If you listen to the pod, you know I only give advice that I’ve personally used to get results.
You might’ve heard me talk about the importance of “street cred” as a sales leader.
Well in this week’s 30MPC video, I decided to make live cold calls to prove that this old dog’s still got it!!
This is the 4 step cold calling process that I used.
I used it to book 12-14 meetings every Friday when I was a field rep (those were the days!).
You might call it the family secret because this is how I teach my kids to cold call. It helped my daughter become the #1 SDR at Outreach, after I’d left.
It’s called the Green Turkey Method:
- The Opener
- A Provocative Question
- Green Turkey
- 3 Strikes and You’re Out
Lezzgo!
(1) The Opener: Be you. Be human.
Most reps lose the prospect in the first 7 seconds. Your intro needs to be natural to you and “normal,” not cold call over-engineered.
It’s better to say an “imperfect” opener that feels natural for you instead of a “perfect” canned opener.
I literally say:
"Hey Andrew, this is Mark over at [Company]. How’s it going today?"
You are probably thinking that it’s too simple and you’re not supposed to say “how’s it going” haha 😂
That’s the whole thing.
That’s exactly what I’d say if I was calling a friend (minus the company part).
It’s me. I care how they are doing.
I’ll respond to what they say. I am being a human, and humans want to buy from humans.
Most people answer something like “Not bad…who is this again?”.
The purpose of the opener is to start a convo. Mission accomplished. They are asking me a question now. That’s the start of a two-way conversation.
I’ve never subscribed to tricks and gimmicks based on pattern interrupts. Turns out just being real is the best pattern interrupt there is!
(2) A Provocative Question: Legitimacy Earns Engagement
Once you have the floor, you do 2 things:
- Provide context
- Create legitimacy
Context is where you help them understand what the conversation is going to center around. Legitimacy happens when you show them you understand their world like an expert.
This is what I say to establish context:
“I’m Mark. I’m calling about Docebo. We help companies assess the skills of their employees, find gaps, and provide tailored learning to make them more productive without the hassle of creating dozens of decks.”
It’s simple, uses plain language, and helps the buyer understand what we do so they can orient around the conversation.
This should be memorized and concise. You’ll say it thousands of times. Find what works fast and stick with it.
From there you want to ask a provocative question to evoke an emotion and create legitimacy:
“Have you ever looked at people on Zoom and noticed they are doing email and Slack and aren’t paying attention to live training?”
This is an emotional question. It’s meant to evoke a memoir about the pain I solve that is specific.
I recently used this provocative question in the live cold calling video to sell our our Sales Management OS Course to sales leaders. It got a chuckle almost every time.
That chuckle 1) meant they knew that I knew how things really are (legitimacy) and 2) keeps the conversation going.
Don't hard pitch product. Use a Context and a Provocative Question to get to the meat of the call. Where it’s time to really dig in!
(3) Green Turkey 🟢🦃
Green Turkey is like being Harry Mack, an awesome freestyle rapper who acts for random words on the streets of NYC and turns them into awesomeness.
It is an attitude. A confidence that you can take any objection (even a crazy one like "I eat green turkey") and turn it into a reason to meet.
Instead of treating objections as resistance, treat them as the reason for your call.
You can say something as simple as “that’s actually why I called” like in this talk track:
Prospect: "We're pinching pennies right now, margins are tough. We aren’t buying new tech."
You [Agree]: "Ya. Most CLOs are working hard and pinching pennies to get more efficient. It’s tough.
You: [Reframe]: That’s actually why I called.
You [Explain the Future State]: Seems like if we could help your margins while taking admin off your plate while upskilling internal employees for some of those open roles. It’s always less expensive to promote than hire externally.
You [Ask]: Does Monday at 5pm work to see how we do that?"
You do this 3 times. If you can book a meeting, this will get you there.
You need to be on your toes, ready to freestyle a couple of dope bars after you’re given a challenging word or topic to rap about. It takes practice, but there are 12-15 common scenarios you’ll get.
Master those and you can convert 15-20% of your calls to meetings using this and the next step.
(4) 3 Strikes and You’re Out - Pipeline of Pipeline
Don't be the rep who won't let go. You have a "3 Strike" limit.
If you handle their objections with Green Turkey, and they still say no, be a polite human…
And leave the call with an invite to come back in 30 days.
Here’s the "3 Strikes" script:
Sounds like now isn't the right time (or whatever the objection is).
I’ll stay in touch via email, and mind if I send you a 5 minute invite for 30 days from now to give you a quick ring and see if anything’s changed?
Around 50% of folks give you this small win and 50% of those typically answer the phone. Book 16 of these month, and you are walking into next month with a calendar full of warm follow-ups and probably 4 meetings already booked.
This is building YOUR pipeline to build pipeline. Pipeline of pipeline.
What do you need to do now?
Ok y’all if you wanna put this into place:
- Find your opener.
- Get your context statement down to 2 powerful sentences.
- Prepare a provocative question that shows off your expertise and creates emotion
- Write down all the common objections you get and the Green Turkey response.
- Practice with a friend, including 3 strikes.
- Get on the phone!
Check out this video of me doing live calling to see what it looks like in action.
(And reply here if you think this old dog still got it 🐶)
.avif)
