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Cold Calling: Three Magic Words that Get You In
By Leslie Buterin | July 23, 2008
I receive many, many questions about crafting an Elevator Pitch, also known as your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). So, here are a few thoughts to help you craft that all important, critical component of your conversation with any Executive Assistant … or for that matter any Executive!
* * * * *
Ready, set, go! You have a maximum of 90 seconds in a cold call to your prospect. What are you going to say that will compel them to invite you in for a meeting? What are the words to use? Where the heck do you find those very words?
Here is what we know.
1. You need a well-crafted impact statement. You may think of this as your elevator speech, your 60-second commercial, even a benefit statement. However, you want to start thinking of it as the all-important impact statement. The clear, unmistakable words of a sentence that quickly convey the kind of impact your products/services can have as solutions to your prospect’s pressing business problems.
You may spend weeks, even months crafting and polishing your impact statement. This is not a simple task, but it is an important one. This becomes THE phrase that eliminates the majority of objections you run into, positions you as a force to be reckoned with, and best of all, it becomes known as the phrase that pays.
2. Give your clients’ words considerably more weight than the words you use. Unbeknownst to you, the way you talk about your business has become a kind of corporate-speak, a language that communicates something within your company, and a language that sounds like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah to your prospects.
Why are your clients’ words better? Because your clients speak in the terms that your prospects want to here. Period.
How do you get a hold of your client’s words for crafting your impact statement?
The fastest, most direct route is with a 5-minute phone call to several of your oh-so-happy clients. Take care not to feed your clients the words to say. Simply ask your happy clients a few strategic, open-ended questions.
Here are a few examples of open-ended questions you can ask your clients:
a. Why did you choose to do business with us?
b. What did you get out of doing business with us?
c. If I ask you to quantify the improvement in your expenses, your revenues, what would you say, specifically in terms of increased revenues, decreased expenses, mitigated risk?
Then, just sit back and listen to them. Find out the verbiage your clients use and then use those very words to craft your compelling impact statement. There is tremendous power in using the words of your happy clients. Granted, their words are not necessarily the words you’d use in-house. However, their words are the ones that will grab the attention of your cold call prospects and compel them to invite you in for an appointment. A very good place to be.
Best,
Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread)
Topics: Unique Selling Propostions (USP) |
July 24th, 2008 at 11:48 am
[...] there are other names for the USP. Your Positioning Statement. Your Elevator Pitch. This is all part of your compelling opening statement that Keith Rosen discusses in this podcast [...]