Josh Bob: I’m sorry?
RW: I’m looking for the head of technology at your company. [3]
JB: Who is this, please?
RW: My name is {name withheld} and I’m calling from {firm withheld}. I saw you’re hiring developers.
JB: OK…
RW: I’d like to tell you about our .NET developers we can hook you up with. [4]
JB: We don’t really use .NET at all.
RW: Oh, really? What do you use?
JB: Our tech is based in Rails.
RW: I see. We do have some great pHp developers, too. [5]
JB: We’re not really interested. This also isn’t a great time. [6]
RW: I can send you some information. Who would the developer be reporting to, you?
JB: No, they would report to the CTO.
RW: Oh, and what are you?
JB: I’m the CEO.
RW: And what’s your name? [7]
JB: {getting annoyed} You called me!
RW: I found your company on the {name of job board} job board. [8]
JB: Wow. OK, why don’t you give me the website and I’ll look it up when we need it?
RW: You can just give me your email address and I’ll send you some information.
JB: Why don’t you just give me the website? [9]
RW: In this time, you could have just given me the information by now. [10]
JB: {clearly annoyed} I can understand that you work on commission…
RW: We don’t work on commission.
JB: {very annoyed} Look, this cold call clearly isn’t going very well. You can give me the website, and we’ll call it a day, or I can hang up. [11]
RW: Why don’t you…
JB: *CLICK* [12]

Unbelievable. So many lessons to be learned…

1. A blocked number is a terrible way to introduce yourself to a potential customer. It says, “I don’t want you to be able to track this back to me.”
2. Have a good introductory line, even if you don’t know the name of the right person to speak with. How about “Happy new year! How are you today?”
3. So now you don’t know who you want, you don’t know who I am, and you don’t know my company. Did you, in fact, do any research at all before making this call?
4. Don’t act like you’re doing someone a favor by trying to sell them something. Even if you have a machine that can help them lose 25 pounds in 2 weeks safely, they still need to be shown the benefits and convinced to purchase.
5. If someone tells you they want X, don’t immediately tell them you have Y. If you have X, talk to them about X; if you don’t, then figure out how else you can help them – or bail out to save both of your time!
6. When someone says, “We’re not really interested,” it can be a gateway to a future sale – but you’re not likely to complete a sale then and there, so don’t push.
7. If you don’t know the person’s name, there are ways to find it out; “What’s your name?” sounds condescending. Try “I’m sorry, the page didn’t have your name. With whom am I speaking?” Or better yet – do some damn research and find a name!
8. Admitting that you farmed job boards to find cold call candidates isn’t likely to get you on anyone’s “Favorite Sales Goon” list.
9. The customer asking for the information is a good sign that they aren’t interested in giving you their contact point. Take the hint.
10. Never – EVER – blame the customer for wasting your time. You called them – interrupting their day – so you do not have the right to point fingers at them.
11. If the customer gives the salesperson an ultimatum, it has gone past the point of no return. Give them the information, on the off chance that they might write it down (without then turning it into a voodoo doll), and GTFO.
12. (This is when I hung up.)

There are many more sales lessons to be learned (some of which I’ve been taking from Chet Holmes’ fantastic book, The Ultimate Sales Machine), but I wanted to share some glaring idiocy to brighten your day: “Look, I’m not as horrible as that person!”

Be Sociable, Share!

•