This process works whether you are trying it out on someone you have never talked to before, or on your best friend. Learn the steps inside and out, and you will have more success when trying to pitch anyone on anything, but especially when you’re cold calling.
1. Get the person on your side
The first part of winning someone over is that you have to be in the right state of mind. You have to be in a peak mental state, and let go of all potential reluctance.
Do whatever you have to do to get yourself in the mindset and develop enthusiasm. Remember a time in your life when you had the 5 C’s: when you were completely courageous, committed, convinced, connected, and had clarity. Write these moments down. When you are on the call, think about one of these times and start reliving that experience. Remember: when you are in the right state, you can do anything.
You also need to have the right opener. A joke is one great way to set people at ease and get them using the “Yes” side of their brain. This works even with jokes that are corny, because the goal is not necessarily to get the person laughing hysterically. It’s to get them to open up, since ultimately, successful calls are about getting the person on your side.
You may also want to use what we call the cat string theory to keep the person engaged from the very start of the call. The premise of the cat string theory is this: you want to give the other person only a little bit of information, so they are interested and want more.
From the very beginning, if you lead with your first name, and greet the person as if you are already friends, they may naturally want to know who you are and ask you about more details. Their guard is already down.
2. Provide Value
If you aren’t sure about the value you provide, how can you possibly ever get someone to believe you and sell them on anything? To prepare for this step, make a list of all the different ways you provide value. Try to list at least 10-15 different pieces of value you provide on a regular basis.
Then, break the list up into chunks of three. You do not need to give more than three thing of value at the same time, and that way you have three to five different chunks of value you can turn to at any time to make your case.
3. Close
A key technique you need to learn to close effectively is the double bind. The double bind is a choice you present to the person you are trying to convince.
The key to the double bind is that both choices work for you. For example, you can ask, “Are you free to meet next Tuesday or Wednesday,” and then narrow down the choice with, “Wednesday morning or afternoon?”
The double bind allows you to give the other person a choice, but you’ve set up the conversation in such a way that you can’t lose.
4. Overcome objections
On your way to closing, you will likely meet some objections from the other person. Whenever that happens, make the conversation about problems and goals. Ideally, you know what the other person’s problems and goals are, and what is important to them. Address these problems and goals specifically, by turning to the value statements you created in Step 2 as solutions to the problems presented.
5. Close again
Once you have overcome the objections, it is time to attempt to close again, by presenting another double bind choice.
6. Repeat step 4 and 5
It is highly unlikely that you will be able to close a cold call on the first try. That is why Step 6 involves rotating between Step 4 and 5, overcoming objections and closing, until you are ultimately able to convince the other person. Typically, this can happen up to three times to drive your point home.
Just remember: do not take no for an answer. Anytime you meet an objection, overcome it, and present a double bind choice that works in your favor.
There is one caveat to this: If you start to feel real resistance, or maybe sense that you are making the person on the other end of the line angry, do not keep going. Get off the phone and call the person back in three to five days. However, other than that, the 6 Steps really do work. To really get the 6 Steps ingrained in you, practice them one by one. For example, take three days and only practice getting people on your side (Step 1). Everywhere you go, try to get people you do not know on your side to improve your skill set.
Study this advice, practice it, and you will have more success with your cold calls and your sales techniques in general.