Cold Call Champions: The Winning Scripts

Editor’s Note: See Bill Good’s articles on cold calling from September, October and November.

This is the fourth and final article in my series on cold calling. In previous articles, I promised my readers “Send me your cold calling scripts. I will pick the best.”

You did, and I did. 

I received 61 scripts. I chose four. It’s easy to see why so many people are having such a hard time. I rejected many scripts as too general, too long and boring. The ones I chose were specific, with unique offers, and interesting.

I have changed all of the identifying information so as not to alert local competitors. Without further ado, the winning scripts are: 

Cold Walk/Warm Call

This approach—and it’s not just the script as the author notes—is my favorite. Comment from the script author: “Hi Bill—I read your article today from Research. I’ve attached my BEST cold calling script. It has worked in generating dozens of solid opportunities and 6 new clients in the past 6 months—transferring a total of about $6 million in assets to me. It’s actually a follow-up script to a physical cold call that I make the day before. Most of the time, I have to follow up with a phone call because the person I am trying to contact is out, won’t see me, on the phone, etc. I think it’s the overall approach, not the script itself that helps prospects listen to what I have to offer, but I’ve had a lot of success with the script.”

Hi, ______. This is Roberta Loblaw with Reliable Securities. 

I stopped by yesterday to drop off an article for you that I wrote about the retirement plan fee disclosures that came out earlier this summer. 

Something that I talk about in the article that has been very helpful for my clients, and that I thought might be helpful for you is running a comparison analysis of your retirement plan fees. This analysis will compare your costs side-by-side with thousands of other plans like yours, to help you see whether or not your costs are fair in a very clear, concise way. 

Would you be interested in sitting down together for 30 minutes to find out how competitive your costs are, and more importantly, see if there is an opportunity to drive down the cost of your retirement plan? 

Voice Mail Message: My phone number is 222-333-4444. This is Roberta Loblaw. I stopped by yesterday to drop off an article for you that I wrote about the retirement plan fee disclosures that came out earlier this summer. 

If you would like to do your due diligence, and look a little deeper at your plan costs, I have some time available on _______.

If that day would be good for you, or if another time would be better, you can reach me at 222-333-4444. 

Again this is Roberta Loblaw with Reliable Securities, 222-333-4444. Thanks, ____. Have a great day! 

I rewrote her VM message slightly by putting her phone number at the very beginning. When you leave a VM, immediately state your phone number. Your client or prospect will scramble for pen and paper. You have their attention.

I completely agree with Roberta. It is the overall approach. It’s a complete thing.

Let’s look at the pieces of this: (1) An article she wrote. How hard is it to get an article published somewhere? Not. (2) Personal visit. She’s obviously done some serious work on her list. If I were doing it, I would order a list of small business owners and then pull them into a mapping program like Microsoft Streets and Trips. I would be able to plan an effective route that way. (3) Unique offer: comparative analysis of retirement plan fees. I’ve never heard of that. (4) Follow-up phone call.

What Roberta has done is tackle the toughest way to generate new business today: the cold walk followed by a slightly warmed call. 

Company Employee Script

I don’t have any stats on this one, but I like it, and since I’m the committee selecting the scripts, my one vote carried the election.

Hi (Prospect), my name is Bob Loblaw.

I’m with Reliable Securities. We’re a financial advisory firm based in City, independent & unaffiliated with Bigg Company. We’ve been helping Bigg employees put together independent and comprehensive retirement plans to go alongside what they currently have at Bigg. I’m actually going to be at your office next week, and will be meeting with employees. So I just wanted to extend that invitation out to you so that we may meet and go over the services we provide. Would you be available at (Time) on (Day) next week for about 15 minutes?

Comment: On its own, this script is OK. Combined with a list of company employees, the script and list is a powerful unit. If the FA who wrote it and developed the list really does have people in Bigg Company who will vouch for him, I could see some serious success with this approach.