Making Cold Phone Calls for Consultants

While you may not relish the idea of making hundreds of cold calls, by following this process you will in effect be testing your advertising or direct mail headline.

By now you have identified what problem you solve; who has the problem and who can afford to have you solve it. The next task is to plan a calling script to test the validity of your offer.

Let’s say your product is a range non-toxic hair products and your target market is ladies hairdressers. The problem you solve is the skin irritation and eczema that some chemical based hair products cause both the hairdresser and the customer.
Your call to the salon owner might go like this…

“Hello Mary, It’s Sue from Acme All Natural Hair Products (exchange pleasantries).
“Mary, my call is to establish if any of your staff or customers experience adverse skin reactions to the chemicals in some hair treatment products?”
(Sue is highly likely to say Yes)

“Mary, Acme provides a wide range of all natural hair products from shampoos and conditioners to dyes which women who suffer from skin irritations from other products find they can safely and happily use. I know you may have a commitment to a specific range of products already, however would it be valuable to you to have an alternate range available for those women who have problems with your other range?”

Assuming Sue agrees, all we have to do is arrange the next step which may be a sales visit or the delivery of a sample pack.

Let’s analyse the call:
The opening line asks a very leading closed question, one which Sue can really only answer Yes or No. We have asked Sue if her salon ever has the problem we solve. We haven’t asked if she would like to see a new range of hair care products which would likely get a No answer as Sue probably gets a call like that every week.

When Sue acknowledges the problem, the solution Mary offers delivers a benefit and answers the most likely rebuttal Sue could have; that she already promotes a specific brand of product. Mary does that by pointing out that her range would be stocked in addition to the current range, not instead of it. This tells Sue that Mary is not trying to get her to change brands.

This simple script can easily be rewritten for other products and industries.

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James Yuille is a 35 year plus sales and marketing veteran based in Brisbane Australia He runs Mediaglue (www.mediaglue.com.au), a marketing services company. His book, “Are You Getting Enough?” is available at JamesYuille.com