How to Prepare for a Prospecting Call
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If you think this is where I tell you the magic “fill in the blank” pitch to use on every prospecting call, then you should stop reading now.
No, seriously. There is no “magic” pitch that guarantees success, regardless of how loudly those other sales coaches scream it! Unless you are on a specific calling campaign targeting a specific list of pre-qualified leads with a specific message, there isn’t any special phrase you can say that will guarantee success.
In fact, not even my tips in this article will guarantee success!
But, being as prepared as possible before you dial that phone number will significantly increase your chances of having a MEANINGFUL conversation with your prospect. Rather than just giving your pitch as quickly as possible in anticipation of hearing a “CLICK”.
Know Who You Need to Contact
I have mentioned this in other articles, but that’s because it is extremely important when it comes to prospecting. It is true that sales, specifically prospecting, is a numbers game. Mathematically speaking, the more people you call, your chances of hearing a “yes” increases.
But, what if we could significantly decrease the number of phone calls you need to make in order to find the right person? Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a numbers game for sure, but rather than making three or four calls to the same company just trying to find the right person, let’s try to do it in ONE.
Regardless of the organization or the product they make, a lot of companies have similar operational procedures in place. What I mean is, regardless of which product it is, a “Product Manager” at any company basically has the same list of responsibilities. If you are selling something that could be an accessory to another company’s product, you should probably look for said Product Manager!
However, it isn’t always that straight forward, as I’m sure you understand!
So how do we figure out the job title of the person we are supposed to call?
Well, think about your own company, right? Think about who at YOUR company you would have to pitch in order to sell your product. If a salesperson wanted to sell your company some new desktop computer monitors, would they call the President of your company? Most likely not.
Would they need to call and pitch someone in the HR department? It’s possible, but not likely.
Generally speaking, that salesperson would have to call and pitch your IT manager, assuming your company has an internal IT department. So, what would happen if that salesperson did NOT know that? Well, they would most likely call the main number to your company, and get forwarded to a voicemail that is never checked.
Or, maybe they call a few different people while going through your company’s phone directory and ask, “who would I speak with at your company about new desktop computer monitors?”
For the most part, people do not feel comfortable giving out names or contact information to salespeople, so that’s not going to be a winning strategy for them. So, figure out the job title you need to find.
Once you figure out the job title for the person you need to reach, hop on LinkedIn and see if you can find the person’s name (I have some easy techniques for using the FREE version of LinkedIn to do this)! Once you have the name, now you can call their company and ask for a specific person. It’s not a guarantee that they let you through on the first attempt, but I promise you that it’s better than just asking “who do I need to speak with about…”
2. Study the Prospect’s Website
Believe it or not, I have met a lot of salespeople who do not go to their prospect’s website before giving them a call. Aside from figuring out who I need to call, the very first thing I do before even touching my phone is to visit their website.
Their website can actually have a TON of valuable information that can help you with your prospecting. Not all the time, but there are times where a company will actually have a “Contact Us” page with a picture, name, email, and phone number of high ranking folks within the organization! Check that page! It’s not guaranteed, but it does happen.
What else does their website have that can help you?
Well, most importantly, they showcase their products on the website. That is valuable information because now you know what’s important to them. Now you know exactly what they make, you know the brand names of their products, and can even find part numbers! If you don’t sell anything that is supposed to improve their product offering, that may not be as valuable to you. But, either way, you’ll have a better understand of what their company does.
What else can you find on their website?
Most companies will have some sort of “About Us” or “Our Company” page which will most likely feature their Mission Statement. One of the reasons why this is important is because of how the B2B landscape is changing. I have recently found that a lot of companies will either qualify or disqualify a potential vendor based on said potential vendor’s values.
Alignment of company values is increasingly becoming a bigger deal in the B2B world, especially when you are trying to do business with an organization that is much larger than yours. Again, this is based on MY experience, and if you don’t find this to be the case for you, then you can just keep it in the back of your mind and read on.
Regardless of what you see on your prospect’s website, the more you know about their company, the better off you’ll be. I cannot count how many times a prospect has said to me, “not sure if you looked at our website, but…”
This is where you can impress them and say something like, “actually I did, and I really liked how you folks do... “ or something along those lines. You don’t necessarily have to offer up that you checked their website unless they mention it first.
That shows the customer that you did a bit of research before calling them and that you’re not just aimlessly dialing down a list of leads hoping your pitch resonates with a few of them. Trust me on this one, it DOES make a difference, regardless of how trivial it seems.
3. Write Down What You Want to Say - Yes, Write a Script!
This concept is by no means original to me, or a new concept. You’ve probably seen this tip in a million other articles or sales books, and that is because it is important.
When I first started in sales, I would read any and all sales books I could get my hands on. A lot of those books focused heavily on script writing, and I used to think, “ugh, a script? I’m not a robot!”
The fact is, you do not necessarily have to read your script word for word. In fact, you actually should NOT do that. You don’t want to sound like someone who has a script. If a customer hears that in your voice, they instantly want to hang up because they know they’re just a lead on your list that you need to qualify - or not.
In my experience, just the process of physically writing down what I want to say is enough for me to be prepared. Nine out of ten times, I don’t even look at my “script” when the prospect answers. The writing aspect of it just allows me to easily gather my thoughts, and plan out what I want to say when they answer.
If you want to learn more about how to prepare a script for your prospecting calls, you can reach out to me and ask! Or, there are plenty of other folks on LinkedIn who write about this, and you’d learn a lot from them! We aren’t going to go over the process of writing a script in this article.
The point is to be as prepared as possible before placing the call, and a script is a crucial step in your preparation!
4. Check the Clock!
Check the clock, don’t WATCH it. I have read that there are optimal and sub-optimal times of the day to place a cold call. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that theory as a whole, but I do make sure I check what time it is before placing a prospecting call.
Generally speaking, you do not want to place a call to a prospect right before, during, or shortly after their lunch hour. You don’t want to call during lunch because, well, they won’t answer.
If you call them right before or after their lunch break, they may be at their desk, but they will most likely not answer an external call as they are either getting ready for, or winding down from their lunch break.
In addition to their lunch hour, my experience has proved the chances of a prospect answering your call first thing in the morning is extremely slim. Just think about it for a second. When you first settle at your desk in the morning, you are most likely going to check your inbox to see all the emails that came in over night.
Chances are, your prospect is doing exactly the same thing! If they see an external call coming in at eight in the morning, they probably won’t answer it because they are trying to prepare for the long day ahead.
Another reason why first thing in the morning isn’t the best idea is because your prospect could be in meetings every morning. Your organization may be different, but upper management at the company I work for has meetings every single morning. I would be surprised to learn that we are unique in that way, so don’t try calling first thing in the morning.
Lastly, you need to watch out for time zones! This is something that I used to struggle with when I first started out in sales. I was so nervous about placing the calls in the first place that I didn’t do proper pre-call research!
One time, it was 8:30 am on the East Coast, and the first person on my list was someone in Los Angeles. So guess what? Yeah, I called the prospect at 5:30 am their time, and they actually answered!
Why did they answer? Well, because I called their cell phone and it woke them up before the sun came up. Needless to say, that prospecting call was NOT successful, and I felt absolutely horrible for doing that.
Learn from my mistakes. Before you place the call, CHECK THE CLOCK!
5. Read My “How to Make Cold Calling Fun!” Article!
No, I’m not simply trying to “plug” my own content within this article. A lot of what we went over in this article is what you should do BEFORE you place the call, but the real challenge you’ll face is what you should be doing during, and after, your prospecting call.
Following up will be a much simpler, and less daunting, process if you follow the steps in my "How to Improve Your Follow Up Skills" article (found on LinkedIn).
Of course, a lot of these tips are vague and generic. That is simply because I’m sharing the basic underlying concepts. However, researching your prospect’s website looks very different depending on what you’re trying to sell them, and the industry you are in - just as an example.
By reading through both of my articles, you will be much better prepared to not only get on the phone, but to do it with confidence!
CONCLUSION
Would you believe that 42% of sales reps feel as though they are not prepared for their prospecting calls?
Well, according to “SPOTIO”, that’s the number of salespeople who either don’t know how to do pre-call research, or were never taught the importance of it.
Sales is a numbers game, yes. But sales is also a performance game. Think about shooting a basketball. If you were to aimlessly shoot 100 basketballs in the direction of the hoop, you are bound to get a few in. If you throw 1,000 basketballs, that number will obviously increase.
But, if you practice and prepare for each shot, you wouldn’t have to shoot 1,000 baskets to get your desired results.
There are certainly more things you can do to prepare for your next prospecting call, and I’d love to help you come up with some specific plans. This article does not cover every possible thing you should be doing, but it will at least get you on the right track.
Send me a message on LinkedIn if you’d like to come up with a pre-call plan for your next prospecting call!
