Table of Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 4

The Anti Cold Calling Crowd are Charlatans. Period..................................................... 5

The Truth About Why Salespeople Don’t Like Cold Calling......................................... 6

C-Level Executives Want to Hear From You. Maybe....................................................... 6

The Best Way To Lose a Prospect’s Interest While Cold Calling................................... 8

Six Principle for Effective Cold Calling........................................................................... 9

 How to Crush It, Kill It, and
Master Cold Calling Now.
Over the past year, I have written blog post after blog post at my site, thesalesblog.com. Most of what I
have written was written to be published later as a book. That book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever
Need, became a national best seller.

Of all the topics I have written on, what I have written about cold calling has always struck a nerve,
eliciting strong opinions— either for or against. Much of the email I receive is for advice and ideas about
how to be more effective at cold calling, or it is to remind me that Sales 2.0 has replaced cold calling (an
idea with which I am vehemently opposed with every fiber of my being).

I collected a few posts on cold calling here to serve as a guide for those who would endeavor to improve
their cold calling skills. I hope you find it useful in improving your effectiveness and that you adopt these
ideas into all of your prospecting activities.

Go Crush It. Go Kill It.

Go and Master Cold Calling.
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The Anti Cold Calling Crowd are Charlatans, Period
There are two reasons that cold calling takes a don’t like cold calling, consider that you might
beating by so called sales gurus. The first reason not like it simply because it is hard to be really
is that most salespeople aren’t very good at it good at cold calling. Treat cold calling like
(most people like to do work at which they are anything else that you want to be really good at
above average, especially when it is noticeable). and dedicate the time and resources necessary.
These salespeople complain about cold calling.
1. Read a book on cold calling. In fact,
The second reason cold calling gets bashed read two books.
is the fact that a whole cottage industry has
popped up to sell the idea that cold calling 2. Ask someone who is good at cold calling to
is dead to the group of salespeople who aren’t listen to you make calls and offer suggestions.
very good at it and wish for an easier way
to set appointments. 3. Record all of your calls and listen back to
them to hear how you sound to the prospect.
The anti cold calling crowd preys on weak
Then do something to make your calls better,
salespeople. These charlatans are no different
than the charlatans that sell the idea that you stronger. Rewrite your scripts to make them
can lose weight without exercise or diet, that more compelling to the prospect.
you can get rich quickly without working, and
that affiliate marketing creates millionaires 4. Get a coach.
(which it does, but the millionaires are the
Buy a cold calling program on CD and listen to
folks who sell the picks and shovels, not those
it on the way to and from work.
that are standing in the stream panning for
gold). Cold calling has much in common with
If you work at cold calling, you can and will get
weight loss, fitness, and getting rich. Like all of
better. If you work especially hard at it, you can
these, cold calling is hard work. Cold calling is
get better even faster.
also a prerequisite for success in sales, just like
diet and exercise are prerequisites for weight Whatever you do, don’t buy the snake oil sold
loss and fitness, and spending less and saving by charlatans and con artists.
more are prerequisites for becoming wealthy.
To succeed at prospecting today, you need to If you plan to do well in sales, plan to get good
use every weapon in your arsenal, cold calling, at cold calling
warm calling, networking, referrals, traditional
marketing, social media and more. You cannot
leave cold calling out of your arsenal; it is just
too valuable a skill for a sales person. If you

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 Master Cold calling NOW

The Truth About Why Salespeople Don’t Like Cold Calling

There are two groups of people who cold Lack of Preparedness
call: telemarketing firms and professional
salespeople. For telemarketing firms, cold No one wants to do a job that they don’t have
calling is all that they do. the proper tools, technology and training they
need to succeed.
For professional salespeople, cold calling is
one tool in an arsenal of many tools (or at The tools, the technology, and the training
least it had better be). There are many reasons prepare you to succeed and build confidence.
that salespeople don’t like cold calling, but The opposite is also true; a lack of the proper
in professional salespeople, it is rarely a tools, technology and training destroys
fear of rejection. Instead, it is usually one of confidence. For cold calling this boils down to
a couple of key factors.
three reasons:

1. Do you have a written script?

1. Lack of Preparedness

2. Do you have a written script for objections?

2. Lack of Ability to Differentiate

3. Is the script something that you can be

3. Inability to Create Value for their
proud to use?
Dream Client

4. Does your script make you sound like a

professional whose clear goal is to create
value for the customer? Or does it make
you sound like a credit card company?

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Lack of Ability to Differentiate Conclusion

Professional salespeople need to differentiate Poor Results and Call Reluctance

themselves in a crowded field. This is difficult
to do, and it is more difficult over the All of the above factors lead to poor results, and
telephone–especially when the salesperson poor results lead to less activity. Correcting and
rattles off the same lines the prospect just heard improving the three factors above can make cold
from a competitor. calling a more valuable tool in a salesperson’s
arsenal. Answer these questions:
Salespeople don’t like to make cold calls when
they cannot differentiate themselves. There are Questions
a lot of gimmicks and tricks to differentiate that
Here are some questions you can use to start
have been tried over the years, like fake polls
thinking about how you can improve your cold
and surveys, but all result in a lack of trust once
calling activity.
the call turns into a sales call. To differentiate
yourself on the phone is difficult, but it has
1. Do I have a great script for making calls?
to be done and it has to be authentic. The
Is it super professional?
best way to differentiate yourself is to create
value for the prospect.
2. Do I have written scripts for all of the
Inability to Create Value for the Prospect potential objections I might receive
on the call?
Professional salespeople succeed when they
create value for their prospects and customers. 3. Does my script immediately make me
When cold calling doesn’t provide you with the different in the mind of my prospective
ability to create value for the prospect, it doesn’t
customer? Does it make me sound like
feel like a worthwhile use of your time.
the last ten salespeople who called?
There are sales organizations who have figured
4. What could I say on a cold call that would
out how to deliver value before claiming
value over the telephone. They still ask for differentiate me from my competitors?
appointments. But the calls are valuable for the Who do I have to be to stand out from the
prospect because they provide the prospect crowd? How does the prospect know I
with something more than a request for an am remarkable over the telephone?
appointment. The reason telemarketing is
so offensive to the people receiving the call is 5. How could I make a cold call a valuable
because it is so one sided; it isn’t about creating use of my prospect’s time? What does the
value for them. prospect need that I could use the cold
call as an opportunity to deliver?

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 Master Cold calling NOW

C-Level Executives Want to Hear From You, Maybe

Could it be that some salespeople are simply Which is why you never pursue a single
more effective than others at calling and gaining approach and you instead use every prospecting
appointments with C-level executives? method available.

Cold Calling C-Level Executives Why Do C-level Executives Take Your Call

There is no reason that you, as a professional Who do you think has the worst case of
salesperson, cannot pick up the phone and call insomnia in your prospect’s company? No one,
C-level executives, providing you have great and I mean no one, has bigger problems with
ideas (and you do have great ideas!). There is more at stake than C-level executives. No one
no reason you cannot pick up the phone and wants to make sure their initiatives succeed
say: “Hi Tom. This is Anthony with The Sales like C-level executives. C-level executives
Blog. I just read an article about your new are charged with achieving their company’s
initiative, and I have some ideas that I believe strategic goals and objectives.
will helpful to you and XYZ Company with this
project. I’d like to invite you to grab a cup of Where those goals and objectives rub up against
coffee and a quick discussion on two of these market realities are where problems are found.
ideas. I promise it will be 20 minutes that will Where problems are found is where there is an
be worth your while whether you use us or not. opening for you to create value.
What does Thursday morning look like?” Does
What’s Expected of You
this require that you have the ideas? Absolutely.

In order to provide value to C-level executives,

Do you have to be prepared to generate value
you have to be able to either solve a problem
on the appointment? Absolutely.
for them or help them create a new competitive
advantage (although I would argue that creating
Are some of these executives still going to say
a competitive advantage is still solving a
no? Absolutely.
problem, it is just creating the problem of not
having the competitive advantage first).

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To get the opportunity you have to be a couple Conclusion
things. You have to be supremely confident that
Let’s not forget that C-level executives are
you can solve their problem or help them with
human (well, I have met a few that may not be).
a competitive advantage. You have to have the
They usually have more experience and greater
business acumen to be able to speak to them in
competencies which has led them to a position
their language, and the language of business is
of responsibility.
often financial or strategic.

This responsibility includes achieving results for

This means you have to be able to read a
their company, their clients and customers, their
financial statement, and that you are as good
stakeholders, and their shareholders. They build
with Microsoft Excel as your nearest CFO. You
teams to achieve those results, and their partners
need to be able to prove out your points, and this
are part of that team. If you can differentiate
includes ROI. You also need to know how they
yourself, you can get their attention. If you can
compete and their strategic advantage in their
solve problems and/or create a competitive
market. You need to forgo the simple rapport
advantage (owning the outcome), you can be part
building. C-level executives are interested
of that team. Having the necessary skills is up to
in business and they are interested in doing
you. And so is having the confidence to do so.
business with other people who are interested
in business. (I am not suggesting rapport isn’t
Questions
important, but you Damn well better not start
with the trivial). C-level executives need you to 1. What do you believe about C-level
be their go to expert in your field. They know
executives that prevents you from being
they are not subject matters on everything, and
able to pick up the phone and call them
they know they cannot afford to not understand
the parts of their business where your business
2. What do you believe about yourself that
can make a difference.
prevents you from being able to pick up
They will expect you to be a subject matter the phone and call a C-level executive?
expert par excellence, filling a gap that they have
in their knowledge and experience. You will 3. What are you missing that, if you had
need be the kind of person that is going to own it, would make it easier for you to make
the initiative and the results of what it is you the calls higher up your prospect’s
sell. You will need to be the kind of person who organizational chart? What do you have
can achieve the outcomes you promise, engage to do to get it?
with your team and their team throughout the
entire process. 4. What is your best language for calling a
C-level executive?

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 Master Cold calling NOW

The Best Way to Lose a Prospect’s Interest While Cold Calling

A few weeks ago I received an email from Your Call is Undifferentiated
a first time salesperson who was struggling
Truth is, there are a lot of people using this very
to make appointments.
same opening (it works sometimes, especially
Her problems were many, starting with the with smaller, transactional clients). Your
fact that she has had no sales training and no prospects and dream clients are subjected to this
sales manager. Her question was on how to request over and over again. In the past, they
get better, and I recommended two of my have agreed to meet with some nice sounding
favorite sales books. She had read one, and salespeople and they have found them all to be
she bought the other. She sent me a follow up pretty much the same—not value creators!
email to better describe the real problem she
By using the exact same approach with the exact
was confronting, which she described as having
same language choices, you have confirmed that
trouble “introducing herself ” and her company’s
you are no different than those who have come
“consulting services.” There is no doubt that
before you—and the many who will call using
making the statement “I’d like to come by and
the same line in the future.
introduce myself and my company’s service to
you,” is sometimes effective.
Your Call Provides No Value and Confirms
No Future Value
But that sometimes is very, very rare. Here is
why that opening’s call to action isn’t effective By making your request both about yourself and
and what to do about it. undifferentiated, you confirm for your prospect
or dream client that you lack the ability to be
Your Call to Action Is Self Centered
valuable to them—this is true, even when you
If you were on the other side of this salesperson’s really can be of value.
request for an appointment, what might you
By making even your request about you, you
suspect you would spend your time talking
demonstrate that the focus of this call is about
about on a sales call should one be given?
creating value for you and not your dream client.
This statement makes the prospect absolutely
By not making your call different, the dream
certain that you are going to spend your time
client has no choice but to believe that you have
talking about you and what you do. “But
no new value creating ideas worth her time and
wait,” you say. “That isn’t at all what I hoped
her attention. The first assessment that your
to accomplish on the first call” But that is
dream client makes is whether or not you are
what you said, and that is what your dream
someone worth spending time with—what are
client now believes.
they going to get out of the call. The best they

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can hope for, based on your request, is that they Effectiveness in cold calling and appointment
might get to visit with a really nice salesperson setting is built on differentiating yourself and
with nothing very valuable to offer. your offering and by proving you can and
will help your dream clients produce better
Your Call Confirms That You Lack business results.
Business Acumen
Questions
Your dream clients have business issues,
business problems, business challenges, and 1. What does your script suggest about your
business opportunities for which they require intentions for the first appointment with
outside help.
your dream client?

Your call does nothing to indicate that you

2. How does your script differentiate you in
have the business acumen, the experience,
a crowded marketplace? Does it confirm
or the resourcefulness to help them
overcome their problems or to take advantage that you are no different and that you
of their opportunities. have nothing new to say?

How to Remedy This Problem 3. Do your scripts and your language

choices suggest that you are a professional
The way to remedy this problem is to write
in your field and that you possess the
better scripts, scripts that don’t violate
business acumen to make a difference for
the above principles.
your clients?
Better language will be customer focused, it
will differentiate you from your competitors, 4. Do your scripts and your language
it will demonstrate that your intention is to choices confirm your ability to create
create value, and it will confirm that you have value for your dream client, even on the
the business acumen and the resourcefulness to very first call? Why would they believe
really help them with their business. that meeting with you would benefit
them now and in the future?
Conclusion

The first step in gaining appointments when

cold calling is to capture your dream client’s
interest. In ti out of 10 cases, offering to
talk about yourself isn’t interesting and
it isn’t compelling.

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 Master Cold calling NOW

SIX PRINCIPLES FOR COLD CALLING

1. You Are Going to They don’t believe that the word no or
Hear No. Don’t Believe It the dream client’s objection is some

Means Anything. insurmountable obstacle to making

an appointment. They don’t believe
Your dream clients and prospects get that it means that they have failed.
hundreds of calls from salespeople. Your They attach no meaning to it at all. To
dream client has no way to know who is succeed at cold calling you have to know
worth spending time with and who is not that your first answer to a request is going
worth spending their time with. When to be no and that it doesn’t mean anything
faced with this dilemma, they make the about you, about their need for you or
easiest choice: they say no. They don’t your service, or about your prospect of
just tell you no. They don’t just give you an gaining an appointment.
objection. They give almost everyone the
It is simply part of the dance.
same no and the same objection because
it works. The objection prevents them
from having to spend their time with
2. Your Dream Client Receives
salespeople who are wholly unprepared Lots of Calls. You Have to
to create any value for them. Those that Differentiate Yourself.
are great at cold calling and telemarketing
Your dream client cannot tell from a
do not attach any meaning to the word no
telemarketing cold call who is worth
or to the objection that they receive. They
seeing and who isn’t worth seeing.
do not feel as if they have been rejected.

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In order to gain their attention, you
3. You Have to Prove You
have to differentiate yourself from your
many competitors. A lot of companies
Are a Value Creator.
treat all of their providers and partners
Not a Time Waster.
as commodities, which means one of us
Your dream client has allowed her time to
is as good as the next—even when this is
be wasted by salespeople in the past. Your
not true! During your call, you only have
call is already suspect; your dream client
two tools that you can use to differentiate
believes that you will waste their time and
yourself from your competitors:
that you are not a value creator. You have
one chance to make a first impression,
1. The language choices that you make
and you have to say something that
proves that you know that it is your job to
2. What you personally bring to a call
help them achieve a better outcome than
If your language choices are the same they are presently getting. You have to say
as all of your competitors, you are not something that indicates that you know
going to be perceived as being different. that you own that better outcome. If you
If the way you say what you say makes say: “I’d like to stop by and introduce
you sound like you are not passionate, myself and my service,” you have said
like you are not excited, like you are not nothing that indicates that you intend to
interesting, and like you do not have the create value. If instead you say: “I’d like
ability to make a difference, you will not to sit down with you for fifteen minutes
differentiate yourself. Your competitors to see how we might be able to help
are trying to sound professional. You reduce your overall cost of _________
need to sound different. Being real, being and improve your __________ results,”
conversational, and being authentic will you sound like a value creator.
help you differentiate yourself. If you do
not sound like you are passionate about 4. You Are Already Using a
meeting with them and helping them, Script. Write a Better One.
how do you expect them to be passionate
Even if you don’t use a written script,
about meeting with you and giving you
chances are, you are saying about the
their time? You still need to have the
same thing on every call that you make.
business acumen to talk about your dream
client’s challenges in a meaningful way,
Improving your script improves your
but authenticity and professionalism are
results. It is tremendously helpful to go
not mutually exclusive. Authenticity is
through the act of writing down what you
enabled by confidence. Be yourself (and
intend to say before you say it. It helps
be a confident you).
build the language into your nervous

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 Master Cold calling NOW

system; it makes the language part of have. I’ll make sure I am prepared to show
you. Writing down what you intend to you how we put these six ideas to work
say also prevents you from having to read for our clients. What does next Thursday
it from a piece of paper. By writing your afternoon at 2:00 PM look like?” If you
script, utilizing it in practice, discerning answer the questions without leading the
what works and what doesn’t, and then conversation towards committing to an
re writing your script, you build greater appointment, you are arming your dream
confidence and competency. You should client with the information they need to
also write down all of the common say no. You are giving them enough to say
objections and concerns you hear from that your answer isn’t enough for them
your dream clients so that you can have to want to change right now. You cannot
prepared, effective language choices. sell without first understanding your
client’s needs and their dissatisfaction.
5. Your Goal Is an However, the cold call is not the place
Appointment. Nothing Else. to conduct that needs analysis. The
more questions you ask, and the deeper
Your goal is not a conversation. Your you get into a conversation, the less it
goal is not a needs analysis. Your goal is becomes necessary for your dream client
not a presentation. Your goal is simply an to meet with you. In B2B sales, always
appointment, nothing else. All questions be closing is problematic; especially
that would lead to a conversation need when not enough time, trust, or value
to be responded to in a way that instead has been created to deserve the close.
leads to an appointment. You hear: “what But when it comes to cold calling, always
makes you different?” You say: “we be closing is the rule. In order to create
have six fundamental things that make an opportunity, you have to first get in.
us different and that make a difference
for our clients, including a couple of
proprietary service offerings that only we

14
6. You Are Going to Have Conclusion

to Push if You Want an Lots of salespeople are challenged by having to

Appointment. make cold calls. But there are some principles
that, if taken to heart and adopted into
It will not be often that you reach the your practice, can make your cold calling a
contact you need on your first call. It will lot more effective.
not be often that you get an appointment
the first time you reach your decision 1. What meaning do you attach to the word
maker or decision influencer. It will not no? What could it mean instead?
be often that you get an appointment the
first time you ask for one. If you really 2. How do you differentiate your call from
want the appointment, you are going to the hundreds or more calls your dream
have to push. You are going to have to call
client receives every year?
more frequently than feels comfortable
to you. You are going to have to ask
3. What do you say to ensure that the
for the appointment more times than
recipient of your call knows for certain
feels comfortable to you. You are going
that you are a value creator and not a time
to have to be persistent and resilient.
Persistence means that you don’t waster?
accept no for an answer and you keep
4. Could your cold calling be improved by
trying. Resilient means that you bounce
back from the no to try again, without taking the time to choose more effective
allowing the answer no to discourage language? Could it made more effective
you in any way. You are going to have to if you spent, say, two hours writing out
push. You are going to have to ask for the what you really want to convey?
appointment more than once each time
you connect with your decision maker 5. Are you trying to create the value of a
or decision influencer. If you really want needs analysis on the telephone instead
the appointment, you have to behave as if of scheduling an appointment?
you really want the appointment.

@iannarino thesalesblog.com
How to Crush It, Kill It, And Master Cold Calling Now

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