"Any cold call lasting longer than 5 minutes means you've lost control."
I hear this advice from sales gurus all the time.
My thoughts?
Rubbish.
Firstly if your cold calls are that short then it shows that you cannot keep a conversation interesting. It shows you do not understand the purpose of what you are doing.
The purpose of a cold call is not to get a meeting. It is to see if your prospect has an emotional attachment to the problems you fix.
The meeting is the outcome. It is not the goal.
Emotion vs Intellect
People buy with emotions and justify with intellect. You need to be selling to both.
If a prospect cannot explain to you how a problem resonates in their world then offering a meeting is pointless. You need to uncover their frustration. You need to understand why they want to change.
This process often takes longer than five minutes.
We teach this depth in our SDR Sales Training. If you rush to the pitch you miss the pain.
Why meet an unqualified prospect? Why organise a meeting with someone who is just going to ghost you?
It might look great on your dashboard but vanity metrics mean nothing. The end goal is revenue. We explored why these numbers lie in Stop Chasing Vanity Metrics.
Respecting the C-Suite
Secondly you should only ever prospect at the C-suite or Director level. Because that is where decisions are made.
If a time-poor Director has a problem you might be able to help with and is willing to give up more than five minutes then get into it.
They do not give up their time for anything. If they are staying on the line it is because you are adding value.
This aligns with our strategy in Aim High Cold Calling Strategy. When you speak to decision makers the conversation naturally goes deeper because the problems are bigger.
Longer Calls = Easier Sales
My last three clients obtained via cold call resulted in conversations that lasted for 20 minutes or more.
Just think how easy the sales meeting is when you have discovered that much information on the first call. You walk into the demo already knowing exactly how to win.
If your cold calls are short it is "spray and pray."
Yes this does work but it is also painfully long and inefficient. You have to make hundreds of calls to get the same result as a few good ones.
We proved the value of quality over quantity in our Cold Calling Case Study.
Why work harder than you have to?
Stop watching the clock. Start listening to the prospect.