Entrepreneur hack: answer every call

We all get random phone calls from unknown numbers to our cell phones. In most cases these are companies calling us to solicit something. Putting your phone number on the national Do Not Call Registry doesn’t seem to work. I say answer every call and have a conversation.

Turn every call around to be pitch practice for your company. Remember that scene in Boiler Room? Ben Afleck was right.

A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close?

Turn it around

Turn every wrong number and sales call into opportunity. It doesn’t matter if they buy from you. It just matters if they listen. If they won’t listen then your pitch needs cleaning up. You should be able to tell your story to anyone?—?cold?—?and they should be interested enough to listen.

Whether you are building the next Yelp, Uber, Starbucks Coffee, or even a simple widget that allows people to put cat faces on Snapchat photos, you need to pitch it well.

The best way to have feedback on your pitch from someone who has no vested interest in you or your company is to leverage strangers who call to pitch you.

Example from last week

The other day a man called me to let me know my credit card company qualified me for a new program. I took this as an opportunity to test my pitch.

The man started by saying “Mr. Bagdonas. Did you know we can offer you a rate decrease on your [BANK] credit card?”

“That is really interesting. May I ask you a question?”

“Yes”

“Have you been to your doctor’s office in the last year?”

“What does this have to do with your credit card sir?”

“It doesn’t but I am finishing up something and could use your thought on it. Have you been to your doctor’s office in the last year?”

“Yes”

“I am certain your time spent calling for an appointment with your doctor, driving to their office, sitting in their waiting room reading a cooking magazine from 1990, and finally waiting for the doctor in the small exam room was frustrating, right?”

“I guess so.”

“I am sure you know a lot of your time is wasted with that process, but did you know how much time and money it costs the doctor? They spend a lot of money to have humans help you through that process. Wouldn’t it be great to pick up your phone and instead of calling, simply book an appointment in an app and when the time comes, video conference with your doctor from your home or the office?”

“But about the credit card rate decrease? Are you interested sir?”

“Yes I am interested to learn more, but I want to run this by you since you called me without scheduling the call and I am finishing up something for work so you can help me complete it and I can focus on our conversation about the credit card rate decrease. Kindly help me for just a moment and we can talk about my credit card. Is that fair?”

“I guess so.”

“So wouldn’t you like to stay at home and have the time back?”

“Yes”

“In order to make something like this work it requires a lot of human time to answer the phone and get things connected up including getting your patient record updated. Too much time and money for it to make sense at your doctor’s office. This is the reason medical apps this need to be connected to your doctor’s appointment booking and medical record systems. The connection allows the app to book your appointment and video conference with your doctor. Unfortunately those types of connections cost tens of thousands of dollars to setup and even more to maintain.”

“OK”

“So many apps are trying to do the same thing with these connections that each one tries to build their own ‘hammer’ to hit that connection ‘nail’ when what they really need is a simple tool that makes it work. Our company offers software and a service to connect these apps to the appointment booking and medical record systems. And we do so at such a low rate it virtually makes zero sense for these companies to build it themselves. Does that make sense?”

“Yes but I really must talk to you about your credit card, my boss is looking at me because I am not talking.”

“No problem. Let’s talk about the credit card, but first let me finish my thought with this: There are over 1,000 companies in the healthcare industry building apps that need this type of connection and they aren’t all appointment booking and video conferencing. They include analytics companies, patient engagement apps, Medicare programs, insurance companies, and so many more. This is why our company is pushing very hard to let these companies know about us and to their investors so they can be more efficient with their money. Do you invest in healthcare startups?”

“No. But sir I need to talk to you about your credit card.”

“I understand. If I send you a brief email about what we are doing, would you send it to two people you think invest in healthcare startups or know someone who does?”

“I cannot accept emails here at my company.”

“No problem. Thanks for listening to me. Did it all make sense”

“Yes sir, so about your credit card sir.”

“May I ask you to tell me what you think my company does so I can close my computer and talk to you about my card?”

“Your company helps app companies book appointments with doctors.”

“Sort of. Sounds like I need to refine it a bit more. I appreciate your feedback. Let’s talk about my credit card.”

“We can lower your rate by 3% if you upgrade your card to our premium card with a low yearly rate.”

“I am sorry but I don’t want to upgrade my card. I haven’t used it in 6 months and I don’t want to pay an annual rate for a new one. Thanks for calling.”

Process the feedback

This man’s feedback was really helpful. It turns out that my pitch was a little too long and I need to shore it up on the ‘what we do’ from ‘what we empower with our clients.’ He was fixated on our client’s problems so much that he missed we offer these connections to a host of other companies.

I am refining my pitch and will wait for the next “unknown caller” to ring me. Practice makes perfect.

You can follow me on Twitter at @richardbagdonas.