How to Cold Call When 90% Hang Up (Live Role-Play)

Hi, this is Mark. Hi. Uh, did I catch you at a bad time?

Uh, kind of. What's up? My name is Matthew.

I come from Matthew's Gourmet Pizza House. We have an innovative pizza that drives employee happiness. I don't believe it that pizza drives happiness.

Hello, chiropractor Seattle. What kind of pizza you guys like? I don't even know.

I've never seen the doctor eat pizza. Okay. Uh, I don't know where to go.

What do you mean? That's a no. Well, I'm like, "All right, thank you.

Bye. " The folks that are listening here, you're not selling a $20 pizza. You're trying to book a meeting.

If you're good, if you're good at this, you book a meeting a day. One meeting. Yeah.

This is like a game of seconds. Every word counts. This person is just ready.

They're trying to get you off the phone. That guy, that's Mark Rober. Need a resume?

All right. How's this? founder of Stage 2 Capital, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, founding CRO of HubSpot, and author of the sales acceleration formula.

Today, I'm going to ask him how to cold call. What are the essential steps involved in making a successful cold call from like preparations and opening lines to handling objections and closing? I feel like this is something you teach all the time at HBS.

Yeah, we have a whole class on this. We bring in a good buddy of mine, Sam Nelson, the largest and most successful SDR leadership network in the world. So, we set up a whole case for a food catering business, right?

So, picture all these tech companies that they want to, you know, like OBS here, they provide, you know, food catering. So, this is a business that did that. And the assignment is that you've got to sell to BCG, Boston Consulting Group, the New York office.

Okay. So, we asked him in the assignment like who would you reach out to? like look at the BCG LinkedIn network and like who would you call and we have them like devise the first cold email they would send and so we pick it apart in class right and then we challenge them on how often they should reach out and how like do you call them do you email them do you send LinkedIn notes like we have that whole discussion so this is the favorite part we we teach them how to do a cold call and connect and then we at the last 15 minutes of class Sam's team hands out scripts and call lists of local businesses and the students cold call local businesses and try to sell them a $20 pizza in class.

We did it yesterday. The first class sold five pizzas and the second class sold six pizzas. Now remember, there's 90 students in the class and they're calling for 15 minutes.

I would say there's over a thousand calls that happen. Can I try and do it? Yeah.

This is going to be crazy. Yeah. I think I have a future in it.

Yeah. Let's go. I'm gonna be Mark chiropractor office in Seattle.

I'm I'm working the front desk. Yeah. So, I'm the the office manager for the whole thing.

And you're gonna try to sell me a pizza. Hello. Chiropractor Seattle.

Hey. Uh this is Mark's office, right? Uh yeah.

This is this is Dr Mark's office. This is Tim, his assistant. Tim, nice to meet you.

My name is Matt. Uh hey, I'll tell you what. It's lunchtime right now.

And have you guys ordered food yet? Uh yeah. And what is this about?

So I run a pizza delivery company and I think you guys would love what we're doing. We're new to the neighborhood. Uh if you would be interested, what kind of pizza you guys like?

Um I don't even know. I've never seen the doctor eat pizza. I don't know where to go.

with me. If your reps are anything like producer Matt, they did all the research, all the prep, picked up the phone, they made the call, they delivered the opening line, and then they froze up. All right.

All right. HubSpot put together a resource called the 30 sales call templates for outreach that I think will help your reps prospect, sell your products, and land more appointments that lead to deals. They'll learn how to get a decision maker's contact info, connect with business leaders, and even upsell existing clients.

You know where to get this. Go down in the description, click on the link. It's right there for you for free.

30 sales call templates for outreach from HubSpot. Go download it now and start scaling your business. Let's get back to the video.

I don't know where to go. What do you mean? That's a no.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, hey, I'm like, all right. Thank you.

just respect for how many of these 22 year olds graduating college, they do this as their it's like the hardest job in sales. If you're good, you get hung up on 80 to 90% of the time. If you're good, you know what I mean?

If you're good, if you're good at this, you book a meeting a day. One meeting. Yeah.

I So, well, what was wrong with my call? Or was it like no matter what you were going to say no? Or was it like So there's a whole bunch of ways to do cold calling.

There's a whole bunch of books about this. I'm going to teach you Sam Nelson's technique, right? He's the guest that I have in to HBS and and then we can abstract the best practices within Sam's specific technique to kind of summarize every single cold calling's like um coaching guidance, right?

And by the way, we're starting with the actual outbound call and the strategy on the connect, okay? And we can progress the discussion toward the whole cold outreach program, okay? Which is like voicemails, emails, social, how often, all that.

So, we can get there. But right now, we just did the the cool connect. All right.

So, first off, this is like a game of seconds. Every word counts. This person is just ready.

They're trying to get you off the phone and so you're just like you want to be like super tight. And I hate scripts, but like if you're going to be tight on a script, I'd probably recommend one here for two reasons. Like one, it's just such like a highintense first 5 10 seconds means everything moment.

And then number two, usually I'm training someone on this that's very new to sales. Like this is the entry level sales role. It's the hardest role anyone will ever do in sales.

And unfortunately, you start there. Here's Sam's technique. Can I Let's reverse.

Yeah. And I'll be the seller. Yeah.

And um all I ask you I'm not going to over prep you. I'm just going to say I'm obviously going to ask to buy the pizza. Yeah.

I want you to deny me three times at least. Okay. Okay.

All right. Okay. Hello.

This is Matthews Chiropractor Services. Hey, Matthew. Is uh Did I catch you at a bad time?

Uh no. What can I help you with? Oh, actually this is great.

I'll be brief. Uh, this is Mark from Mark's Creative Pizza Shop. We specialize in pizzas that drive the culture and happiness of a team during the workday.

It's $20, and I was really just hoping to send you over a pizza for 20 bucks and brighten the day of your employees today. How's that sound? Uh, we tend to eat uh a little healthier here.

Uh, it sounds like it's a great business, but I'm not sure if it's something that we typically eat at the office. Like healthier or how? Like, uh, we the chiropractor, Matthew, he tends to order more like salads.

Got type of meals. Well, I mean, we're actually a perfect fit for that. Um, like I said, this is around employee culture and sort of like brain food.

So, we're heavy in protein unlike a lot of other pizzas. So, we gravitate the healthier side. I really would love to just like it's $20.

I really just want to send one over today and you know brighten your guys' afternoon and give this a shot. I don't I'm not given any sort of budget control. I don't have $20 to be spending on a pizza today.

Yeah. I mean like I wasn't expecting that you would, but I know like you guys are all about collectively to spend over $20 on lunch in just a few hours. I know it's like 10:00 a.

m. over there in Seattle. This is going to actually be less than the collective office.

So, people are going to save money and have a healthier I really just I I I think we should send a pizza over there for $20. People will save money and have a really productive afternoon. Uh, you know, maybe we're a little busy right now.

Could you give us a call back maybe tomorrow? That might work best for us. Yeah, actually, the fact that you are busy, this is perfect because everyone's about to waste 20 minutes to order food.

This is going to save 20 minutes time. I'm guessing you have four people over there. This is going to save an hour and 20 minutes of time if you just place the order.

So, the pizza shows up and I was like, "Matthew, this is great. What a busy day. " And lunch is ready for us.

$20. Hour and 20 minutes left. What do you say, Matthew?

I'm going to send you over a pizza. Sure. Fine.

Uh, yeah. You just uh just send it over to the office. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. We'll be there in 30 minutes. Thank you, Matthew.

Thanks. Bye. Okay.

I don't know what's more stressful honestly. It's like being put in that position or like having to be the one talking. both of which are not my So I was I haven't cold called in in a decade, but like at least it was an opportunity to like show off the framework and and so let's unpack what's happening there.

Okay, the folks that are listening here, you're not selling a $20 pizza. You're trying to book a meeting. Sam's work is trying to script it and simplify it so that we can really listen and it frees up all my brain focus and energy on what your objection is so I can handle it and twist it back.

Okay, so the first thing that I did was I always ask the same question, which is, did I catch you at a bad time? And the reason why is because there's only two answers, yes or no. Like 90% of the time it's like, yeah, I'm super busy.

And 10% of the time, no, I have a minute. Now, Matthew threw me a softball supposedly and said, no, I have a minute. The reason why Sam encourages that is because the answer is exactly the same.

So I don't even have to pay attention to what he says. I always say, "Okay, I'll be brief. " So, I deliver that same elevator pitch and then I ask for to deliver the pizza.

So, what do you think? $20 for the pizza. I give them the ask.

Okay. So, in a in a more like businessto business setting, that's where I'd say um so I'd love to set up a introductory call. How is your schedule?

So, that that would be the the difference with the the pizza exercise. 95% of the time I get an objection just like Matthew did, right? So, this allows me to create all my mental energy and space to handle the objection and then go back for the ask.

In this case, hey, you know, let what do you say? Let me send over a $20 pizza. Next objection comes, I listen.

I'm intent. I handle it and then I ask again. So, I'm in this flywheel and I'm never going to let the person out of the flywheel until they hang up.

And like the data shows that like the best SDRs and cold callers out there on average will handle three or four of those before they book a meeting. Okay. So hopefully you appreciate, you know, the simplicity of that technique.

Does that make sense, Matthew? Yeah, it does. You don't let them out of a flywheel that like once you got them, you're just like running through the same sort of like hear the objection, come up with solution.

I mean, it's just like it's that's our job here. You know, this is a super uncomfortable moment. I'm always trying to explore the gray line or the line around ethics and morals within sales, gimmicks, you know, manipulation, the things that led to bad behavior, I'm fine here.

Like, as long as I believe in my product and that I'm going to help this person, and as long as I believe that as I get to know them and uncover their problem, I'm not going to sell them something they don't need, then I'm okay. You know, that's our job. I can't tell you how many people I used this tactic on 20 years ago when HubSpot was a no-name company and because of my persistence, they bought and their business accelerated.

I'm fine with that. That's my job. But sometimes it takes some convincing.

And this is the hard part of just getting their attention. You're just not there to necessarily like salvage the relationship from just a friendto friend standpoint. You know, some people say if you like if you need to have that, just go get a dog.

I don't know if I have a future in sales, but you're going to get better. Let's remember that you got you cut off and froze. Here's the notes you want to take.

Hi, did I catch you at a bad time? Space. Space.

Okay, I'll be brief. Space. Space.

We have a innovative gourmet pizza that drives employee happiness and productivity. It's only $20. I want to send a $20 pizza over to your place and give you guys a wonderful afternoon at work.

Obviously, everyone gives an objection, handle the objection, and then say, "I really want to send you a pizza for $20. " In a real setting, um, once you've been doing this for a week, you're not going to hear no objections anymore. In fact, like when you study these things, 90% of the objections will be simplified to a 5 to 10 list.

I don't have time. I don't have the money. How is healthy?

Whatever. So, this becomes really much easier to do when you do it for weeks. And SDRs usually have to sit in this seat for a year before they get promoted.

Hi, this is Mark. Hi. Uh, did I catch you at a bad time?

Uh, kind of. What's up? Okay, I'll be brief.

Uh, my name is Matthew. I come from Matthew's Gourmet Pizza House. We have an innovative pizza that drives employee happiness.

I'd really love to send you guys a $20 pizza that I know everyone's going to love. I don't believe it that pizza drives happiness. Well, I'll tell you what.

Everyone loves pizza, especially ours. I, you know, I would love to send you one of our $20 pizzas. All right.

Listen, we have like I have a waiting room here for like four people. We run behind, but one of our chiropractors is sick. I can you just call back another time?

I you know, honestly, I think that's even better. I'm going to save you guys all the work of having to order out, even like leave the office to get lunch. I want to I'll send you this pizza.

You guys don't have to worry about ordering today. We've never even bought lunch for the office. I don't even know how to expense this.

I feel like I really don't feel like my cat needs some shots. Like I I don't really want to use my own 20 bucks to pay for this for the office. Absolutely.

I hear you. That's why we'll cover the $20. I just want to send this to you guys.

I want you to let me know if you guys feel like this is great pizza, much happier office. That's all I'm looking for. Okay.

I mean, if you're covering it, yeah, we'll give it a shot. All right. We'll send it over to you today.

Great. Dude, how that was amazing. I mean, last time he didn't even make it through the call.

You got one objection. You got thrown off. Now, the only B minus there, you didn't get the 20 bucks.

I thought it was going for free. No, we don't bring him in with a free. This is right there.

Premium right there. You didn't need All you had to do is hand that last objection of like, that's okay. What's the big deal?

I'm sure the doctor will do it. Let me And I would have done. So, you were right there.

You got it. All right. So, all right.

All right. I feel But do you see like So, like I mean, you explain to me now how do you abstract that out to general tactics? So what is super like helpful for me like you gave me a little bit of a script and you know even in your description you're like did I catch you at a bad time doesn't really matter about the answer like you have it from there like I'm going to be brief give your quick elevator pitch that sort of framework incredibly helpful I already know what I'm going to say it doesn't matter like I already got that down then after that what was really helpful is knowing like hear the objection and I know like what my sales pitch is is like send you the pizza so no matter what you're going to object.

I know like what these are going to kind of be. It's going to be about price. It's going to be like we're busy.

It's going to be on those things. I wasn't in the headsp space of you want to make this sale. Yes.

And this time I'm in the head space of like I can address each of those concerns because I need to make this sale. Now, how do you feel about learning this and doing this? Cuz like I'm sure we have a lot of founders on, you know, that are listening.

Maybe they're product founders. Maybe they were like, "Oh my gosh, I feel really grimy right now. " Like, "I thought I was just building I thought I was just building great product and why wouldn't everyone just love this and like you know putting it with forget about selling the pizza.

Just say you were trying to book a meeting to hear out about my product and start the process like are you okay with it or you still feel weird about it? " No, I feel much better about it. Honestly, you're not there for a relationship.

You're not there to like make friends with this person and protect the like a friendship. You're here to like solve a problem for them and in the process selling whatever your product is. I often draw analoges between sales and being a doctor to help bring some of these mindsets to life.

Now your doctor's in the office with you. They're diagnosing something and you're very resistant to it. Are they going to like solve for their relationship and friendship with you or are they going to give you the hard advice and be like, "Dude, this is what you have.

You got to wake up and listen to me. " Like your doctor delivers the hard news because your doctor is proud of their work. Their mission is to solve your problem.

And that's what you are as the product founder. You are working on important stuff. You're building important stuff.

you're trying to bring to market a great solution for a broad set of problems and there's going to be a resistance to it. You have to put at the forefront solving that problem ahead of just like being friends with [Music] everybody. All right, folks.

So, thanks to producer Matthew for being very vulnerable and giving us our lesson today. So, to recap, we learned a little bit about cold calling, cold outreach, specifically the cold connect. That's where a lot of the appointments are booked.

So, there's three takeaways I want you to remember here. The first one is I hate scripts, but in this case, we kind of have to use them. It's such an intense moment.

Every second counts. If we can get through the next first 5 seconds, it's all about getting to the next 5 seconds. So, to have a repeatable script that's simple, that allows your seller to focus on listening and handling the objections that are going to come fast, the better.

And we we learned one technique on how to do that. Number two, the objections are going to come. So, you've got to listen.

You got to deliver the ask for the appointment. Listen to the objection. Handle the objection and ask for the appointment again.

You're in this continual flywheel. Don't get uncomfortable there. Don't get thrown off your seat.

Just hang in there as often as you can. If you're good at this, you're going to get hung up on 80% of the time. Okay?

So, just know it's just like hitting a baseball. You know, most even the best batters out there, you know, don't get a hit most of the time. That's the the business we're dealing with.

just hang in there with the objections. Number three didn't come up in our conversation, but producer Matthew did a pretty good job on this. You don't want to sound like a salesperson.

You don't want to sound like a radio host. You want to sound like uncomfortable, nervous. I often try to channel being like a skinny 14-year-old kid.

People feel bad for you. They don't want to hang up on you. So, your instincts here on like what should a salesperson sound like?

Don't listen to those, right? Just channel a very authentic human individual and that'll get you your sales, get you your appointments. I'm Mark.

I hope you have enjoyed this episode on cold calling techniques. If you like this video, you'll love the rest of our content in our channel. Hit subscribe now and we'll see you next time.