How To Start A Cold Call (The Perfect Opener)

0:00Bing, bang, bong. We're back again and I'm bringing it to you Jack. Are you ready for it? you sat comfortably we're gonna be baking bread baby baking bread so i'm gonna be giving you the recipe the five ingredients to build your own opener there's a lot of talk out there of what opener should i be using should i be using this opener this pattern interrupt some people are starting to tell me i've heard that one everywhere i've heard that opener everywhere and there's a lot of copying going on but imitation might be the best form of flattery but imitation doesn't necessarily mean you sound as good as the person you're trying to imitate i'm agreed i i agree so much we were talking off air that you can deliver the same cold call opener that somebody else that you've seen on linkedin or youtube or whatever but you can sound like a bloke that builds shelves for a living so don't be that bloke build your own opener it's not a shelf exactly i remember that the famous benjamin dennehy opener i'll be honest the sales call would you like to give me 30 seconds i'll hang up i was trading the guy and he was like i'm using benjamin's open it's not working and i said to him well the difference is benjamin sounds like a cheeky new zealander you sound like a supply teacher from shropshire and he's like ah right okay shit okay right and then got it so context aware right so let's get into it let's get into it five points right and actually the first point is the setup which is called context aware okay right so framing the opener of the call in a way that acknowledges the reality of it.

1:44Does that make sense? I'm going to start the call with giving the kind of upfront reality of why I've called. What do you think the reasons behind that, Jack? You can hit us with a bit of the psychology there. The upfront, honestly, I always go back to the 4.7 kind of Amazon review, like being disarming, going in there and saying like, listen, I might not be the tidiest chef in the kitchen, but I'll probably make the best souffle. All of a sudden, because you're admitting to maybe a fault or you're being upfront and honest, people are more likely to trust you. And what we're trying to do when we're cold calling definitely is build that trust quickly.

2:26So upfront, honesty, admit something, I think is always strong. Yeah, exactly. So the obvious one, the one that everyone knows, and let's see if we can think of some different ones here, Jack, between us. the one that everyone knows is hijack i'll be honest it's a sales call or hijack you're gonna hate me or hijack you weren't expecting my call yeah now if we were to think outside the box uh john i'll be honest you're probably guessing right when you've recognized it's a number you don't know that i'd be context aware and i'll hit you with some honesty straight out of the gate so you're not sat there wondering who i am john you might think this is an interruption John, this could be the worst or the best call of the day.

3:10Are you willing to roll the dice and find out? Those kinds of things are acknowledging the context of what's happening. So they're situationally aware. Now, those ones are kind of the ball buster openers. Other ones might be, oh, I'm really struggling with something. I was hoping you could help me. Or even I'm calling. Yeah, tricky task. Even if I was doing one of the first campaigns that I did was for Panasonic, and I used to say, I'm calling from Panasonic. This obviously might be the part where you tell me you hate Panasonic and you don't want to speak to me anymore. Well, no, what's it about?

3:49I also like a bit. I've been asked to give you a call because that sparks curate. John, a bit of a weird one. I've been asked to give you a call, I guess, and then we're going to get into it. But yeah, that kind of upfront setting the scene, because nobody likes it when you say, zach zach it's it's tommy here from recruitment expo how are you doing are you well you're good how's business i'm like i know what you're in for like just get get to the bit i want i want to i feel uneasy it's interesting that you said that right because the bit the uneasy bit is the how are you yeah we how are you triggers a get on with it yeah it's actually not naming it's it's jack from recruitment company it's the how are you bit that makes me get my back up it was jack from recruitment company here's why i'm calling into something okay with that because i also think for like the first couple of seconds anyway i don't think i don't think the brain switched on i don't think you're even talking to that chimp part of the brain it's just a bit of a that's why i i do like like a you answered the phone i go that's not zach is it because you're still in that like uh what and then when you deliver your upfront honesty whatever you're hitting somebody with then they go oh now oh right okay now i can maybe digest this a little bit more but i always go for that that's not rather than is that i'll i'll give people at home a little bonus tip if i was ringing jack i'd say that's not jack from we have a meeting is it because it might be jack but you might not work there anymore yeah and i might end up talking to him for three or four minutes before i realize that get into it so just doing that first is a big thing right so step one ingredient one base layer set up so context aware think of this as relaxing the fight or flight response kind of getting to the point number two is the interrupt so this is actually the thing that you don't expect to hear and this might be humor honesty disarm room to say no all those types of things the obvious thing here are this is a sales call this is a cold call we don't know each other this is one of those dreaded sales calls we've never spoken before breaking every rule by ringing you.

5:58You're the person I've always wanted to speak to. I might only get one opportunity. This is the point where you slammed on the phone on me. It's exactly what you think it is. It's actually a sales call. I'll admit it. This could be the least favorite part of your day. The key thing with the interrupt is it's something they've never heard before. It has some humor, some honesty, some room to say no in there. But the thing, I can't say this enough, that will be the difference from the people who get this to work and the people who don't is the personality. Definitely. Definitely. And you've got to really, really think about who are you selling to.

6:32Do you know what I mean? So if you're selling to a certain type of personality, you might not want to be like cheeky, chappy, go lucky. You might want to be a little bit softer, but you've got to think about your own tone. And I think your own tone will carry you on these calls. One little exercise I give people is record yourself. Say you're opener, record it, play it back, critique it, do that again over and over again i always say i like the analogy of like you're you're a producer so you know this better than anyone but if you had like vocal takes if i had your opener and i had a hundred vocal takes would the sound waves look the same or are you switching up every single time zach it's and then the next time it's zach it's like find something that works for you and once you've got it nailed that's a repeatable process i try and get in the habit and this actually keeps your brain sharp as well for people who are doing lots and lots of calls try and become the person you're speaking to and the answer and the quicker you can do it often the more effective you can be so jack could answer the phone on like a building site somewhere and i will visit and i'm gonna go oh jack i'll be honest but jack could also answer in a library could sound like that he could be sounding like very technical very analytical and i could know that straight out of the gate hello is jack speaking jack you're gonna you're gonna probably hate me so i get into trying to become the person the chameleon the chameleon exactly so we've got so far step one the setup i'm setting up the punchline in a context aware way then i've got the interruption which is the bit they don't expect to hear using humor honesty room to say no those are the three magic things now the energy shift is to re is basically the reframing of the rules of the call right and it's it's kind of in an ideal we're going to have that with or without you energy to it so this is the bit where it's like i'll only need 30 seconds at the end of that you can hang up guilt-free i'll never bother you again yeah would you give me half a minute to see if this even matters to you i'll tell you why i've called if it's irrelevant we both save time all i want is 30 seconds if after that you think this guy doesn't know what he's talking about and i absolutely hate the sound of his voice i'll disappear i'll never bother you again i also think like contextual like if you hear someone's driving i think like if you can bring that humor in like listen i i can fly through it and if it's not for you you can throw your phone out the window or i'll just hang up do you know i mean getting in there yeah i always i also think that it's a nice little like bolt on is getting that is that fair at the end like a oh yeah is that fair what would that be fair because a lot of the time people are going to go you're not asking for anything ridiculous that does sound fair actually no exactly um my opener before the pattern interrupts used to go to i'd say jack i'm calling from x company um actually and i'd interrupt myself i go actually before i get ahead of myself you've probably never heard of x company before and you go no i haven't or yes i have and when you said no i haven't i'd say we're the only company that does x normally solving these problems and then i'd actually go straight into when's a good time to show you they pick a time or a day or say they're not interested whatever let's say they were like oh that sounds quite interesting i'll pick that and again i'd interrupt myself i'd say actually getting ahead of myself again before i get there i probably need to ask some questions about why it'd be relevant to you so the interrupt there is me interrupting myself so the call doesn't feel quite as salesy as normal it almost feels like i kind of don't quite know how to do my job properly i'm getting a bit overexcited and ahead of myself but there's something in that that makes it feel not like the normal sales call yeah and and definitely if you're a bit clumsy or interrupting or you're kind of falling over yourself people kind of want to jump in and go well listen listen let me help you out you've obviously you listen i'm the expert you're the novice let's let me guide you through this this isn't how a sales call goes let let me give you a bit of meat on the bone oh yeah sorry it's a tuesday tell the people um you said novice then didn't you didn't say i'm the knob bird no no i didn't say you were a knob just to be just to be like novice um okay control is the next one but this is almost like the illusion of control right so this is this is the to jack's point this is the does it does that sound fair moment so it's almost like having these little mini contracts little mini permission or it's just a little like permission to go kind of kind of feeling to it so that the the obvious ones are things like i'll take 30 seconds now if the end of it you're not interested um i'll leave you alone does that sound fair yeah or am i right to tell you why i called or do you want to have me tracked down and shot should we test if this even makes sense to you it's totally your call should i keep going or do you want to do you want to throw your phone out the window yeah if you're interested i've got my stopwatch ready to go yeah so it's all those types of things so you'll notice there straight away if you're thinking of it just in the ingredient you can actually start thinking of different things that probably feel natural to you and maybe you can mix it up a bit every time.

11:53You don't just have to say the same thing every time. So, so far we've got the setup, right? I'll be honest, I'm probably going to ruin your day. The interruption, it's one of those dreaded sales calls. I know you're not expecting me. You probably hate the sound of my voice already. Am I okay to take 30 seconds to tell you why I called? If it's completely irrelevant, I'll never bother you again. Sam Fair, that would be how up to that point would sound. and the last bit that the step five you touched on it before is the kind of consistency element element so it's the difference probably between in fact jack i'll i'll return the favor i'll put things back in your world you're a a trained actor uh trained trained uh a trained thespian is the word yes yeah so there's a difference isn't there when you've got your script in front of you and you're practicing your lines with Princess Jasmine.

12:50Yeah. There's a difference between that and when you're on the stage. It sounds very different. But actually, when you get on stage, you've probably practiced that script a million times. So really, when you get on stage, surely it should sound more robotic and scripted. So why doesn't it? Because that's where the flair comes in. That's where the performance comes in. Remember, you might have said that call opener a thousand times, but for the other person on the end of the phone, it's their first time hearing it. You've got to deliver it every single time. And this is why sales is tiring, because you kind of lose that energy, that kind of enthusiasm.

13:25Can you consistently be that person? It's very hard, though, to play a character your whole life, especially if you're coming to work and being this other person. So my advice would be, like, find what opener works for you and your personality that you're selling to. Maybe find a product that suits who you are as well and find a company. don't go to work if you're selling to plumbers and you've got and you you sound like you've got a toffee in your mouth you know what i mean like go and sell um words yeah something something sticky um yeah go and sell something that suits you i would always say like you don't want to fake it too much um yeah i didn't know you i'm gonna block can i can i blast through my uh these are the things that i've noticed that would make a massive difference to people yeah please It's blast.

14:11Like as in, oh, I'm kind of doing all that already, but it's still not really landing the way I thought it would be. These are the bits, right? Bang these bits in, you'll notice a big difference. First one, when I connect with someone, I sit forward in my seat like that. It's like they've got my attention. I sit forward and I go into action mode. Yeah. But then when they are interested, I sit back. Now, the reason that I do that is sitting forward is performance. Sitting back is therapist. and it triggers my brain. Body language is a powerful thing. You can do little things that change that as well.

14:49So if you smile when you deliver certain bits, you will notice it in the tone. They obviously can't see the body language, but the tone will audibly change. If I was listening to your calls, I can hear when you're smiling. Delivering the punchline, if you're using a, you're probably going to hate me for this, delivering it with a little playful chuckle every time. Or like Jack said, delivering it like you are on stage, giving it that showman piece. Pause after saying this is a sales call, delivering whatever kind of the honesty piece is, whatever the interrupt piece is. I'll be honest, it is a sales call.

15:24Oh, no. Let them have that response to it before you go in. Slower than normal speech so it feels authentic. The voice is an instrument, and you have things that you can use that you have the louds, you have the quiets, you have the way of going a bit more gravelly, of slowing things down, of speeding things up to sound more excited. Play with that so you find that natural cadence. And the key one is to match the energy of the person you're speaking to as best as possible. And that will do two things. You obviously sound like the person you're talking to, massive chance of success in doing that.

16:04but the second point is you will keep the brain sharp if you know i've got to be like that person every call you won't be able to just sit back and go into autopilot no those are my bits i think they're brilliant i think the pace is such a big one like especially for like newbie sales people just like rushing through it just like they're so petrified or they're so excited just really really slow it down completely like listen to it listen to it back are you going too fast it should be a nice pace zach i'll be so honest with you it is a sales call i don't know if that makes you want to drop kick your phone out the window or let me have 30 seconds completely up to you bang yeah we're in exactly done bomb you got a task for us yeah i've got a task for you actually right here's what I want you to do I want you to come up with a new unique opener completely unique based on the recipe here I'm going to just give it back to you so you've got it clearly the setup context aware setup I'm going to ruin your day whatever that is the interruption is a sales call you won't expect my call whatever it may be the energy shift, the control the consistency, right?

17:24I want you to voice note it to me, Jack, or Marco AR. Who works at Centrama. Who works at Centrama. If you do it to all three of us and it hits all three, we will all each individually give you£500. It only works if you've done it to all three. Okay? So voice note, your opener,£500,£500, 500 for the person who does it to all three. I've been Zach Thompson. I've been doing Aladdin. Thank you for listening. Take care.