Before the Call: 

1. Research! 
o Research is critical to the success of the call. You as the cold caller are
reaching out to someone you don’t know with the goal to build a business
relationship where the end goal is that they partner with us. How could you
achieve that goal if you go in blind? Someone has to know what is going
on. We’ll tie back into this later, but keep in mind that, not only will you
have to know about our company, you’ll need to know product info and
you will have to know about the company you’re reaching out to. In your
research, you want to find out as much as you can about:
 Company Culture
 Recent News/Events 
 The team members or at least the main person you’re trying to
reach. 
 Job Description and responsibilities (this will help you
understand how to approach them as well)
 Education
 Interests (If you can find anything about their interests this
would be important because this could be a detail you slip into
the conversation casually so you have a point of interest you
can relate with your customer on)
o All this information is a good start because you can use this information to
frame the conversation. Having this information is a good crutch to fall
back on should the conversation not be going in the direction you want.
o Remember that, the person you’re calling will set the tone for the call but
you will be guiding the conversation because you have the information
they do not have. In other words, by the time you call them. You know
them, they don’t know you though. 
 This is an example of the information you may find. For some
people you’ll find more, for some you will find less but here is an
example: 
 Customer: John Smith at John’s AV Solutions
 Owner of the company
 His LinkedIn profile says he has over 20 years of
experience in AV. He went graduated from the University
of Berkley in 1985. His most recent post is about him
with his family at a barbeque watching a football game. 
 On his company’s website, the about page says that he
built this company himself. 
 In some cases, you will use some of this information, in some
cases you won’t but if you feel the conversation could use the help,
then feel free to slip this information into the conversation to open
the person up a little bit or if the conversation is going south, you
can use this information as a way to anchor the conversation. 
 2. Outline the Call:
o Make an outline of what points you want to mention before the end of the
call. If you find something in your research that you want to mention at
some point in the call, write it down. My recommendation is a bullet point
list for 
o Example:
 Nelly’s Security 
 CCTV, Access Control, and Intrusion
 Mention Hikvision, ZKTeco and DSC or Qolsys
 Mention how close we are to them and that we offer in-store
pick-up and same-day shipping on select items.
3. Create a Profile for the Lead You’re Calling
o

The Call:

If you’re going to use a script, read the script as if you’re actually talking to someone.
Pretend you’re having the conversation even when you’re practicing the script. It should
sound like an organic conversation. 

Direct Approach
o Example: The direct approach - The bolded lines are optional
alternative scripts if needed. 
 This is a basic conversation in the most simple form. 
Receptionist: John’s AV Solutions, this is Mary, how can I help
you?

You: Hi, my name is Taylor, I am looking to speak with John Smith.

I have some questions about some A/V projects that I was hoping
to get more detail on. 

Receptionist (Mary): Oh sure! Give me one minute, while I

transfer you over. 

— Call Transfers—

John: This is John, how can I help you today?

You: Hi John! Thanks for taking my call, I was hoping to ask about
some of your A/V solutions. I looked at your company’s page but I
was looking for more detail on what product lines you tend to use
for commercial jobs. 
 John: Sure, we do a lot of bars and restaurants which we tend to
sell on Samsung TV for indoor and outdoor we’ll typically use Serua
outdoor TVs. Are you aiming at a certain project or?...

You: I am actually calling because I work on behalf of KOA an

electronics distribution company. Now, I am not trying to substitute
your current distributor or anything, but I just wanted to share our
services with you in case you find that your usual distributor is low
in stock on some of the brands you use often. We carry the brands
that you’re familiar with among many more, if you’re interested I
can send over our line card? (What’s a good email?) 

 And then you can take it from there at that point. 

o Example: Assisted Approach
 This call will show you how to work in the information if the
conversation is not going in the direction you want it to. 
Receptionist (Mary): John’s AV Solutions, this is Mary, how can I help
you?

You: Hi, my name is Taylor, I am looking to speak with John Smith. I have
some questions about his system designs. 

Receptionist (Mary): Sure, I’ll transfer you over. 

— Call Transfers—

John: This is John, how can I help you today? I’m sorry what did you say
your name was? 

You: Hi John! Thanks for taking my call. My name is Taylor and I was
hoping to ask about some of your A/V solutions.

John: I’d love to help you out, have we spoken before?

You: This is actually the first time I am reaching out regarding your
services, I found out about your business online (or you can say
someone told you about him). 

John: Well, I’ll be honest, that isn’t the typical call that I get from
customers. Who are you calling from? 

You: I am calling on behalf of KOA, we’re an electronics distribution

company, and while I am not trying to change your current distributor. I
was reaching out because as a family-owned business ourselves we seek
out businesses like yours to support other local businesses that have been
 built from the bottom up. (KOA was founded by our CEO and over the
last 15 or so years, we’ve been expanding because we work hard to
support businesses like yours.) From one humble business to another,
we just want to offer our support be it as a backup option should your
current distributor be low on stock, or whatever the case may be.

John: I can appreciate that, do you carry Samsung? In fact, what brands
do you carry for projects like mine?

You: I would be more than happy to send over our line card and a link to
our website if you’re interested. And just to be sure that you’re well taken
care of, I’ll connect you with Greg (our Business Development Manager
(BDM), who will be your person of contact to get you all set up should you
want to shop with us. (What’s a good email?) 

John: John@johnsav.com I’ll look out for the email! Thanks!

You: My pleasure, I’ll send it right away, thank you so much! It will include
some information on our services and what we can do to better support
your business. Feel free to reach me directly through that email as well!
Have a great day and take care! 

Pain Point Strategy:

Everyone is different, so bear in mind that not all calls or going to go this way. There will be
some calls that will allow for more conversation. So should you get to the point where they seem
interested in discussing some details, thats is the point where you want to discuss the common
pain points of the industry and how we offer solutions for those issues. 

In Distribution, most customers are concerned about the following:

 Stock Availability 
 How long it will take to get the products that you need. - this could highly depend on
the manufacturer and where they are shipping from. 
 Quality & Price - this kind of goes hand in hand because it’s some are looking for
decent/good quality for an affordable price. Don’t forget, that the more they save on
equipment the more they can pocket for their services.

This is all to say that in the event where you need to discuss the benefits of partnering with us,
know which points to hit. 

Some customers will tell you what points they are concerned about and based on your
knowledge of our services you can rebut their concerns with the services we have implemented
to address those concerns. 

 Same-Day shipping on select items

  Delivery (Free if the location is within 25 Miles of North Hollywood Location)
 Online Shopping - free in-store pickup
 24/7 Pick up at Las Vegas location
 Heavy Stock
 Promotional catalog - for specials if they’re concerned with pricing. We have promos
every month. 
 Project management tool on our website
 Tech Support
 Assistance in System design
 Knowledgeable Sales Team - Our team, is comprised of people with several decades of
experience, who used to be integrators and such. We also have people on the team who
speak English, Spanish & Armenian

Tips for Leaving a Voicemail:

 Make the voicemail concise and to the point. Try not to say more information than what
is required to give you a call back. Keep it brief, confident, and professional. 
 Speak clearly and enunciate your words because oftentimes speaking on the phone can
be a bit fuzzy. Speak clearly, take breaths in between each new sentence don’t rush
through your voicemail. Sometimes people will leave a voicemail and have the longest
script, but really if you’re talking so much that you run out of time for your voicemail then
you need to shorten your script, not speed through everything. 
 Be positive, optimistic, and energetic in your tone. It’s all about balance, you don’t need
to sound so enthusiastic that you’re bursting a the seams but you be sure that you have
good, positive energy when you leave a voicemail. It helps to sound kind and eager to
assist. 

Sample Script:

Hi, my name is Taylor, I am calling on behalf of KOA. I’m looking to speak with [Insert Name]
regarding your business/services. Please do give me a call back at your earliest convenience.
I’ll leave my phone number 818-255-6666. Looking forward to hearing back, I hope you're
having a great day! Take care, bye! 

Tips for Cold Calls: 

 When you’re researching the business, pay attention to how people speak, the tone, the
words they use, and their overall energy/vibe. 
 Pay attention to company culture because that will dictate how you speak to them and
what tone to use with them. 
o Some people will be more open, warm, and inviting even on a professional level,
some people will be very direct, straight to the point, and even cold or rude. 
o So read their energy and follow accordingly, a lot of people will answer the phone
with an unsure tone as if they anticipate you’re a cold caller or it’s a marketing
call so your job is to make their experience as far from a marketing call as
possible. 
 You want the call to feel as smooth and organic as possible. You want them to feel
comfortable talking to you.
 A lot of the research says that you should talk value before you talk about pricing, ut
dealers/integrators can’t see pricing until after they sign up with us, but it is good to
 emphasize the value of partnering with us. You can emphasize value by using the pain
point strategy that was discussed earlier.  

Resources:
1. https://www.salesmate.io/blog/cold-calling-tips-for-b2b-sales-call-success/ 
2. https://www.insidesales.com/b2b-cold-calling-tips/#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20a
%20sales,value%20to%20communicate%20to%20prospects.
3. https://www.yesware.com/blog/cold-calling-tips/
4. https://blog.close.com/b2b-cold-calling-tips/
https://www.leadfeeder.com/blog/cold-email-templates-b2b/