How Are You - Great

There I was midweek, watching absorbing European knock-out football ’round at someone’s house.

The landline rang. Being nearest, I was asked to answer. This is what I heard next. In a heavy Indian accent.

Hello, this is [inaudible firstname] calling from the Accident Support Helpline.

How are you?

O-oh, a cold-call. Unsolicited, unwelcome and ended pronto. Back to the footie.

This remimded me of several sessions I’ve run over the past few years with mature solution sellers.

Many of them also ask ‘how are you?’ of their prey as soon as they’re reached.

They claim it’s a good ploy. Citing anything ranging from being polite, cheeky because it creates a potentially uncomfy pause, sculpts a conversation that doesn’t start with a rejection-quickening ‘no’, or snaps the listener out of whatever else they were concentrating on when they probably mistakenly picked up the phone.

Nonsense. For me, nothing quite screams ‘cold-caller’ more than this.

Many have a hard time trying to jettison this from their repertoire.

Another verbal tick many share, is starting every response with the word “great!”. Or synonyms, like ‘awesome’ and ‘fantastic’. Even when the prospect has just given a reason for instant chat termination. ‘That’s not a problem’ is another I hear regularly.

Again, even the most junior of buyers will have their cold call antennae buzzing in the face of such bombardment.

So get rid.

Stop using either of these ideas. They are not part of any conversation that aims to talk about an issue the prospect may have, that you can resolve.