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Essential Cold Calling Techniques: Pt 2

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Mar 10, 2009 8:03 pm
 Hello All!!    Today I wanted to talk about 2 things.    1- Cold Calling Presentation 2- Addressing Objections with Rebuttals   When I was a trainee, times were a lot different then, than they are now. I was in a program with 16 trainees, and we all sat at a big table, however there was only 8 chairs at that table, and if u didn't get a chair that day you stood up for 13 hours and dialed. Furthermore we HAD to make 500 calls daily, or else we didnt have a job the next day. It was brutal, but I tell you what, IF you made it through the training process you would get your S7 books and most likely your future in the business looked good. I've seen some of the most successful financial sales people come out of programs like that.     As I said in my first post, a prospecting call is determined within the first 4-7 seconds of the call, so with that being said again it's crucial that you have a strong open. Here's my cold calling pitch that I used with great success. EX: Hi Gordon! This is Bud Fox SPEAKING (pause)  from xyz capital how are you! (pause and let him respond). ("he replies Good" ) (You Say)-    Great, I'll keep this brief.. I represent a wealth management firm here in NY, and the reason for the call is to simply forward you out a business card and brochure, but most importantly contact you back at some point down the road when my company isolates something I believe will merit your attention,  FAIR ENOUGH?    This is direct, straightforward and to the point. This pitch can be ammended to fit any investment product your selling. Remember it's always the way you say it. You wanna have conviction behind your voice and be very clear. These prospects knows right away if you're a rookie by your presentation. Put it this way if you had just raised 5 million from a client, and then got on the phone and starting prospecting, how do you think you would sound? Now take that same scenario of getting on the phone and prospecting when you haven't got a deal in 2 weeks. Catch my drift.  Sell the sizzle not the steak!!!    OBJECTIONS: You have to love objections, (well not really) there a huge part of any sales business. However the majority of objections are BS, unless they keep repeating them, or you haven't put them to sleep. If you have a qualified lead you're pitching and the guy makes 750k a year and has a NW of 5 mill, and is telling you he can't put together 5-10k to test out your program, he's lying to you! (PERIOD). Let's look at the top 3 cold calling objections, and their rebuttals. I'm gonna use rebuttals as if we were soliciting about stock to make it easy, but rebuttals are universal. (I'm going to go through all of them in other posts).   1-NOT INTERESTED 2-NOT IN THE MARKET 3-NOT LIQUID/NO MONEY   NOT INTERESTED This is the most famous objection in the industry, and also the biggest BS one as well. Some guys say it as soon as you say your name on a cold call. How can they possibly be not interested in something they know nothing of. It's because your opening or presentation wasn't strong, but sometimes it doesn't matter they still click you. Let's look at the rebuttal.   REBUTTAL /NOT INTERESTED "Can I say this" It sounds like you've gotten quite a few of these phone calls? (he replies, yes and I hate them) "you reply"  Ok I'll spare you the pitch. What I'll do is this, when I believe I have something that will merit your attention I'll call you back one time, and give you the position to watch, you track it, and if the position works out i'll call you back at some point down the road, and we'll build credibility.  FAIR ENOUGH? (He replies thats fair). Now a great seque to get back into the pitch to qualify him is "Ok great just so I can get back to you effectively in the future (you proceed to ask one of your questions to start qualifying him).  Even if the position goes up down sideways, 9 out of 10 guys will never watch it.   REBUTTAL /NOT INTERESTED Interest comes with performance. I have to believe if I can out perform your top performing investment you'd be interested correct?  (He says Of course) You say.  Ok so let me get back to you with one idea and if you like it great, if not we'll part as friends.  FAIR ENOUGH?   NOT IN THE MARKET There's over a billion investors in this country in some way shape or form. When they give you this objection it usually means they don't want to get in the market with you, bc they don't know you from adam, but almost everytime they're in the market, whether it be pension, IRA 401k, and a slew of other different retirement plans.     REBUTTAL/NOT IN THE MARKET Well you pop up as an individual who's received dividends and income from investments in the U.S. When was the last time you invested? (he replies it's been awhile, I don't play the market that much) you say-  Ok, I have nothing for you today, all I want to do is come back to you one time with an idea, I believe has significant upside potential, if you like it great, if not you walk away with a great recomendation. That's Fair RIGHT?   REBUTTAL/NOT IN THE MARKET Ok great I have nothing for you today, all I'm looking to do is simply send you a business card and brochure, and contact you back with my firms next top recommendation, if you like it great, if not we part as friends. FAIR ENOUGH??   NO MONEY/NOT LIQUID This typically means they don't have any money to give to you to invest, because again they don't know you from Adam.   REBUTTAL/NO MONEY/NOT LIQUID I appreciate your liquidity isn't where you'd like it to be, but its safe to say, at some point down the road you're going to be a little more liquid RIGHT? And your gonna want to allocate the bulk of your investment funds to a wealth manager who shows you the highest returns RIGHT? (he replies of course). You say-    Ok today I'm not trying to sell you anything I'm just looking to send you out a business card and brochure, and contact you back with one idea ,to show you why I'm confident I can outperform all your investment vehicles.    That's gotta be fair right?   REBUTTAL/NO MONEY/NOT LIQUID I understand sir, but I'm not trying to sell you anything, today I'm looking simply to send you out a biz card and brochure and contact you back at some point down the road when we believe we have something that can merit your attention.  FAIR ENOUGH??   These are some rebuttals that have worked like a charm for me. However in the cold calling business it doesn't matter how good you are, you'll still get hung up on most of the time, but these rebuttals will work wonders for you, if you say them correctly.     In conclusion, in my last post I had mentioned liquid leads as being the best lead company "in my opinion", for the sole purpose of trying to help people acquire great leads. We're in very challenging times, especially the financial industry. My purpose of these posts, is to help people in the industry, not argue about who's way is right or wrong. If it works for you "great", maybe I and other members can give you a couple of good ideas; and in this economic enviroment I don't care who you are, you need all the ideas you can get.  You don't want to go to war with a six shooter. Do You??   I'm just sharing my experience.    Until next time...   Good Luck!!   
Mar 10, 2009 8:53 pm

I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…

Mar 10, 2009 9:30 pm

So do you send out the 250 business cards that you tell people you're going to send them every day?  And if not, how do you start the next phone call seeing as they haven't received anything from you?

Mar 10, 2009 10:21 pm

[quote=3rdyrp2]

So do you send out the 250 business cards that you tell people you're going to send them every day?  And if not, how do you start the next phone call seeing as they haven't received anything from you?

[/quote]   I used to, but I found the best way was, after I found that they were a qualified prospect for my program, and I was wrapping up the call.  I would give them the firms website which had a downloadable brochure on it.   Here's an example: Well Gordon it was great speaking to you!  Before you go grab a pen and write down the firms website, it has a comp brochure right on it.    Ok, great once again my name is Bud Fox with xyz capital I'll be getting back to you very soon, all I ask is when I call you back with a recommendation you kindly give me 5 minutes and an open ear to listen to the idea.  FAIR ENOUGH!!  Great, have a good day.   Now when you call back mention you'd have given him your firms website, as well as mentioning some of the info he'd given you on the call like: how many finance pros he was working with, how much he $ he had wrapped up in the market, and what areas he's invested in. Thats all pertinent info you should get on a lead.  I've found that when i did send a biz card and brochure they rarely if ever looked at it, over a cold call. When they have $ with you they'll look at info you send.   Trust me.  This would be the follow up.   Here's an example Hi Gordon this is Bud Fox getting back to you from xyz capital how are you? (GREAT)  Going back 2 weeks ago, you and I had a brief conversation pertaining to the financial markets. At that time you had told me you were working with 2 financial pros, you've owned some XYZ stock, and had around a million dollars in the market, is that fairly accurate? (ok Great)  I had also given you our firms comp brochure via our website, did you get a chance to take a look at that. (If he says yes say great and continue), if he says no say,=   No big deal when you have some time, take a minute and look at it, and enjoy it with our compliments.  Most importantly last time we spoke I made a commitment  to get back to you when I isolated a situation I believed would warrant your attention.  I have that right now why don't you grab a pen and jot down some notes.   Tell me when your ready.    GO FOR IT!!!!
Mar 11, 2009 2:30 am
Squash1:

I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…

Yeah, no joke. This isn't 1984. I kinda liked his first post, but this...   Very, very, VERY, old school tactical manipulation...not my cup of tea. But thanks for the contribution anyway.
Mar 11, 2009 3:32 am
Fud Box:

[quote=Squash1]I watched Boiler Room yesterday… Great flick…

Yeah, no joke. This isn't 1984. I kinda liked his first post, but this...   Very, very, VERY, old school tactical manipulation...not my cup of tea. But thanks for the contribution anyway.[/quote]     I'm glad you enjoyed my first post Fud Box..       However I wouldn't call it "old school tactical manipulation," more along the lines of great salesmanship.   You see, you're right its not 1984. However I'm going to relate it to the markets as such. Markets never change because peoples emotions never change whether it's 1984 or 2084, this is exactly why there's always economic cycles, and history always repeats itself in the markets in some way, shape or form. "It's the same in sales", because peoples emotions never change. People buy and sell off emotions. (Fear and Greed)  Therefore these strategies will always work.     Old School= Absolutely Effective=Unequivocally   Thanks for your input Fud Box..
Mar 11, 2009 11:15 pm

Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.

  Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the  top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls.   As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off.  
Mar 12, 2009 4:21 am

[quote=BondGuy]Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.

  Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the  top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls.   As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off.  [/quote]   Beautifully said BondGuy!!    Exactly, why you put up the numbers you do!     I've found what people fail to realize in the business, is you can have the absolute best investment product since the inception of the markets, but if you lack sales skills  "you're finished".   Yes, we're here to help people, but at the end of the day the majority of the business is sales. (Period)  
Mar 12, 2009 4:53 am

Anyone mind sharing any of that stuff from Lehman from the past?

Mar 12, 2009 4:20 pm

[quote=BondGuy]Rather than critisizing this some of you should try it. Hedge makes some good points. The reason some of you think it it’s dated is because you’ve been programed to believe that it’s dated. Wall street went to the soft close went the firms embraced managed money. Guess what? The biggest books on the street were built with a “Hedge like” hard close. Does it still work? Every day we pitch bonds. We don’t tell people about managed money and we don’t blow smoke about how asset allocation will save your ass from everything under the sun. We are either pitching bonds or prospecting for people to pitch bonds to. our prospecting techniques have the exact same tone as hedges example.

  Does it work? I did 120k on Nov, 97k in dec, 130k in Feb, and 115k last month. Month to date in march i have 66k on the books. And I'm not even in the  top five in my office lately. So you tell me if it works? One of the guys found a prospect who was selling his firm. As a new account, over the phone he gave our guy 2 million dollars. They then met and he wired in another 7 million. Ok, that's a hit the cold call lottery story, but it is out there guys. All you have to do is pick up the phone and have some balls.   As for the movie Boiler Room. Not a good movie. The penny stock rip off firms had taken the Lehman system and bastardized it. The director/producer of this movie tried to get a job at one of those firms and couldn't. So he had a friend give him all the tech info that makes the movie so true to life. Hard close prospecting has nothing to do with ripping people off. On fact i'll put my book against any wealth manager and see whose clients are better off.  [/quote]   BondGuy, my primary question for successful cold callers such as yourself revolves around *when* do you call?  I've heard from folks and have seen the posts about Sundays, evenings, daytime, etc.    But (assuming you really are the producer that you say your - and I will make that assumption thereby giving you the respect of 'listening' to you) when do *you* call and do you call homes or offices?   TIA, Larry
Mar 12, 2009 5:02 pm

First on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.

  I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money.   List creation- finding those people is the key to success.   For example- members of the "The Ferrari Club of America" probably have money. get a list and start calling.   Sunday's paper has a classified section called "Auto's for sale." Find the ads for less than 5 year old Audi A6, BMW 5, 7, and 8 series, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes E, S, CLK class, Porsche, and any exotic cars. Call them and tell them you have good news and bad news. The bad news is you aren't a buyer for their car, but the good news is you have a 5% tax free bond to show them. Move on to boat sellers.     Everything you wanted to know about cold calling but didn't know enough to ask can be found at:   www.billgood.com   Buy bill's first book "prospecting your way to sales success" Yes, it was written 20 years ago but it's the primer on how to get this done.      
Mar 12, 2009 5:25 pm

Did I miss the important chapters in that book?? I have read it and think it has nothing in it that was helpful, except an autobiography of Bill Good and how good he is…

Mar 12, 2009 5:42 pm

[quote=BondGuy]First on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.

[/quote]   A bit testy aren't we?  Might indicate that you do care.  Relax, I already said I'd assume they were real.   [quote=BondGuy]I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money. [/quote]   Two additional questions: When calling residential, what precentage of answered calls do you expect? When calling businesses, do you ask for someone/position w/in company?   TIA, Larry
Mar 12, 2009 5:58 pm

I think BondGuy had every right to respond the way he did - if you believed him you didn’t need to qualify your statement.



On Bill Good. I know that I am anti-cold-calling, but I used to cold call quite a bit when I was at Jones. I used Bill Good’s techniques and thought the first book was phenomenal. As a loyal reader and to see if he had anything else interesting to say, I bought Hot Prospects, which I thought was even better.



And BondGuy - love the classified route - that’s awesome.

Mar 12, 2009 6:38 pm

Tell me what in Bill Good’s first book was so good…

Mar 12, 2009 7:42 pm
Moraen:

I think BondGuy had every right to respond the way he did - if you believed him you didn’t need to qualify your statement.

On Bill Good. I know that I am anti-cold-calling, but I used to cold call quite a bit when I was at Jones. I used Bill Good’s techniques and thought the first book was phenomenal. As a loyal reader and to see if he had anything else interesting to say, I bought Hot Prospects, which I thought was even better.

And BondGuy - love the classified route - that’s awesome.

Moraen,   Do you recommend reading both of Good's books, or does Hot Prospects cover the same stuff as the first book (which I've heard from others)?? How can it be best applied to the Jones doorknocking method? I have a feeling that once I get my CSD I may have to supplement doorknocking with cold-calling and other methods. Thanks for any input.   BondGuy,   I may not be in love with the whole "hard close" approach, but I do love your creative list making...really good ideas. Thanks.     Fud
Mar 12, 2009 8:30 pm

[quote=leboyd][quote=BondGuy]First on the production numbers- nobody believes any numbers posted here. I could care less whether you believe me or not.

[/quote]   A bit testy aren't we?  Might indicate that you do care.  Relax, I already said I'd assume they were real.   [quote=BondGuy]I schedule cold calling everyday. Usually i call business numbers. If i'm calling a purchased list then i may be calling residential numbers. Nothing interupts the calling session. I've found that if I call in the morning there is less chance something will come along and derail the session. That said, there are no rules regarding when is the best time to call or who to call. With one caveat- It really helps if you call people who have money. [/quote]   Two additional questions: When calling residential, what precentage of answered calls do you expect? When calling businesses, do you ask for someone/position w/in company?   TIA, Larry[/quote]   Testy? You all but call me a liar and then ask for my help. That it's par for the course on this site is why i answered your questions. But don't push it. Accept what i offer or don't. But don't make noise about it.   Moving on- I don't know what my residential hit rate is. Calling businesses I average 8 to 10 contacts per hour. Usually, that equates to 1 to 3 qualified leads. Today, I called for one hour, got eight contacts and hit a lead on the last contact. 200k ready to go on my call back with a bond that fits. This ain't rocket science.   never call a number unless you have a name. use industrial directories or Chamber of Commerce lists.  
Mar 12, 2009 8:31 pm
Squash1:

Tell me what in Bill Good’s first book was so good…

  Squash, i don't know how to answer this question. The entire book lays out a cold calling system- from who to call to how to follow up. Are you sure you read this book?
Mar 12, 2009 9:29 pm

Hi,

here is a pitch I do (not the best, but does work for me)

Hi Mr. X, this is (blah), how are you ? Great … I’m calling you from XYZ capital. I’ll save to regular B.S. you are use to ear on the phone FAIR ENOUGH ? Now… you know about XYZ capital RIGHT ? (DON’T wait for the answer) I meen you have been approach by an associate of mine RIGHT ? Great (pause 3 sec) Now I don’t know what that idiot try to sell you, obviouly that didn’t interested you RIGHT ? What I need from you is to know what accutally interest you (financialy speacking if need be) ? OK now I competly agree with you, You know about you come to the office tomorrow (or three day or when you catch you wife in bed with my associate…) and I’ll show you everything realted to that FAIR ENOUGH ?


It doesn’t work all the time, but it does the trick.

Mar 12, 2009 9:33 pm
Gordon Gecko:

Hi,

here is a pitch I do (not the best, but does work for me)

Hi Mr. X, this is (blah), how are you ? Great … I’m calling you from XYZ capital. I’ll save to regular B.S. you are use to ear on the phone FAIR ENOUGH ? Now… you know about XYZ capital RIGHT ? (DON’T wait for the answer) I meen you have been approach by an associate of mine RIGHT ? Great (pause 3 sec) Now I don’t know what that idiot try to sell you, obviouly that didn’t interested you RIGHT ? What I need from you is to know what accutally interest you (financialy speacking if need be) ? OK now I competly agree with you, You know about you come to the office tomorrow (or three day or when you catch you wife in bed with my associate…) and I’ll show you everything realted to that FAIR ENOUGH ?


It doesn’t work all the time, but it does the trick.

It probably sounds much better with some foreign accent.   Is English your first language?