The manager calls on the phone. How to start a cold call. Script creation algorithm

If you have chosen the profession of a sales manager, then “cold” calls will become part of your work. What are cold calls? You will learn diagrams, examples and technology for their implementation from this article.

Call assignment

Cold calling has a specific goal - to expand your existing customer base. The strange name is explained by a metaphor - you are calling completely to a stranger who treats you coldly and distrustfully. You do this solely on your own initiative, without prior agreement. If you know the person, you can refer to a recommender or a mutual friend, then this is already a “warm” call.

For a manager, such a call becomes a serious test of strength. Not every person is capable of doing such work. The complexity of the work is primarily due to psychological factor- very high number of failures. Even managers with good experience Regularly receive refusals, and even more so for newcomers.

Books have been written and trainings have been developed on the topic of cold calling.

Basic rules of cold calling

During a cold call, a manager must adhere to three rules:


Following these rules will help you make your calls more effective.

Difficulties faced

In every more or less large company, secretaries answer incoming calls. They have learned to recognize the standard cold calling script even at the moment of greeting, so they will hang up faster than you can say anything about your wonderful company.

The next point is that at the stage of a “cold” call the client does not yet have a desire to work with you, he needs to be called in somehow, and for this you need a conversation. But the client does not want to talk, because there is no topic for communication, you are strangers and he is not going to buy anything, since the budget is planned for the year in advance and is bursting at the seams. According to statistics, 90% of cold calls last less than a minute.

Even if you heard a request to send commercial offer- this also doesn’t mean anything. Offers from unfamiliar companies go to the trash bin.

How to deal with difficulties?

Cold calling techniques have been developed for this purpose. There are many of them and there are no universal ones; you will have to look for what will work best in your case. Let's consider one of the options.

What are cold calls? These are conversations in which the first minute is extremely important, so it is advisable that the person who receives the call does not immediately recognize you as the person making the “cold” call. A clear sign of a “cold call” is a detailed introduction and a detailed story about the company; shorten and simplify the beginning of the dialogue.

Don't assume that anyone is interested in your proposal at this stage. To attract attention, offer something for free.

How to reduce the likelihood of failures?

Develop a question that you can use to immediately, without wasting time on presentations and so on, find out whether this company is your target audience. Let's say if you are a computer company and you are not interested in a company that has only five jobs for service, then ask about it.

The reason for the call should not be related to sales. Otherwise, they will stop talking to you or offer to send you a commercial offer. And if you invite them to a free training seminar, offer a free audit or a month of service, then the chances of the conversation continuing increase significantly.

Don't be afraid of failures, they are inevitable. But this is the only way to gain the necessary experience.

Enter cold calling into the system. One-time promotions will not give anything. Only if you work systematically and purposefully will cold calling bring you new clients.

Cold calling technology

It is more convenient to start any task by preparing in advance. What are cold calls? These are telephone conversations, so you can put cheat sheets, leaflets and diagrams near you, the interlocutor will not see it. Therefore for more efficient work It's better to use a cold calling script. In this case, the speech sounds more convincing, there is less fear, which means more confidence and a better result.

So, a cold calling script based on what we discussed above:

  • "Presentation" block.“Good afternoon, my name is A, company B. Is it convenient for you to talk now?” Or: “Good afternoon, my name is A, company B. Please connect me with department C (or the person who is involved in the area of ​​interest to us).”
  • Block "Acquaintance".“Tell me how I can contact you? It’s very nice to meet you.”
  • "Presentation" block.“We are company B, engaged in such and such services. Actually, why am I calling?”
  • Block "Offer".“We have a promotion, we will serve you for free for a month.”
  • Block “Test for belonging to the target audience”. “The promotion has a limit of no more than 15 jobs.”
  • Block “Working with objections”.
  • Block "Final". Ideally, an appointment would be made.

This cold calling diagram is approximate; the dialogue can unfold in any, most unexpected way.

Why do they hate cold calling so much?

The phenomenon of this phenomenon is that neither side of the process likes such calls. Managers are afraid of them and avoid them in every possible way; clients cannot stand them, hundreds of times a day they listen to the stupid offers that “cold” calls bring. Hundreds of examples can be given.

All this can be corrected if you learn quality telephone conversations, stop blindly using the “cold calling” script or working without it at all, and form a high-quality base for calling.

The great news is that good manager after just a year of work, he stops making “cold” calls, as he accumulates a sufficient number regular customers and useful contacts. Therefore, “cold” calling for the most part is the fate of young professionals, but from a psychological point of view this is the most difficult part of the job!

How to make friends with a secretary?

Quite often in a company, incoming calls are received by a secretary. To prevent this from becoming an obstacle to making cold calls, the conversation outline should include a question that is easy for the secretary to answer and the information will be useful to you. For example, the question of who in the company purchases raw materials.

However, this will not always work; most often you will hear “On what issue?” The idea of ​​making “cold calls” is often frustrated by this question; there are already examples of how to get around this.

Ideas for "bypassing" the secretary

Options:

  • “Ivanov is calling, connect to the manager.”
  • “They’re calling from Ivanov’s reception, connect me to the manager.”
  • “Anya, it’s very nice to meet you. Please advise who is best to talk to in your company on such and such an issue.”
  • “Anya, it’s very nice to meet you. Only you can help me; none of the employees of your company can tell me with whom it’s better to discuss such and such an issue.”
  • “Good afternoon, is this the sales department? No, this is the advertising department. Please switch to sales.”
  • “Good afternoon, Anya! Please tell me what version of software your company uses to keep track of working hours? I need to enter this information into the project.”
  • “Good afternoon, Petrov, company A, please connect with purchasing.”
  • “I need to discuss the details... (meetings, exhibition visits, price analysis, etc.).”

The most important thing in this technique is not to lie, you just need to convey the idea to the secretary that you are a person in whom the manager is interested. After all, what are “cold calls”? This is an opportunity to establish contact with the client, so starting with a lie means failing the business.

What are scripts needed for?

When you make cold calls, you don't always need a conversation plan to follow. This is, rather, a guideline, something to build on.

It is advisable to learn the answers to the most frequently asked questions in order to quickly be able to give an answer. It is important that the script is written by the manager himself, and not by a manager, trainer or super expert in the field of sales. The solution here is simple. If the text is “non-native”, the phrases in it are foreign and uncharacteristic for a particular manager, the dialogue will never become natural. The interlocutor senses falsehood very well. Therefore, even the coolest script needs to be rewritten in your own words. The script is only the basis on which your own creativity will be strung.

Here are some tips for working with scripts:

  • Create as many of them as possible, find them in books and websites, rewrite them during training, and look at your competitors.
  • Test them with friends and colleagues, find out how effective they really are.
  • Choose those that are most comfortable for you personally.
  • In a conversation, do not follow the script, but keep the essence of it in your head.

Transform cold calling from a task that causes nausea and disgust into an activity that is much more enjoyable and effective for any manager. Good luck and great sales!

Concept cold call applies to the first communication between a seller and a potential buyer, which is carried out through a telephone conversation. With such interaction, on the client’s part, in most cases, emotional “coldness” and low interest in cooperation arise, which the sales manager must overcome.

Goals of cold calling

Many managers put the main goal of a call to sell, which is wrong. The likelihood of finding a person willing to buy something from a stranger immediately after a telephone conversation is very small. That’s why sales experts recommend choosing more real goals, leading to further sale. This includes:

  • Set up a meeting with the buyer.
  • Informing potential clients about the appearance of a new company or services on the market. The result of such communication may be the sending of a commercial proposal.
  • Checking the database to assess the relevance and sort clients by level of possible profit and likelihood of cooperation.

How customer bases are formed

Telesales techniques are not applied to randomly selected subscribers. In real practice, a base is being prepared potentially possible clients that meet certain criteria (field of activity, regional connection, need for services or goods). Such databases are formed independently, by tracking existing companies in a given region and field, or ready-made ones are purchased. Purchased databases may turn out to be irrelevant or inactive.

Working with call databases is divided into two stages:

  1. Ringing- assessing the relevance of data, reconciling and updating information;
  2. Calling- direct calls to offer a product or service.

Which companies can use cold calling?

Taking into account the peculiarities of the domestic market, cold calls are not effective for all types of goods and services. In the B2B sector, this method is suitable for:

  • Forwarding services;
  • Companies that trade in construction materials;
  • Wholesale suppliers of consumer goods to retail outlets;
  • Advertising agencies;
  • Sales of retail space and commercial real estate;
  • Suppliers of raw materials for production;
  • Suppliers of stationery and consumables for large organizations.

In the B2C sector, cold calling is effective for the following areas:

  • Real estate agencies;
  • Telecommunications service providers;
  • Financial services (lending, deposit).

How cold calling is done

In order for the conversation to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to plan the sequence of the dialogue, while trying to turn a “cold call” into a “warm” one.

How to Create a Cold Calling Plan

In the professional sphere, the plan for the first telephone dialogue between a seller and a buyer is called a cold calling script. Since the conversation is carried out over the phone, you can pre-compile a list of questions and hypothetical answers (objections) of the client, for which appropriate arguments are selected. This scenario is often presented in a flowchart format, which is in the seller's view as a guide.

Each manager develops his own script based on the main points:

  • Introduction (greeting, introduction). In order not to lose a client already at this stage, you need to minimize mentions that you want to sell something. When introducing yourself, speak on behalf of the company, not the sales manager. Find a third-party reason to call that is not related to selling products or presenting services.
  • Establishing contact, creating a friendly atmosphere and identifying client needs. To make this stage more effective, it is necessary to find out minimal information about the interlocutor in advance. The first thing you need to ask is how to address the interlocutor (if this is not indicated in the database) and how much time he is willing to allocate for the conversation.
  • Provoking interest(presentation of a product or service).
  • Achieving a goal (making an appointment). To obtain consent to conduct a personal meeting, it is necessary to put the client in comfortable conditions, offering several options.

There are two types of sales scripts:

  1. Hard- these are scenarios for selling simple and understandable services and goods that have a limited number of characteristics and, accordingly, answers (objections). It does not require the ability to improvise and is built according to a clear pattern, so it can be used by an unqualified employee or manager with little work experience. Often used to dial the base.
  2. Flexible- used when selling complex products with wide functionality and a large list of evaluation criteria. Such scenarios require great experience manager and the ability to quickly adapt to the situation.

Cold calls: scheme of conversation with decision makers

For a cold call to be effective, you need to analyze and evaluate the company you are calling and determine which of its employees will be your caller based on your existing contact.

This could be a secretary (assistant manager) or a person with the authority to make purchasing decisions (DM). If you are forming a database yourself, you should initially select the appropriate contacts (supply department, company manager, advertising manager, technical director, development manager, regional sales director).

You can spend time and effort on a secretary, but only if the main client is absent (at negotiations, a meeting) and you are sure that the secretary brought to your side will inform the manager about you, preparing him for the second call.

In most cases, the secretary simply does not want to give you the decision-maker’s contact, and therefore it is necessary to provoke him to do so. When bypassing the secretary you cannot:

  • Demonstrate your intentions to sell, introduce yourself as a sales manager.
  • Be rude and aggressive towards your interlocutor, considering him just an obstacle. Very often it is the assistant manager who suggests choosing one company or another.
  • Use obvious lies to obtain decision maker contacts.

You can bypass the secretary by offering him an alternative reason for contacting the decision-maker:

  • Agreeing on the conditions for a test drive of equipment or services. Example: " Good afternoon. I represent the AAA company, your company was selected as one of the applicants to test new equipment. For final approval of participation, we need to ask a few questions of your technical director. How can we contact him?»
  • Direct invitation to a presentation, forum, seminar. Example: " Good afternoon. I represent the BBB company. We are planning to hold a seminar on issues of trade development in the regions. How can I contact your regional sales director to find out what issues he would like to discuss?»

Overcoming the difficulties of communicating with decision makers

The duration of communication with the decision maker should not exceed 5 minutes. As a rule, people holding responsible positions are very busy and, starting from the 3rd minute of conversation, their interest drops and irritation arises.

The script for a conversation with the decision maker, in addition to the main plan, should begin with confirmation of the fact of communication with the person you need. Example: “Tell me, are you responsible in the company for the supply of raw materials for the production of semi-finished products?” This provides two benefits:

  • Are you confident that you are communicating with the decision maker;
  • You got the first "Yes".

Arguments not in your favor can arise at any stage of communication. The most common objections and effective examples of how to handle them:

  • “We already have suppliers”. With this answer, you must agree with the client, find out the name of the competitor, evaluate its merits and offer to discuss options for expanding existing capabilities in a personal meeting.
  • “Your offer is expensive”. This response occurs if the price has been announced, which is not recommended when making a cold call (except for promotional discounts). You can correct the error by offering to set up a meeting to explain wide range services included in the stated price.
  • "We are not interested in your offer". Cold calling scripts in such cases may contain responses in the following format: “ I understand that our offer is difficult to evaluate over the phone. Let me come to you and tell you in more detail. Is Thursday afternoon convenient for you?»
  • “Now is not the right time to talk.”. In this case, it is better to end the conversation with an offer to meet or contact by phone at a more convenient time.
  • "Send us a commercial proposal". This answer seems like a success for many managers, but sometimes it is just an excuse to end the conversation. Therefore, after some time, after sending, it is necessary to make a second call (sometimes from a different phone number). At the same time, it should start with a reminder that you have already communicated and there is an offer to meet. Example: " Good afternoon, Pavel Ivanovich. We communicated with you regarding the supply of raw materials for the production of semi-finished products. Have you found interesting items in our commercial offer? We are ready to provide you special conditions for a test batch. When would be convenient for you to meet and discuss details?»

In most cases, it is enough to handle three objections, ending the last one with a request for a meeting.

Improving overall call efficiency

The effectiveness of cold calling sales techniques is affected by:

  • Number of calls. The maximum duration of a conversation is on average 5-10 minutes. Based on this, the daily norm should be set at 40-50 calls. In practice, there may be more, since many callers will not answer or stop communicating in the first stages.
  • Constant updating and replenishment of the database. For this purpose, information is used from directories, online catalogs of companies, social networks, manual search websites of potential clients.
  • Continuous work with the script. Scenario analysis to identify critical stages (where a higher percentage of conversation dropouts or refusals occur).

In most companies, cold calling is carried out by the sales manager himself. This significantly reduces its operating efficiency. To solve this problem, you can turn to less qualified personnel for help, who will ring the database for relevance and sort interested subscribers.

Perform the following tasks:

  • Call centers- large organizations that will help not only call clients, but also prepare a script. The disadvantages of this method are the high cost of services and the impossibility of personal control.
  • Freelancers- remote employees hired via the Internet. Advantage - low cost services. Disadvantages - high risk of deception.
  • Trainees and lower level managers. The advantage of this option is to provide control over the work and the ability to analyze the script to identify and eliminate errors. Disadvantages - staff training and psychological training are required.

Advantages and disadvantages of cold calling techniques

Despite the negative reviews about this technique, it still brings results.

Advantages:

  • Cold calling technique is the most accessible and effective way create a client base for the sales manager. Over time, you will be able to attract a sufficient number of regular customers and the need to use this method will significantly decrease.
  • When making a preliminary call, in contrast to working “in the fields,” visits for meetings are carried out only to clients with a high potential for cooperation. This saves a lot of time.
  • Using a script as a prompt simplifies communication and gives the manager confidence.
  • A telephone conversation speeds up the communication process and allows you to immediately assess the client’s reaction to the offer.

On the other hand, it is difficult and psychologically difficult work, which only sellers who are passionate about their business and have an active position can cope with.

Disadvantages of cold calling:

  • A potential client becomes annoyed at a manager who is distracting him. This happens regardless of whether the product is needed by the buyer or not.
  • The interlocutor may quickly leave the conversation or refuse.
  • There is no visual component of communication and product presentation. It is impossible to analyze the client’s facial expressions and demonstrate visual images and characteristics.
  • A large number of “idle” calls.

It should be understood that cold telephone sales are not suitable for every manager. If they do not bring results, it is necessary to check the correct application of the technique, reconsider the time of making calls, learn to overcome the fear of rejection and cope with personal negative emotions.

Cold calling is a telephone sales technique that should be included in the customer acquisition complex for both young and large companies. The effectiveness of this method is difficult to evaluate in the short term, but in the long term, it will become the basis for a significant share of your success.

What irritates clients when sales managers cold call? Business.Ru experts tell you how to properly prepare for calling the database, and what it is better not to do.

Cold calling technique: an example of an effective script

Igor Barbolin, President of the Grant Cardona CIS office:

– There are five main mistakes when cold calling. Everyone wants to have six-pack abs, but no one wants to go to the gym. Everyone wants to have their own business, but they don’t want to work for it.

Everyone wants new clients, but no one wants to call. Fact - the one who calls the client first gets 50% of the market.

Untrained “phone masters” make many mistakes, but the most common mistake when making a call is not being prepared, not having a communication script.

This leads to the fact that the seller speaks uncertainly, gets lost, and this, in turn, does not inspire respect or trust. And as a result, it irritates customers the most.

How to prepare properly? You need to prepare a script (there is technology for how to compose it), learn it, and then practice with a partner in role-playing game, until the script becomes “native”.

This needs to be done daily, and this will ultimately lead to the seller’s flexibility and telephone victories.

This is NOT the right way to call:

  1. Hello, my name is Ivan Egorov, I’m calling you from the office of Grant Cardone;
  2. Our company is a leader in sales training. After our trainings, the level of sales in companies increases by 20-50%;
  3. I would like to meet and discuss how our company can help yours;
  4. Can you spare some time for me this week to see what our company can do for yours?

How to call correctly:

  1. Hello, my name is Igor, I’m calling you from Grant Cardona’s office;
  2. Grant asked me to call you and give you a tool he created that helped companies like yours increase their sales by more than 40%;
  3. I'll ask you a couple of questions to make sure we can help your company;
  4. How many salespeople are there in your company?
  5. Which two are the most serious problems problems that your salespeople constantly face?
  6. If we could increase your company's sales by 20%, would you take the time to meet with me?
  7. Who else needs to be at this meeting besides you to learn how to use the tool that I will talk about?
  8. When can you give me 18 minutes to look at our product and how you and your sellers will benefit from using it?

Do you understand the difference? There is a 25% conversion rate to purchase that you may miss by ignoring cold calls. Be the first and don't be afraid to make money!

Cold calls. 22 errors. Video

Cold calling conversation pattern: common mistakes


Svetlana Makarova, director Makarova S.A.:

– As a rule, a telemarketer must be very stress-resistant, organized and clearly answer the question “what do I offer the client?”

If during cold calling you cannot clearly formulate the essence of your offer, then the number of refusals will increase with geometric progression.

And so, a list of the most common mistakes:

  1. The telemarketer is afraid to call. Fear destroys any, even potentially strong, employee. Alas, 95% are afraid. And if in the first few days you come across a client who says: “How tired of you calling me, forget my number...” or answers in a rude manner (and this will definitely happen - the costs of the profession), then the fear will become even greater and such an employee decides not to work with cold calls anymore;
  2. Calls too little. Yes, this happens in 80% of cases. The employee is sure that 5-8 calls are enough. As a rule, the return on such a tiny number of calls is minimal. Accordingly, the result of the work is 0;
  3. There are a lot of calls, and the percentage of conversion to a client is close to zero. This is a brute-force approach; someone will agree to cooperate. Unfortunately, this method will give insignificant results. By increasing the average conversation time with a client and reducing the number of outgoing calls, we achieve an increase in conversion;
  4. The telemarketer cannot formulate the essence of the offer. Almost every client at the beginning of a conversation asks a logical question: “what do you offer me?” At this moment, the employee begins to state something incomprehensible, or a monologue begins. The client wants to hear an answer to his question and this answer should arouse interest in further dialogue. It is important to form several loud, beautiful sentences or slogans, which will become a catalyst;

With their help, you can effectively sell a product or service, or schedule a meeting to subsequently discuss the terms of the transaction. In some cases, scripts are used to make cold calls. What is it? What are the criteria for their effective use?

What are they for?

A little theory. “Cold calling” - how does it differ from “hot calling”? It's very simple. It involves a conversation with a person or company with which the caller has not previously had any contact (remote acquaintance). In turn, a “hot call” is the development of existing contacts in order to maintain contact with a partner or conclude a new deal with him.

Actually, what are the “cold calls” for, the scripts of which we are going to study? What is their practical effectiveness for business? Experts note: the use of “cold calls” is one of the most accessible and effective. This technique is designed, first of all, to save the manager’s time in relation to performance indicators. The use of many other sales channels (such as mailings) does not always give a comparable effect.

Many experts are sure: communication with clients as such, regardless of whether “cold” or “hot” calls, is one of the main criteria for business success. If only because this tool, unlike various types of electronic channels (social networks, e-mail), appeals to the natural human need - to talk with others like oneself.

It's simple

Cold calling is easy to do. At least from a technical point of view, because a regular telephone is available in almost all offices. They are also easy to do from a preparation point of view. Even if a person is not used to communicating on the phone, he has faithful assistant- ready-made script. Or, in other words, a script. With its help, “cold calling” turns into almost routine work, but at the same time incredibly exciting. If we use a successful script, cold calling will help you make great money. But what is the likelihood that the script we use will generate a sale?

Secrets

One of the most common purposes that a cold calling script is designed to solve is setting up a meeting between the caller and the person with whom the conversation is being conducted. That is, probably with a potential client of the company. In some cases, a manager can use sales scripts when making “cold calls” pure form, persuading a client to buy something without a meeting. It all depends on the specific task and the specifics of the product or service being sold.

Therefore, when choosing the optimal script, we need to make sure that it is suitable for us, based on all current criteria. We read the script and decide whether it is optimal for a meeting or whether it is better adapted specifically for sales. After that, we study the structure of the script.

Chef required

In sales practice, the main emphasis is on the interaction between the manager of a company producing goods and providing services and a decision maker on the side of the client company. Often this is a top-level manager, and it is not always possible to reach him directly. Adapted to the task that cold calling performs, scripts are sometimes divided into two subtypes. The first of them is best designed to achieve a conversation with the “boss”. The second, in turn, contains instructions applicable to the conversation with the decision maker. In the first scenario, the sales manager, whose status in relation to the “chief” is initially unknown. Accordingly, the script can contain mechanisms by which the caller finds out information about the official with whom it is desirable to speak.

Thus, based on the specifics of the task, we determine which part of the script to use - the first or immediately the second. Then we begin to carefully study the contents of the script. Let's analyze how effective it will be.

Script effectiveness criteria

We have a script. "Cold calling" is the main tool. How to ensure results? What are the criteria for the effectiveness of a script? Let's agree that the task before us is a conversation with the decision maker. We have reached the "boss" or we have his direct telephone number.

1. The finished cold call script should, first of all, contain a link to a significant request to the company. Experts believe that a good script should not explicitly indicate the purpose of the call, which is a sale or a meeting with a decision maker. It is important that the script contains a phrase that will at least ensure that the manager’s interlocutor is not indifferent to the conversation.

A short example of a cold call script that can interest the person on the other end of the line: “Good afternoon. Our company sells innovative methods for storing large-volume computer information. Could this be of interest to you?” In fact, we sell flash drives wholesale. But if we immediately admitted: “I want to offer you to buy flash drives,” then the interlocutor would probably refuse to continue the conversation, because the information feed is clearly not “catchy.”

2. The script must provide for dialogue, not a monologue. The point is that once the conversation has begun, the interlocutor usually has questions, opinions, and judgments. Including those related to competitors. He may say: “Oh, I don’t need flash drives, I use devices from Alphabeta Electronics, they suit me quite well.” It is completely unacceptable for the script to contain hints like: “What are you saying, “Alphabeta” is the last century!” You need to respect the opinion, and, importantly, the choice of your interlocutor.

Example of a cold call script with the right option: "Great choice! Do you want to see a device with improved characteristics compared to the products of this brand?"

3. Following the script's instructions will definitely lead to results. To one of three. The first is refusal. Moreover, it should not be confused with an objection, which most often sounds like this: “No time, sorry.” The second is a meeting. In order to show flash drives that are head and shoulders above their competitors in terms of characteristics. The third is agreeing to talk later.

These are, of course, just a few basic criteria. Now we will move on to more detailed examples of using ready-made telephone sales scenarios. Each of them uses a technique that can positively influence the interlocutor’s decision. That is, the logic of the script is built with an emphasis on one or another aspect that expresses the advantages of the product or service being sold.

Mutually beneficial cooperation

So, let's look at a possible cold calling script (sample). We call the bakery owner and offer him to buy croissants from our own private bakery. The main thing we will use to motivate our future partner is the prospect of mutually beneficial cooperation.

We call and immediately lay out the essence of the matter: “We offer you mutually beneficial cooperation.” But that's not all. We immediately justify: “The croissants offered, and this has been proven by the example of dozens of our partners, will increase your revenue by 15%.”

The profitability of bakeries is now relatively low - there is a lot of competition. And therefore the owner of the establishment will at least listen to the details. Which, of course, “we will discuss with you in person.” All. Then offline sales techniques come into play. The cold call script, a sample of which we have just looked at, has fulfilled its function.

The sales manager will most likely show graphs that will show: croissants in their own way price segment And consumer qualities fit perfectly into the bakery menu. And therefore, they will be actively purchased along with other types of baked goods for tea, which should ultimately increase sales turnover.

More clients

The next scenario that we can give as an example is motivation based on the prospects of attracting more clients. A cold call script template may contain the following phrases. "We offer a product that will significantly expand your target audience", - we state the essence of the matter to the owner of the bakery. Do not forget to once again refer to the successful experience of numerous partners. Next is a meeting to which an experienced manager is sent. We used a script and worked out the cold call.

Most likely, the manager, when meeting with the owner of the establishment, focuses on the fact that with the appearance of croissants on the bakery’s menu, the client groups will be replenished with people who appreciate high-quality sweets - these are children, people of the older generation. In principle, revenue will likely increase due to the same mechanism.

I know everything about you

And one more most interesting option. It is based on the ability to pleasantly surprise your interlocutor with knowledge of facts about him. However, their reliability may not matter. Why? Let's look at an example.

“Hello. We were told that your bakery specializes in selling fresh croissants made with yeast-free dough. This is a very rare segment. Would you like to exchange experiences?”

The owner of the bakery, who had no idea that his company bakes croissants without yeast, will at least be surprised. But with a high probability he will agree to the meeting, since the interlocutor at it will be a person who seems to own this technology. It will be great to know how delicious croissants are baked! There will almost certainly be a meeting where the sales manager of our bakery will let the baker taste croissants, but will never tell him the recipe. However, a contract for the supply of baked goods will definitely be signed.

Sales examples

Above we looked at the option in which call scripts are used to schedule an appointment. This is the emphasis. Now let’s try to study the situations in which sales scripts are used (if you decide to practice “cold calling”). That is, the purpose of the conversation is not a subsequent meeting, but the conclusion of some contractual agreements over the phone.

Let’s take for example a segment such as the Internet. This service is one of the most popular in Russia. Competition is quite high (although the position of monopolists is strong), and many subscribers often change one provider to another, having heard that somewhere the tariffs for the same speed are cheaper or the communication is of better quality.

The main recommendation here is to immediately focus on competitive advantages offers. If the provider definitely guarantees, for example, that the price will be lower than the market average by 20%, this fact must be immediately announced. If the interlocutor indicates the name of his provider, there is no need to specify that this particular supplier loses in price to our company. It is worth limiting yourself to the diplomatic phrase “your provider works within the framework of average market prices.” The client will be able to make a small logical conclusion himself, while the caller will show respect for the previous choice: if a person has previously found a provider with market average prices, then what’s wrong with that? However, we will offer it cheaper. If this, of course, is our main component, which should never include a “cold call” script intended for use by managers in the communication services segment - advertising. There should be a specific offer - to connect. Or leave your contact information for an application.

Who else can really help out with “cold calls” and scripts? Realtors, of course. True, to a greater extent for one segment - commercial real estate. When it comes to purchasing apartments, people usually call themselves. Similarly, we focus on the competitive advantages of production facilities or offices. These could be a location in the city center, near the metro, near shops, etc. Since it is not, as in the case of providers, about pitting their offer against another brand (as a rule), the seller may well tell the client everything he thinks about the current premises he is renting. And how you should praise yours.

Scripts of good taste

Whatever the goal of the sales manager, it is extremely important to maintain tact and politeness in communicating with the interlocutor. Even if he himself is not inclined to do so, preferring to answer with harsh phrases. In most cases, the interlocutor can be adjusted to the desired emotional mood, which contributes to a more constructive dialogue.

What else could be a sign of good taste in “cold” correctness of formulations. It is more correct to say not “let’s try”, but “we offer you.” Not “you will want”, but “you may have a desire”, etc. Before using the script, you should check it for diplomatic language.

It is important to end the conversation extremely correctly, even if it did not lead to desired result. It is likely that the same person will have to call again with a similar offer, but with a new approach or with a different idea. It would be great if your full name. a sales manager will be associated with politeness and tact.

Therefore, quality scripts should follow the guidelines presented above. The main condition for their use is maximum automation of the communication scenario. The sales manager, in principle, only has to follow the text and read it in the right intonation. The script is mainly intended to make the work of a sales specialist easier. This is not a theoretical guide, but practical tool designed to produce results.