I Love to Cold Call!

How should I get organized for cold calling?

The organized prospector never disconnects between calls, never updates a computer between calls, and never talks and writes at the same time.

What is the best way to organize your list for cold calling?

It's a high-tech system called "note cards." Print off your list on labels, slap a label on a 4×6 card, and you are geared for high-speed calling. Make your notes on the card while you are talking. If you have to update things in the computer, do it in non-optimum calling time.

Where can I find a good list?

First let's clarify: A good list is any list that will produce one to two cherries per hour. But to hit that number, all of the other variables have to be right. You have to be calling at the right time of day for that list, you have to sound good, and you have to have a good script. So you might have a good list, but a bad script. It will not then produce one to two cherries per hour. You might throw out the baby with the proverbial bathwater.

So where do you find a good list? It can come from almost anywhere. But there is a rule here. The easier a list is to get, the more advisors have it, and the less likely it is to be any good. The best list will be dug out of nooks and crannies by, guess who — you.

How long does it take to find out if you have a bad list?

Maybe four to six hours. You pick a list, get a script, and make an hour or two of calls. If you're not getting good results, try a different offer in your script. If that doesn't work, try another. By this time, I would conclude: bad list.

What should I look for in a script?

The reason list development is so important is that by pulling people together who are demographically united in some important respects, you are more likely to craft an offer that will appeal to a lot of people.

While I cannot tell you for certain what offer a list will respond to, I can tell you what it most likely will not respond to.

"This is Alice Agar with Reliable Securities. I'm calling to introduce myself and let you know of the services we have available."

Or, there's this tested classic:

"This is Bob Loblaw with Loblaw Wealth Management. We offer a free portfolio evaluation service as our way of introducing ourselves to people in the community."

But don't believe me. Try them. Both of these are what I call service approaches. They don't work now. They didn't work last year, or 20 years before that.

Now get a different idea. Test it. Refine it. If it's a no-go, throw it out, too. And keep at it. Within a few days, you should find an idea that works for you in your market.

The trick here is: How do you know if it's your sound, the list, the numbers, or the script?

Well, we try to eliminate the sound by just knowing that a professional sound is a confident, warm, enthusiastic sound with proper inflection so it conveys authority.

Numbers are easy. If you aren't pounding out the numbers I've outlined, what's the point of discussing anything else?

Now we're down to the list and the script. I have good news for you. The form for the perfect script is done. I named it "The Greatest." You can have a copy of it at the website posted above.

Stick to this script form. Change the wording as you come up with different offers. Pick a product, a manager or a strategy. Offer some information. Then qualify for interest. If interested, qualify for money.

If the offer isn't generating enough prospects per hour, change the offer. Change it several times. Still not working?

Are you making the calls? Do you sound alive and well? Chuck the list, and get another one.

And when you get all the pieces right and it starts to work, you will easily say: I love to cold call!

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Bill Good is chairman of Bill Good Marketing Systems in Draper, Utah; see www.billgood.com.