February 22, 2025 | Read online
Helping elevate the people and profession of Sales by sharing authentic conversations, practical tips, expert advice, relevant tech and real-world lessons from my experience selling every day. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday.
We’ve officially launched the new JB Sales Learning Lab Membership!
Yesterday I delivered my favorite training - Objective Negotiations - during Free Training Fridays to over 300 live attendees which was incredible.
We had a bunch of people sign up to the membership so we’re off and running!
We have a few spots left for the Elite package if you want to join. It includes tickets to an event in NYC where you’ll join me and 5 other influencers at Linkedin’s office in the Empire State Building for a Free Training Friday, Happy Hour sponsored by Linkedin and tickets to the Broadway production of Glenngary Glenn Ross with Bill Burr!
It’s going to be epic! Sign up today! I promise you won’t regret it.
Now, let’s get back to business with some tips, tools and stories.
TACTICAL TIPS: Cold Calling is Dead
SALES RESOURCES:
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
TACTICAL TIPS:
Cold Calling is Dead…
Did you like my click bait headline?
It cracks me that any time someone on Linkedin needs to get their engagement up they say something ridiculous like “cold calling is dead.”
It’s amazing to me that as much as people hate cold calling and think it’s dead, it’s still the topic that gets the most interest and engagement BY FAR.
Nine times out of ten, when someone says “cold calling is dead,” they either don’t make calls or, if they do, they suck at making them.
Cold calling isn’t dead (and I have some data points to prove it in the next section), it’s just changed.
I personally think we need to reset expectations on cold calling and look at it as more of a Marketing function at this point instead of a straight Sales function.
For a normal cold call you have to get through this gauntlet first:
- Have the right direct dial contact information
- Get a live person to pick up the phone
- Get through to talk to anyone other than a gatekeeper
And then you think that you’re going to be able to say something magical in less than 30 seconds that’s going to get someone to stop what they’re doing and jump into a sales cycle with you for a product or service they’ve never heard of before?
If that’s the expectation, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.
BUT, if we look at cold calling and voicemails as more of a Marketing function and an “impression point” as part of an overall contact strategy then we can start to feel better about why we’re making them in the first place.
When I work with clients, we A/B split test test multi-touch cadences to specific personas. Both cadences include the same number of touches and the same messaging but one cadence is only email while the other one includes 3-4 calls.
We usually don’t get a lot of connections or call backs on the cadence that includes calls but inevitably, it produces a 5-10% overall higher conversion rate than the cadence that doesn’t include calls.
That’s why I still believe in making calls.
Maybe the client reads your voicemail on their phone that reminds them to go look at the email you sent which leads them to your Linkedin profile which then makes them go to your website and put in an inbound lead.
So, how can we make them more effective? Here’s your tactical tip(s).
I use the AIDA framework to make my calls.
Yes, it was highlighted in Glenngary Glen Ross (COME TO THE EVENT!! 🙂) but it’s actually the fundamental process in sales. It’s the first thing that put any structure into Sales whatsoever.
In 1898 a guy by the name of St. Elmo Lewis came up with this. He said these are the 4 stages we go through before we buy something. First something needs to get our attention, then we need to be interested in it, then we need to have a desire for it and then we need to move to act.
We can use this to structure our cold calls and break down each section to try different approaches and find out what works.
The key to cold calling is to realize you’re not selling your solution, you’re selling time, you’re selling the next step.
How you introduce yourself in the first 5-10 seconds get their Attention and EARNS you the next 30ish seconds where you can get them Interested with a brief and relevant reason for your call which then EARNS you another 2 minutes where you can ask a few questions and get their Desire up which then leads to your call to Action where you try to schedule a discovery call.
By breaking it down this way we can try to find different techniques and approaches to test at each level.
For instance, my introduction usually sounds something like:
“Thanks for taking my call, can I get 30 seconds to tell you why I’m calling before you hang up on me?”
Notice how I didn’t even say my name or where I was calling from yet?
The client usually says something like:
“Who is this? What do you want?”
And then I move into the Interest section and say something like:
“This is John Barrows with JB Sales and the reason for my call is….”
And then I fill it in with a very short but relevant message that focuses on a priority or challenge that persona typically deals with and how my solution can help.
(if you want to learn how to create Sales-ready Messaging that gives you relevant messages you can say in 10-15 seconds you can join my membership and take the full Filling the Funnel training).
Finally, I end with my call to Action with something like:
“And I was just wondering, what’s the best way to get a few minutes on your calendar to have a more detailed conversation about this?”
Like I said, you can use this structure to test out different approaches at each section.
For instance, there are a bunch of different ways you can introduce yourself on the phone that give you a better chance at keeping someone on the phone for a few minutes than others.
Go into one of the AI platforms and write this prompt to see what it comes up with:
“Act as an expert cold called. Give me 5 different ways I can introduce myself on a cold call that maximizes my chances of getting the personas attention and keeping them engaged without hanging up on me immediately. Write the names of the techniques and then write out how to say each one of them.”
Pick one you like and test it out this week.
Do the same thing with different “reasons for your call.”
Keep testing and trying things out until you find out what works for you.
SALES RESOURCES:
Stanford AI Research Tool
I told you I did some research to see if cold calling was really dead.
Well, I didn’t do the research myself, I found this new AI research tool that Stanford just put out that does research on any topic and produces a full research paper for you with sources and everything that you can then publish if you want.
All I did was write in the prompt “Cold Calling Statistics 2025” and check out this article/report it produced. 🤯
Here are some of the more interesting data points it came across:
- As of 2025, it is estimated that 69% of buyers are open to receiving cold calls
- approximately 63% of sales reps considering it an unenjoyable task
- recent statistics show an improvement in cold call success rates, rising from an average of 2% to approximately 4.82% in 2024
- A survey showed that 57% of C-level executives prefer phone communication, underscoring the importance of direct engagement in high-stakes discussions
So, if you’re looking to do research on a topic, make sure you check out the Stanford AI bot and if you think cold calling is dead, think again.
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
This week I was reminded of the importance and power of your network and creating deep and meaningful connections.
I’ve spent the majority of my career with the “givers gain” mindset that was ingrained in me during my early days in business after joining the Business Networking group BNI.
I try to give without expecting much in return and live my life by one of my 12 Guiding Principles - What Goes Around Comes Around.
This has led to me developing very strong and deep connections with people who have become friends along the way after meeting them in a business setting.
I RARELY ask or need favors but when I do, I know I can rely on these relationships to help me when I need it.
There have been multiple times in my career where I have lost everything and needed to rebuild and these people were there for me.
This week was one of those weeks I needed some help.
I was officially launching my new membership that I had put my heart and soul into and needed to get people to attend Free Training Friday for the launch.
Since I’ve been back on my own and split from the SellBetter team I’ve lost my megaphone to promote webinars and events so it’s all on me now.
We used to drive over 500 people a day to a webinar so without that megaphone I was a bit nervous that I would be able to get to a respectable number.
500 was my goal.
I reached out to about 25 people who I have strong relationships with and asked them all for a favor and to help me promote the event.
Without hesitation, every one of them said “YES!” and asked me what else they could do to help.
With their help I was able to drive over 700 people to sign up and 300 people to show up which was incredible.
I am humbled and appreciative of everyone out there and want to use this as an opportunity to remind everyone to play the long game and try to stop being so transactional with every relationship.
I’m glad I don’t have a ton of “friends” because the ones I do have I know I can count on.
He’s a recommendation for you, identify your top 10 business partners/friends/colleges that you want to have deeper relationships with and call them up to see what you can help them with today without expecting anything in return.
Let's Make it Happen!
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Membership 2.0 is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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