Thanks for the mention. Great article and I felt it fit right in with what we’re trying to teach people over at our site.

I like your piece on the script. Having a concise and eloquent script shows great professionalism. Never try to over complicate anything in cold calling.

Terry

Great questions! Here’s a couple of key points:

If your product/service is super complex then you need to simplify the “3 second intro” by communicating across the primary benefit(s) of your offer.
It is unlikely that there will be time to establish credibility or explain much of the “how” – but if your intro is good enough, the interested people should ask you “how” or question your credibility. This is a fantastic way to get a conversation rolling.
The words “if you’re interested” might give an easy out, but remember that cold calling is also about crunching numbers. The faster you can get off the phone to “uninterested prospects” the better.

It’s all about spending as much time as possible talking to the people who are inclined (and ready) to buy.

What you guys at 10 Thousand Trees are doing is an emotive sell – therefor, you’ll benefit from qualifying out all the emotionally dead folks who just don’t give a rats arse about the environment. Enjoy 80% of your time talking to the people who do.

It’s an abundant ol’ universe out there…

- Pete

Good Article, and the goal setting is really great. I do think a lot of people expect to turn around more than they do. I have a couple of questions that maybe you could answer here. It is great if you can talk about your company and your promotion in three seconds, but what if is isn’t quite as simple as mowing lawns. Say it is something else? And you want to build credability? Do you do that after that three seconds?
Also, by saying “if you’re interested” aren’t you giving them an easy out, the golden NO rule of selling? Wouldn’t it be better to simply say, “All I need to know from you is a prefered time and date to set up your free mow?”