Capítulo 4
Intelligence Gathering: The Smart Caller's Secret Weapon
Intelligence gathering transforms cold calls into Smart Calls by researching prospects before reaching out. The most valuable intelligence reveals situational information that indicates potential needs or problems your product could solve.
Sobczak distinguishes between factual data (company size, locations, financial results) and more valuable situational information that reveals potential needs. The real value comes from uncovering "trigger events" that move prospects into a "window of dissatisfaction" where they become receptive to new solutions. These events fall into three categories: Bad Experiences (unpleasant experiences with current providers), Change or Transition (shifts in people, places, or priorities), and Awareness (new understanding of legal, risk, or economic factors).
Beyond company information, research the individual decision-makers themselves. While cautioning against creepy or inappropriate use of personal information, Sobczak explains how personal insights can help build connections during calls. This might involve asking questions about interests you've discovered or referencing their professional accomplishments.
Today's technology makes it inexcusable not to research prospects before calling. Start with the prospect's website, exploring "About Us" sections, press releases, mission statements, job postings, and using site-specific searches. Set up Google News Alerts for competitors' names, biggest customers, and highly coveted prospects to receive notifications about new online content containing specified search terms.
LinkedIn is "the professional network for businesspeople. Period." Join industry-specific groups to monitor discussions and identify needs; search LinkedIn Answers for people posting questions about problems you solve; use Company pages to learn about trigger events; utilize Advanced People Search to build targeted prospect lists; monitor who views your profile as potential leads; and consider InMail for reaching non-connected prospects.
For serious business developers, web-based sales intelligence resources like InsideView and OneSource iSell consolidate information from multiple sources into a single screen, saving tremendous research time by providing contact data, news alerts about trigger events, and social media activity.
When using social media for intelligence, focus on strategic gathering rather than getting distracted. Check if prospects are active on Twitter to gather intelligence about their interests and issues. One success story involved noticing a prospect's tweet about Skinnygirl Margaritas, which provided a personal connection point that helped build rapport. Company Facebook pages often reveal useful intelligence, and YouTube (the second-largest search engine after Google) may contain videos featuring prospects that provide valuable insights.
Capítulo 5
Social Engineering: The Ethical Art of Information Gathering
Social engineering, in Sobczak's positive redefinition, means ethically talking to people other than your prospect to gather helpful information. This underutilized approach can be done before or during every prospect call, requiring only curiosity and conversational questioning.
The process involves identifying yourself honestly, asking for help, using a justification statement (the "because" reason), and asking questions. This approach works because people have an innate desire to be helpful, especially when given a reason for the request.
Engage with anyone in a prospective organization, including users of your product type, gatekeepers, sales departments, human resources, PR/investor relations, customer service, purchasing, and accounts departments. Each group offers unique insights: users provide practical feedback, sales reps love to talk, HR can provide decision-maker names, PR's job is to provide information, customer service is trained to be helpful, purchasing knows buying processes, and accounts departments are often accessible even with strict connection policies.
Never assume information is impossible to get without trying. Even if someone doesn't have the requested information, nothing is lost by asking, and people often know more than expected. Conduct social engineering on every call-even when not reaching the decision-maker, the opportunity to gather valuable information shouldn't be wasted.
When unable to physically observe a prospect's environment, ask contacts to be your eyes. For example, a label sales rep might ask a receptionist to look around and describe any imprinted labels they see, mimicking the observation a rep would do during an in-person visit.
Rather than trying to sell first, ask operators or screeners if the company has an approved vendor list and how to get on it. Complete the necessary steps before approaching prospects, creating a powerful door-opener by mentioning you're already on their approved vendor list.
A dialogue between a Smart Caller named Pam and Kelly, an administrative assistant, demonstrates how even a brief social engineering interaction can yield valuable intelligence. Through this conversation, Pam confirms her prospect's role, learns about reporting relationships, discovers the company is entering new markets (making them an ideal prospect), builds rapport with the admin, and sets up a follow-up call.
Capítulo 6
Setting Clear Objectives and Avoiding Rejection
Having clear objectives for sales calls is essential-comparing unprepared sales approaches to driving without a destination. Many sales reps focus on secondary information-gathering goals rather than primary action-oriented objectives. The primary objective must focus on what you want the prospect to DO as a result of the call-whether that's agreeing to a proposal, participating in a demo, or making a purchase.
Set ambitious call objectives, citing Donald Trump's advice to "think big." High achievers expect to take calls as far as possible, even in complex sales situations. By aiming high on every call, you'll consistently achieve better results than with low expectations, even if you don't always reach your ultimate goal.
Sobczak reframes rejection as a reaction rather than something that happens to you, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." He contrasts two salespeople receiving the same "no"-one feels defeated while the other salvages something positive from the interaction.
The key is setting a secondary objective for every call-something you can attempt at minimum if your primary goal isn't achieved. These might include leaving a good impression, gathering competitive information, or securing permission to follow up later. These secondary objectives protect your attitude and mental health during prospecting.
Secondary objectives plant seeds that may be harvested later. Tell prospects exactly where to keep your contact information-in their Rolodex, project file, or contact management system-to ensure they can find you when circumstances change. The secondary objective serves two purposes: ensuring you never face rejection (because you always achieve something) and planting seeds for future business.
Capítulo 7
Strategic Timing and Preparation for Smart Calls
While some studies claim to identify optimal calling times, Sobczak argues that such generalizations are meaningless given the vast differences between industries, products, and individual salespeople. His simple finding from 30+ years of experience: "If you are not calling, you are not uncovering opportunities."
Create a consistent calling ritual-making appointments with yourself for dedicated calling sessions. Set aside uninterrupted time solely for calling prospects-no checking email, writing proposals, or handling administrative tasks. This ritual builds momentum and energy, as success breeds more success.
The absolute best time to make calls is when you're in your personal "success zone." When experiencing a string of successful calls and peak attitude, capitalize on this momentum rather than pausing to celebrate. Success tends to multiply when you're in this groove.
Holiday periods, summer vacations, and long weekends-times when many salespeople avoid calling-can be highly productive. During these periods, gatekeepers may be absent, decision-makers may be more relaxed, and there's less competition for attention. Early mornings and evenings often find executives and owners working without gatekeepers present. Weekend calling can reach relaxed decision-makers whose screeners are off duty.
For follow-up calls, track the best times to reach specific prospects in your notes or CRM. Since people follow habitual schedules, this information can significantly improve contact rates.
Consider sending relevant materials before calling to warm up prospects. For high-value prospects, send books ($15) or audio/video materials that are educational and valuable, noting that this investment pays off when prospects become clients. Well-structured emails can effectively warm up prospects before a Smart Call if they're personalized not just with names but with relevant content about the prospect's business.
Capítulo 8
Mastering Voice Mail in the Smart Calling Process
Voice mail is an inevitable part of prospecting, and Sobczak debunks the myth of the perfect message that guarantees returned calls. Busy prospects rarely return calls from strangers. Despite this reality, he strongly recommends leaving voice mails because they leverage the intelligence gathering work already done.
The goal should be piquing curiosity with hints of possible value that make prospects wonder "what might that be?" Voice mail messages should mirror your interest-creating opening statement, containing relevant information about the prospect's situation and how you've helped similar companies.
Be fully prepared for voice mail-there's no excuse for not being completely smooth and confident in your delivery, which comes from having your interest-creating opening prepared word-for-word. Rather than vaguely suggesting "I'll call in a couple weeks," be firm and precise: "You mentioned you'll test the sample by Thursday, so does Friday work for our next conversation?"
Don't change your carefully crafted voice mail message with each call. Your Possible Value Statement and Smart Call research should be solid enough to repeat. Each repetition makes an imprint in the listener's mind, similar to how radio advertisers repeat product names.
Always listen to the prospect's complete voice mail greeting. Voice mail greetings often contain valuable intelligence: assistant names and extensions, alternate contacts, the prospect's location, when they'll return, name pronunciation, and other useful details.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts, leave a final message like: "I've tried several times to contact you about how we might help cut your customer acquisition cost by 20% like we did for B.O. Industries. If I don't hear back, I'll assume this isn't something you'd like to discuss now." This often prompts responses from interested prospects who were simply too busy to reply earlier.
Capítulo 9
Building Relationships with Gatekeepers and Crafting Opening Statements
Sobczak rejects the common advice about "getting past" screeners and gatekeepers. His philosophy is simple: treat the screener as you would the buyer. He dislikes the terms "screener" and "gatekeeper" as they imply negativity about people who are simply doing their jobs.
Instead of avoiding screeners, work with them to gather valuable information. Use the social engineering process: identify yourself and company, ask for help, use a justification statement, and ask questions. This approach shows respect, helps the screener do their job protecting the decision maker's time, and begins building a relationship. Research confirms this works-when screeners were asked how they determine who gets put through, the top answer was "People I like."
When screeners question what your call is about, be ready with a compelling response focused on results, not products. Always emphasize outcomes rather than discussing specific products or services, making it harder for screeners to dismiss you with "We're all set."
The first 10 seconds of a call are critical, as this is when most prospecting calls fail due to what the sales rep says. Avoid phrases in call openings that create resistance: using "just" (sounds weak), introducing yourself/company without value statements, mentioning products without results, commenting on their unavailability, and using salesy language like "As you know" or "If I could show you."
Thanking someone for taking your call diminishes your importance and wastes valuable seconds. It communicates that you feel unworthy of their time, when instead you should position yourself as offering something valuable that will help them.
Asking for any commitment too early is the error that ends more calls than any other. You must first earn the right to someone's time by quickly communicating possible value before requesting any decision.
The opening statement has two simple objectives: move prospects into a receptive frame of mind and transition to the questioning phase where they begin talking. Sobczak strongly advocates for scripting opening statements, comparing unscripted calls to submitting rough drafts of important articles.
The opening statement process begins with introducing yourself and your organization, using your Smart Call intelligence to demonstrate you're not a typical cold caller, hinting at your Possible Value Proposition by connecting to their world, and suggesting more possible value contingent on moving to questioning. This formula creates interest while avoiding pushy sales language.
Capítulo 10
Smart Questions and Strategic Listening
After capturing interest with a Smart opening statement, the key is to avoid immediately presenting your product. Instead, ask questions that help you understand prospects' needs, help prospects better understand their own problems, and provide you with their terminology to use in your recommendation.
Rather than reciting benefits (which are only benefits if prospects perceive them as such), transform benefit lists into question lists to determine what's actually meaningful to prospects. Avoid vague questions like "Are you satisfied?" or "Do you have any problems?" that force prospects to think too hard. Instead, use assumptive problem questions that paint pictures of specific pain scenarios. For example, rather than asking about delivery issues, ask "What happens when you have had to stop the production line waiting for a parts delivery?"
The iceberg theory illustrates that a prospect's first answer is just the tip-the real valuable information lies beneath. Many salespeople fail by not asking the "next question" that reveals why prospects say what they do. When a prospect mentions on-time delivery is important, ask "Please tell me why that's the most important factor, and what you're looking for?"
Your questioning should aim to attach specific numbers to prospects' pains and problems. Prompt them to quantify how much money they're losing, extra time tasks take, additional costs they incur, or potential sales they're missing. This concrete data makes it easier to demonstrate ROI, build value, and preempt price objections.
Rather than bluntly asking "Are you the decision maker?", use more tactful questions like "Who aside from yourself would be involved in this discussion?" or "Who will you consult with as you plan this project?"
While salespeople are typically viewed as smooth talkers, the best ones are actually excellent listeners who know when to be quiet. Pausing for just 2-3 seconds after asking questions and hearing answers dramatically improves communication. This technique prevents you from talking over prospects, gives them time to think, increases the number and length of their responses, generates more unsolicited information, and gives you time to process what they've said.
Pay close attention to the specific phrases prospects use to describe their situations, like "Here's our challenge..." or "Our biggest problem is..." Write down their exact words and respond with simple prompts like "Tell me more about that." Using their terminology when making your recommendation later is powerful because they can't disagree with their own words.
Capítulo 11
From Recommendation to Commitment
Once you've moved prospects to the point where they're receptive to hearing how you can help them, it's time to recommend next steps. The timing varies-sometimes it takes just a few questions, other times an hour of conversation-but the key is having prospects thinking about their needs, pains, problems, or desires before presenting your solution.
Sobczak strongly advises against "pitching" in sales, despite his extensive baseball pitching experience. In sales, pitching represents one-way communication where the seller merely tells their story without feedback. Instead, use "recommendation," which follows questioning and information gathering. A recommendation focuses on the prospect's needs they just revealed, creating a collaborative approach that doesn't trigger resistance.
The Smart Call Recommendation Process follows four key steps: First, transition from questioning by saying you're done and sparking interest in your solution. Second, paraphrase your understanding of their needs to confirm accuracy. Third, recommend results you can deliver and next steps, focusing only on what they expressed interest in, using phrases like "What that means to you" and getting feedback after each point. Finally, get commitment by asking for agreement on the next action, whether that's a meeting, reviewing materials, or making a purchase.
Leveraging others' experiences and words makes your recommendations more persuasive through social proof: people are influenced more by others' actions than by direct evidence. Apply these principles by sharing specific examples like "I was just talking to another defense attorney with the same challenge..." or "Joe Klein at National Motors told me..."
The principle of consistency leverages people's desire to remain consistent with their previously stated beliefs and commitments. After establishing their needs through questions, frame your solution using their exact terminology: "As you mentioned earlier, you feel your reps need better questions to establish value..."
The commitment phase shouldn't be about "closing" techniques but about validating what's been covered in the call. Like a football team that moves the ball methodically downfield rather than throwing a long bomb on every play, sales success comes from building momentum through small commitments.
Forget the tired closing techniques found in sales books that cause prospects to bristle, like the alternate choice technique ("Would 3:30 Wednesday or 9:00 Thursday be better?"). Your asking attitude matters far more than your technique. Being willing to step out of your comfort zone, ask more, and ask larger will advance more opportunities and ultimately increase sales.
Capítulo 12
The Mental Game of Smart Calling
The mental aspect of selling is ultimately what separates successful salespeople from the rest. While this book provides the mechanics of prospecting, your mental ability-desire to succeed, self-motivation, confidence, and positive attitude-is what truly drives results.
Successful sales professionals insulate themselves from rejection by accomplishing something on every call, even when they don't achieve their primary objective. They accept that hearing "no" is part of the process, don't take rejections personally, and understand that each call stands independently from the last.
Call reluctance often stems from fear-fear of rejection, sounding foolish, or not knowing answers. Psychological research shows that dwelling on fears embeds them deeper, often making them self-fulfilling prophecies. Dr. Victor Frankl suggests overcoming fear by turning it into something absurdly ridiculous in your mind, allowing your natural reaction to absurdities to neutralize the fear.
The magnitude of your success directly correlates with the size of your thinking. Big thinkers target larger opportunities and aim to exceed quotas rather than merely meeting them. Small thinkers avoid approaching major companies like those in the Fortune 1000, believing "they'll never buy from little ol' me," which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What you expect tends to manifest in your sales results. Like Nancy Zerg who defeated Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! after 74 wins, your mindset before calls dramatically impacts outcomes. While other contestants had already resigned themselves to losing against Jennings, Zerg believed she could win-and did.
Children possess natural sales abilities that many adults lose. Kids aren't deterred by rejection, persistently making requests despite initial "no" responses. They take risks without overthinking consequences, use boundless imagination, maintain high ambitions, display positive attitudes (laughing 400 times daily compared to adults' 20), stay constantly active, and maintain natural curiosity. Sales professionals can improve results by recapturing these childlike qualities-being resilient to rejection, taking calculated risks, thinking creatively, setting ambitious goals, maintaining positivity, bringing energy to their work, and asking insightful questions.
Smart Calling isn't just a technique-it's a mindset that transforms the dreaded cold call into an opportunity for meaningful connection and mutual value. By researching prospects, creating compelling value propositions, mastering opening statements, asking smart questions, and maintaining a positive mental attitude, anyone can become a successful telephone prospector. The difference between success and failure often comes down to preparation, practice, and persistence-the hallmarks of the Smart Calling approach.
