One of the fundamental elements missing from most cold calls that get inflicted on me, is a valid reason for the outreach to begin with. I call this the VBR (Valid Business Reason)., and it’s missing totally, or totally missing the mark most of the time.
The key here is to acknowledge all three of the letters in VBR. Yes, obviously, you have a reason for making a prospecting outreach. You are looking to find customers, to make a sale, but that is YOUR reason, not the prospect’s reason, and that’s what makes the miss happen.
Let’s start out of sequence with the B. B is for business. BUSINESS! You shouldn’t be reaching out to prospects under the false pretense of wanting to be friends, or because you both went to the same College, or because you both know such and such in common, or even because you just want to “expand your network”. The stated reason for the call needs to be business based. I’m repeatedly shocked by my female colleagues who share the amount and level of creepiness of some of the outreach they get on Linkedin. Really guys? On Linkedin? Women have been in the workplace for a good long while now, and the fact that they still have to deal with this nonsense makes me embarrassed of men’s behavior. Leave Tinder stuff on Tinder. But keep in mind that even if it’s not creepy, it’s weird and out of place to make cold calls based on a social agenda.
OK, now let’s talk about Valid and what that means. Valid should be from the perspective of being valid TO THEM, not valid to you.
– Needing to make your monthly sales goal is not a valid reason to reach out to a prospect.
– Making your daily activity number is not a valid reason to reach out to a prospect.
– “wanting to” or “would love to” telling someone about your product’s new features is not a valid reason to reach out to a prospect.
– The special deal or pricing currently offered because it’s EOY or EOQ is not a valid reason to reach out to a prospect.
– NOTHING that represents your or your company’s priorities is a valid reason to reach out to a prospect.
The proper focus of ANY prospecting outreach is to validate or invalidate the existence of pains or problems that you might be able to help with. Your language, your pitch, your focus all need to be on your prospect’s agenda.
The obvious reality here is that all humans are narcissistic to varying degrees. They don’t want to be your friend (or at least not yet, and they don’t want to hear about your priorities. You are interrupting their workflow and their day, and if you want them to tune in, you better be talking about something on their agenda, not yours.
The VBR is the most powerful element of an outreach. Make cold calls without it at your peril.