“What do I need to accomplish in the first few minutes of every cold call I make?” “What’s my overall objective of a cold call?” These questions rank up there as two of the top questions I’m asked. If you’ve been following my last few posts, I’ve been hyper-focused on the importance of sales benchmarking and identifying best practices.

In the spirit of simplicity, there are actually five core objectives during a prospecting conversation which I’ve listed below.

1. First, introduce yourself. Identify who you are.
2. Next, provide the person to whom you are speaking with a compelling reason to speak with you. (What’s in it for them?)
3. Third, defuse their resistance. Create a pressure-free environment by getting permission to proceed with the conversation.
4. Then, guide them to your discovery/qualification step to get them involved and determine if there’s a fit.
5. Finally, determine the next step.

That’s it! Now ask yourself, does your system achieve these five core objectives?