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Lead Prospecting

In a Cold Call, Who is My Competitor?

By July 12, 2011December 16th, 2021No Comments

Jul 12, 2011

By Dave Goates, Director of Human Capital at Launch Leads

In a Cold Call, Who Is My Competitor?When you pick up the phone to call someone for the first time, do you know who your true competitor is? It’s not the list of companies in your space offering similar goods and services like you might suppose.99% of sales people who make cold calls face an unknown competitor named the STATUS QUO, or what their prospect is currently doing. Most often you have no idea what they are doing, but it’s a huge roadblock in a cold call. You’ve got to be better prepared and you’ll get through the roadblock and put yourself on the path to a sale.

What’s happening is that we are interrupting them in the daily flow of their STATUS QUO. Generally, they are comfortable with what they’ve got. You’re a “disrupter” when you dive into their world and invite them to engage, because you are being proactive and they are content. Remember your old physics class and the laws of motion? “An object at rest stays at rest…” until you move them to action.

Remember, no one on the other end is sitting at their desk waiting anxiously for your call. They are not prepared for your call.

However, if you are better prepared for the call, you’ll have a chance to disrupt the STATUS QUO with a better proposition.

Last week, we discussed the reasons why being scripted can help you. Every step in a script is designed to move them along a path to the next step.

Cold calling is the front end of a sales process; it’s not a one-time shot. You want to extend 30 seconds into three minutes if you can, then beyond that into a relationship leading to a sale.

Here are the questions you must answer for yourself to be well prepared in advance for your calls:

  • “What am I trying to accomplish?”
  • “What is it I want the prospect to do?”
  • “What do I want to do?” Is it a sale, am I just passing along information, or am I trying to schedule an appointment?
  • “What is it?”

THE SALE

People buy because your proposition makes sense to them. Something you’ve got helps them do something better than the STATUS QUO. Business people you are dialing are not silly or stupid. If you have some idea about what they do and what they are trying to accomplish, you will get some traction to help them overcome the roadblock of the STATUS QUO.

You must convince yourself first, “Can I help this person do something better?”

We’re going to discuss how to build out your scripts in the upcoming posts, so keep in touch, and we’ll give you some great ideas about what has been successful for us.

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