proaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then

Traditional telephone selling, telemarketing, telephone soliciting, lead generation, prospecting, appointment setting, or whatever else you want to label it has been called a “spray-and-pray” communication methodology.

The idea is to spray out a number of features and benefits and hope some of them will “stick.” Sooner or later the listener will hear something he or she likes and can relate to.

As you can imagine, this approach has been criticized as inefficient, ineffective, and annoying, among other things. Who wants to listen passively while someone else dominates the proceedings?

I have been so disappointed in traditional telephone selling that I have crafted an entirely different style that I call, "The New Telemarketing™. It creates easygoing conversations with prospects while getting them to comfortably disclose their wants and needs. It even gets them to close themselves, which is a neat trick.

Still, we can overdo the amount of participation we require on the part of buyers and create more problems than we solve. Specifically, we should avoid asking too many questions up-front, particularly during cold calls.

People don’t know you well enough to comfortably share their deepest motivations. After all, you could be a competitor that is simply trying to benchmark their call handling, for all they know.

A better way of approaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then

er will hear something he or she likes and can relate to.

As you can imagine, this approach has been criticized as inefficient, ineffective, and annoying, among other things. Who wants to listen passively while someone else dominates the proceedings?

I have been so disappointed in traditional telephone selling that I have crafted an entirely different style that I call, "The New Telemarketing™. It creates easygoing conversations with prospects while getting them to comfortably disclose their wants and needs. It even gets them to close themselves, which is a neat trick.

Still, we can overdo the amount of participation we require on the part of buyers and create more problems than we solve. Specifically, we should avoid asking too many questions up-front, particularly during cold calls.

People don’t know you well enough to comfortably share their deepest motivations. After all, you could be a competitor that is simply trying to benchmark their call handling, for all they know.

A better way of approaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then

entirely different style that I call, "The New Telemarketing™. It creates easygoing conversations with prospects while getting them to comfortably disclose their wants and needs. It even gets them to close themselves, which is a neat trick.

Still, we can overdo the amount of participation we require on the part of buyers and create more problems than we solve. Specifically, we should avoid asking too many questions up-front, particularly during cold calls.

People don’t know you well enough to comfortably share their deepest motivations. After all, you could be a competitor that is simply trying to benchmark their call handling, for all they know.

A better way of approaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then

problems than we solve. Specifically, we should avoid asking too many questions up-front, particularly during cold calls.

People don’t know you well enough to comfortably share their deepest motivations. After all, you could be a competitor that is simply trying to benchmark their call handling, for all they know.

A better way of approaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then

proaching a conversation is to deliver a brief narrative about who you are, why you’re calling, and what you want from the listener.

For example, I’ve been doing a cold calling campaign where I get the right person on the line and say hello, mention my name and title, offer a super-brief explanation of why I’m doing calling them, and then I tell them what I have in mind for us to do together.

As long as this three-to-five sentence spiel is relaxed, informative, and customized to them; in other words, I’ve reached someone that has the power to green-light what I want, I get a generally respectful reception.

They’ll take over, asking a question or two, or requesting an email, and we’re on our way to collaborating in the style that "The New Telemarketing™ suggests.

But note, to earn the right to have a good, open give-and-take exchange, I have to first VOLUNTEER information, make it attractive, and only then can I expect to spawn participation and a buy-in to the conversation.

I don’t want a 2-way chat too soon, because if I force it, I’ll probably create misunderstanding and the sort of RUSH TO JUDGMENT that results in knee-jerk rejections and objections.

Needless to say, this overture needs to be written exceedingly well and it needs to be utterly succinct.

In my current cold calling campaign, for example, I greet them and then say “I’m Dr. Gary Goodman” and my organizational affiliation.

Purposely, I DON’T tell them I’m a consultant to the Fortune 1000, a best-selling author, an international speaker, or a frequent guest and co-host on radio. I just give them enough to make me CREDIBLE and to justify listening to my story so I can comfortably get to what