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Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today what I want us to look at is I want us to look at some different approaches for how you can start a cold call before we continue. Apologies because I'm making today's recording outside. So you hear some traffic in the background. It's a weekend, kids are cat kissing classes. And so you want to hear some children running about in the background, you know, people having conversations, you know,
that sort of thing. So OK, now to the topic. Today, we're going to look at different ways for starting a cold call when you're doing your business outreach. Now for those of you who are listening to the podcast for the first time, we're going to define a couple of terms. Well, by the way, if you're listening to the broadcast for the first time, my name is Tavishma Ayede. I'm a former lawyer turned the business consultant.
And yes, this is a Nigerian podcast. No, I'm not Ghanaian. No, I'm not half German, half Irish, half nothing, full blooded Nigerian. This is a business podcast where we solve business problems, especially from the sales perspective. Sometimes we talk about marketing. But anyway, Tricia, what we do over here, business goodness, solving business problems. And the problem that we're solving today is that people who are trying to grow their businesses by making phone calls to total strangers and they don't start the conversation out right.
So there is a OK, I was going to say a right way and then the wrong way. OK, I won't say there's a right way and there's a wrong way because when we're talking about sales, we have methods, principles, tactics, frameworks that are more effective given a a particular circumstance and least effective. So we should always be trying to look for what is most effective for our contexts, our business, our industry, the kind of customers we have, things like that.
We should always be looking for the most appropriate methods and some of you are trying to start conversations with potential customers in ways that are not effective. So let's define a couple of terms for those of you who are discovering the show for the first time. Now, one of the things, one of the words that I used was outreach. Now outreach just means any kind of activity, any kind of philosophy, any kind of strategy, any kind of one thing,
one thing that you're trying to do that forces you to reach out to customers. That is why it is called out reach because now you, they reach out. Now cold calling is a form of business outreach because now you they take the initiative to reach out. Now cold calling is when you call someone, then this person that you're calling you people have no prior context, no prior relationship, no prior knowledge of each other. So you that you're calling this person, you don't know this other person, not in Gomona before, you will have not met.
You don't know about each other. You people are total strangers, 100% strangers. If you cross yourself in public, you will not even know that you are crossing the person. That is a cold call. As in you people do not know yourself at all, at all, at all. Nothing that is a cold call. Some of you say, is that a good way to drum up business? Well, I understand that some of you will be afraid you might know how to try it. But honestly speaking, let's let's be real, at some point,
everybody is a stranger. Your best customer of today who is like your party reason it think, try and remember in the beginning people are just strangers 100%. So it's not for everybody. I believe that everybody can do it. But anyway, everybody can do it. Let me just let me just put it that way, whether it is right for you now no, at, at this particular stage of your business, no problem. But let's now talk to the people who are actually trying to trying to do that.
Now, the reason why we're tackling this today is because somebody just called me now, now, now, now, now as in like 5 minutes ago, as soon as the conversation ended, I said, no, let me know overtink this thing. If I overtink it, let me come and drop an outline, make it a proper podcast episode. You know, I'll forget. So now, now, now. So I said, let me just make this broadcast episode. So the guy called, I was just chilling right here in the parking lot waiting for my kids to finish.
Cat is next thing. My phone rang Po po, I look strange number. I don't have it. And then of course, you know, I'm in business now. So me, I'm always looking for money. So anytime I see a strange number, I answer. By the way, for those of you who are in business who don't answer strange numbers and you don't call numbers back, like what is wrong with you people? How are you going to make money? The reason why this thing is vexing me now is because one of my clients is looking for salespeople.
So some people have applied to be salespeople, and then I'm helping the guy trying to sort through candidates. So once in a while, you know, I call somebody, they don't answer the phone. I send a text message. And I just realized I come, it's been like two or three days. This person didn't call me back. I'm like, are these people serious? You call yourself a professional salesperson. You see a strange number on your phone.
You don't call the person back. Come on now. Somebody might be looking for you to give you money. You're in business, you're in sale. Any strange number, call the person back. If the person turns out to be a scammer, block the person. That's what you do. But call everybody back. It's it's it's, it is ridiculous that some of you think you're business people or that you're professional salespeople. You see a strange number, you won't call the person back.
If I do give me some situations where like I said, I call, they don't answer and then I leave a text message because it's my default. I always leave a text message. So you even know that this person that was calling you is calling you concerning job opportunity and then you don't call the person back. Do you think just Kai? The thing blows my, it blows my mind, blows my brain. Like I'm confused. I'm confused. You say you're a salesperson,
you're looking for work. You don't even know how to return phone calls. Anyway, I now understand why people in human resources complain all the time. You know people in human resources, they're the ones who will typically handle the interview process, whatever a company is trying to recruit. So now I understand why human, human resource professionals, then they shout, then they shout to complain, complain, complain that the quality of Labor force in Nigeria is low.
I'm beginning to see why they are complaining because somebody's applying for sales job. The person doesn't even know how to return phone call. Anyway, how did I get here? And I get here, so just chilling in the car now. So po po answer the phone. I said hello. The person said this is AIAD film or photography. And then I said yes, because like I said, I'm always looking for money now. I don't look for photography jobs anymore.
Yes, I know. I said I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant, but for a while I was in the events, in the events space. So photography, video, stuff like that. Now I have shut down that company, you know, deleted the websites, destroyed the social, like I've deleted everything. But you know, once your information is out on Google, it's not you can take it down. I can't tell Google. Hey Google, every single thing that says I hate a film and photography, please take that down.
This business is no longer functioning. So The thing is still up there. So the guy called me says I hate a film and photography. I say yes. The reason why I say yes is because you never know. Somebody might be somebody, you know, it might be a job that might give me millions, you understand, Because some people want to do documentary and when it's time, when it's documentary, you charge, you charge them well. So I say yes and I say yes.
How can I help? And then he said, I've noticed that you don't have many reviews on Google. Do you have a website? So anyway, since I'm in sales, I decided to go straight to the chase. So I said no, I don't have a website. Are you selling websites, Web design services? He said yes. So I said thank you very much, I'm not interested. He said, oh, oh, OK, OK. Then he caught the call. So we have to give these boys some marks because first of all,
he's going around and the guy is making phone calls, so that's good. Eventually he will call somebody who is interested. So it's good that he's doing it. But The thing is, if you're going to engage in this kind of activity, you need to do it in a way that will increase the odds that you will be successful. So I've spoken about on the podcast lots of times about how you need to do your research right before you reach out to people.
Now, even though there's no website, there's no Instagram, there's no Facebook, there's no nothing. If the guy had looked at the Google My Business profile where he found my details, the guy would have seen that I have not updated a single photo, not a single one photo in the last like 10 years. Now reason should kind of let you know that if somebody has not updated their something in the last 10 years, it might be reasonable to understand that maybe they're not in business anymore.
At least that's what the average Nigerian things. Because I remember like my wife for instance, whenever we're trying to buy stuff for the kids, I'm like, oh, this one looks good. Call. This person should say no, I won't call this person. I say why say the person hasn't updated their Instagram in the last three months? Maybe it means maybe they're out of business. I say, is it that they're out of business or they're lazy?
She said, no, leave me, I'm not calling. So because, you know, I know that, well, things can be one kind, one kind. It doesn't mean that they're out of business. But the average person just assumes that, OK, this person has updated in six months, this person is out of business. So chances are you're doing cold calling. You're trying to see if somebody's interested in your product or service, but the person hasn't done anything in the last decade to indicate that they might be interested in your product or service.
Please, my brother, I do not think that this might be the person to call to try and sell your market. So small research small. You don't just use a web crawler. Sorry. Web crawler. Yeah, crawler. You know, because I've been having some tech clients these days and all these tech boys like you all are crazy. You come up with some script, you come up with some something, the thing just goes and crawls the Internet and then you just be getting people's names and people's phone numbers and addresses and occupation.
And I say hi all this computer computer thing is wonderful. So why was I? So it's not just a matter of using web crawler. The web crawler comes and gives you 150 names and then you just assume that all those 150 names and phone numbers are good and then you start calling. So First off, do proper research. So that's where the guy go. First of all, he has not been doing proper research and I know that I am not the only company that he's going to call this week, that the company is out of business or the company doesn't,
you know, he's not interested in this product or service. So that's the first thing. Then the second thing was how he led into the phone call. He said, oh, I've noticed that you don't have any reviews and I noticed that you don't have a website. Now news flash for those of you who are doing outreach by calling to reach out to people, when you call a total stranger, the stranger is thinking a couple of things. The stranger is thinking #1 now who be this?
Who is this guy or who is this babe #2 how did this person get my phone number? And then #3 why the hell is this person calling me? I repeat, whether you're in America, in the UK, in Australia, in Afghanistan, in Iran, in Mogadishu, in wherever you call somebody and the person sees strange number, the person answers, The person is thinking any of 1-2, three things. Number one, who is this guy #2 how did they get my phone number #3 why are they calling me?
Any way that you start the conversation that does not involve answering any of these questions, you are wrong. You are losing the plot and you are getting people to be impatient. Now, because I am in sales, you know, it's not a problem. I took the initiative and I just asked the guy straight up. She been a web design with the cell. The guy said, yes, that's OK, thank you very much. I'm not interested. And then he just said, oh, oh,
oh. And then I said thank you very much, Enjoy the rest of your day. And then I caught the call. The guy didn't even think of a dismount. He thought of how he would start the conversation. He didn't think of how he would finish the conversation. In fact, that is step #2 if you're going to be doing business outreach, you suppose you reason the whole step from start to finish. This is how I start the call. This is how I carry the conversation.
This is how I end the call. You suppose, get some rudimentary plans. How are you going to end the call? The guy didn't think, you know, he the guy didn't think like, OK, if somebody's not interested, how do I end the call? What do I do next? See, that's the reason why for those of you who listen to this podcast regularly, that is the reason why I'm always giving you this playbook for when people are not interested you.
Thank you very much. Next thing, you ask for a referral. OK, since you're not interested, do you know anybody, any photographer, anybody who is still in the game who might need web design services? You ask if the person say yes, good, then we'll try and say we can get that phone number. If the person says no, we say thank you very much for your time. Then that is the stage where you now say if you're face to face that, OK, you leave your flyer or you leave your business card,
or, you know, you do this, you do this, you do. I mean, shall you leave something? Because you never know because really, really, really, you never know. Sometimes somebody collects a flyer and then circumstances change and then they call you up and they're interested. You never know. And then you say thank you very much, you enjoy the rest of your day and then you end it there. So there's a reason why I say I use this basic, this rudimentary script when I'm giving an example over here on the podcast is because I don't want any of you to be in that situation where you go to talk to somebody, the person says, no,
I'm not interested. And then you're left in the situation where you say, oh, no, no, no, no, no. We're professionals here. So you don't have to agree with my own what I have suggested, but you need to have your own dismount. You understand? Then you practice it in your role plays so that The thing is stuck in your brain. So you're never in that situation where somebody says not interested and then you're like, we're sales professionals here, we're business people.
We should never be in no, we should never be in a situation. No, no, we think things through. We plan ahead small. OK, so where was I? Where was I? So have an idea for how you want this conversation to flow, then let's see. I've lost my train of thoughts. OK, so he started off by saying I've noticed you don't have many reviews and I noticed you don't have a website. Then I'm the one who got straight to the chase. OK, now since he did not start off by answering either of these questions, who is he?
How did he get my number or why is he calling? In fact, let's rewind a bit in this kind of situation. Now, since you are selling something, it might not be a bad idea to say my name is Chukwudi Hai Natural. I got your number from a business directory online. And the reason why I'm calling is you understand, you see now you see how the team flow, right? My name is, by the way, for me, I tell people that people are not really interested in your name.
So there's no point in saying your name. But The thing is why in Nigeria, and it's like since primary school, we have always been taught to introduce ourselves. So you can't stop in Nigeria from saying my name is what left Tunisia. Scrap the my name is I'll prefer you just head straight to the point. Hello, is this Hello, is this. Let me see what name should I use now? Genevieve. Hello, is this Genevieve Okorafor? Yes.
Who is speaking? I got your number from an online business directory. And the reason why I'm calling is because blah blah blah. See straight because right now they don't care that your name is Kingsley Henetraw and you're calling from Model Model Enterprises Limited. They don't care that your name is Kingsley Henadro. They have never heard of Mode Mode Enterprises. They don't care. So cut out the my name is and the whatever and just go straight to it.
I got your number from a business directory online. And the reason why I'm calling is because then you slide into it or if you got your number, their number from somebody else. Good, because that's also another mistake people make in cold outreach. You get your number from somebody you call, you get number from someone else, you call the the person as a referral and you don't even bother to state. And then you wonder why the conversation gets off to a cold start.
If you got the number as a referral, state it. You call somebody and you say hello, is this Genevieve or or Karacha say yes. Who is he speaking? So Madam, I got your number from your classmate Tina here. Natural. Oh, Tina I've spoken to in like 1 year. How is she? Tina is fine. Martina is very, very fine. OK, so how can I help you? You see, it was a referral you got the number from somebody else stated. But I hope you guys are beginning to get the gist that you call somebody who's a total stranger for the first time.
Really, you're trying to answer these questions in the first few seconds. Who are you? How did you get my number? Why are you calling me? If you ask my own preference? There's no need to state your name and state your company. If it's a referral, make sure you include the referral name there, the person who gave the phone number, so that the conversation will be off to a nice warm start. Because think of it, let's say you're calling me for the first time.
We're total strangers. And let's say it's my wife who gave you the phone number. All right? And then the moment you call, I say hello, Who is this? So, Oh, sorry, Sir, I got your number from I got a number from your wife. She's actually I call you concerning blah, blah, blah. I might do calm down because it's my sweetie that gave you my phone number or one of my classmates or my brother or maybe a chairman that I respect in church or you know, something like that.
You know, so you just made the conversation or calm. All right, now back to the beginning. If you're not going to start off by saying by answering those questions, who are you? Why are you calling? How did you get my phone number? If you're not going to answer those questions, I want to go straight to the issue. No problem. Don't scare the issue in this case, this whole thing of I noticed that you don't have review. I noticed that you don't have website.
Go straight to the matter. One way of doing it. There are lots of ways. Well, let me just talk about two ways that I tell lots of my clients because I think they're easy to do, you know, not too not too fancy. So one way is just trying to figure out straight up if they're interested. If they're interested, we'll try and continue the conversation. If they're not interested, then remember the dismounts that I taught you guys.
It will be a simple matter of thank you very much for your time. Do you know anybody else who's interested in XYZ person will either say yes or the person will say no. If they say yes, they say OK, can I get a phone number please? If they say no, Thank you very much, Ma. Thank you very much for your time. I like OK, this is phone call. I mean, OK, So you say OK, thank you very much for your time, Ma. I hope you don't mind.
I'm going to send you a link to our website just in case you happen to know someone in the future who might be interested in so, so, so and so or in case you change your mind. Of course the person will say yes. Then you now end the call. That's how it is Mount. So First off, we need to figure out if they are interested. So in this case, it would be a matter of hello, is this IED film or photography? Yes, this is your name please.
And how can I help? My name is Kingsley NHR and I'm calling from so to so and so and so web design services. The reason why I'm calling is honored to know if you're interested in having a website for your business, you can see that that one is straight to the point. I know some of you might think it's too abrupt and I put it so you might think it's too abrupt to one kind. But how I put it, this is business and I think people appreciate it when when when somebody cuts, when they cut to the chase, when you're going around around, around, around,
around, you're making the other person more annoyed and you're making the person more tense. Like, OK, who is this wise person calling? Because I've seen some people do that. Hello, is this also? And so yes, this is who am I speaking with? Oh, my name is Chukudi here. Nature. I'm calling from mode mode web design services. Happy New year, Ma. I hope everything is going all well with the family. Like I've told you, like I don't like put it the Madam you're calling or the guy that you're calling when you get them on the phone, the primary concern is who is this person?
How did they get my phone number? Why are you calling? By the time you move into that whole happy new week, happy new month. I hope the family is doing OK. You Nah, that's not it. So interest. Hello, Kinkley here. Nature mode mode web design services. The reason why I'm calling is I was wondering if you're interested in having a website design for your business. Ma'am. That's it. They're either interested or they're not.
We'll be able to block the conversation from there. You figure out your dismount so that if they say we're not interested, you will now know how you will. You know when you say dismount, you know, like when you're, when you're driving bicycle or driving or kada or riding a horse, you know, you mount, you jump on, then dismount, you jump off. So you need to figure out your dismount from the conversation. So, yeah, so that's one.
Just go straight. Are you interested in XYZ now? The second one is the Challenger approach. Now the Challenger approach, the Challenger sale based on the book, I can't remember the guy that wrote it. You know what, I should make a podcast episode on Challenger sale. Now the idea behind the Challenger approach is when you're in front of a prospective customer, in front of a prospective client, what you do is you use insights to lead the conversation.
And the insights that you drop are supposed to generate interest in the person that you're talking to. So let me repeat, the whole point of the of the Challenger sale method is you are supposed to start off the conversation by giving some deep insights so that when the person hears it, the person black. OK, OK, OK. And then the person will start thinking and that's how the conversation will continue. So like now in this case, your name is Kingsley here Natural.
By the way, I just made that name up because I think the name here, Natural is the coolest IBO name I've heard because I never heard it when I was a kid and I heard it recently. I'm like natural natural because I've heard of you know, if I and you know all the Chuku names and you know, I've not heard of an ihe name before Ihe natural. I think it's good. I should even find out the meanings of let me not be calling the name that the meaning is a bad meaning, you understand, because there's some names like that.
OK, so challengers here will now be more like any insights that you've gained in running your business. So like this guy now Kingsley in Azure, let's say he's been in web design for the last lesson like 15 years. And let's say that for the last 15 years, he has specialized in making websites for for photographers and maybe for graphic designers. And let us say he has noticed that of all the clients that he has been serving in the last 1520 years that most of them are able to double their profits within nine months.
Now you see that is insight that he has. So that's how you start off the call. So hello, my name is Kingsley here nature from mode mode web design services. How? OK, how will I slide now? So my name is Kingsley here nature from mode mode Web design services. The reason why I'm calling is most people in your profession and some of the happiest clients that I've worked with over the last 20 years have noticed that by implementing.
Sorry about the noise in the background. Hold on, let me just pause until they leave. OK, Sorry about that. I'm back Some IBO boys who are power right next to me and they are talking very loudly and you know now when IBO boys when they they young, they can get very loud. So those know how I was going to be able to sharp more than sharp more than them. You know, they would have corrupted the audio. And of course, you know that when able boys are gisting and their gist can be very sweet.
So for those of you who understand Ebo is of listening to my voice. You'll now be listening to the gist that they're having in the background. So that's why I pause the recording. All right, so I was I challenge yourself leading with insights. So hello, my name is Kingsley Henna from model model web design services. The reason why I'm calling today, Sir, is because I've noticed that clients have noticed that customers like you who come up with a good web design strategy for the business can double their profits in as little as nine months.
Is that something you would be interested in learning more about? So you can see that in this case, you are starting with an insight or you're starting with a benefit that might end up piquing the curiosity, catching the curiosity of the person that you're calling. Because some people, maybe some people just think about websites like and a website, you know, they've not really thought much about it. But then for those kinds of people when they're now here,
double profit in nine months is the kind of thing that can peak catch somebody's curiosity, security curiosity. Sorry, forgive me. So that is much more the Challenger, Challenger still approach. Yeah, starting off with insights. And then there's also another approach. OK, I combine the two of them together, either starting the conversation off with insights or starting the conversations with, with your, your USB, your unique selling proposition or the main benefits.
The main reason why people do business with with you. OK, what I did was I combined 2 methods into one, but actually they're separate methods #1 start with an insight or then #2 start with the chief benefit that somebody's going to enjoy if they end up doing business with you. And the whole point is, I was supposed we're trying to spark interest. So it's close to 30 minutes. So I think I'll just bring today's episode to a close.
But I hope I've been able to bring you guys up to speed. Those of you who want to try cold calling, by the way, I think everybody should try cold calling. At least just try it. Try see whether you like it or not, see whether it's effective or not. You might never know. But the reason why I say everybody should try these kinds of outreach methods that involve you putting yourself out there is because when you do this kind of outreach, you learn some some good, good skills that come in handy later on.
So if you're the shy type and you try this kind of thing and you receive some bass bills, you know, from customer and it will help later on when you become a pastor or later on when you become an imam or later on when you become a politician or later on when you're running for governor or you know, whatever. All the ways that these kinds of outreach forces you to stretch yourselves. You're learning new skills. You're learning ways of applying your house in different situations and they think will help.
That is the reason why when people call me and they say, Tavi Shimmer, come and be our president. That's the reason why I'm going to have a very, very good campaign because I've been practicing because I've been talking to strangers because people have shouted to me on, you know, over the phone before you know, I've had to check myself that OK, how do I start this conversation? Where did I form I go recover. You know, you get it.
Well, by the way, when they call me to run for president, I hope you're going to vote for me. You will listen to this podcast. You are better vote for me. I'm giving you all this free advice and then when I'm running for president, you will vote for me. Yeah. If not because I'm a Christian for. So just vote for me when the time comes. Where was that? So yeah, I've been able, I hope I've been able to convince you guys and not confuse you guys that cold outreach.
It's not a bad idea. You can reach out to strangers. But when you're reaching out to strangers, Please remember that the main thing is people don't know who you are, why you're calling, how you got the number. So get straight to the point and I'll start your conversation by answering those three main questions, who you are, how you got the phone number and why you're calling or just trying to figure out straight up if they're interested.
If they're not interested, let them be. Drop your brochure, drop your website, drop your phone number, drop your whatever, and then thank them for their day and then move on. Or you can start off the conversation using the USP. The reason why I'm calling is because I've been able to help my happiest customers in 2025 triple their business in as many as six months. Would you be interested in learning how we do that? You see, you're catching somebody's interest or you're starting off with some insights.
The reason why I'm calling is because most businesses in your situation find that when they implement A robust website strategy, they're able to grow their business. We able to double their business within nine months. Have you heard of that before? Is that something you're willing to hear about? Would you be curious to see how this can apply to your business? You know, something like that? So these are much more productive ways of having or starting the cold call.
So that's it and that is all. If you want to use cold calls as a way of growing your business, then feel free, reach out to me. You can call, send me a text message or send me a WhatsApp message on 08064 662140 and let's have a chat. Perhaps you're already doing cold outreach, whether you're sending cold emails or you're, or you're sending cold, making cold calls, cold phone calls, or maybe you're even showing up in people's houses.
You know, we're from estates door to door to knock and to talk about your service. And yes, people do that because in my old house, somebody came, sorry, not my old, I don't have a house. I mean, like, you know, I'm a renter for now. So in the last place I stayed, somebody came there to sell fiber optic services, Internet, fireball optics. And then currently where we stay now, somebody also came to do fiber optics, but the guy didn't meet me in the house.
So he dropped a, a, a letter just in front of the door. So people still try to grow up their business like that. So you're pursuing any one of these strategies and they're not, they'd also be working out for you. Call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140. Let's have a chat. Let's see how we can improve your strategy and get you more effective. If you they fear because you think I sound, I sound expensive.
Maybe you think base in my mouth is too much. Maybe you think I'm used to collecting thousands of dollars and dollars of dollars. Don't worry, I don't charge in dollars yet and I'm not going to charge thousands of dollars yet. I'm still on the come up. So you're lucky you're going to catch me at this point where my price is still very, very reasonable. However, I'm OK with giving free coaching and free advice. So if that's what you want, let me know in the first phone call or let me know in the first message that you're looking for free coaching, free advice.
That's not a problem. In that case, I will answer one question only. So I think very hard and fast about what you want your one question to be. So in the process of answering one question, if you want us to now start delving into other issues, then we'll not have to schedule a consulting, proper consulting session, whether hourly session, whether daily session, whether weekly session, whether monthly session, whether quarterly session.
We'll have to start discussing something. Because no, Yoruba people say that when the handshake starts reaching the elbow that there's a problem. So I said I want to answer one question. That's the handshake. When the handshake is now reaching the elbow, when you don't begin the overstretch, your limits will be a matter of you know, guy. But I told you now, we suppose negotiate something and then we'll get to the negotiation stage anyway.
Yeah, reach out, even if you just want to say hello. I like hearing from people who say hello. I love the podcast. I find it useful. Yeah, even that conversation will be nice as well. So thank you very much for listening. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you all some other time and enjoy the rest of your weekend, if you still happen to be during your weekend. All right.