If you haven't read it yet, you should probably read my tip on Getting In now, because it explains a key piece of the puzzle related to doubling your cold-calling results – namely that your get-in methods will be determined by your prospects.

To double your cold-calling results, you must think in both strategic and tactical terms:

Strategic: Thirteen unique outcomes are likely to occur when cold-calling, and if you preplan the actions you will take based on each outcome, both the quantity of dials and appointments set will increase dramatically.  

Tactical: Once your outcome-based actions are preplanned, you can automate their implementation and thereby turn administration time into prospecting time, and convert shoppers into buyers.

By thinking ahead, creating a complete campaign around each likely cold-call outcome and automating the most likely administration tasks that will result from cold-calling, most salespeople can double both the short- and long-term success of their cold-calling efforts.

Strategic: Preplanning Your Actions

Anyone willing to pick up the phone and do some high-volume dialing will, eventually, experience all of the following outcomes:

1. AH – Auto-Attendant Hell – You reached an auto-attendant phone system that is so time-consuming and complicated that you can't get to your prospect in a reasonable amount of time.  
2. BR – Bad Record – Phone number is dead, prospect retired 18 years ago (I actually got that one once), etc.  
3. BS – Busy Signal  
4. DC – Don't Call – Prospect requests to be removed from your list. (Note: U.S. federal law requires you to honor this request.)  
5. GK – Gatekeeper – Executive assistant manages the entire call.  
6. HO – Handoff – Prospect or gatekeeper sends you to another executive at the company.  
7. LV – Left Voice-Mail – You left the prospect a voice-mail message.  
8. NA – No Answer – The phone rang and rang and rang and rang ...  
9. OD – Offer Declined – You actually reached the prospect but received a "No" to your offer.  
10. OU – Out Until – Someone told you, "She'll be out until next week Thursday" or "He'll be out until 3 p.m."  
11. SI – Send Information – Prospect asks for information to be sent via fax, e-mail or regular mail.
     
    (Note: I'm not talking about the "send information" blow-off, which is nothing more than a "No" in disguise. I'm talking about something like "Actually, Gill, your timing couldn't be better. That's a major issue for us right now, and we have a board meeting on this subject next week Tuesday. Is there any way you can send me something about that, so I can talk intelligently during our meeting?")  
12. VN – Voice-Mail Not – You ended up in the prospect's voice-mail, but you don't leave voice-mail messages when cold-calling, so you hung up.  
13. YH – Yes High – The prospect said "Yes" to your offer (indicating a high priority for you both), and you set an appointment.

If you want to double your cold-calling results, you must decide beforehand exactly what you will do for each of these outcomes, and create all the material you'll need to support your actions before you pick up the phone.

For example, for an "SI – Send Information" outcome, I will have already prepared the following. (Note: Every bit of this will be customized to the offer I'm giving, so the message is consistent.)

Executive Summary: A one- to two-page executive summary of the results my services produce, as well as the highlights of the processes I use to produce those results. This will be created in a form that can be faxed, attached to an e-mail or printed.

Fax Cover Sheet: A fax cover sheet containing all my contact information that is set up to merge with my database of prospects.  

E-mail Request: An e-mail message containing all my contact information that is set up to merge with my database of prospects.  

Regular-Mail Request: A business cover letter containing all my contact information that is set up to merge with my database of prospects.

I asked you to read Getting In, because, in many of these situations, such as "Don't Call," or, perhaps, "Auto-Attendant Hell," the appropriate action is to place the prospect into one of your other marketing processes as suggested in that tip.

Following this strategy keeps you from wasting time dialing numbers with no chance of getting in.

Tactical: Automating Your Administration Tasks

I use these two-letter codes to indicate the outcome of every call, because, that way, I can quickly determine which predefined process should be implemented next.

I use an Access database tool my partner created to do my dialing – it dials my phone, dates and time-stamps my activity and contains a call-result field in which I can enter my two-letter codes. This allows me to record my results in an electronic format I can use to do a mail merge for my follow-up.

Even if you use something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet, it will help reduce your administration time if you record your activity in an electronic format, because that will allow you to use a mail-merge function to produce much of what you must send as follow-up material.

For instance, immediately after my dialing session, I implement my follow-up administration tasks for the "SI – Send Information" outcomes. This would include the following:

Faxing And E-mailing Information: My fax response is a three-page Word document that is mail-merged to my Access database. Page one is the cover sheet, and pages two and three are the executive summary. (The e-mail version is a text e-mail message with a two-page Adobe Acrobat file.)

To automate the sending of faxes and e-mails to all prospects who requested them, I go through these steps:

1. Open the three-page Word document.  
2. Change the "select record" criteria so that only today's prospects who requested a fax are in the list.  
3. Merge the document to printer output.  
4. Change the selected printer from my desktop printer to my computer modem fax (this sends the three pages through my modem as individual faxes to each recipient).

I then do something similar with the e-mail merge, only I attach the two-page Adobe Acrobat document to the e-mail message.

Regardless of whether it's one prospect or 20, this is a simple process that results in a customized fax being sent to every prospect who wanted one, and an e-mail to those who preferred that method.

Mailing Information: Again, I use a mail merge to create the letters and executive summary I'll be sending, but in this case I actually print them on company letterhead. Then I use a similar mail-merge function to print mailing labels or envelopes, and the only thing left is to sign, stuff and place postage on what I'm sending.

Creating these documents beforehand and using mail-merge functionality to produce them cuts my admin time immensely and ensures that I don't drop the ball on any of the promises I made.

And since I have similar processes set up for every possible outcome that requires follow-up, I shorten my admin time and apply that time to dialing the phone.

Bottom line, if you want to double the results of your cold-calling efforts, you must create predefined strategies for every outcome, and then automate administration as much as you possibly can.

Next Steps

If you haven't done so yet, consider reading Chapter 8, Cold-Calls, of my book, "How To Build The [Your Name Here] Sales System," because it will give you some additional information and some ideas for methods you can use to increase results even further.