Nugget #3 - Isolate your most immediate problem, solve for that precisely.
My first day cold calling, I really did freak out and hang up the phone. Not going to last long in sales doing that.
Last post I shared how that experience positioned me for committing to be the best sales professional I can be.
When I committed my mind immediately began to zero in on what I can do to get better. I recognized my immediate problem.
It wasn’t “being the best” in an abstract sense - it was actually speaking words to another human being on the phone. That was my biggest problem. Working on anything else besides getting vocable expressions out of my mouth was minimally effective.This is what I mean by “the path reveals itself”.
This was a reassuring realization. I didn’t have boil the ocean or otherwise overwhelm myself with unrealistic concepts. I was in control.
Speak when the phone is answered. Got it. Now what?
It’s nearly impossible to actually simulate the heat of a sales call, kind of like it’s nearly impossible to actually simulate a live football game. (I played college football at Frostburg State so I certainly get that.) But we can practice. That’s good enough.
With a newfound shock of sales pressure from my first cold call failure, I practiced answering the phone with my colleagues. I remembered that feeling when I heard the other voice for the first time. Tried to recreate that pressure and work through it.
I had my script.
Prospect (let’s call him Jim) answers phone: “Uh, hello?”
Me, confidently: “Hi Jim, Brandon Eyring here. Have I caught you at a bad time**?”
**Important tip: when using this opening line, it’s crucial to dramatize it. Act it up. Feel like you’re in a play and performing. Say it with genuine concern like you just ran over their cat (sorry for the imagery, but that’s the point).
Jim: No not really, I’m sorry, who are you?
END SCENE
We did this over a dozen times, with varying ways that “Jim” would answer the phone and respond. I felt more prepared.
I was ready to give my newfound skills a try again.
I can’t remember how many calls I made until I got into another conversation. It was eternity between dials. The dread was palpable.
Finally, the moment of truth… someone answers. (Cue ominous horror music!)
Prospect (who I’m just going to keep calling Jim) answers: “Hi this is Jim.”
Me, in a torrential sweat (not really), speaking slightly too fast: “Jim, hi, this is Brandon, uh, have I caught you at a bad time?”
Jim: I’m sorry, who are you?
END SCENE
Ok, you don’t need to know how the rest of that conversation went, I won! I did it! I spoke to someone! Give me a medal!
In all seriousness I was able to get over that first hump. I was excited. I made a breakthrough. It was actually a big deal to me.
Although I didn’t become a cold call master in one day I proved to myself problems can be isolated and overcome. Now it’s a matter of stacking problems as they arise and overcoming them one at a time until I am that so-called cold call master.
I laser focused my mindset on the NEXT challenge. Then snowballed that into a pattern of mastering identifying the most immediate problem, overcoming it, and moving to the next problem.
The next problems after talking when the phone was answered:
Getting permission to talk more
Ask good questions to get them talking more
Gaining commitment to talk even more on another call booked at a later date
Very quickly, I tackled problem after problem with my cold calling until within weeks I was a top 3 performer at the company (with over 60+ SDRs).
Here’s the beautiful part. The problems never really end. There is always room to grow. Once we commit to development, and get focused on solving our most immediate problems exactly we begin to level up.
Your turn. Ask yourself: “What is my most immediate problem?” Listen to the answer. If you don’t know, ask the people closest to you.
Identify your most immediate problem. Isolate that problem. Solve for it precisely.