Belal Batrawy explains how to turn cold calls into meetings without overselling. Use Permission, Problem, Provoke, Promise: give a brief glimpse of value, then stop talking and ask for the meeting. Willingness to learn shows up on the call; willingness to change comes later.
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My question more is along the line of opening a deal for any like XDR who's having an initial cold call going through their, you know, problem impact, a willingness to change. When it comes to willingness to change, how do we really validate that the prospect is willing to change so we can convert them from a prospect to a buyer?
Yeah, I mean the clearest thing is to ask them. You know, it's almost like reverse. I don't, I don't like the term reverse psychology because it gets abused and people don't really understand what that means. Well, what I want to do is push my prospect to tell me what does it take to do this right? And why would you like, change is hard. Change sucks. You know, I almost what sellers typically fail to do. And again, I did this for the first three years of my sales career, I failed to do this. I failed to acknowledge that my buyer is getting the job done today, you know, before my call and long after they'll still be successful. Will it be as great or as awesome as it could be if they had my product, maybe not, but they're clearly getting the job done, so why don't I acknowledge that? Why am I dodging that? You know? So I'm going to tell them, look, I mean, Katie, you're getting the job done today, right now. I mean, you took this meeting with me, but I'm curious, like, patient pop seems to be on a great trajectory. Why now? Is there any reason why you could maybe push this off to later this year or next.
If you had to get real quick? Because also, too. So there's a difference between, like, the discovery call, right? Versus that actual cold call, right? So I think the question is, how do you pivot? Right? So you did the permission, right? Like, hey, do you got. You know, can I chat with you real quick? Like, I'll be brief. Promise not.
I understand what you're saying.
On a cold call, then you say, all right, you know, CFOs are struggling with this and this. Like, how are you doing with the rising costs? And I go, but shit, like, I mean, I guess this is how I do it right now. Or, you know, we really haven't found a way. What's then the pivot? Right? Because the willingness to change, I don't believe happens on the cold call. The willingness to learn happens on the cold call, but the willingness to change happens later. So can you walk through the pivot well and how to actually ask for that meeting on that call?
Yeah.
Yeah. Great. Sorry. Yeah, I misunderstood this, so.
Good.
Thanks for getting me back on track on that one, Katie. So, um, on a cold call, you're not addressing any of the, like, willingness to change, impact or any of that. That's not what a cold call is for. A cold call is just a scheduled meeting, right? All you're trying to do is buy time. You're just trying to buy a time on the calendar, nothing else. So this is like, the idea of, like, give them the. Give them the sizzle without the steak. You have, like, you need, like, chili's or something, and you hear that, like, fajita platter sizzling, and it, like, gets your mouth watering. Even though once you get it, you're like, that's not as good as I thought it was going to be. But, like, you give them that sizzle before the stake. You give them that enticement. You want to. You. You address the problem, okay? They start, they embrace it, and they tell you, yes, I'm having that problem. Yes, I'm trying to work with my broker on that. We have not been able to solve that. Problem. And then they're going to start asking you out of just curiosity, well, how do you address it? You still haven't told me what you guys do. What's different about what you do? You're going to give them just a taste and nothing more. China is the largest PEO in the country. It's an alternative approach to the broker model, one that's not right for everyone. It sounds like you may have some interest in this. I promised that I would be brief. Remember the four steps, Permission, problem, provoke, promise. I promised I'd be brief. Would it make sense to schedule a call in the next day or 2 for 30 minutes to go over this properly? I'm gonna lean back. The biggest lie sellers have been told is don't be the first to hang up. That is, whoever tells you that does has no idea how to sell. You always lean back. There is such power in taking control of the situation and going, I'm done. I don't want to tell you anymore. It sounds like you're interested. It sounds like this would be relevant to you. Would you be opposed to scheduling 30 minutes in the next couple days? Discuss this further. You're going to lean back now. If they insist that you tell them something, tell them something. I mean, don't withhold information. Don't be. Don't be a jerk. Tell them a little bit about it, but as little as possible. Just the bare minimum. Just give them that sizzle without the stake. Just enough so they know that there's something there, but don't show them it yet. And that's when the discovery and demo comes in where you can then suss out the pain, the impact and the willingness to change and go through the whole sales motion.
