Cold Calling is NOT a Numbers Game with David Walter: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down cold calling and how it's not a numbers game. To drop these value bombs, I brought David Walter into EO Fire Studios. David is an author, speaker, and sales trainer. His claim to fame came from a cold calling hot streak during which he set 15 appointments a day for six months straight. He later ran a prospecting call center helping companies make millions. His book is a number one bestseller on Amazon, and he is a contributor to Entrepreneur.

0:37And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about how luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Code callers are three feet from gold. If you can just move three feet over time, you're going to hit that gold and owe so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to David and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

1:15David, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? Excited to be here. What I believe about success that most people don't agree with, I believe in the law of attraction, aka the secret. And several months ago, I put John Lee Dumas on my vision board and started a mantra and visualizing saying this exact thing right here on the show. And so I can tell you that the law of attraction and the secret works, and most people still don't believe in that. Fire Nation, David manifested this reality. The law of attraction brought us into this very moment because he didn't just believe, he knew it was going to happen.

2:06And now it's literally happening. And David, I did tell Fire Nation a little bit about your infamous cold calling hot streak back in the introduction. Can you tell that story in full? The back story is I just got into college and helped my dad make millions of dollars running ads in the Dallas Morning News about air conditioning. And then we went bankrupt. He lost everything. I had to go get a job. I still had my car and my apartment and I felt like somebody had a gun to my head, like Tony says. And I must find a way to set more appointments. And on the job that I took for cold calling, there was amazing commission structures, but I wasn't getting it.

2:47And so I had to find a way. And so just like Tony says, I look to, and of course you as well in your book, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, and even Napoleon Hill. And so I looked to these experts and one of the ones I picked was Zig's idea of looking in the mirror. And so I started looking in the mirror and claiming that I'm going to set 15 appointments a day. I'm going to set 15 appointments a day. And that was the influence of Tony years ago from his infomercials that I believed in the subconscious mind. And my book's about that. And so from that point on, I started doing that every day for six months.

3:25And then six months later to that day, I set 15 appointments. And I didn't know how I was going to do it when I started. John and Fire Nation. It just came to me from my subconscious mind from the universe, delivered that to me. And I started setting 15 appointments a day, every day, four or six months, over 1800 appointments when everybody else was setting around two appointments. I mean, Fire Nation, when you are able and willing to not just 1x or 2x or 3x competition, but literally 10x the competition. Don't you think you're going to win at a 10x level? And for David to do this at such a high level for so long, it's that exact quote that I love, which is, luck is where effort meets opportunity.

4:12David was putting in the efforts. The opportunity came up. So yes, of course, at some point he got quote unquote lucky, but that's where the effort and the opportunity came in to make his luck. So what is your number one key to success, David? Most people have limiting beliefs about cold calling. And one of the primary ones out there is cold calling is a numbers game. And of course, there's lots of limiting beliefs, but this is one of the primary ones that I want to talk to. I think it'll reach the audience because that's one of that phrase on my book, which I sent you a copy, has cold calling is not a numbers game.

4:50That's what made it a number one bestseller. And Fire Nation, that's what I really want you to understand here is David's continuously putting himself in the right situations. He's continuously honing his skills. He's continuously putting in the reps. He's continuously consuming the right content. And what I hear a lot of people talk about is this thing called the numbers game. What's your definition, David, of the numbers game? Well, the numbers game is what we hear. It's a mantra that we hear, whether you've been trained from all these old cold calling gurus, and it's still something people believe in.

5:28It's kind of simple. Cold calling or calling 150 people, different prospects in a day, in a sequence, basically in order. In other words, from one to 150 and calling each one in sequence. this is what people call the numbers game. And we're going to talk about that, but it's what people think and believe. It's a limiting belief that they have that we can talk about. I do want to talk about that. So let's keep kind of diving into it because you do believe there are some things that are wrong with the numbers game. So expound upon that. What I realized is that the world is dynamic. In other words, people are always changing.

6:12If you think about what some of the gatekeepers will say commonly when you call in is that the decision maker is in a meeting. He's traveling. He's on the phone. He's gone for the day. He'll be back after lunch. And they're not lying. These people are constantly moving around, moving around and changing. And so, you know, literally what I realized after reading Thinking Grow Rich. And I know, of course, I love the movie that just came out that you're featured in. Oh yeah. So much fun. People, when they're making cold calls are three feet from gold. Um, you know, just like RU Darby, um, he was, he hit some gold and then it ran out and he gave up and just three feet away was another vein of gold.

6:59And so we can apply that to this concept, except we switched the idea of feet to time. In other words, uh, if you would just move over three feet in time away from when you call and you start calling three to four times a day for about three days, you can hit gold. And that gets us right into another great illustration that I think is going to hit this home so people can really sink their teeth into Spire Nation. And what I want to really talk about for a second here, based on your point, David, is this book by Seth Godin called The Dip. And this is what happens to so many people. You know, this idea, this concept, or you start something new.

7:41Maybe it's, you know, this selling this new product or service. So you're willing to pick up the phone call, the phone and call people, or, you know, it's your new idea, your new podcast, your new concept, whatever that might be. And you start off with a bang, you have the momentum, you have the traction, you have all these different things. And then after a little bit of time, you know, things kind of start to slow down and your momentum, your enthusiasm slows down a little bit. And this is what Seth Gordon calls the dip. You kind of dip into this little valley that you stay in for a little while of, okay, this is where the grind starts.

8:14This is where, you know, it gets tough. This is where you're going to keep putting in the work over and over again if you really want real results. And what Seth talks about in this book is so often people give up in this dip. They give up right before they strike that gold. They literally are three feet from gold and about to start that upward trajectory again, and they just stop. And that's so frustrating because if people had just stayed committed to their purpose, stay committed to what they believed in, continue to manifest what they wanted, just like David talked about at the beginning of this interview with entrepreneurs on fire, they were literally three feet from striking that goal.

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12:39What does cold calling have to do with this movie? Oh, that's a great question. It's right out of my book. And I love the story about Chris Gartner. It's so emotional, inspirational. But if I can get the Fire Nation, I'm sure you've been on YouTube and you've seen the clip. It's called the Pursuit of Happiness cold calling clip where Will Smith, as Chris Gartner, is talking about his difficulties he had and what he had to do when he was calling. And you can see, you know, walking, working our way up the call sheet from the bottom to the top. and that is, if you can visualize him going sequentially from the bottom and calling each one up to the top, that's the numbers game right there.

13:22That is the numbers game. And he laments about because of his situation with being homeless and everything with his kid that he never had the time to work his way up the sheet. And as he's saying that, he's kind of eyeing the top. You know, like he's never been the top and he starts to move his pen up to the very top of the sheet where he's never been before. And he comes across the name of Walter Ribbon. He calls that and hits pay dirt. Boom. Walter Ribbon answers the phone. And amazing things happen just from that one call, that one contact. While he didn't buy, if you've seen the show Fire Nation and John Lee Dumas, you know that he ended up getting to the football game and the box suite, meeting all these people, selling out of insurance.

14:11But the question, this is going to highlight this. Imagine if he had not skipped to the top, if he had called sequentially, would he have reached Walter Riven? And remember the time-sensitive nature, get here in 20 minutes. Remember that, John? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Get here in 20 minutes. So it would have taken him more than 20 minutes to work that sheet up. In fact, he said he never did that. And so that's the whole idea of what I'm talking about here is the randomness nature of moving around the list. because if you're working your way up, the one guy or the one person that's interested is at the top and you don't get there by the time they're gone and it works backwards.

14:56By the time you get there, guess what, John? The people at the bottom you called already are back in the office. Fire Nation, I really hope you understand what's worked for David over the years because we can learn from success because success leaves clues. So with all this being said, David, what is keeping people from trying your process? It's that fear of burning the leads. And reality is, you know, if you're listening to Fire Nation right now, you probably maybe have thought about calling back over and over again, but you were afraid or maybe the management team said, don't do that, you're going to burn the list.

15:28But here's why you're not going to burn the list. Actually, if you did what you normally do, which people they call, they name themselves, their full name, they stay out the name of the company they're calling from. And then they leave a voicemail and promise. I promise you fire nation that if you did call over and over again and named yourself fully said the name of the company you're calling from, and then left a voicemail and did that three to four times for three days, they would blacklist you, but have a picture of you and to the Erica, to the gatekeepers, they never let this guy through, but that's not what you should do, what you need to do.

16:05And this is another secret besides the whole idea of a cold calling is not a numbers game is that when you're cold calling, you should never announce your full name. And you should never say that the company you're calling from to the gatekeeper and definitely not leave a voicemail because what that does is lets them know who it is they need to avoid on their call. And so if you don't do that, if you just say, hey, this is Dave calling for Mr. Smith, or can you try Mr. Smith's line? Or, hey, this is David. Hey, Stephanie. Hey, is Mr. Smith gone for the day? I call that my negative thing, my negative approach going negative.

16:43They're never going to remember you. And if you just cut it off after about three days and then wait about a week or so, then you start calling back again. But that's what got me 40 contacts a day, John. I got 40 contacts a day and 15 appointments out of that every day. Fire Nation, put in the work, put in the reps, hone your skills. You're going to get better every single time. I don't care if 14 or even all 15 of those are no's, are slams, are rejections. I don't care about that because you're getting better every single time. So David, take the microphone. What is the one thing that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation here today?

17:24What is that one theme you want to make sure that we really walk away with? Co-calling is not dead. and people, what it is, it's not dead. And people simply have the wrong beliefs about it and they need to change their approach. You know, if you have a bad golf swing, you don't say golf is dead. You have the wrong swing and you need to get it. You need to change your swing. And so that's the one thing you have limiting beliefs. And that's what I like to help people with. And that leads right into the next thing that people are going to need to do is if you apply my principles and you actually start calling over and over again and tracking people down, you're going to get more contacts and you're going to have to get past gatekeepers.

18:07And that's one of the things I've got, especially for Fire Nation, is I call it seven cold calling secret diagrams to get past gatekeepers that they can get 100 % free and they can start implementing this stuff and get past these limiting beliefs. Man, Fire Nation, if you are resonating with what David is saying, take this next step. So where does Fire Nation need to go for this content? Freeworkbook.com. Freeworkbook.com. Totally free. And for Fire Nation, I've done something even more because I'm so grateful to be on this show with John Lee Dumas and getting in touch with all the people out there in Fire Nation that are on fire.

18:50Yes. I'm giving away my book for free. The next step, once you do that, you're going to get a free copy of my ebook absolutely free. I mean, Fire Nation, talk about irresistible. And David, congratulations. Freeworkbook.com. That is a fantastic URL. Don't ever let that one go. Freeworkbook.com, Fire Nation. And you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with D-Dubs and JLD today. So keep up that heat. Head over to eofire.com. Just type David in the search bar. And his show notes page will pop up with everything that we've talked about. And David, thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

19:31For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, Fire Nation. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by David. And Fire Nation, what can 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? Well, how about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. You can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com, and I'll catch you there or on the flip side.

20:13Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.