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"Hi Mr. Smith. This is Steve McDougal and I am with ACME widgets."
That's it. That's all you have to say during your opening to have lost any chance to close a sale or set an appointment. These first few seconds are often your last.
This crucial first four to six seconds of a cold call determine your chances of success. So if you don't get your opening right you will have no chance of getting to the close and so you need to spend far more time on your opening than you do on the close.
In less than six seconds into a cold call, you have to accomplish three mission critical objectives:
Successfully opening a cold call
First of all, you should lose ‘smile and dial'. Next you should slow down and not come across as too slick. Finally you should remember that when you introduce yourself you should give the impression that your prospect should know who you are.
Get rid of the old-school smile and dial approach.
The smile and dial mentality assumes that by putting a big smile on your face and by coming across as an enthusiastic person will somehow make you sound friendlier and happy - and this would somehow make the customer more friendly, happy and enthusiastic.
This might work for customer service calls but it is an old outdated approach for cold calling. Everyone does it and your prospects will know that you are after their money within seconds. The problem with this approach is because your prospect can tell if you are smiling and enthusiastic and why would this be?
Today's educated consumer knows instantly that the only reason for your smile and enthusiasm is because you want their money. This attitude acts like a warning beacon to your potential customers and causes them to immediately react negatively and defensively. It sends the image of the stereotypical telemarketer that the modern day buyer fears and mistrusts.
So lose that big smile and tone down that pep-rally enthusiasm to begin with. There will come a point in time for the enthusiasm as you build rapport but it is not at hello! You should sound professional but natural at the same time.
Slow down and don't be perfect.
Stutters, mistakes and small broken chains of thought are present in every normal and natural conversation. In a cold call, however, you are deliberately trying to be perfect - and in trying to do so you inadvertently lose all of your natural patterns of speech.
Don't be perfect. Put back those natural little hesitations, pauses and mistakes. Remember that if you make a lot of calls and have to say the same things over and over again you will tend to talk unnaturally fast.
To help you slow down and be more natural, use a "fumble" right at the beginning of the call. Almost every normal call actually begins with a slight hesitation - just a quick second or two as the caller gathers his or her thoughts. Have a listen around your office at the outbound "non sales" calls that are made. You will find that most non sales calls begin with, "Uh, ah, oh hello there, yeah, or um" or something of the sort.
For example, "Ah, yes, hello there is Steve Smith available?"
That's all it is - just a brief fumble. However, in your efforts to sound more professional it is easy to remove these natural tendencies. When you are word perfect your conversation becomes unnatural and your prospect will pick up on this and feel that something is wrong. That is why you sometimes hear people tell you they are not interested even before they know that you are selling anything.
So put back those little fumbles and the other normal conversational mistakes that you make. This will automatically begin to dispel the prospect's preconceived negative images of sales people.
Introduce yourself properly
It is essential to introduce yourself and your company to your prospect without sounding like a typical sales person. Many sales people are so terrified of receiving a negative response that they talk and talk and do not allow their prospect the chance to speak.
In those critical first few seconds, you want to pull out information; you'll want to use pauses and stutters to allow your prospect time to interject and to contribute.
Also, raise the tone of your voice on statements and make them sound more like questions that will prompt responses. Do not be afraid to pause or ask questions in those opening seconds; this will make you sound professional and confident and someone who is used to getting a positive reception.
Here is a standard old-school opening:
"Hi Mr. Smith!! This is Sean McPheat and I'm with MTD Sales Training - we help sales people to improve their closing ratios, could you please tell me - are your sales people currently exceeding their targets?"
And here is a modern version:
"Yes, uh, Mr. Smith? Yes, hello there, Sean McPheat here...with MTD Sales Training (?)"
The second approach sounds much more natural. In addition to this, by raising your voice at the end of the sentence you give the impression that your prospect should know who MTD is.
This is very powerful and it also creates a small pause too as if it's a question. In the majority of cases the prospect will come back with something whether it is a mental nod, a yes or a how can I help you? With this approach you will engage your prospect straight away.
After all, you wouldn't have someone call and say "Hi there, I'm Sean and I'm calling from a software and IT company called Microsoft." No; instead you should call and give the impression that they should know who you are to create curiosity.
To summarise, in the first few seconds you must:
Remember, opening is the new closing so spend a lot of time practising and perfecting your skills in this area or you will never get to the close at all.
This article was written by Sean McPheat, who is regarded as The UK's #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling. Click here to find out more about Sean and to get hold of some more sales tips.