Cold Calling

In the last two weeks, I had two interesting cold call experiences as a customer:

The first one came to my LinkedIn message box. 

I opened it, and there was a video presentation. On the screen, I saw a person talking while scrolling down on my LinkedIn profile. It was Maxime Leclercq. He was referring to specific LinkedIn posts that I shared. He shared what he understood from my posts and wanted to know a little more to see if I might be interested in his product/services.

Honestly, it was the first time received that kind of video message, and I loved it. For two simple reasons:

– He spent time researching, saw a potential relevance, and prepared a personalized video.

– His approach. The way he was speaking was clear, direct, and real.

The second one was a call that I received. The first sentence of the lady (I don’t remember her name) on the phone was:

“Good afternoon sir, this is a cold and if you don’t want to be disturbed right now, you can hang up, it is totally OK.”

I was available and her opening made me curious. Long story short, I listened to her and her product was not for me. But before ending the call I told her that I found her opening very unusual and how much I appreciated her being direct and giving me the choice of hanging up right away.

Here is my conclusion:

– taking time to understand what really matters to your prospects (care)

– being real

– being brief and direct

– giving the choice

those points could be only skills (you still need to speak the same language:)) you might need to prospect. 

And for the others sending generic cold calling messages… I unapologetically keep ignoring them. 

Anything else you would add?