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- (Caller) We can add value to your business to be honest, so that is only reason, Im just looking for an introductory meeting.
- Hi, this is Michael Helper from sales scripter, and I have a cold call example that I want to share with you today.
And just a warning on the front end, It appears to be from a sales person calling from India.
And theres a really strong accent.
Almost difficult to understand what hes saying in some moments, honestly, probably you or I would probably have ended this call earlier, but because I analyze these calls, I stayed with him and I encourage you to stay with it because there are a lot of lessons to learn from this cold call.
Theres some things he does well, some things he couldve done better.
So lets listen to the call and break it down in terms of what went well, what could have been better and Ill actually provide a recommended cold call script that I created.
And so lets just listen to the call and talk about it on the other side.
- (Call receiver) Thank you for calling Sales scripture.
How can I help you? - (Caller) Hi, I must speaking with Michael.
- (Call receiver) Yes.
- (Caller) Hi Michael. This is Scott with (beeps), How are you? - (call receiver) Good, How are you? - (Caller) Im doing good as well.
I hope this is a good time to speak just for a minute.
- (Call receiver) Okay.
- (Caller) Thank you. I actually, Michael, Im looking to speak with you in reference to software development, staff argumentation services.
So in a nutshell, you know, I represent company called (beeps).
We have 400 plus skilled developers with an average experience of more than seven to eight years.
So I was wondering if you have any need of any, you know, developer or engineer, I mean, where we could focus and showcase that representatives to you.
- (call receiver) I currently have all the software developers I need right now.
- (Caller) Okay. So you have your in-house team of developers or youre working with some another vendors? - (Call receiver) I have a outsource software development agency.
- (Caller) Okay. Okay. So, Michael, I understand you may not have requirement right now, but is it any chance of connecting for a quick call? I believe, you know, we can add value to your business to be honest.
So that is only the reason Im just looking for an introductory meeting.
- (Call receiver) Im very happy with the firm that worked with.
- (Caller) Okay, actually Im not looking for immediate business.
It will be just an introductory call.
- (Call receiver) I dont want to waste your time.
It really wouldnt make any sense.
Theres no reason for me to change.
- (Caller) A few of our customers. You know, for example, you have some certain need of niche developer at the time we can come into the picture and we can help you.
So that is only the reason Im looking for an introductory meeting.
- (Call receiver) yeah I understand.
Why dont you send me an email? - (Caller) So you can expect my email in the next 15 minutes.
Im just drafting an email and I will be sending to you.
- (Call receiver) Okay. Thanks a lot - (Caller) Okay Great, and you have any requirement or if you are available for a quick call, please revert me back, it will be great help to me.
- (Call receiver) Okay - (Caller) Thank you so much for your valuable time.
Have a great weekend ahead.
- (Call Receiver) You too. Bye.
- All right.
So lets go through that call in a little bit more detail.
And so his purpose for the call was he wanted to speak with me in reference to software development and staff augmentation and that, and they talked a little bit about his firm.
Now, just want to point out that if youve watched any of our other videos, we break down your sales script and sales message into two categories.
Either youre a product selling sales person or your consultative sales person.
This was a clear example of a product selling sales pitch or sales script.
He opened with this is who I work for.
This is some details about us. Do you need what I sell? And he was trying to drive towards talking me into needing what he sold.
Now we recommend going into a more consultative direction.
I have other videos Ill link in the description that goes into detail on the differences with these and how to create your consultative selling sales script.
And the recommended cold call script I provide at the end will be a consultative selling script.
So itll align with whats on the right side there, but lets get back to his call.
He did progress to ask me a qualifying question, which was, I wonder if you have a need for a developer or engineer, this is a decent question.
If he sells development services and developers and engineers, at some point, it makes sense for him to ask if I have a general need, there are other questions he could have asked before this, and I will show you some of those.
Then that question led to me giving the first objection, which was, well, we have all the developers we need right now.
And by the way, this is a very common place to end up.
If you have a product selling sales pitch, if your sales pitch is, this is what I sell.
Do you need what I sell? In fact, the odds that you time, that call or that email perfectly so that youre talking to them at the exact time when they need what you sell is very low.
So its very likely for you to end up in a place where youre saying, I sell this and theyre saying, I dont need that right now, which is what I basically said to them.
We have all the developers we need right now.
He does actually reply to this in a decent way, which he asks me a current state question.
And he asks, so you, you have an in-house team of developers or youre working with someone else.
This is a great question to ask.
And its a decent question, ask dealing with that objection.
There are also other current state questions he could have asked at this time, Ill show you a whole list of current state questions.
And when he could ask those in the recommended cold call script, at some point there in the middle, he does kind of start to get to his value proposition and his value proposition was we can add value to your business to be honest.
And then he kind of stopped there.
Well, you know, thats a good direction to go in in terms of trying to communicate to me the value he has to offer, but he shouldnt stop there.
Theres obviously tons of value that he can offer me.
And he could have been more clear about that.
And instead of just saying, we have value to offer, and Im being really honest.
When I say that in the recommended cold call script, Ill list out some of the different ways that he can help in the value propositions that he couldve used.
Then we lead to objection, number two, which is basically, I was saying, were happy with our current provider.
And this is a very common objection.
It can come in a different ways, which is a, a lot of ways, It can sound like we already use someone today.
Were not looking at making any changes.
So those are all versions of, were happy with who we have, or we already have something today.
He responds to this in a decent way, which is, he says, Im not looking for immediate business.
I just want an introductory call.
So what hes basically doing is hes saying, Im not looking to sell you anything today.
I just want to keep talking and talk to you in more detail, which is a good way to respond to objections.
Because if you think of the first time you talk to someone as being that first interaction, and really the end of the process is them purchasing from you.
What we can often do is get trapped in this mindset where were focused on the purchase.
And let me give you an example.
So when someone says Im not interested, then your natural instinct is to try to say something to make them interested.
Or if someone says we already used someone today, your natural instinct is to try to talk them into switching over to you. That is focusing more on the purchase.
But the reality is, is that theres a lot of steps between that first interaction and the prospect purchasing from you.
For example, theres a more detailed conversation where you learn a little bit more about each other and then an explanation on what you offer and how you can help.
And then that might lead to at some point some sort of purchase.
And by focusing more on the next step in the process, which is just a more detailed conversation, could be a, an appointment or a virtual meeting or a longer phone call.
Thats where you could focus.
And thats how you can focus what you say in your objection responses.
And thats basically what he did.
And my advice there would be to to resist that natural instinct on trying to sell the product and instead try to sell the meeting.
And thats exactly what he did where he said, listen, Im not trying to sign you up today.
Im just looking to have an introductory call.
Now, what I would say is is that in this particular scenario, there are other ways that he could have responded to that objection.
And Ill show that in the recommended cold call script, and then he could have used that, Lets just have an introductory call as the last fallback position.
Another thing he did really well is at one point towards the end of the call, he said, listen, if you have a certain need for a niche developer, we can help with this. And this is a direction of, okay, you use someone today.
Im not trying to replace them.
And Im not trying to get you to stop doing business with them.
I want to add to what youre already doing.
And this is sort of an augment, not replace approach.
And this is really good.
This is something that you can apply to a lot of salespeople in that a lot of times when youre talking to a prospect, theyre already using something in the area where you have something to offer.
And if you can somehow augment and get that prospect to just purchase or use your service product just a little bit, in addition to what theyre already doing today, thats a great foot in the door and maybe then you can expand and then eventually replace that other competitor.
So lets get to the recommended cold call script that he could have used starting out with an introduction.
Hello, Michael, this is Tony from company X.
Have I caught you in the middle of anything? Try to establish the call there, make sure the persons not busy, then jump to your value proposition.
And so this is a value proposition that he could have used.
He could have improved my speed of software development, improve the quality of code, augment my existing team, decrease my cost for software development.
So those are the ways he can help.
Instead of him just saying, I can add value to your business. Im being to be honest, tell me these things.
And he could do that at different points in the call, but certainly the very beginning of the call is a better place for him to add this.
In his call, where he said, this is what some details about my firm, how many people we have, how many years of experience he could have replaced that with this, the reason for the call is we help businesses to improve the speed of their development and decrease their costs for software development.
But Im not sure if we can help you in that same way, and thats why Im reaching out and then jump to some pain questions.
So if he helps to solve certain problems of mine, ask me some questions to see if I have problems that need to be fixed.
If I could ask you real quick, How often do you have software development projects that are not progressing? How happy are you with the quality of code you currently have? Have you ever had a need for a specific developer with a particular skill set? How important is it to decrease costs? Then you could ask some current state questions.
Do you currently have any projects? Are you using in-house or outsource developers? So thats the question that he asked here.
Other current state questions, current state questions are just questions that figure out whats going on in a particular area where you have something to offer, by the way, whether you ask propane questions or current state questions, first could depend on who youre talking to, could be depending on what you sell and you can mix and match them.
But its important to know what are your pain questions and what are your current state questions? Hopefully with our questions, we find a reason to talk more and then we can close for the next step in our process, which is a conversation.
But if our questions dont uncover any pain, then we can take a step back and just try to share some of the problems that we helped to solve with the prospect, which is to say some like, oh, okay, well, you know, a lot of businesses I work with, they often have this problem or this challenge or this problem or this concern.
Are you concerned about any of those? And youre just looking for validation like everythings perfect, or there are some concerns then youre starting to head towards the close for talking more, the close for the appointment.
And this is where you can start to talk more about you, by the way, this is the stuff that he talked about at the very beginning of the call.
This is where we try to close with it, which is, oh, you know what? It might make sense for us to talk in more detail.
The reason why is Im with company X and we provide software development and staff augmentation services.
We do everything from custom app development, mobile app development, web design, web coding, whatever, some ways were different.
This is some stuff that he included at the beginning of the call.
We have over 400 developers with all covering all different skills and competencies, 70, 80 years plus experience, whatever that means.
And then right before you go for the close, you can share a name drop example, just to establish a little bit more credibility and build a little bit more interest.
We actually worked with a business similar to yours and help to augment their existing team with developers that were very specific and experienced in niche areas.
This helped them to improve the pace of their development projects and also get stalled projects going again.
But you know, Michael, Ive called you out of the blue.
I dont want to take any more of your time right now.
I dont know if this is the best time to talk about this.
Are you available for a brief call? I want to share some examples of how weve helped other businesses.
And then Im just inserting the value proposition here again.
So reinforce the ways that I can help that the particular prospect are you available on Tuesday or Thursday morning, or are you available right now to continue discussing this? So thats an example of a call flow and thats a consultative approach.
Im pretty confident that that flow would have helped him.
You know, he still might not have closed me for an appointment, but it would help him overall.
Now lets talk about those objections before we wrap up.
So the main objection I gave him was we already use someone for that. And he asked me a current state question.
Well, instead of asking a current state question, you could ask me a pain question, trying to figure out is everything going great? Or is there something that needs to be improved? And you could respond to that by just saying, oh great.
Well, if I could ask you how, you know, and then here are some of, these are the same questions that are in the cold call script, and you could also ask current state questions, which is what he basically did, but theres other questions here. So I said, oh, we already have a development agency that we work with.
We weve been with them for a long time. Oh great.
Hows everything going? You know, when was the last time you considered other areas? How many projects do you have? You know? And so theres some other current state questions, by the way, I just want to give a real example of how asking these questions could have helped him in this particular scenario, which is we actually do have a need for a niche software developer that our current agency firm does not have regarding development with Microsoft outlook, that we want to develop a plugin.
And this is an open project.
And by asking current state questions, he almost got there where I almost started talk about it.
He could have uncovered that new information by asking current state questions.
Do you have any open projects arent moving forward because you dont have the specific skill set.
And the honest answer to that for me would have been, yeah, we, we do need a Microsoft outlook developer.
Is that something you have? and he mightve said, yes, we do have that.
Okay, well, lets schedule a call to discuss that and he could have moved forward.
So just an example there of how those current state questions can really help you to not only keep the conversation going, but find a reason to talk more.
Sales Scripter: Cold Call Example for Software Development - IT Staff Augmentation