"Who's The Person In Charge Of Marketing?"

As you might imagine, I love getting cold called. Not because I enjoy the actual interruption to my day but because I love hearing the pitiful attempts of poorly trained salespeople and the pitches these salespeople come up with. I like to have a little fun with them and quite often I'll even coach them on the spot for free, giving them permission based approach to cold calling they can use which will actually work and be embraced by the person on the other end of the phone. (After all, I give them credit for picking up the phone and making the call!)

And one of the things I gain from listening to their pitch is what NEVER to do on a cold call. (Unfortunately, it's never the other way around. That is, I'm not aggregating best practices from the people who are calling on me.)

When calling on a company with the goal of finding the person in charge of marketing, HR, IT or another division, consider this. It's a dead giveaway when you open your call with, "Hi, this is NAME from COMPANY. Can I speak with the person who's in charge of your marketing?"

You might as well say:

Hi, this is Jane from COMPANY. This is a cold call and I'm looking to sell you something."

Instead, try this approach that will help you get to the right person with less resistance more often. What follows is a dialogue I developed for some clients who sell advertising. the dialogue is intended to provide a compelling value proposition so that they will in turn, refer you to the appropriate person you need to speak with.

1. "Hi, this is NAME from COMPANY. I have some people that are interested in your services that I'd like to refer to you. Can I give you their names or is there someone else who I should talk to who would be following up with these leads/people/customers?"

2. "Hi, this is NAME from COMPANY. I have some people that are interested in your services that I'd like to refer to you. If I give you their names, would you be the person who would be following up with them?"

If you want to be more specific when calling your target audience, try this approach. The following example would be used if you´re objective is to target real estate agents or companies.

3. "Hi, this is NAME from COMPANY. I have some people that are interested in finding the right real estate agent who can assist them in finding their perfect home. Do you handle referrals or is there someone else I should speak with?"

4. "Hi, this is NAME from COMPANY. I have some people that are interested in your services that I'd like to direct to your company. Would I be giving you their names or is there someone else who I should talk to who would be following up with these people?"