Episode #418: Scott Cowley
Meet
Scott Cowley
Scott has held every sales role in technology/SaaS startups from outbound appointment setter to VP of Sales. These days, he coaches and consults Founders and CEOs who sell, but aren’t *sales*people.
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Cold-calling isn’t easy. You face constant rejection. But it’s all part of the process. The only thing you can control is doing your research so you know your prospects. You consistently make the calls and speak to the prospect’s pain points.
What happens after your call is out of your control. Once you accept and embrace this fact, the pressure subsides. So how do you measure the process? Scott Cowley shares his strategy in this episode of Sales Reinvented.
Outline of This Episode
- [0:42] What is cold-calling? Is it still relevant?
- [1:45] Is cold-calling an art and a science?
- [2:41] How Scott prepares for cold-calling
- [4:41] Scott’s opening lines and techniques
- [6:14] Keeping a cold call engaging
- [8:29] Tools, technology, and metrics
- [10:58] Scott’s top cold-calling dos and don’ts
- [14:19] How Scott handles objections and rejections
How Scott prepares for cold-calling
Cold-calling must always start with research. You have to find the right people, the right numbers, and group them in a list. Scott starts a spreadsheet to track whether or not he connected and if a meeting was booked.
Once the list is created, Scott will call someone who’s excited to take his call. It could be his mom, grandma, best friend, significant other, etc. You need to have a 3–5 minute conversation. After that call ends, he immediately starts cold-calling to keep the momentum going.
Scott usually blocks an hour of cold-calling. He tracks how many dials he made, connections he made, and meetings he booked. The bottom line is that you need to have enough conversations. The more you can connect and talk to the right people, the more positive outcomes you’ll get. Everything else is outside your control.
Keeping a cold call engaging
Scott believes that the first minute and a half of your cold call should be entirely scripted. You need to show them that you can help them with their problems. After that, you’re asking them questions about themselves.
When you do that, you have to roll with the punches. So make sure you have the experience you need to answer their questions. You need to understand the pain(s) they want to solve and ask questions directly related to them. Make sure they’re motivated to solve those problems and get that meeting booked.
Scott’s top cold-calling dos and don’ts
There are a few key things Scott believes that you have to keep in mind when cold-calling:
- Keep going, don’t give up. Cold-calling is a laborious task you have to work through. Push yourself to hit your goal.
- Don’t stop until you’ve finished the goal that you’ve set. If you’re dialing for two hours, that’s fine.
- Always be experimenting. The top of the funnel changes every three months. Cold-calling is the top of the funnel. Try new things to see what works.
- Don’t beat yourself up too much. You’re playing the law of large numbers. You’re generating leads—you’re not selling. It doesn’t have to turn into a meeting or a close. On average, the person you talk to isn’t buying from you. Some conversations won’t be the outcome your organization is looking for.
- Make one more dial. You never know what will happen next. You’re one dial away from whatever you want to achieve.
How Scott handles objections and rejections
Rejections happen. Odds are any given person you talk to will reject you. If you want the compensation that comes with getting good at this skill, you have to get used to rejection.
How do you handle objections? Accept that it isn’t about you. If you make it about you, you won’t be successful. No one cares about you or your organization. If you tell them the pains you solve and they don’t have them, it’s not a problem. There’s no ego involved.
We know that Scott likes to say, “This is a cold call. Would you like to who says, “I’d like to hang up.” Instead of hanging up, Scott will sit there in silence. If they don’t hang up, he’ll ask them why they didn’t. People enjoy it when you do something weird.
You don’t know who you’re dialing. You don’t know who’s going to pick up the phone. You don’t know what’s going on in their world. All you can do is speak to the pain they’re experiencing. If they aren’t experiencing that pain, everyone moves on with their lives.
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What was a pivotal moment or experience in your career that shaped your approach to cold calling, and how did it change your perspective or strategy?
The first moment (a long time ago in 2013) came when I decided to put in the numbers every day, no matter what. In 6 months I went from a significantly underperforming cold caller to the number one outbound rep at the company.
The second was, more recently, when I learned the value of great data. Effective cold calling starts with the data.
Can you share a specific tactic or approach you’ve used in cold calling that significantly increased your success rate? Please provide a brief example or case study.
Obsess with the opening one and half minutes. It should be 100% scripted, 100% about them, 100% problem/pain focused and only when they are interested pivot to qualifying.
Cold calling often comes with its set of challenges and rejections. Can you share a particularly tough challenge you faced while cold calling and how you overcame it?
My mindset used to suck. I thought cold calling was about booking meetings so we could convince them to buy. I flipped this to being about uncovering pain, only moving people to the next stage if they were a good fit. That way I was more often the one rejecting them. And it became a game of finding the person who had the pain, not trying to convince everyone to book a meeting.
Also, that guy who told you to “f**k off” or the lady who yelled at you to “get a real job”, their lives must really suck for them to lash out at a random stranger. Be grateful you aren’t suffering nearly as much as they probably are.
What are the top three tools or resources (e.g., software, books, training programs) you consider essential for someone looking to improve their cold calling skills and outcomes?
Youtube channel for Benjamin Dennhey “UKs most hated sales trainer” – or do his courses. Great stuff.
Data providers with mobile numbers or direct dials. There are so many and they all have different specialties so I won’t recommend one, but constantly be testing and seeing if your geography, your industry or your niche has a better data source.
Problem Prospecting by Mark Ackers, Richard Smith, Stuart Taylor.
How do you foresee the practice of cold calling evolving in the next few years with advancements in technology and changes in buyer behavior? What advice would you give to sales professionals to stay ahead of the curve?
No one can predict the future. Top of funnel changes so often, always be experimenting.
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