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GREGORYMEEHAN/BLOG

is Cold Calling dead or are you just doing it wrong?

Writer's picture: Greg MeehanGreg Meehan



The one thing I found that changed my sales career forever. 


PSA: If you dont want to read this, you can scroll straight to the end to get the download so it can change everything for you too.


I think I’ve told this story a billion times in fact you can read it HERE but, in case you were wondering, I was not born as a rockstar salesperson. In fact I don't believe I am one now… Im just trying to get better everyday.


Quick re-cap: back in 2010 I moved half way around the world to Malaysia to start a career in finance sales. I had no idea what to expect, what to do, and whether or not I was going to find myself back on a plane to the UK within the next 3 months having failed miserably.





So, I landed in Malaysia and immediately started doing terribly (How fun). My job was to cold call High-networth individuals and see if they wanted financial planning and tax advice. I was only 1 cold-caller of about 5 in our office, we were 1 company of about 50 or so registered in Malaysia. You can imagine we were all calling on the same people. It was highly competitive.


It was brutal and there was virtually no time to cry when you hear "stop F*king calling me" for the 11th time that morning - meetings need to be booked, numbers need to be reached. I had a spreadsheet, a phone, and a desktop computer which was older than whoever is currently reading this and I used to spend most of my time in the pantry making coffee so that


  1. I wasn't on the phone cold calling

  2. The more coffee I drank, the more time I could spend in the bathroom not cold calling


It was sad


When I was first onboarded into the company there wasn’t exactly any formal sales training which meant it was a ‘sink or swim’, ‘do or die’ cold calling situation and considering I had flown 10,000km around the world to be here, I kinda didn’t want to mess it up. I'd already had 2 senior advisors tell me:

"I want to have all your things boxed up on your desk ready to take you to the airport myself" and "I don't think this is working out for you"


yep, I am a real sales pro!!


So, I was looking for ways to improve my sales skills and had already come across a couple of things that set me on the right track (check out Jeffrey Gitomers Sales Bible here, but I still hadn’t had my eureka moment yet (you know that moment when things nicely come together and you had an epiphany). 



And then one day, our company wanted to move offices. During the move the company needed some help shifting all the ‘small stuff’ so over the weekend a few of us decided to help out. 


During the move we attacked a storeroom which was just overflowing with stuff. Chairs, boxes, filing cabinets, paper, and what turned out to be the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket. This is where I stumbled across a small VHS-looking-box which had written across the front: 


“How to make appointments by telephone by Allan Pease”  





It looked like it was taken straight from the 80’s and dropped into the new world not really worthy of any notice because, well, sales has moved on since then and so much more has been done in the profession so, ya know, these ‘tricks’ and ‘tactics’ won't work. 


Turns out I was wrong. This cold calling process masterpiece laid the foundation for me.


Turns out

  1. this thing was absolute gold

  2. the fundamentals haven't really changed AT ALL.


I took what I found, adapted to my style and hit the phones like my life depended on it. (it did)


Low and behold: this MF thing worked! I started having great conversations with some really nice folks! The process worked and I went from a bottom performer to a the top producer for cold calling. I've gone on to use this same process over and over and over again in any phone conversation.



Cold calling became, and still is, one of my favourite things to do. You can start the day with no pipeline. and finish the day with new, interested opportunities. Repeat this on the daily and you'll never-ever have to worry about your pipeline. Cold calling isnt dead. Shitty cold calling is dead, the same way that any other form of sales development is dead when its done badly.


I want to give it to you

I want you to use

I want you to be successful with it

I want you to enjoy cold calling as much as I do.


Because, in sales, connecting with people is a joy, serving people and helping them with problems they have is a joy.







This is the Cold calling script Conversation Template that changed the game for me. You've got a pretty one and an editable one. I suggest you use the editable one, fill it in and print it.


If you want help filling it out call me on +6016 219 4195


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