Power Phone Scripts

Chapter 5Other Prospecting Situations—and How to Handle Them

With all the new marketing opportunities companies have for generating leads—getting someone to “raise their hand” as they call it—prospects are becoming warmer and warmer. This has even led some sales experts to claim that, “Cold calling is dead!” Oh, if only the sales rep were so lucky. While the cold call may have become warmer, you still have to deal with relatively unknown prospects, even if they reach out and call in to you.

The Proper Way to Handle a Call‐In Lead

Because these prospects are still somewhat “cold”—meaning you don't have a relationship with them yet—even call‐in leads can be tricky. Because reps often equate the implied interest of a call‐in to being “qualified,” they often skip some important steps. This can happen to all sales reps, and even happened to me recently.

A CEO called me the other day and wanted to know more about the kind of training I offered. Before I gave him my menu of services, I did what I teach and asked him how he found me, what motivated him to reach out to me, what he was looking for, and so on. I listened carefully as he revealed, in a candid way, what was happening with his inside sales team and what he was hoping to accomplish.

After he was done, I went over how I could help him and carefully matched up my customized solutions to each of the points he brought up. After a pause, he told me he would think about it and reach back out to me. Now, this is usually the time ...