If there’s one BIG pet peeve of any sales person, it’s when they spend 55 minutes with an unqualified prospect… Totally wasting time!

Furthermore, as fellow team member Zach Burkes reminds our clients: “Sales is a numbers game.” Most cold prospects won’t set aside an hour to speak to a stranger, so you’ll have fewer calls than if you started the relationship with a lower commitment.

So – in order to improve the quality of our calls, increase our productivity, and boost the amount of prospects we speak with on a regular basis – we created an intermediary step:

THE 15-MINUTE CALL.

It’s a simple, painless way for both of you to determine if it’s worth committing to the next step.

On this call, the ONLY thing you’re looking to do is prequalify your prospects. Do not try to get the sale on this first call!

And to make your life as easy as possible, I’ll give you a framework for this call to adapt and make your own.

Remember:

Scripts are for an “ideal situation.” However, you WILL be presented with questions and objections that aren’t in your script. Your sales team must be prepared to listen and react.

** KEEP ALL QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIONS IN A RUNNING DOCUMENT TO BE USED AS A SALES AND TRAINING DEVELOPMENT TOOL, SO YOUR SALES TEAM IS PREPARED TO ANSWER AND ADDRESS THEM AS PRESENTED **

The script is broken down into CRITICAL sections. Each section MUST be part of your framework. You can rework the questioning – just don’t skip over a section.

Here we go!

THE 15-MINUTE CALL SCRIPT

Step 1: Take Immediate Control

Hi [Name],

[NAME] here from {YOUR COMPANY NAME} for our scheduled call – is this still a good time to talk?

{YES}

Awesome. I’m glad to have you on the phone today, and really looking forward to our call. {NAME}, I have 15-minutes scheduled for this call – does that sound about right for you?

{YES}

Great! Look, I don’t have a sales pitch for you today. Today’s call is simply for us to get to know each other a little better, and see if it makes sense to jump on another call where we can dive deeper into your {SITUATION}.

So, I’ll have some questions for you, and I obviously want you to feel free to ask me some questions. Sound good?

{YES}

And at the end of this 15 minutes, we’ll be one of two places. Either one (or both) of us will feel that it’s not a good fit and we’ll part as friends… Or we might think there is something worth exploring further. If that’s the case, we’ll schedule another call to dig deeper into the {SITUATION}. Sound fair?

Make it clear that you’re not interested in wasting time – especially their’s.

{YES}

Step 2: Find Out What They Know About You

Great! Before we get started… What do you know about my company?

{ANSWER}

So, would it make sense for me to spend 30 seconds to tell you what we’re about to see if you want to continue this call?

{YES}

Awesome, in a nutshell, we work with {WHO DO YOU SELL TO} and help them {WHAT RESULTS DO YOU HELP YOUR CLIENTS ACHIEVE}. Typically, they’ve reached out to us because they are asking themselves questions like: 

LIST 3 QUESTIONS YOUR PROSPECTS TYPICALLY ASK THEMSELVES, FOR EXAMPLE:

• Why am I not growing any faster?
• What will it take to get my company to the next level?
• How do we sustain it so that my business isn’t dependent on me to grow?

(Again, these questions ideas are supposed to drive right to the point and avoid wasting time.)

Step 3: Get to Know Their Situation

How much of that is relevant to you?

{ANSWER}

Okay… Which part.

{ANSWER}

Okay, that’s not unusual. I hear that a lot. What do you think is your biggest challenge with {PART}?

{ANSWER}

Okay – again, not unusual. Now, I don’t know if you’re tracking this, but {GET A SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE RESULT DEFINING WHAT TYPE OF RESULTS THEY ARE GETTING NOW}?

{ANSWER}

Step 4: Discover Their Goals

And where do you think that number should be?

{ANSWER}

How’d you come up with that number?

{ANSWER}

Huh, okay. #____ of __________ per {TIME PERIOD}. What’s your plan to get there?

{ANSWER}

Step 5: Why It’s Important to Them

Based on your current path, if you got {IDEAL NUMBER}, what would that mean for your {LIFE/BUSINESS}?

{ANSWER}

Wow, {IDEAL NUMBER}… Why not more?

{ANSWER}

I realize we just met, so don’t get mad at me for asking you this question – but where are you now? {YOU’RE LOOKING FOR WHERE THEY ARE NOW, COMPARED TO WHAT THE ULTIMATE RESULT WOULD MEAN FOR THEIR LIFE/BUSINESS} 

{ANSWER}

I gotta ask… Where would you put fixing this on your priority list? Is this “get it fixed yesterday?” Next Month? Or a “someday down the road” sort of thing?

{ANSWER – ANYTHING LESS THAN “IMMEDIATELY,” ASK WHY NOT NOW}

Great, I certainly appreciate that. Care to elaborate?

{ANSWER}

Step 6: Schedule Follow Up

I love it. That’s great.

Okay, look… You’ve obviously done a lot right to get to where you’re at, and if I can be honest, I’m not 100% sure you should be doing anything differently than you are right now – or that I can even help you… But if my gut is right, I think there’s something here worth digging into deeper.

{NAME}, are you looking at your calendar? 

{ANSWER}

Here’s what I’d like to do… If you’d be nice enough to set aside say, 55-minutes, I’d like to dive a little deeper and talk about how other {TYPE OF PERSON}, just like you, have been able to reach their goals and _____________ successfully.

I’m sure you’re smart enough to see if there’s anything we cover that will work for you, or if we should just shake hands and part as friends.  

Sound good?

{ANSWER}

Ok, great! What day next week would work for you? 

{ANSWER}

Excellent. I’ll go ahead and send you the calendar invite. You’ll receive it in your inbox shortly.

Lastly, just so that I can bring information that’s relevant to our next call, what do you think is the biggest thing holding you back? 

{ANSWER}

Now, are you the sole owner – or are there others who should be on the call as well?

{ANSWER}

(Back to that idea of wasting time… Make sure the people on the call truly need to be there!)

Step 7: Get Commitment to Action

I’m going to send you an automated email with a quick, ____-minute video that I think you’ll find helpful – and will allow us to really dive deep on our next call.  

Do you think you can find _____-minutes in your schedule to watch this before we talk on ____ ?  [THE VIDEO IS AN IMPORTANT STRATEGY TO PRE-SELL THE PROSPECT AND WARM THEM UP BEFORE YOUR CALL]

{ANSWER}

Okay, I’ve got you scheduled for ___. I’ll send over an invite shortly.

{PAUSE}

Awesome, I look forward to talking with you.

And there you have it 🙂

Understand that the purpose of this call is to understand their situation, see where they want to go, determine if they are ready to take action now, and whether or not you can help them.

…And it’s nice and short, so you aren’t wasting time – yours or theirs.

Looking for more tips to improve your outbound campaigns? Check out this related piece on increasing the response to your cold email outreach.