Cold Calling: Set More Appointments by Telephone by Adding This ONE Magic Word to Your Opening

You have spent years of hard work learning and perfecting your craft. You have logged tons of hours solidifying your career: broadening your knowledge, improving your skills, upgrading your technology, widening your client base and delivering the best service in your industry. You finally have the upscale office, the thousand-dollar outfit, the gold watch and pen, and the fancy title. However, when a prospective client picks up the telephone to answer your cold call and hears your strange voice for the first time, you instantly become an $8 an hour, stereotypical, annoying, untrustworthy, telemarketer.

There is a truckload of material on overcoming objections on the telephone and all kinds of tips, tricks and magical scripts on how to set appointments over the telephone. However, the problem is that by the time you barley have said your name, most prospects have already formed a mental image of you, and it is not a good one.

While I have never been one to buy into the golden script or the magic word or phrase theory, this one word added to your introduction will give you instant creditability and dramatically increase your effectiveness in setting appointments on the telephone. Before I give you the word though, you need to understand the reasoning behind its power.

First, understand that it is not the call itself that annoys the prospective customer. Rather, the problem stems from the negative, preconceived image the prospect has of you the caller, in their mind. It belittles the prospect to feel that a low-level “telemarketer,” is calling them. In their mind, you are sitting there, going down a long “list” of names and numbers, calling everyone on the list and saying virtually the same thing. This person feels as if they are nothing more than a “number” to the telesales person. That is why your hear people tell you, “Take me off your list!”

The fact is that the less of an important person the caller is, the less important the client feels. Think about that. If the company assigns the lowest paid, least experienced, most expendable person in the company to call you, then just how important are you to that company?

On the other hand, the more important the caller is, the more important the prospect feels. Imagine getting a call from Microsoft Support after purchasing some software and the tech says, “We just wanted to call and check to see if everything is ok…” That would be nice. However, imagine if you picked up the telephone and the recognizable voice said, “This is Bill Gates. I just wanted to call you myself to make sure that you are satisfied with my product…”

Whao! You would have to be impressed. It is obvious this very important person does not sit around and make 100 calls all day to everyone. Yet, he found time to call YOU! You would feel important and whatever it is you purchased would have just went up significantly in value.

When the prospect gets a call from an “everyday” or “rookie” sales person, they do not feel special enough. You need to project the image of a major VIP. Using this one word will help you project the image of a very important executive without misrepresenting yourself or your position in your firm. The word is:

“Personally,” as in, “I thought I’d call you personally, Mr. Prospect…” with a just little emphasis on the word personally.

It may look like this:

Me: “Bill Smith, please.”

Prospect: “This is Bill.”

Me: “Yes, Bill, Steve Smith with ABC Copiers. Bill, I thought I’d call you personally. You see…”

The result this produces is astounding. In a sense, you are projecting the image of someone who has an assistant, a large staff or an entire firm that usually handles your regular, nonessential, run-of-the-mill telephone calls. However, THIS prospect, THIS account is far too important for you to let anyone but you; the VIP, the head honcho, the main principle, make this call!

This completely sets you apart from every call this person has received, makes them feel important and gives you instant credibility.

Sales Rep: “Yes, John, Mary Waters, ABC Life. John I thought I’d give you a call personally on this matter…have you got a minute?”

This prospect may have received a thousand calls from insurance sales people, but none of them has ever called him personally! Try this and watch the warm reception and openness you receive. This one word truly works like magic.

Also, though I am not a big proponent of leaving messages on cold calls, if you do, try this:

Sales Rep: “Ms. Jones, Bill Salesexpert, with BBB Financial. Ms. Jones, I thought I should call you personally about this. There are some important tax changes coming next year that I think you should be made aware. Please give me a call…”

If you want to set more appointments over the telephone or close more sales, don’t CALL COLD…CALL PERSONALLY!