Do Not Fear The Cold Call
By JD Esajian on February 12, 2016
As a real estate investor, you need to go out and get deals. One of the best ways to do this is by cold calling. The sheer mention of these words often sends people into cold sweats. While cold calling may not be the most comfortable thing to do it, doesn’t have to be complete torture either. Instead of avoiding them at all cost, you should learn to embrace them. Like almost anything else you do in business and in life, the more you do something the more comfortable it becomes. After a week of cold calling, your fear will be gone and you can focus on productivity. Before you pick up the phone to cold call, there are a few things that you should know. These five steps will help any cold call campaign be much more successful.
- Pick Your Targets Wisely. Cold calling just for the sake of picking up the phone is not a great idea. Not only will your results be poor but you may end up giving yourself a bad reputation. Before you start any campaign, focus on who you are trying to reach. Spending an extra few weeks to get specific targeted lists is worth it. Pulling numbers out of the phonebook is a waste of time. However, calling a list of distressed homeowners is worth whatever the additional expense may be. In addition to your targets, you also want to have a goal. Are you calling to secure another meeting or are you calling to close the deal? There is a huge difference in the approach you take based on your goals. Never rush into any cold call campaign whether you are looking to find a hard money lender, distressed owner, or potential business partner.
- Use A Script. Human physiology can be a fascinating thing at times. Many people, in every business, are uneasy talking to people on the phone. Mind you, they are not speaking to a large crowd of hundreds, but speaking in a comfortable place over the telephone. If you are one of those people who gets uncomfortable, you should utilize a script. You don’t have to read the script line by line, but have an idea of what you want to say. Your conversation should have a certain flow and order to it. It is important to keep your conversation just that – a conversation. You don’t let either side to do a majority of the talking. Have a prepared list of questions you need to ask and items you want answered. This will probably sound very choppy the first few times you say it, but the more you do it the more comfortable you will become. In time, you can just pick up the phone and talk from experience. Until you get to that point, you should use a script.
- Prepare For Questions. We live in a world where people are skeptical every time they meet someone. There is a general feeling that people are out to get them. The best way to combat this is to be prepared to answer any and all questions that come your way. Before you pick up the phone, you should put yourself on the other end of the dial. Think about what questions you would have if the roles were reversed. The more prepared you are to answer these, the more favorably you’ll appear. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to answer every question that comes your way. If you don’t know something or exactly how it works, there is nothing wrong with saying that. You will gain much more trust by saying that you don’t know as opposed to giving a long, rambling answer about nothing. You will be judged not only on what you say, but also how you say it. Prepare for anything and everything that might come your way.
- Focus On The Other End Of The Phone. Whoever you are on the phone with, you need to make the conversation about them. No distressed homeowner wants to hear about how many deals you have closed. That may be something you tell a hard money lender, but even that should be something that you volunteer only when asked. You want to make the conversation all about whoever you are talking to and what you can do for them. You want to be a problem solver and someone who can do the job right. You will get a sense early on in the conversation which way it is going. From there, you need to bring it back to them and how you can help.
- Set A Follow Up Meeting. Very few deals or partnerships are consummated in the initial phone call. In most cases, it takes several follow ups to make it happen. As you are winding down your initial call, you need to think about a specific follow up time and date. If you don’t have a date in mind, you may never hear from them again. Be ready with a handful of specific dates when you would like to meet with them in person. If a handful of your dates are rejected, you can get the sense that they may not be a good fit for you. Follow up again by phone but don’t make them a high priority. The people that accept a specific date are serious about at least hearing more what you have to say. This is really the goal of the first phone call.
Cold calls don’t have to be an excruciating experience. If you go into them with the right mindset and the right amount of preparation, you will be fine. Your first few calls may not go as planned, but the more people you talk to, the easier it will become.