Imagine if the product you sold was jail time.
The prospect? A bad guy threatening to kill a hostage unless you gave them $75,000.
That’s what Christopher Voss sold every time he “cold-called” a bad guy who was holding someone hostage for ransom.
Even though Chris was a stranger, bad guys instantly trusted him.
Why did bad guys trust Chris?
And more importantly, how can you lower resistance on a cold call so you can establish trust within the first 5 seconds?
Start with an accusation audit.
Accusation audits label the negative emotion the other person is feeling.
Here’s what that might sound like
“Hi Lisa. (Laughing) You’re probably going to hate me because this is a cold call. Would you like to hang up or can I steal 2 minutes?”
Or:
“Hi Lisa. (Laughing) You’re probably going to hate me because this is a cold call. Would you like to hang up or can I ask you an interesting question?
Here’s Chris Voss:
“Labeling negatives defuses negatives.”
What do you think about using accusations audits to open a cold call?