Episode 167 of The Business Development Podcast dives deep into the art and science of cold calling, offering listeners ten game-changing principles to elevate their approach and effectiveness. Host Kelly Kennedy begins by addressing the common fears associated with cold calls, emphasizing that while they can be daunting, the process doesn’t have to be overly complex. From leveraging warm introductions via LinkedIn to ensuring a thorough understanding of your business, product, and target audience, Kelly lays out a clear path for success. He stresses the importance of believing in both your product and yourself, keeping conversations short and focused on securing meetings rather than making sales over the phone, and highlights the power of persistence—explaining how multiple follow-ups often lead to breakthroughs.
Throughout the episode, Kelly provides practical advice for building confidence and refining one’s cold call technique, including tips on crafting engaging voicemails, maintaining a positive attitude, and always asking for what you want. He reminds listeners that the goal of a cold call is not to close a deal but to spark enough interest to secure a face-to-face meeting, where true rapport and trust can be built. With a focus on actionable strategies and motivating insights, this episode equips business professionals with the tools they need to transform their cold calling efforts and achieve greater success in their business development endeavors.
Key Takeaways:
1. Warm up your prospects with a LinkedIn introduction or email to increase the chances of success when cold calling.
2. Know your product inside and out, understand its unique value, and identify exactly who benefits most from it.
3. Approach every call with confidence and belief in your product; your conviction will influence how others perceive it.
4. Prioritize securing a meeting over making a sale on the call; relationships are built face-to-face, not over the phone.
5. Keep your message concise: introduce yourself, state your purpose, and ask for a meeting—don’t over-explain.
6. Persistence pays off; it may take several follow-ups to get a response, so stay committed and consistent.
7. Voicemails matter—leave friendly, compelling messages that encourage a callback without sounding desperate.
8. Silence can be your ally; ask thoughtful questions and give space for prospects to think and respond.
9. Take progress in any form; even a small step, like securing an email follow-up, moves you closer to a sale.
10. Repetition is the path to mastery; making cold calls regularly hones your skills and builds the confidence needed to excel.
10 Game-Changing Cold Call Principles to Boost Your Success
Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 167 of the business development podcast. And do you struggle with cold calls? Great. So do all of us, but today we're chatting 10 principles to make your cold calls more effective than ever stick with us. This episode could be a game changer for you.
Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences. And you'll hear interviews with business owners. CEOs and business development reps, you'll get actionable advice on how to grow business.
Brought to you by capital business development, capitalbd.ca. Let's do it. Welcome to the business development podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 167 of the business development podcast. And today I wanted to chat with you guys all about grafting cold calls, principles for cold call success.
But before we get into that, I wanted to start with a show update. 213, 000 downloads, 2631 followers on Apple podcasts and Spotify. We are still taking community questions for September guys. So I've had people ask, Hey, are we still thinking about guys? We're always taking questions. So feel free to shoot any questions you have to the show, either to me directly over LinkedIn via message, or you can email podcast at capital BD dot CA guys, just put in the subject line, community questions, and we will.
Make sure that it gets addressed for you on an upcoming community questions episode. And just a reminder for all of you, we do keep your names confidential. First name only, unless you give me permission or say, Kelly, it's okay if you use my name, we'll use full names, but I know respecting privacy, respecting your guys's executive positions.
If you have a question you want it answered anonymously, we will 100 percent do that for you. And I will just notify you on the back end that we answered your question on this month's Community Questions episode, so. For those of you who are still looking to leave community questions, always available guys.
I love it. It's one of my favorite segments. So podcast at CapitalBD. ca or shoot me a DM over LinkedIn and we will get that address for you. Also, we still have spaces available at the moment for one on one coaching for our business development mastery program. So if you are interested in one to one business development coaching with me, Kelly Kennedy, I'll see you there.
Where we will help you set up your business development process for success. We'll encourage you, we'll motivate you, and we will make sure that you guys start to get success from your business development efforts. I would love, love, love to work with you. Feel free to to book a discovery call with me either via my amplify your impact button on my LinkedIn, or just heading to capital bd.
And guys, as always, I want your feedback on the show. I love hearing from the listeners of the business development podcast. My rock stars out there, guys, if this show has affected you in any way, I would love to hear from you. If it's helped you get that job, if it's helped you close that deal, it's helped you turn your business around.
I want to hear about it. So shoot it on over to me. Shoot me your story, podcast@capitalbd.ca shoot me a message on LinkedIn, love to connect, love to talk. Feel free to reach out to me at any time, guys. And I would love to hear from the listeners of the BDP. OK, well, let's just get into it.
Crafting cold calls can feel like a daunting task. Over the years, I've had to face my fears and craft cold calls. Hundreds, if not thousands. thousands of times. The great news is this process does not have to be complicated and soon you too will be crafting expert cold calls like a pro. Believe me guys, cold calls.
They're not this terrible, scary thing. We make them understand that we blow these things up so big in our heads, so big. That we don't even do them. That's how bad and scary we make cold calls. And guys, nobody is going to be able to tell you how to craft the best, most amazing foolproof cold call program.
Nobody's going to be able to do that. So first off, understand what we are talking about today is about principles and guidelines to help you craft an effective cold call for you, your business, your customers, your prospects. No one size fits all in the cold call world. Understand that. So nobody out there is going to be able to say, if you do this, you're going to have success all the time.
Anybody who says that is totally full of shit. So don't even listen to them. Okay. What I'm going to teach you today is principles to follow things to consider and motivation so that you actually make the calls. Cause guys, the most important thing about making prospecting calls Is simply that you make them.
Nobody is perfect at them. Nobody kills it a hundred percent of the time. Even the best closers, even the best cold callers. They make mistakes. They stumble. It happens. It happens to the best of us. So understand, before we get into today, there is a little caveat, and that caveat is, it's your game. It's your cold calls.
And so, no matter what, it's going to have to be you who perfects them. It's gonna have to be you who gets comfortable with them. And when you get comfortable with them, that's when the magic happens. So before we get into that today, you got this. Nobody could give you a perfect script. It's up to you. But guess what?
It's easier than you think. And that is what we are going to talk about today. Number one, why go in cold when you can go in warm? If you guys have been listening to this show for any length of time, you guys know part of my business development process always includes my LinkedIn digital introductions or My warm contact stage guys.
Why do I do this? Because going in cold, completely cold, it sucks. We know that. Everybody knows this, right? It's better that somebody knows a little something about you before you go in and make that cold call. And so my step one in my active marketing process is always to start with a LinkedIn digital introduction.
And what is the point of this? It's a brief introduction of yourself, specifically you, personal, and then we attach a brochure with our business information. Why? Because what we want our brochure to do is to give them just a quick insight into who we are and why our company might be beneficial for them.
And guys, if you guys attach a brochure to your LinkedIn digital introduction messages, once you've connected with somebody on LinkedIn, There's like an incredibly high chance, incredibly high that they are going to open it and at bare minimum, look at the first two pages of your brochure and boom, what do you get from that warm contact?
They now have heard about you, they know who you are, they know what your company is, and they know a little tiny bit, even if it's just an itty bitty bit about why you will be calling them. And now you have a warm contact and your odds of success in converting that call into a meeting go way up. Okay? So, when possible, we always start with a digital introduction over LinkedIn.
over Instagram, over email, whatever you got, whatever you got, start with that digital introduction, give them something, give them some way of learning about you ahead. This actually also works for large scale, passive marketing strategies that create brand awareness. The problem with this is, is you don't know who's seen them.
So unless you are 100 percent confident that your prospect has seen your ad, It still makes sense to go through and make this direct contact stage over LinkedIn ahead of your cold prospecting, guys. It will make you more effective. We always start with a digital introduction on LinkedIn or a physical brochure drop, something that you control where you can say, okay, they're going to associate my name.
With my business and they're going to know an itty bitty bit about my business. It is going to give you that leg up the other way, guys, that you can maybe skirt this a little bit is if somebody made a referral for you. So if you had a past client who said, Hey, I'd love you to meet John Smith over at ABC company and they send you an email introduction or they give you a business card or you have some way of getting a warm referral that can also do the same thing as the digital introduction or the warm introduction for you guys.
So it will set you up for success. Long term highly, highly, highly recommend that you go in warm. Number two, we have to know our business, our product, and our service, guys. If we don't understand what it is we're selling, what it is our value proposition is, and who our customer is, It doesn't matter how many cold calls you make because you're probably talking to the wrong person.
And if you're talking to the wrong person, you're not going to get anywhere. Okay? So we have to understand first, who is our ideal customer? What is the company they work at? What industry are they a part of? What position within the company is the buying decision for my product and service? Is it one position, two positions, three positions?
A lot of companies have multiple positions that can make that call. You need to identify who they are and why they would want your service or be interested in your service before you make that contact, guys, because it just sets you up for success. If you're actually speaking with the right person, I think we already know that fairly intrinsically.
But I do just want to kind of pound that home before we get started here. We have to understand the need that our product and service serves. Okay. We have to understand what is the product fit? Why would this person be interested in my product and service? Even if there's competition out there, we have to understand what.
Problem we solve. Okay. What is our value proposition to the customer? And this is stuff that we need to work out ahead of these calls, guys. We have to really know what problem we solve. Will they buy it? Is it something they currently buy? Is it going to replace a service they currently have? Why would they switch to us?
We have to contemplate these things ahead of the cold calls guys, because you will be asked these questions. You will be put on the spot at times. It makes sense to really understand the buying decision that your customer has to make. You got to put yourselves in their shoes and ask yourself, why would they buy this product from me?
What is the reason? What problem do we solve that they have that we do it better? Okay. So try to get this stuff kind of figured out ahead. It's going to set you up for success. Even the best call. Will not work if you have the wrong person, guys. So taking the time up front, understanding the customer, understanding who's doing the buying, tracking this down, connecting with them, making these connections ahead is going to save you leaps and bounds, if not everything, when it comes down to the marketing of your product.
Because one of the biggest problems that people have when they're selling things is they do not understand who the buyer is. And they're not speaking to the right person. Guys, the right person makes all the difference. Okay. Number three, we must believe in our product and services. Guys. I've done entire shows on this belief in yourself, belief in your product and service, because if you do not believe in your product and service, You probably shouldn't be selling it.
If you don't think that it benefits your customer, that it's good for the world, that you can get behind it, that you're proud of what you sell, you're probably not the right person to be selling that product. Okay. There's nothing wrong with you. It just means that ultimately, if you can't get behind it, it's going to be really, really hard for you to convince someone that they need it.
Like it's just one of those things. People can read people. People can read how genuine you are. And so when you really believe in your product and service, it gives you confidence and confidence is key. It's king. It is everything when it comes down to marketing, guys. Confidence shines through a phone. It really does.
It doesn't just shine through a phone. It reverberates through a phone, just like a smile, just like anything. If you communicate with confidence that you have a product and service that is going to meet their need and they would love to learn a little bit more about it, Do you mind if we set up an introduction?
If you say it like that, if you say that really confident, people are just going to say, yeah, this sounds great. This guy's obviously really behind what he has. He thinks he has something that's valuable to us. I'll hear him out. Trust me with this guys. Confidence shines through a phone. And we definitely want to make sure that when we are communicating about our products and services, that we are doing it with confidence.
And that we truly believe and get behind our product 110%. Okay. Remember why you do this guys. Remember why you're doing this. You are solving a problem that the customer has. You are making their world better. You are making their world easier. You are giving them what they need to do the thing that they want to do.
Okay, that is why you do what you do. You don't do it to sell a product. You do it to solve a problem for your customers. Okay, understand the goal up front. If we understand what it is we want from the interaction, it makes us a lot. more likely to secure that outcome. Okay. We have to understand the end goal before we start making the calls.
All right. You always close in person, guys, you know this, you know, this trust is built in person. Rapport is built in person. Relationships are built in person. The odds of you closing a big deal on your first phone call, even your fifth phone call are pretty slim to none. You typically need to make that face to face interaction.
Build the trust, build the rapport, answer the questions, answer the objections, right? We have to have an opportunity to have that communication. That is not a communication you need to have over a phone unless you maybe already had an interaction and built that trust in person. And so what we are trying to do with every single cold call, with every single interaction with our customers, is to get them to that face to face meeting where we can build a relationship, build rapport, build trust, answer objections, answer questions, and build confidence in both us and our product and service to take that customer to a point where they are willing to put their money on it. Okay, we have to do this in person.
And so your goal Once we get into the business development process where we are trying to make digital introductions, cold calls, emails, it is to get them to an opportunity to have a face to face interaction that leads to an RFP, RFQ, vendor list application, and a future opportunity and a future customer.
Okay guys, you're going to do this in person. Don't get lost. Don't try to sell them on the phone. Stop doing this. Get them to a face to face interaction. And by face to face, I get it. We're post COVID. This can mean a teams meeting. Okay. This can mean a Google meets. This can mean a coffee. This can mean a lunch.
This can mean a supper. This can mean an outing, whatever you want it to mean. You need to be able to get to a face to face interaction with your customer to build rapport, build trust that leads to an opportunity for repeat business over time for you. Okay? And so never lose sight of the goal, guys. Never lose sight.
The whole goal of this cold call program, this cold outreach program for you is to get to a buying opportunity with your customer. Buying opportunities happen when trust is established, rapport is built and objections are answered. Okay guys, that is going to happen best for you in person. So that is what we are trying to do.
We want to take things to a next step. Every single interaction we have with them, we're trying to obviously get them to that meeting, but every little inch that we can take to get us there is okay. All right. So we either want to get to, let's say it's your first interaction. They've never heard about you.
You want to get a formal email in, right? Maybe you want to get a meeting request. Maybe you want to ask to get on the vendor list, which will give you another in for a call after that is completed. Try to get a little bit from every single interaction. Don't necessarily go into it thinking, I have to get a meeting if it's not reasonable at this time.
Getting an email is okay. Getting a vendor list application is okay. Something that can lead you to a repeat interaction to then again ask for that in person meeting is completely okay and it is a win. So remember, as long as we are making progress towards the desired outcome, which is a face to face meeting interaction that will lead to business for you, You are doing the right things.
Okay. Just keep at it and remember the end goal. You can always follow up later to lock down that face to face meeting, right? If it's not going to happen, go for the next best thing, which might be a formal email, which might be a vendor list application. Okay. Number five, you must believe in yourself guys, man.
This is big. I struggled with this, this particular item held me back in my business development career for years, guys, for years, because there were customers that I believe I could not get. Well, and of course, if I tell myself I cannot do it, guess what? I can't do it. If you tell yourself you can't, or you tell yourself you can, you're right.
And understand this principle. Okay, guys. It is completely true. What you say to yourself is true. Okay. And so if you tell yourself this customer is out of reach, I'm never going to be able to do it. You're right. You're right. You're probably won't, but if you can change that self talk, if you can say, you know what might be a challenge, but I can do this and I not only can I do this, I'm going to do this.
I will do this. You will be surprised at the meetings you are able to close. Okay, simply changing your view about what you can and cannot do what you are capable of will change the size of the clients. You were able to book the outcomes for your business, the outcomes for your employer. Trust me on this, guys.
Believe you can, because there is nobody, there is nobody out of reach. You can book a meeting with anybody you like, given enough time. Understand this. This is true. You deserve to be successful, okay? How many of you out there have an underlying belief that You don't deserve it. You don't deserve to be wealthy.
You don't deserve to be happy. You don't deserve to be the best at what you do. It's bullshit. It's bullshit. You deserve all of that. Not only do you deserve all of that, you can achieve all of that. If you simply change your mindset to, I can do this, I will do this. I'm not going to settle for less. I'm not going to give up instead.
I'm going to make that extra call instead of doing two follow ups. I'm going to do 10 follow ups and I'm going to book that meeting guys. One of the surprising things that I learned when I went out on my own and started my own business development firm is that it took us on average 11 reach outs to book a customer.
And that was with a small to medium sized company with a large size company. It could take as high as 32 reach outs. It could take you as long as a year to book that meeting with weekly follow up guys. It really can. It really can. And so understand this. Understand this. If you're giving up after the second call, you're giving up too soon.
You're giving up way, way, way too soon. Stick with it. Dedicate at least 10 weeks follow up to every client that you start in on. And I think you are going to find that you start to close more meetings than you ever, ever have before. Okay. It really is that simple. Understand that you and your product are immensely valuable to the right person.
Okay. Understand that you and the products and service that you sell are incredibly valuable to the right person. If you're getting no, after no, after no, after no, after no, There's a high chance you're actually just talking to the wrong person who doesn't understand the value proposition of your product and service.
Or you are struggling with communicating it and maybe you need to sit back and take another look and say, am I communicating the value proposition of my product and service well enough? But guys, if you come back and you say, you know what, I think, I think I'm doing a pretty good job at this. There's a solid chance the people that you're calling do not understand the value proposition of your product and service, which means they are possibly not even the right buyers, guys.
So if you guys are running into no after no, after no, after no, after no, ask yourself, is there anybody else? Is there any other position I should be trying? And I think you'll find that once you find that right position. Your pitch will start working. You just have to be speaking to the right person, which is why I emphasize finding the right person ahead of time.
If you do not find the right person ahead of time, you're going to waste immense, immense amounts of time trying to sell your product to someone who does not understand the value of it and does not understand why they need it. Okay, take the time, take the time and find the right person ahead. Understand that nearly everybody struggles with cold call fear, guys, everybody, including me, including Mr.
Business Development right here. Guys, I have struggled with a fear of cold calls since I started making cold calls. And no, It never really does go completely away. What I do is I recognize that I just need to do it. And so when I just put my nose to the grindstone and start making these calls, my pitch gets better refined.
I start to get more comfortable with it. I get more comfortable with the conversations. I get more comfortable with leaving the 80 percent of voicemails that you are going to leave because that is, that is the amount of time. Your calls go to voicemails. Okay. Trust me on this guys. It's, it's everybody's struggling.
Everybody is struggling with cold calls. Even the best cold caller you've ever heard. He has off days. She has off days. It's not rainbows and butterflies all the time. Okay. Understand that I still have mush mouth. You guys know that you guys listen to me on this show all the time. I have, I have mush mouth.
In cold calls, a lot of the time where I have to be like, okay, sorry. I don't know what was going on there. Let me repeat what I said. Like it happens. We make mistakes. We say the wrong things. We go mush mouth. It happens to all of us. So stop thinking I'm not going to make my calls because I'm going to mess it up.
Everybody messes it up sometimes. The funny thing is though, you don't mess it up a lot. Once you get into a cold call cadence, it's almost like autopilot. You know what you're gonna say, you've kind of practiced whatever it is your, your brief introduction is, and you can really just pound them out, one after another, one after another, one after another, leave a voicemail, leave a voicemail, leave a voicemail, talk to someone for two minutes, leave a voicemail, right?
Like it's really that easy, guys. It really is. Cold calls are not hard. The hard part about cold calls is making the first one. The hard part about cold calls is getting over your fear of making cold calls. Once you guys start making these cold calls, you're gonna kill it. You're absolutely going to kill it.
Nearly everybody struggles with cold call fear. You are not unique here. You are not unique, just like everybody's afraid of public speaking. Not unique. Trust me on this, guys. It is not that scary. Once you just put your nose to the grindstone, pick up your phone and start making calls, you're gonna start booking meetings.
Mark my words. Because guess what? For every time that you think you screw it up, You're going to make 5 to 10 to 20 calls that you didn't screw up anything and they went perfectly. Okay, so the scariest thing about cold calls is if you don't make them at all. That is the worst outcome that can happen to you.
Not when you mess up one or two over 30 to 50 calls. Believe me. You are normal and your fear is normal. That is what I'm trying to really convey here. Guys. You are completely normal. Anxiety is normal. Struggled with it for a long time. Myself performance, anxiety, stage fright, you name it, struggled with it.
I still kill it on cold calls. You know why? Cuz I make them. Cuz I make them. That's it. That's it. There's nothing special about me and me picking up the phone and making cold calls. Guys, that's the thing I want you to understand here. I'm not special. I'm not special. I just make the calls. And you too can make the calls.
There's no like recipe for success here. You're gonna have to, you're gonna have to learn it as you go. You really are. You're gonna have to trial and error. But guess what? It's not hard. It's not hard. You'll make a mistake. You'll be like, Oh, I'm just not gonna say that next time. Or you'll say something that was killer and you'll be like, Oh, yeah, I'm definitely gonna say that next time.
Like, believe me. Believe me. There is no magic to this. I've made so many cold call pitches. I can't even tell you. Every time I get a new customer, I gotta learn a new cold call pitch. Every single time I create an ad for this show. Got to create a new cold call pitch, right? Like it's all pitches and it's not hard.
It's really not hard. It just comes from trial and error from seeing what works from seeing what you were comfortable with from seeing what made sense from understanding the customer and their needs and speaking to their challenge that they might be facing in that moment guys. Believe me. Believe me.
You got this. It really is so much about belief in yourself. You will make mistakes, but it is completely completely okay, number six, you are simply introducing yourself and asking for a meeting. Guys, this is how easy it really is. Okay. I'm really spelling it. You want it? You want me to spell it out for you?
Cold calls, introduce yourself and ask for a meeting. That's it. That's what they are. Hi, I'm John Smith with XYZ company. We do this, this, and this, it might be something you're interested in. I know your company buys it from time to time. Do you mind if we lined up a meeting sometime in the next couple of weeks?
Amazing. Looking forward to it. Do you want to schedule that right now? Or do you want me to get back to you with with the list of times that work for me? Great. Chat soon. It was great meeting you. It really is that simple, guys. You absolutely, absolutely have this lockdown. It is easier than you think you are simply introducing yourself, your company and asking for a meeting.
If you do this and you do it this simple, you don't over talk. See, the biggest problem that we have is business development people or salespeople is we think we have to sell them over the phone. We have to tell them every feature. Every benefit. Why were the best guys? That's bullshit. Stop doing that. You don't need to do that.
All you have to do is say enough to pique their interest and ask for the meeting. Don't talk yourself out of the meeting before you even ask for it. Okay, think about that. Every little bit of information you keep pounding down their throats is information that you could be conveying with them in person, building trust, building rapport, having body language to support what you're saying and really make a true impact.
Guys, the stuff you're saying over the phone really doesn't matter all that much as long as it peaks their interest enough to lead you to a face to face interaction, guys, that is the goal here. Stop trying to sell your product and service over the phone. Tell them a little bit about it. Tell them why it might be interesting to them.
Ask them if they're available for a meeting sometime in the coming two weeks, guys, it's that easy. It really is. If you guys just simply start asking for the meeting, keep a really short message, introduce yourself, introduce your company, ask for the meeting. You are going to book way, way, way more meetings.
Okay, the reality guys is the essence of a cold call is actually astonishingly simple. It's astonishingly simple. Okay, Shelby has come into my office plenty of times. Heard me, heard me leave a cold call voicemail. Heard me speak to someone over the phone and be like, really, is that it? Like you got a meeting that easy.
It really is that easy. We are only making it more complicated than it has to be because for some reason we tell ourselves we have to sell them over the phone. Okay. When you stop trying to sell them over the phone, you are going to book more meetings than you have ever booked in your entire life. You must introduce yourself.
You must introduce quickly why you're calling and what company you're with, and you must ask for something. Do those three things. Introduce yourself. Introduce why you were calling and what company you're with. Ask for something. Ask if you can send them a formal email with more information. Ask if you can have a meeting sometime in the next two weeks.
Just ask for something, and I think you're going to find more often than not, you are going to get what you asked for, okay? Number seven, you simply need to build enough interest to spike curiosity, guys. Right back to my last point here. The goal is just to get to a face to face meeting. Don't try to explain every value your product provides.
Don't try to say, this is why my product is better than the competition. Don't say any of that crap. Just introduce yourself, what your product is, what problem it solves, why they might be interested in it really briefly and ask, Hey, do you mind if we set up a time to chat a little bit further about this?
I'll bring my operations team. You can, you can ask them any questions you might have regarding it or implementing it or whatever. And I think you're going to find if you just give them enough, if you just give them enough to spike curiosity, they will be interested in giving you the 30 minutes, 45 minutes, one hour you need to have that full conversation and you are going to get more out of that interaction than you ever could have within the hour over the phone guys, get face to face.
The whole goal of your cold call is to get face to face. Don't lose sight of that. Don't lose sight of that. You're not going to sell over the phone. You're not going to sell over your email. You're going to sell in person, get them in person, whether you're emailing them, whether you're following up with them, whether it's a phone follow up, an email follow up, whatever it is, make sure you were asking for a face to face meeting where you can build rapport, build trust, answer objections, answer questions.
In person with body language, building trust, building rapport that will lead you to a long term repeat business relationship over time. Okay, do not talk yourself out of the opportunity and that's it guys. If you guys are on the phone and you guys just keep trying to push every reason why they should buy your product and service guys, you're going to talk yourself right out of it.
They're not going to be interested. We are geared to not like that. Trust me on this. Stop talking yourself out of the meeting. Stop it. If you are talking too much and you're not booking meetings, this is why you are talking too much. I got good at business development. When I learned to be quiet, ask questions and listen, when I.
Got good at asking, Hey, are you available for a meeting sometime in the next two weeks and going completely dead silent guys, just going quiet and waiting for them to say why they can't meet with me in two weeks. But you know what? It's super uncomfortable when you ask them and you go quiet and a lot of times they'll say, you know what?
Yeah, I'll make the time for you learn to just ask questions. And be quiet. This will serve you so much, not only in your cold calls, but also in your meetings, also in closing your products and services, right? People will talk to you. People fill dead air. Okay? You don't want to be the one filling the dead air.
Let your customers tell you their challenge. Let them tell you what they're using currently, why it's working for them, why it's not working for them. And guess what? I think you're gonna find more often than not, they're gonna tell you exactly why your product will meet their needs better than the one they currently have.
But you have to listen. You truly have to listen. And that means that you're going to have to maybe work on shutting your own mouth. This was me. I was a talker, guys. I was a talker. And I would talk myself out of everything. Okay, I got good at business development when I learned to be quiet and listen, ask questions and listen.
It is a superpower. It really is. In business development, asking questions, being dead silent and just listening is truly a superpower that will lead you to closing more meetings and more business than you ever have before. Number eight, 80 percent of your cold calls go to voicemail anyway. So, you know, that thing you're super afraid of, which is talking to a stranger and having to pitch your product, guess what?
80 percent of the time, you're not going to have to do it. Isn't that awesome? Guys, that's awesome. And I can't tell you how many times I've left voicemails and people have just called me back and been like, Hey, Kelly, thanks for leaving the voicemail. Love to set up a meeting with you. When are you available?
Right? Like, guys, it's that easy. 80 percent of your cold calls are going to voicemail anyway. Stop being afraid of it. You're talking to a robot. Okay, I'm not kidding. You're talking to a robot. Don't worry about it. Just pick up the phone, make the calls, leave a kind, happy voicemail every time. Always leave a voicemail that someone would want to call back.
Think about it from that standpoint. Would I want to call back this person? If the answer is yes, you're doing it. Amazing. Keep doing that. Never call them out. I don't care if it's your 10th call or your 20th voicemail you've left for this person, never call them out. Leave a same kind, happy voicemail. Let them know you can't wait to hear from them.
You're looking forward to talking to them. They can get you back at this number. You're with this company and you cannot wait to see them. Guys, it is a recipe for success over time. Leave kind, happy voicemails. Always smile over the phone. You absolutely can hear it and always leave your name. Company and phone number twice, guys.
If you do that at the end, especially, it will really lock it down for you. Repeat the number twice for sure because they're not ready to write it down the first time. They're always ready to write it down the second time. So just remember that if you do that twice, they will remember. Number nine, short and sweet wins every time.
This goes back to my not talking myself out of the opportunity of not talking myself out of the meeting, guys. Make short introductions. They don't have to be long. They don't, they don't. Hi, I'm John Smith with XYZ company. We provide manpower services to the oil and gas industry. I think you'll be interested in what we have.
Love to chat with you. Love to meet you. You can get me back at this number, right? It's really simple guys. It's really simple. You don't need to go really in depth. You just need to speak to what it is you do. And that's it. Why they might be interested in it and how they can get a hold of you. Just do this.
Trust me, short and sweet works amazing. Always ask for what you want. Don't be afraid to leave a voicemail and say, Hey, I'd love to meet with you. Looking to book an introduction. You can get me back and we'll schedule that in. Call me back at this number, right? That's easy. Easy peasy. Ask for what you want.
Tell them who you are, what company you're with, what product and service you sell, and maybe a quick thing as to why they might be interested in it. Where they can get you back and that you would like to book a meeting with them to chat further. That's it, guys. It doesn't have to be more complex than this.
Short and sweet wins every time. And this works for digital introductions. This works for emails. This works for phone calls, guys. Short and sweet. works every time. Take the small wins guys. You can follow up later. So I know there's some of you saying, Hey, you know, I struggle to get the meeting on the first call.
That's fine. So do I. We all sometimes struggle to get the meeting. There's lots of times where I do get it on the first call. It's awesome. There's a lot of times where I call and they say, Hey, that's great. That sounds awesome. Can you send me more information to my email? Yes, yes, take the win, that's a win.
You have their direct email. You can send a formal pitch with all the information on your product and service. You can attach the brochures and you can ask for a meeting. And if they do not follow up with you on it, you have the option to follow up with them until they either disqualify or you get the meeting.
It's a win. Take the win, guys. Take the win. An email is a win. Okay? There's nothing wrong with that. You can always follow up later. There is no one size fits all message, guys. There is no one size fits all message. Try different things until you lock down what you feel good about. That's really what it comes down to with cold calls, is how do you feel about the pitch you're making?
Is it something that you feel good about, that you can speak confidently, and That you can remember that you think delivers everything they need to know to build curiosity, but not giving them too much. And then you're asking for the meeting. That's it. If you do those things, you're going to have success.
And if you're not having success, try a different message. Try changing it up. Try one week at the old way and one week at the new way and see which one works better guys. It's trial and error. Nobody's going to give you the recipe here for success, for your business, your product, your service. But what I can tell you is you will find out the recipe for success.
By simply doing it by simply making the calls. Okay. And number 10 guys, that's it. You have to make the calls. There is no recipe for success here with cold calls that does not involve you actually making the calls. The most important thing is that you make the calls. Why? Because you learn from every single one.
You learn what worked, what didn't work, who called you back, what message you left for them, right? You get better with each call. Every call, you get more confident, you get more refined, you remember it better. It just becomes a part of you. Trust me on this, guys. There's no replacement. I know there's so many of you out there who are afraid to make the calls and you say, well, I won't do any good at, or I'll mess it up.
Yeah, maybe you will. Maybe you will. Maybe you won't, but you're not going to know until you make the calls. And what I can tell you is, is that when you start making the calls, They get easier and easier and easier every time as you remember it better as you know what the interaction is, as you start to get the same questions over and over and over again, it gets easier and easier and easier for you to field.
And when you remember that the whole goal is just to get a meeting, it's not to sell anything over this phone, it's simply to get them to a meeting where you can then build rapport and give them a better reason to buy your product and service. Well, it makes it easier to because now you're not trying to sell anything.
You're just trying to build enough curiosity to get them to say yes. You're just trying to build enough curiosity to get them to say yes to the meeting. Okay, cold calls get easier. And there's an amazing thing that happens as you start to make more cold calls. You hit a cold call cadence at about your fifth or sixth cold call.
The first five or six cold calls are the hardest ones. And they get easier and easier and easier after that. And you get to a point where you can like rock out 20 calls in no time flat. And it just feels easy because you made it over and over and over again. And you're like pounding that like repetition into your brain.
So trust me, trust me, you can do this. You can do this. Most of you, your biggest problem is you're just afraid and you're not starting. Just get started. Commit to like 10 calls a day guys just commit to 10 a day and watch your world turn around watch you get so good at closing meetings from cold calls that you'll wonder why you never did it before you want to stand out in 2024 2025 and beyond pick up the phone pick up the phone we have to go back to go forward cold calls do not have to be hard start with the goal in mind believe in yourself believe in your product pick up the phone smile and dial smile Guys, you got this.
Shout outs this week, Colin Harms, Rodney Lover, Deanna Keen, Jemia Zagiel, Diane Damaso Alex Blumenstein, Scot Bryson, Rodney Lover, Shawn Neels, Jory Evans, Lasse Jorergensen, Jamar Jones, David Fair, Vijayan Swaminathan, Gary N, and Adam Kimmel. Until next time, this has been the Business Development Podcast, and we will catch you on the flip side.
Outro: This has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists. For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.
