When cold calling, everyone wants to scheduling meetings.
But the reality is that most cold call conversations will not result in a scheduled meeting.
And in many cases, should not be scheduled right now.
Stick with me here.
According the Chet Holmes Buyers Pyramid:
3% of your market is buying now.
7% is open to it.
30% is not thinking about it.
30% do not think they are interested.
30% knows they are not interested.
In sales, we want to meet with people who are in buying mode.
So if you are trying to stuff meetings down your prospects’ throats, especially the 60% who do not think they are interested and know they are not interested (right now), you are wasting every prospect’s time (and your own for that matter).
Instead, you should remember what Jeb Blount taught us in Fanatical Prospecting:
Setting a meeting is only 1 of 4 outcomes we can accomplish in our cold calling.
The first objective of a cold call is to build awareness.
The second objection is to gather information.
The third is to set a meeting.
The forth, which many of you really suck at, is to move a deal forward (aka Fat Stacks In the Circle Backs h/t Shaun Robinson).
Let’s break down the 4 outcomes:
Building Awareness
Do they know who you are, the name of your company and/or what you do? Are you able to get your prospect to visit your website or other digital assets?
Gathering Information
Are they the right person, do they have a problem or will they ever have a problem you can solve, how are they getting the job done today without you? Current Vendor, Contract Renewal Date, Size of Team… the list of extremely valuable information goes on and on here.
This is such an important outcome. If they are not ready to take a meeting, what key information that you cannot retrieve via online research can you gather through a 1:1 conversation to inform qualification and timing for a future follow up?
Setting a Meeting
The majority of your conversations are not going to be ready to meet now, might not be the right person, or will want to review you and your company outside of the call before agreeing to a meeting.
STOP MAKING THIS THE END ALL, BE ALL FOR YOUR COLD CALLS.
Moving a Deal Forward
I can’t stress this enough. The fat stacks are in the circle backs. Based on your ability to build awareness, gather information, or even meet with someone, most of your sales success is going to come from picking up the phone and following up over time.
Armed with this information, you can now make every single cold call a success by accomplishing at least 1 of the 4 outcomes in every conversation.
The trick is to make sure you do not over index on meetings scheduled so that you can maximize the the other 4 outcomes over time.
Stay tuned for more idea around how to fully optimize your cold calling approach and take full advantage of every live conversation you have with you next best customers by chatting with us here.
