…I told them I was going to work with Church, but I also wanted the week to thing and pray things through.
And so I did. In between everything that needed to be done at Church, that is. It was an anniversary celebration, but it was also our (SEC-Registered) Church’s General Assembly as well, which meant that there wasn’t just going to be the folks we usually see every Sunday… but also representatives of partner ministries from all over.
There was a sort of gauntlet of activities that we needed to go through and/or oversee.. and in between events, well, there I was, praying about my own future. Through the week a lot was established for the entire Church to do in the coming days, weeks, months and years, and proper expectations regarding workloads were set.
However, that didn’t mean that I was going to be leaving the cold-calling work. In fact, on the Saturday of that anniversary week, I went ahead and sent a message to both my childhood friend and my manager; I told them I don’t think I could continue working with commission… I wanted a salaried job.
It took the week after the anniversary to set things up, but I shifted – from cold-calling people and selling water filtration, earning purely off of commission… to cold-calling businesses and selling digital marketing, with a proper salary.
This meant that unlike the commission setup, there was less of that aforementioned uneasy ‘freedom’, and there were more expectations – I’d be strictly calling from 9am to 4pm, and I was eventually expected to make an average of 400 dials in a day. I’d dial out, and if anyone answered, I’d tell them about our company and what we do.
Yeah, I wasn’t the one selling – I was told to pitch it so I could schedule a phone or video call with some of the more adept in the digital marketing business I represented. They’d do the selling.
I was back to cold-calling as early as the same day I started working for them again. It was certainly a different script, but the expectations were the same – The way I understood it, I was to communicate as much as I could within the span of a few seconds. With that in mind I remember trying to experiment based on what I was gathering – For example, if one prospect complained that I was asking for private data without even introducing myself, then I would begin the call by saying who I am and who I worked for, BEFORE qualifying who was on the other line.
If the business I called was more likely to be one-man companies (electricians, plumbers, etc) I would avoid beating around the bush – fairly easy when you only have a couple of seconds of their attention.
After coaching, I’d also change my tone of voice, so, in my manager’s words, I would sound more confident and authoritative, and less like I was aware that I was disturbing them.
Side note: I’ve always joked about how I had a ‘Transactional’ Voice. I usually talk with some bass in my tone, but, say, I roll down my car window to speak to a security guard at a closed community gate, I tend to turn tenor and shrug my shoulders – I don’t know why, I guess it’s to feign vulnerability to get my way. I was coached on a lot of that, and, admittedly, how it sounded gay.
Sure, I was coached – but one thing I was reminded of each and every time was to stick to the script. Stick to the script. Stick to the script.
I see the script was divided into parts – (1) We’d qualify (and this slowly became personally mandatory the more I got complaints from folks who didn’t appreciate me asking without identifying myself), then no matter how that pushed through (either they answer with an opening spiel identifying themselves or just ‘Hello?’) (2) I would immediately say who we are but emphasize what we do, and then (3) I wouldn’t offer them our services, but rather ask them what they were already doing to market or advertise their business.
And I get it – Qualifying is a no-brainer, but opening with what we do is apparently opening strong; the way I see it, it’s the best way for me to come on strong in a matter of a few seconds… and then asking them what they do to market currently is an open-ended question, which gives me more chances of a longer conversation, and therefore more chances of winning.
But now that I’m writing about it, I can’t seem to stick to that script. If I’m thrown off as early as the part where we identify ourselves, I don’t even say part 2 – I go straight for part 3, and I don’t even ask them if they market or how they advertise; No, I flat out ask them if they needed help with marketing or advertising – and, of course, it’s a higher chance they’d say no.
I mean, it was simple enough, right? Stick to the script, no matter what. Around this time my manager also had me listening to Alex Hormozi, from whom I learned that making a sale has its foundations in solid confidence (believing in the product you were selling), and genuine curiosity (or actual concern for who you’re speaking to) – and by saying what we do, we actually do project solid confidence, and by asking the probing questions, we demonstrate genuine curiosity.
Thing is, I noticed that as soon as I said part 2, most folks already start making an exit. Hell, there were even some folks who knew it was a marketing call soon as I identified myself, or even as I was confirming who was on the other line. When they exit, some folks were nice enough to tell me they were “All good” or even “Not interested”; others straight up hung up, or cussed before they did, anyway.
I’m writing all of this right now to actually clarify with myself why it was so hard for me to stick to the script – and I suppose I didn’t value the need to prioritize coming on strong… and it was so much easier just to go for part 3…
Or, at least my version of part 3. See, I didn’t ask an open-ended question. It was easier for me, and I got myself to believe that it was easier on whoever was on the other end of the line to ask a quick question that could be answered with a yes or a no, 90% of the time.
I suppose it was helpful for compliance that I was tasked to report on my BMWs at the end of every shift: That is, links to recordings of what I thought were my Best, Medium, and Worst calls for the day. I would push the script on a couple of calls, and depending on how they turned out, I’d rack up 2-3 calls under each category… right before going back to my own script (of qualifying and immediately offering help in marketing or advertising) for the rest of my dials for the day.
Yeah, I was more interested in hitting my daily quota than I was motivated to book future calls. It was still cold-calling. Now that I have time to reflect on it, the odds were stacked high against my favor. If I think about it now, on average, I have a 25-30% chance that someone on the other line would pick up… and when they do pick up, there’s the chance that (1) I reached the wrong number, and/or (2) the business I was calling was closed or retired… and when I’m actually speaking to someone from the actual company, chances are (1) they aren’t interested and/or (2) they already have a marketing system in place.
It’s not that the script was unproductive… I just think I thought too much, and in the process, said much less.
Speaking of the script, my manager also made it a point to remind me, not only to come on strong, but also following the later parts of the script – that is, the parts that have me pushing, or trying to ask more questions even after the person on the other line said (1) they aren’t interested and/or (2) they already have a marketing system in place.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a deep respect for my manager… but, again, now that I reflect on it, cold-calling is just that difficult. I believe my manager was genuinely concerned about my chances of success – and, I kept telling myself, if I was 10-20 years younger I would’ve actually been more willing to comply – both with the opening salvo, and the quick parries to get the call to last longer.
And it goes without saying that if I was 10-20 years younger, I believe I would’ve actually lasted longer.
(End of Part 2)
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