{"id":58415,"date":"2018-08-08T16:37:42","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T20:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/avenuetalentpartners.com\/?p=58415"},"modified":"2019-04-17T15:20:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T19:20:01","slug":"cold-calling-for-sales-prospecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avenuetalentpartners.com\/2018\/08\/08\/cold-calling-for-sales-prospecting\/","title":{"rendered":"How I used cold calling to start an 8-figure deal with a unicorn."},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is any platitude that accomplished salespeople laugh at most, it\u2019s definitely \u201ccold calling is dead.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Case in point \u2013 I used it to start the conversation with one of the biggest unicorns in history just 4 years ago (pre-ATP). They ended up spending $2,000,000 a month with me \u2013 something completely unheard of in the HR Tech industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Truth be told, it wasn\u2019t overnight. There\u2019s a lot of work you have to do after the call to close a deal of that magnitude (6+ months in my case).<\/span><\/p>\n

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But my point is, while it\u2019s popular for people to spout platitudes on LinkedIn from time to time about cold calling being an ancient weapon from a hokey religion, I (and many other salespeople killing it in the background) can confidently tell you nothing is further from the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The problem I see is that very few people know how to use it effectively. So here\u2019s the exact process I used to start the conversation on that 8-figure deal with a unicorn using cold calling \u2013 complete with scripts, tools, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

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First, a definition to make sure we\u2019re on the same page.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What cold calling is (and is not).<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Here\u2019s how most salespeople approach cold calling:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Find a company you think could use your product\/service\/solution<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Get a contact number<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Call and pitch<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Hope for the best<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Actually, this happens with cold emailing and even InMail too:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"cold<\/p>\n

    However, this is the antithesis of what effective salespeople do. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    See, all the word \u201ccold calling\u201d (or cold emailing for that matter) really means is that it’s first contact with someone new. It could be a new employee at a not-so-new company who hasn\u2019t talked to you before or a new company altogether. Either way, the contact has never been made.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    But unfortunately, a lot of salespeople seem to think that means they can be \u201ccold\u201d too. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    Ugh, no! The best cold callers (and cold emailers) know 80% of their success comes from the homework they do to <\/span>warm themselves up<\/span><\/i> ahead of time before they ever reach out. Things that inform them and help them ask intelligent questions, so they can have a meaningful conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Here\u2019s how I did that on this particular deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Step #1: I found a meaningful nugget to connect over.<\/b><\/h2>\n

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    The problem with the approaches I illustrated above, is that they start with the needs of the person calling, not the person receiving the call. To get around that, you need to find something that connects the dots between where they are and how you can help.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    This is always situational (more on this in a second). And in this case, we had actually attempted a few campaigns with this particular prospect already. But we hadn\u2019t had a lot of success since they were missing a solid point person to manage it (which I acknowledged and then suggested we go on \u2018ice\u2019 until a later date). <\/span><\/p>\n

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    Fast forward a few months and they made a key executive hire to support said initiative which was the signal that it was time to engage. But before I reached out to their shiny new hire, I wanted to make absolutely sure that the call would genuinely be helpful for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Otherwise, it would be too easy to get lost in the sea of calls he\u2019s already getting.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    In this case, the client needed to scale FAST, and since our model hadn\u2019t worked for them previously I knew we needed to get creative, retool, and rethink our approach. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    I actually knew the other channels they were currently working with (I worked for 2 of them in a previous life) so I looked into what we had learned in our previous attempts and what other companies we were successfully working with were doing to find that nugget of insight that would put us ahead. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    Long story short, it worked and I\u2019ll illustrate how I used it to break through in the next section. But the key takeaway here is that you need to start your cold calling prep by finding a relevant, business-critical insight that allows you to start a meaningful conversation with them quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    Something that catches their attention but is also emotionally compelling, intellectually interesting, and value-added to them, not you. <\/span><\/p>\n

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    You can do this in any number of ways and you don\u2019t need endless hours or a prior engagement. Here are some of my favorites:<\/span><\/p>\n

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