Best way to get meetings with prospects: be a human or be a shill?

Question

Our corporate team and sales leaders have been pushing this idea of leading with data and "good" questions on the phones.

I feel like most owners and c-level just find that annoying. They would think "who the hell are you to be asking me about how I run my business??"

I've always got most of my meetings via cold call and just being a normal human being - calm, talk slowly, a little self-deprecation, they know why I'm calling, and politely ask for the meeting.

I've never done well doing the method of "asking all these probing questions about their business, how are you managing x today? what impact does that have you?"

How do you get most of your meetings on the phones? Human being or a corporate shill? Am I missing out on something?

Accepted Answer

You can ask some of those questions without being a shill. Word it your own way and keep to your style as that seems to be working for you

Answer

I usually give a 2 sentence overview of how we help their persona and ask if that resonated with them.

Answer

Answer C: Combo meal. Be a human with a purpose. It still takes a human. You've just got to be a highly purposeful human.

Answer

The most successful people I know in sales just have normal conversations and sound human. PEOPLE HATE BEING SOLD TO, BUT THEY LOVE GOING SHOPPING WITH FRIENDS.

Answer

Both unfortunately, you still need to uncover shit but you can do it empathy and genuine interest.

Answer

Don't be a bot

Answer

Research the account and come prepared with questions that convey a genuine sense of curiosity and knowledge for their business. Makes it easy to ask these questions in a way that doesn't sound like you read them off a script

Answer

I like to lead with some sort of statement saying “we are working with and have done for them, can I share that with you?” I get pretty good results from that since the results I share I know are applicable to the prospect.

Answer

Always be probing, keep being human just don't be annoying. People are receptive to good questions.

Answer

“We help our customers with x and y. I wanted to get some time with you to chat about how you’re currently handling these, and to find out if it would make sense for us to have a further conversation.”

Quick, easy, gets time on the calendar and you can go from there.

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Best way to get meetings with prospects: be a human or be a shill?