Smart Calling, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 10Creating Interest with Your Smart Call Opening Statement

Now that I have trashed almost everything that you might have been taught about what to say on a prospecting call, I guess it’s time for me to step up to the plate with what you should do. And I will; you won’t be disappointed.

This one chapter could be worth many times more than your investment in the entire book. We are about to cover the step-by-step process for pulling together everything that we have covered so far—all of your planning and your intelligence gathering—and plugging it into your interest-creating opening statement.

The Jim Furyk Theory

I must preface everything I suggest about openings with what I call the Jim Furyk Theory. Furyk is a PGA golfer, and what makes him unique is that he has a very unconventional swing. I won’t mince words; it’s just plain ugly. However, Furyk has been one of the best golfers in the world; he’s won a major championship and many tournaments and has been PGA Player of the Year. There probably is not a golf teacher alive, though, who would ever teach a golf swing the way Furyk executes it. But what they do teach—and agree upon—is that the club head needs to be square to the ball at impact to realize the optimal result. While what happens before Furyk hits the ball is ugly, he squares the club at impact, and his results prove it.

You might have come across a Furyk or two in your sales career. They are the people who can pull off techniques that most people should ...