Coffee's for Closers

11Smart Calling

‘Don’t focus on how to spend less money, focus on how to make more money’.

—Richard Denny

What is the difference between smart calling and cold calling?

As the name suggests, smart calling involves doing a little bit of research before the call. I would recommend not more than three minutes, as you may end up with a voicemail. I learned this term and some wonderful ideas and techniques from a fantastic US sales guru, Art Sobczak, in his incredible book, Smart Calling.

Cold calling is where you literally are going in cold, with no contact name, no idea about the company or industry you are calling, no angle as to how you can help or add value to the business, etc. Many sales gurus claim cold calling does not work anymore, as buyers have wised up to them. To some extent, I agree, but smart calling does work.

When preparing to make a smart call, there are certain steps I always think about:

• Step 1: What does the company I am about to call actually do?

Once I know this, I can think of many companies similar to them I may have helped and am prepared to name drop them if appropriate. I can prepare a couple of facts about how I have been able to help those companies as well, that is, increase their conversion rates by 30%, reduce their lead costs by 25%, etc.

• Step 2: Who do I actually want to speak to within the business? Who is likely to be the decision‐maker?

I can look on the website, and there is normally a ‘Meet the Team’ page or an ‘About Us’ page, and ...