The Story of a Successful Cold Call: Getting the Meeting

The life of an SDR is a constant challenge. They call hundreds if not thousands of prospects every week with the goal of sparking interest in their solution and setting a meeting with an Account Executive to increase interest which will lead to a sale. Once the SDR gets past the hello, it's time to start selling. The conversation can take many twists and turns and be highly fluid. However, if the SDR centers on dealing with these four pillars, they can dramatically increase their success rate.

• Problems

• Features

• Benefits

• Results

An SDR who can deal effectively in answering these four pillars in terms that are specific to the prospect will get the meeting, and pass on invaluable information to their AE.

Problems

Focus on Relevant Issues 

Discussing the prospect's specific problems sets the stage and creates a meaningful context. When an SDR understands the issues they assume the role of an expert which builds credibility. And, the prospect becomes the primary focus, which is critical. It also allows the SDR to ask intelligent, relevant questions to discover more about the prospect's situation. This in turn allows the SDR to be diagnostic and present a specific solution vs. using generic, catch-all phrases.

Features

Cover those that matter

Once the SDR and prospect engage and discuss the problems, the SDR must present how their solution solves that problem. Salespeople often spew lists of features and hope something sticks. A better approach is to emphasize the specific features that fit into the context of the prospect's issues and that really will solve their problems. Be specific and relevant. Focus on a few features rather that a litany of every single thing your solution will do, which becomes background noise and won't move the call forward.

Benefits

Translate features into what really matters

Benefits are what really sell your product. What happens after the prospect uses your product? Can you quantify time or dollars saved? Are they meeting compliance regulations, or enhancing security? Relating to the features to individual, real benefits is important. Your prospect needs to understand the impact your product will have on their bottom line. Make it easy for them to care, and simple for them to understand.

Results

Appeal to their emotions

Results can easily be confused with benefits. Consider and explain what happens after the prospect experiences the benefit. What will the prospect do with their new free time, extra dollars, more secure environment, or resolved compliance regulations?Perhaps they can invest in strategic initiatives, facilitate product development, relax on a beach vacation, or just sleep better at night. This last, often overlooked step, connects the dots between buying your product to the emotional core of what keeps them awake at night.

Find out more

These four pillars will help guide your cold call conversations and facilitate positive results. And, don't miss the first part of this series, Getting Past Hello. And, if you would like to discover how Qualified Meetings can help you solve your top of funnel issues, we'd love to schedule a short meeting. Just give us a call or contact us today.