Sales Question: My hardest part of cold calling is the initial calls - trying to learn something personal about them and connected to them without sounding fake.

Sales Question: My hardest part of cold calling is the initial calls - trying to learn something personal about them and connected to them without sounding fake.:from EyesOnSales.com
Sales Question:
My hardest part of cold calling is the initial calls - trying to learn something personal about them and connected to them without sounding fake.

Answer: 

"trying to learn something personal about them and connected to them without sounding fake"

Hmmm...So you want to do something fake but not sound fake? Let’s call a spade a spade. Trying to learn something “personal” about a prospect in order to “build rapport” just so you can try and sell them what it is you have to offer isn’t sincere, it’s a tactic. 

The approach you are using is a common one yet tons of sales people still struggle with it every day. Why? 

Because it is a flawed strategy, that is why. It’s a manipulation. There’s nothing “sincere” about it.

Remember the rule of "treat others the way you'd want to be treated"? How many of us would like to receive a cold call and have our "personal" information used by someone we don't know, in a way to try and "warm us up"?

If you want to sincerely HELP your targeted audience, instead of trying to find something “personal” to use against them, why not lead with an opening value statement that within 15 seconds let’s them know WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM so that they WANT to learn more about what it is you have to offer?

Not only will you have more success, but you'll also disqualify prospects faster as well (Wouldn't knowing sooner rather than later that you aren't speaking to a qualified prospect be beneficial? Think of all the time you'll save from chasing low % prospects)

CAUTION: 

This WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM strategy doesn’t mean doing a “DATA DUMP” (also know as the SPRAY AND PRAY) in your opener to the prospect. If you do, you’ll run the risk of giving too much information away to where your prospect will feel forced to make a quick decision and it will mostly not be in your favor. Next thing you will hear is “No thanks”, “Not interested”, or “We’re all set” followed by a dial tone. 

If cold calling success is vital to ensuring you hit your numbers and make quota in order to collect your bonus / commission checks, you’ll need to learn a better end-to-end sales process (what you say, when you say it, how you say it, why you say it, who you say it to and how you handle their responses).

Improving your sales process will not only raise your sales confidence, it will increase your win rate as well.

Answer:
"trying to learn something personal about them and connected to them without sounding fake"
Hmmm...So you want to do something fake but not sound fake? Let’s call a spade a spade. Trying to learn something “personal” about a prospect in order to “build rapport” just so you can try and sell them what it is you have to offer isn’t sincere, it’s a tactic.
The approach you are using is a common one yet tons of sales people still struggle with it every day. Why?
Because it is a flawed strategy, that is why. It’s a manipulation. There’s nothing “sincere” about it.
Remember the rule of "treat others the way you'd want to be treated"? How many of us would like to receive a cold call and have our "personal" information used by someone we don't know, in a way to try and "warm us up"?
If you want to sincerely HELP your targeted audience, instead of trying to find something “personal” to use against them, why not lead with an opening value statement that within 15 seconds let’s them know WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM so that they WANT to learn more about what it is you have to offer?
Not only will you have more success, but you'll also disqualify prospects faster as well (Wouldn't knowing sooner rather than later that you aren't speaking to a qualified prospect be beneficial? Think of all the time you'll save from chasing low % prospects)
CAUTION:
This WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM strategy doesn’t mean doing a “DATA DUMP” (also know as the SPRAY AND PRAY) in your opener to the prospect. If you do, you’ll run the risk of giving too much information away to where your prospect will feel forced to make a quick decision and it will mostly not be in your favor. Next thing you will hear is “No thanks”, “Not interested”, or “We’re all set” followed by a dial tone.
If cold calling success is vital to ensuring you hit your numbers and make quota in order to collect your bonus / commission checks, you’ll need to learn a better end-to-end sales process (what you say, when you say it, how you say it, why you say it, who you say it to and how you handle their responses).
Improving your sales process will not only raise your sales confidence, it will increase your win rate as well.