The Anatomy of a Cold Call (part 3)
Solution Alignment is Key
Welcome to part 3 (of 4) diving into The Anatomy of a Cold Call. Today, we’re looking at the final section: the ending. This is where all your great listening, dot-connecting, and sales technique pays off.
First, a few housekeeping items:
Check out Part 1 & Part 2 of this series if you missed them or need a quick refresher.
Second, please take 30-seconds to fill out this survey so I can learn more about you as a reader and improve your experience.
Alright, let’s dive into the final and third section of a Cold Call: The Ending
As with the beginning and middle, the ending is comprised of three sections:
Problem Prioritization: this is a simple step that helps you understand where to start with Solution Alignment (next step).
There’s a good chance you uncovered a lot of problems / goals throughout your conversation. Usually, our brains run wild with all the different ways we can help our prospects.
Which is great, but it’s not effective early on.
Problem Prioritization is about the prospect telling you which problem / goal is their highest priority.
Once you know this, forget everything else.
You will close deals by completely solving their biggest problem. You will lose customers by partially solving a few problems.
This also supports a land-and-expand strategy for account expansion.
Simply ask the question: “(Prospect), you covered a lot of ground, seems like you’re managing a ton right now. You mentioned (problem a), (problem b), and (problem c) are all top of mind for you. Curious to know - which of those do you care about most right now?
Whatever their answer, that’s all you focus on in the next step. Adding right now at the end is crucial - this is what they’re ready to act on immediately.Solution Alignment: “A world-class sales pitch is when you never mention your product.”
This is a message my team here’s from me daily. Why?
Because we’re in a new era of sales.
If you’re doing your job correctly (especially discovery), you shouldn’t feel the requirement to deliver an immaculate sales pitch about your company/product.
Most times, you’re delivering a sales pitch because you think the prospects want to hear it. Trust me, they don’t.
Of course, you have to convey value and ensure your prospect understands the business outcomes produced by your solution, but it needs to be within the context of their problems/goals you uncovered during discovery.
You should never, ever deliver a stand-alone sales pitch.
Practically, here’s how Solution Alignment works:
1) During discovery you should be doing your best to take organized notes. Set yourself up for successful note taking by having a format.
I like to use Problems | Goals | Solutions | Stakeholders in the form of a table on Google docs.
Document the problems/goals your prospect shares. Again, if you’re doing your job right, your prospect is doing 80% of the talking while you listen and take notes to give yourself ammunition for solution alignment.
Next, start connecting the dots by writing in the solution that will solve your prospect achieve their desired outcome.
Pro Tip: Don’t force things here. If you can’t help them, that’s okay. You don’t need everybody to be your customer, you just need the right people to be your customer.
Assuming you know which problem is top priority for them at this point, here’s where you create alignment:
”(Prospect), again, thanks for sharing all of that with me, really helped me understand whether or not a partnership makes sense for both of us. You mentioned (problem b) is your highest priority right now so I’d like to focus on that. Here’s how I see our solution getting you from where you are to where you want to be….”
From there, it’s up to you to draw the connections and deliver it to your prospect in a way that’s clear and concise.
Remember: focus on business outcomes above all. There’s a good chance you’ll mention features at some point. Make sure when you do that, it’s coming in through the waterfall effect - meaning you start with social proof (when possible), then outcomes you’ll produce for their business, and then give some context around exactly how your solution will produce those outcomes (features).Closing: assuming you’ve covered your grounds leading up to the end of the call, this is a logical next step for your prospect. Which takes a lot of pressure off you.
Unless you’re selling something so transactional that you can close a deal in one call, your likely next step is a demo / next call.
Here’s how you pull it altogether in a way that positions you as a strategic partner (instead of a vendor or desperate salesperson).
Quick Alignment Confirmation: “Based on everything I just shared with you about how we can help, do you think it’s a bad idea to spend 30-minutes touring our product?”
Asking if “it’s a bad idea” increases the likelihood you get what you want.
Most people aren’t going to tell you what you just said is a bad idea. This is the most salesy thing you should be doing during a cold call.
Next Steps: “Great, let’s look at calendars together and find a time that works for you.”
After you do that, tell the prospect what’s coming next and share anything you might need from them. Don’t assume your prospect knows what’s coming or what they need to do.
Guide them or you’ll lose control of the process.
Expectations: “Glad we found some time next week, I’m excited to continue learning about what you’re trying to accomplish and helping you get there. During our next call, we’ll spend the first 10-minutes working through a few more technical questions and the last 20-minutes will be a product tour so you get a feel for the user experience and how we get you where you want to go.”
”In the mean time, who else should I add to the invite?” (this gets you the stakeholder map)
”One last thing, I’m going to send you a follow-up email with notes from our conversations and an initial draft of a Success Plan to make sure you’re holding us accountable and vice versa. sound fair?”
From there, you thank for their time and send over the email immediately.And that folks, is The Anatomy of a Cold Call. Recap:
- Part 1: The Beginning; Research, Opener, Easy-Contract
- Part 2: The Middle; Priority Drop, Discovery, Objection Handling
- Part 3: The Ending; Problem Prioritization, Solution Alignment, Closing
If you’re still getting comfortable with cold-calling or just starting out, it’s critical for you to master the Opener and Discovery first and foremost.
Perfecting your Opener guarantees you get a shot at Discovery and the rest of a conversation, so you have to get that piece down first. Otherwise, it’ll be a challenge to get off the blocks in the first place.
Discovery is where great salesperson are born.
When you can honestly fall into a problem-solving conversation driven by curiosity (not by your desired outcome) you’ll build great relationships, learn a ton about business and decision-making. And most importantly for you in this moment, you will win more deals with skilled discovery.Final Thoughts: Treat Cold-Calling like a sport.
This isn’t a platitude or cliche. Think of yourself as an athlete and Cold-Calling as a sport.
In basketball, Steph Curry doesn’t always practice the entire game at once. He does dribbling drills, then shoots free throws, then three-pointers, defensive drills, etc.
He practices each piece of the game separately with extreme focus, which allows him to pull it altogether when it’s time to game time.
Over the last 3 weeks you’ve seen all of the different components that go into a Cold-Call. Practice specific parts at different times before practicing a complete call.
Run through your opener 25 times. Perfect your Easy-Contract. Handle 15 objections. Practice.
Check back next week for Part 4 of Anatomy of a Cold Call. This issue will be a review of the parts 1, 2, 3 - adding in anything I may have left out.If you’re still here, you have another 30-seconds to spare. Do you and your fellow readers a favor and respond to this » Feedback Survey.
Have a great weekend!