The 27 Principles of Cold Calling

Most of us get a job like this because we are either tired of being poor or want to be filthy rich.

Most of us are also terrified — we're afraid to hit the phones and the rejection to come.

And so we let our fears prevent us from achieving our dreams.

—

"It doesn't have to be f****** hard" he said, bluntly.

My old manager started his sales career in the 80's. The only tools he had were a plastic Cisco phone and some sticky notes.

"Pick up the phone and call. Ten calls an hour is 80 a day. Fifteen calls an hour is 120 a day. It shouldn't be hard.

For those of you who do think it's hard ... you must not want a commission check. You must be too comfortable. Remember what life was like before this job. Remember how much harder it was."

He paused, sighed, and told us the truth:

"Either figure out how to make money at this or you'll never win in this field."

He was right — it doesn't have to be hard. The advice we're afraid to take is the most obvious.

And so over the years of calling executive's cell phones, here are the 27 rules I've gathered for how to rock at this.

The 27 Principles of Cold Calling

1/ Be detached from the outcome

2/ Who cares? Who’s next?

3/ Refine your strategy, don’t pivot

4/ Volume * Strategy (how many meetings you can book per 100) = Success

5/ Prospect should talk 2X as much as you

6/ Respond to questions with questions

7/ Silence is good

8/ Work in time sprints, not small bursts

9/ Your list is a weapon

10/ Disqualify early

11/ Messaging should be different than everyone else’s

12/ Conversational tone > corporate tone

13/ Ask hard, uncomfortable questions

14/ The more people on the invite, the more likely the deal will progress

15/ Prioritize mobiles

16/ Don’t talk badly about the competition

17/ Schedule tentative times for prospects afraid to commit

18/ The bigger the company, the bigger your lead must be

19/ Top-down converts higher than bottom-up

20/ Focus on the sales channels you’re best at instead of all of them

21/ Most companies evaluate tech in Q4 and purchase in Q1

22/ Don’t be afraid of making a bad 1st impression — you can always make a better 2nd impression

23/ The more precise your list, the less time you need to spend studying the lead

24/ You have 4 seconds to gain trust

25/ People listen to people they are like, not people they like; so mirror tone immediately

26/ Under-promise, over-deliver

27/ If you think it, say it