Are you a financial analyst who dreads cold-calling? Learn to master it. It is your ultimate training in marketing. Imagine what it can do for your career when you can sell your products to strangers over the phone?
As a financial analyst, part of the job is that you are always marketing something. Before you can even step your foot in the field, you will have to successfully market yourself in job interviews. Whether you are in equity research, institutional sales or investment banking, you are always marketing ideas.
By having a clearly defined game plan, cold-calling doesn't have to be dreadful. Before you pick up the phone, you want to make sure that you are ready.
Know your products, your company and your competition. Ideally, you must believe in the product you are selling, i.e. a product that you yourself would buy. But in the case of an summer internship, this may or may not be the case.
Research the products and pricing of close competitors so you know how your company's products compare. Understand how the products' strengths play out against its weaknesses so you can effectively handle objections.
Remember that the first impression you can make to your prospect over the phone is through your voice. By selling products that you believe in, your voice will exude confidence.
Prepare an irresistible script. The best "script" is a conversation, not a sales pitch. A listener is more open to a friendly conversation than to a sales pitch. If you receive a script from the company, use it as your reference. Reading it like a script is a guaranteed way to have everyone you call hanging up on you.
An effective script consists of four parts:
- Use informal greetings
"Hello. May I speak to Mr. Smith? This is Chris Johnson calling from XYZ Company" is usually a giveaway this is a sales call. I find there are better chances of reaching my prospect if I sound less formal.
I prefer to say, "Hi. Is John there? This is Chris."
Sometimes, I might even go for "Hi, John. This is Chris."
If it isn't John, I'll just say, "Excuse me, is John in? This is Chris."
The familiarity would throw most people off-guard and they would tend to carry on a conversation with you while trying to figure out who you are. Most people would not want to admit they don't recognize someone they know.
- Establish credibility
If you have any sort of referral, use it. It can even be the person you just spoke to before the call was transferred to your prospect. It may go like this, "I was speaking to Susan in Marketing. She mentioned that we should talk about ..." If there is information about the prospect, do a quick research before the call. Never mind the "how are you?" greetings. Just be brief and to the point.
- Create curiosity
You must be able to tell your prospect in two-three brief sentences the benefits of your products. Mention some real results to capture their attention. You will know your sound bite works well if your prospect says, "tell me more."
For example, "Last year, the ABC fund of my company helped over 1,000 investors like you to grow their investments by 25%. This was fantastic compared to only 5% interest on savings and 10% return from the stock market."
An effective sound bite is client focused, and it emphasizes product benefits, not features. This is the essence of successful marketing. Always focus on the value you can produce for your client. Is it in the best interest of your client to purchase your products or are you just trying to close a sale?
- Close confidently
If the prospect indicates interest to learn more about your product, immediately follow through with an invitation to the next step - either continue with your presentation over the phone or make an appointment to meet.
For example, "We should meet. Last year only 10% of the funds managed to achieve this level of performance. While I can't promise you the same results this year, I assure you that it's worth your time. Is Thursday morning a good time to meet with you?"
If the prospect is not interested, thank him for his time and move on to your next prospect.
Practice your script. If you read the script aloud, either to yourself or to a friend, you can notice where objections might arise. First, remove any possible objections in the script by rephrasing it. Next, prepare answers for the objections. Being well-prepared is a confidence booster.
Cold-calling need not make your work miserable. Masterful cold-calling requires preparation, lots of practices and social skills. This isn't only a valuable asset for a financial analyst, it is also a marketing skill that's indispensable and that has the possibility to speed up your journey towards career success.
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