Geoffrey, even though I am not a sales professional by title, I am a biz owner that has to sell services so I love your column, your wisdom and various tools.
In the 25 years I have been a biz owner, I have never had the need to cold call so I can't respond directly to that situation. What I can comment about is perhaps a different angle ... with the intent of adding value to the discussion.
My expertise is understanding human behavior (including buying behavior and decision-making) and uncovering the underlying psychology that drives it.
As JasFun alluded to, rapport building is the first step to advancing any sales conversation. And yes, it can't be faked. I teach from the nature of the work I do that rapport building-- whether inside an organization or with customers/prospects --is not about small talk or looking for similar interests. That does not mean that approach can't help in certain situations. It can also backfire and create resistance with certain personality types.
True rapport building is about meeting your prospect where they are (I noticed many of the responses to objections did that effectively), uncovering what makes them tick, what drives their buying decisions and then language your offering accordingly.
In any sort of "cold prospecting," I teach clients the importance of first researching the individual, company and/or industry they are targeting for trigger events, potential needs, priorities, etc. and then going a step further beyond the facts. To start reading "between the lines" about what those facts tell me about the company or direct prospect.
BTW, LinkedIn is a valuable tool for doing that kind of due diligence about both individuals and companies.
I realize that may sound like alot of work. Yet the payoff is huge in terms of shorter cycles, increased conversions, etc.
Even with transactional selling such as commodities, trying to put yourself in your "average customer's shoes" before you contact them (eg., what's important to them in their job role, what might be their greatest fears/challenges right now, what might their typical day be like, etc.).
The more prep work, the more (in your mind anyway) that person becomes a "warm prospect" not a cold contact and you have some sense of how you might position what you have to offer to what drives their buying decisions.
It's also important to maintain rapport throughout the sales conversation, not just create it upfront. I often find prospect stalls and objections happen when rapport is broken.
What I liked about many of the above responses to objections is pre-framing the objection with the words "I am curious ..." and then chunking down on the objection (such as, "what do you specifically mean by, it costs too much?") Another alternative would be "I am curious ... when you say it cost too much, relative to what?"
Curiosity also can't be faked. Remember words are only about 8% of communications. Over 90% of communications is interpreted from our physiology and voice. So if you are not really coming from an attitude of curiosity, it will show up as being incongruent from the prospect's perspective and will likely trigger mistrust.
BTW, when I model excellence of top sales performers, I have found that genuine curiosity is one of the top common traits among them.
If this is the case, when you request the spreadsheet from me , please tell me what version you are using and I will make sure I send you a spreadsheet suitable for you to be able to open. ( I have made two versions ... one for current version of Excel and one for Excel 97-2003)
