Understanding the Value of First Impressions
Research shows it takes under 7 seconds for someone to form an opinion about you. From job interviews to first dates, first impressions have the power to change the course of someone’s life. While physical attributes, like a good smile and a nice outfit, are crucial to first impressions, the concept can also be applied to cold calling. Here are some of the key psychological triggers you can use to nail any first impression.
Firstly, pay attention to the tone and energy in your voice. Studies show that people are more likely to pay attention to how you say things, rather than what you say. It is important to maintain a calm, confident, and warm tone when conducting a cold call. This will allow the other person to trust what you have to say, creating more of a conversation and not a sales pitch. Do not be afraid to smile while you speak. While it is considered cliché, smiling while you talk physically changes the tone of your voice, making you sound happy and credible. Also, try not to read off a script. Instead, focus on the pace and tone of voice. This allows them to connect with you and adds an extra layer of trust.
Secondly, be respectfully direct. Like money, time is a valuable resource, meaning people hate it when they feel like their time is being wasted. To avoid this, be upfront about who you are, why you are calling, and the value you bring to them. Do not make them feel like they are wasting resources by being on the phone with you.
Next, establish social proof early on in your call. The idea of social proof is an extremely powerful psychological shortcut. If they hear that you work with people they recognise or trust, it lowers their guard. Being able to name-drop, while weaving in impressive statistics, establishes credibility and builds a sense of trust.
Lastly, make it about them and not about you. The biggest mistake is making the intro about your product instead of their reality. Understanding your audience and taking the time to do some quick research can set you apart from the dozens of spam callers who telemarket to them daily. Good cold openers and lead generators pivot quickly to something they care about. For example, adding “I noticed you recently expanded your team…” or “I saw your company is investing in…” shows them you are paying attention and are serious about what your product can do. This shifts the brain from ‘I’m being sold to’ to ‘This might be about me’.
A great first impression is not about magic; it is mindful psychology in action. Being able to master your tone in those first 7 seconds, while incorporating relevance, social proof, and respect, will enable you to move past reflex objections and into a meaningful conversation.
Hacking Our Human Nature
Successful cold calls do not solely come from successful scripts. It starts with understanding the why behind how people react when they receive an unwarranted phone call. Unfortunately, it is in our human nature to avoid answering cold calls because it puts our brains into ‘defence mode’. However, there are ways to work around this hard-wired behaviour.
Most of us avoid picking up calls from unknown numbers because our brains are working 24/7. Since we are constantly in a state of cognitive overload from all of the thousands of micro-decisions we make every day, the brain naturally filters out the things it deems unnecessary. For example, you probably do not remember the colour of the car in front of you on the way to work this morning, or the hairstyle of the person sitting next to you on the train. This is because that is not information that is vital to remember. Unsolicited sales calls fall into that category as well. Your job is to make sure that your pitch is relevant enough to break through that mental barrier. In the end, if you sound generic, you will not be remembered as relevant.
The human stress response is another crucial aspect to consider when making cold calls. When we experience unexpected interruptions, it can trigger our basic fight-or-flight responses, causing people to sound annoyed or short on the other end of the line. On top of their limited attention and energy, their brain literally perceives you as a threat for interrupting their day-to-day routines. To bypass this natural response, you must make it known that you are not a threat quickly. It is important to sound respectful, calm, and primarily focused on them, not on making a sale.
Stranger danger. We all know this phrase; however, this runs deeper than just your parents telling you “not to take candy from strangers”. As humans, our brains are hardwired to trust familiar people over people we do not know. This is known as the “mere-exposure effect”; the more familiar something seems, the safer it feels. When it comes to cold calling, you are starting at ground zero, with no pre-established trust whatsoever. If you do not work to combat this as soon as the call starts, their human instincts to dismiss you begin to take hold. To get around this defence mechanism, it is important to establish social proof or weave in any relatable context you have early on in the call. Mention a shared connection at their company or any relevant industry trends. This creates a sense of familiarity, in turn lowering their guard.
As humans, it is our instinct to filter things out, and the same applies to potential prospects. Your role as a cold caller is to make them feel heard, safe, and respected enough to consider a call they did not plan to have. By utilising the power of basic human psychology, you will be able to start shifting your cold calls from intrusive to inviting.
The Real Reason People Say “No”
No matter how prepared you are when taking on a cold call, rejection is inevitable and will eventually happen to you. Being prepared for that and understanding the psychology behind rejection can turn a cold lead into a meeting.
Firstly, it is important to understand that an objection is not about you, and it is typically a defence mechanism. For one, they may be in fear of wasting time, money, or making a bad decision, making it likely for a potential lead to overemphasise potential losses and downplay potential gains. Harnessing the power of FOMO can be very powerful in this situation. For example, you could say, “We’ve got some specific insights we want to share with you.”
Another psychological factor is reflex rejection. Just like a knee-jerk reaction, we as humans tend to decline offers before our brains have processed what we are being offered. In this situation, it is important to refrain from arguing with the person. Instead, interrupt their pattern of thinking by re-engaging them with a question. A simple, respectful question powers on their thinking brain rather than that automatic refusal part.
Lastly, rejection may be a reflex to maintain their ego. If someone feels unreprepared or uninformed, they do not like it. In this situation, it is important to speak on their level, by using their language and asking them questions to make them feel like the expert. You could throw in a few questions like “What’s been working well for you so far?”. Instead of taking that overly salesy approach, it is important to feed into their ego instead of threatening it.
The real secret is to think like the prospect. They are not rejecting you; they are protecting themselves. Being able to show that you respect them will set you apart from the hundreds of cold calls they get a day.
Managing your Mindset in a Cold Call
While understanding the psychology of your lead is important, it is also imperative that you study yourself as well to maintain your confidence and energy.
One of the biggest mental traps is taking a “no” personally. As mentioned before, rejection is not about you; it is about their timing or state of mind. In these situations, treat each call as an experiment. Did you learn something about that type of prospect? Did you spot a pattern? This mindset shift can turn rejection into useful feedback instead of a confidence blow.
Secondly, cold calling should not be turned into a numbers game. When you are constantly fixated on closing deals and meeting your pre-set quota, it can be easy to feel deflated. Instead, focus on goals that you can control. For example, focus on the number of dials you made, the number of quality conversations you achieved, or the information you have gathered throughout the day. Celebrating the micro-wins instead of putting all your emphasis on the huge achievements can help you to reframe your mindset to a more positive outlook, instead of beating yourself up over things you cannot control.
Next, it is important that you are able to manage your fight or flight responses. When your brain feels threatened by rejection, it is in our human instinct to respond with fight or flight. You may feel like you start to talk too fast and ramble on, or you might feel like all of your cognitive functions completely shut down. To combat this, it is important to calm down your nervous system. Try to remember to take a deep breath before each call in order to calm down your physical systems. Smiling is also a useful tactic to remember, as this physically relaxes you and makes your voice warmer. Another tactic is standing up or walking while you talk. Incorporating movement can naturally lower your stress levels, making it easier to land those meetings.
Lastly, start to incorporate pre-call anchoring rituals into your daily routine to subconsciously trick your mind into performing with confidence every time you pick up the phone. In sports, the highest performing athletes create routines that help to trigger confidence and success. There are a lot of ways to start implementing this. For example, take 30 seconds to visualise a successful call before you pick up the phone.
Tools like this eventually start to condition your brain to associate the start of a cold call with positive energy instead of dread. In the end, your mindset is just as important as your script. By understanding your own psychological triggers and building habits to manage them, you start to make your calls less stressful and more productive.
Ultimately, cold calling is not just about the words you use or the script you have formulated. It is about understanding the psychology behind the way people think and react in order to protect themselves. It is also about mastering your own psyche. By shifting your mindset, you can start turning your objections into opportunities. Cold calling is an art that takes repetition and reflection, and the more you start to understand the psychology behind it all, the more likely you are to turn a cold lead into a real relationship.