How to Trigger Positive Cold Calling Responses
to Achieve Sales Objectives

By Steve Martinez

What I enjoyed about making cold calls was the challenge of gathering information. At one point in my sales career, I was selling copiers so cold calling was part of the job. What I learned during that period has helped me immensely. The goal of every contact was to learn something from each door you pushed open. Gathering reliable information is always the goal. Learning to heighten my comfort level, elevate my listening skills and become more observant was the key to my success. These skills helped to recognize when someone wasn’t telling me the raw truth. Human behavior doesn’t change all that much which is why receptionist are easy to read and good readers of salespeople.

Be advised that I don’t have a degree in human behavior, my education comes directly from making thousands of cold calls and observing what happens when we trigger the right or wrong response. What I learned was that the typical receptionist or anyone for that matter prefers to do what they enjoy doing.

Logic dictates that when anyone hires a receptionist as a representative of their company, they always hire a friendly personality. This individual therefore has a preference to be helpful and tell the truth. Understanding this fact changed the way I made cold calls. My initial role in cold calling either on the telephone or in person is to trigger the friendly helpful response. I want to draw out this friendly person, NOT the protector.

If I was to act like or look similar to a salesperson, what do you think happens? In a split second they recognize me for who I am. So, they lie to me and protect their co-workers. They lie because I awaken the wrong person. I awaken the protector mode the receptionist must perform when they recognize an opponent. We are the opponent when we are in sales. The secret to success is to trigger the friendly, helpful response.

It is amazingly easy to trigger this mental switch. All I have to do is act like a person who needs help. Once accomplished, I get all the help I need. The receptionist is like putty in my hand. The manner in which questions are asked and the need for help makes a huge difference.

When I first started cold calling, the receptionist had the advantage the minute I told them who I was and where I was from. It was the tell tale sign of a salesperson. I wised up and stopped doing this. Instead I changed my pattern and began asking for help and appearing as if I was lost. This began my success pattern and triggered the preferred response. What was amazing was the ability to walk into a location and never tell them whom I was or where I was from but still learn what I wanted to know when I walked out the door. This knowledge made sales a fun game and changed the way I discovered opportunities.