In Episode 19 of Sales Enabled, Dan Storey is speaking with Chris Beall from Connect and Sell on the topic of cold calling, outreach, and why the traditional model of SDRs trying to research clients and book meetings might be wrong. Typically SDRs waste tons of time researching prospects that never pick up the phone which Chris believes is crazy. Instead, he teaches people how to push the research until after the cold call so you know you are investing your time wisely. This requires SDRs to be able to book meetings without the use of research, and his data shows that this is done by rapidly building trust, creating a sense of curiosity, and then booking an appointment for a meeting that has a ton of value in it for the prospect. 

Specifically, Dan and Chris dive into some of the following topics in more detail:

• Why the purpose of a cold call is actually NOT trying to get a meeting 
• How to build trust in the first 7 seconds by doing just 2 things - demonstrate empathy and solve an immediate problem 
• The mindset behind turning lame call blitzes into successful appointment-booking sessions with a 96% success rate 
• Chris answer to the question “what is the value of a discovery meeting for a prospect?”
• How do you start the discovery call and “induce people to confess” rather than having the prospect be apprehensive to share information

This is a great session that challenges the traditional way of looking at the SDR workflow but also provides a super effective way of approaching cold calling. If you are an SDR, you need to learn the techniques and science behind this approach, and Chris does an awesome job of breaking this down during the call. If you are responsible for top-of-funnel success for your organisation, perhaps you need to think differently about how you use SDRs within your organisation, and start to use tech to facilitate more connects. 

About Chris Beall 

For most of the past 30 years, Chris Beall has participated in software start-ups as a founder or at a very early stage of development. His focus has consistently been on creating and taking to market simple products that can be used successfully the first time they are touched, without having to take a course or read a manual. His belief is that the most powerful part of any software system is the human being that we inappropriately call a “user,” and that the value key in software is to let the computer do what it does well — go fast without getting bored — in order to free up human potential. Toward that end, Chris has been involved with Requisite Technology, GXS, Epiance, Qlip Media, Aptara, Cadis, Sun Microsystems, and Unisyn. He is currently CEO of ConnectAndSell, Inc., based in Silicon Valley, and hosts a podcast at MarketDominanceGuys.com.