Prospecting

Opening a cold conversation

8 entries · 5 traced to a named source · 5 free

Send a short email to a named exec asking who the right person is, not for a meeting
Forwards it to the right person, who now opens your email as an internal referral
Follow up with the forwarded contact, referencing the introduction

Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler, Predictable Revenue (2011)

Hi Sarah, it's Kim from Acme. I know I'm calling out of the blue.
We help logistics firms cut invoice errors, and I saw you took the Nordic contract.
Yeah, actually, tell me more.

Common practice (popularised by Steli Efti)

Common practice

Skip "Hi, how are you today?" and open with a line the buyer has no canned rejection for.
(the automatic brush-off doesn't fire because the script is broken)
Follow the interrupt so you keep the attention you just won.

NLP (Bandler and Grinder), adapted for sales cold-calling

Can I have twenty-seven seconds to tell you why I called, and then you can hang up if it's not relevant?
(grants the small, specific window because it feels safe to agree to)
(keep to the time you asked for, exactly)

Jeb Blount, among others

So what do you do?
We work with {{TypeOfClient}} who struggle with {{SpecificProblem}}. We help by {{WhatYouActuallyDo}}.
Asks a natural follow-up question instead of changing the subject

David Sandler, Sandler Selling System (1967)

Ask for a specific, named introduction tied to the win you just delivered, not "do you know anyone?"
(says yes because the ask costs them almost nothing)
Hand them a ready-to-forward message so saying yes takes no real effort.

Common practice

Craig Elias and Tibor Shanto (2010)

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