Cold Calling Valid Business Reason (VBR)

Flicking through Miller-Heiman’s online resources, a pdf entitled Phone Prospecting Strategies To Get Your Foot In The Door naturally caught my eye.  The meat was on a single page, which is always a winner, although not so good were the accompanying cover and back sheets.  They’re superfluous and with better design and judicious editing, a preferable single-sheet ethos could be deployed.  Minor points, hey-ho.

They focus on a pair of cold-calling aspects.  The first talked about the critical need to have a ‘valid business reason’ to make the call.  Most salespeople by now have probably heard about this essential concept.

Which is just as well, as somehow, they decline to expand upon the vital subsequent knowledge required, namely what precisely constitutes such compelling pitching and how to craft one for yourself.  All the more incentive to employ them as consultants I guess.  My thoughts on this are extensive, but for another time.  So what struck me most about the doc, was one suggestion new to me, regarding voicemail:

“Start the message with your name, company name, and phone number. The tendency of the recipient is to start writing down your information before they even know what you want. If you back that up with a solid VBR, and repeat your name and number at the end, you are much more likely to get a call back.”

They believe that as long as you do this at the right level and keep it down to under 20 seconds, then you’re in.