Unveiling the 27-Second Game-Changer: Ben Miles' Cold Calling Strategy

Celeste Berke [00:00:00]:

Hello. Hello. It is Celeste on The Sales Edge Podcast, and today I'm joined by Ben Miles. I will have him introduce himself in a second, but I'm so excited. This is a little bit different of an episode in that we are talking with someone who is in an active of seller's seat, like, in the day to day, the thick of it all on giving some tips on what makes him successful that our sales leadership should listen up to because it's probably going to go against what some of your sellers are telling you. So, Ben, give us a little intro, and I will say Ben and I met through Gap Selling. So when I went through my training certification, Ben was our star student. He raised his hand and went through the buyer's journey exercise, which can be really difficult, but it is a great exercise for those that are in the class, to understand, well, our buyer doesn't wanna be sold to.

Celeste Berke [00:00:58]:

Right? There's a reason why they're buying, and it's usually a lot of layers deeper than we think. So, Ben, give us a little intro about you.

Ben Miles [00:01:08]:

Well, thank you, Celeste. I appreciate the warm welcome. I love that class, and I recommend it to, anybody that has the time to take it. I'm an account executive. You know, my day looks like some other account executives who are full cycle, so it it involves prospecting, whether that be email or cold call, and then, of course, running calls for prospects and, also doing a little bit of management on the client side.

Celeste Berke [00:01:33]:

We joked around a lot when Ben was in the class because his major purchase was a car, so we were diving into the reasons behind him purchasing a car. And what really stood out is how Ben embraced problem centric selling. So a lot of teams and if you're listening, if your team struggles with this as well, they are not alone, our product focused. We see this all the time. Let me try to sell you something. Let me put myself before you and Ben really honed in on this concept of, oh, shit. I need to know what problems I'm selling to before I get on a call. So, Ben, I always ask guests, and I want to hear it because I think this is what makes you this freaking unicorn.

Celeste Berke [00:02:18]:

Nobody will admit it, but they hate doing what you love. Tell us, what is your sales edge? What makes you unique as a seller?

Ben Miles [00:02:29]:

I love cold calling. Taking a step back for a second, as a cold caller and and anybody who's listening or watching this, that cold calls, you're in a very, very unique position. How many times a day do you actually approach someone and put them on the spot? All that Cortisol pumping through their body. It's a very interesting place psychologically to be in. You're calling someone who has no clue who you are, Probably doesn't know your company and certainly isn't expecting your call, but what I've found in cold calling and and why I feel it's my sales edge is it It leads to genuine interactions. This isn't something that somebody can type up in an email in wordsmith. It's it's real. It's live.

Ben Miles [00:03:12]:

It's now. And what I found throughout my career of cold calling is that you really get to the heart of the issues with prospects that are really feeling some type of pain. It allows you to uncover that in a much more efficient manner rather than sending out, you know, tens of Automated emails or even spending the time to personalize emails because at the end of the day, that's really a shot in the dark until you actually hear back from the person confirming That there's some sort of problem or broken process that you can solve. So I feel like cold calling is my my edge.

Celeste Berke [00:03:46]:

And where did you learn this from that that became, like a skill set or a knack that you had. Where where did that behavior come from?

Ben Miles [00:03:55]:

Well, I, I got into sales from a real young age. I was 17, and I was working door to door, so I was knocking.

Celeste Berke [00:04:02]:

Yes. Rejection central.

Ben Miles [00:04:05]:

That's right. Yep. We we used to joke. We would have a a little, a little stick with us, so they tried to slam the door in front of us. We but in between the door and the door frame. And in a way, it give us a little more time With cold calling, which I got into a couple years later, obviously, anyone can hang up at any time, and sometimes that's for the better. But I got into cold calling early on in my career. And, really, for the past 10 years, it's really what I've been doing in every position.

Ben Miles [00:04:28]:

It's been the heart of the way that I prospect. I see email as a supplemental piece, but for me, cold calling has been something that's been really important and key in my success.

Celeste Berke [00:04:37]:

I know we're talking offline about You actually looking at your success on cold calling and in the seat that you're in saying, hey. I I may even adjust my Cadence moving forward because I'm having such success, what would you make if if someone was listening and they didn't wanna hear it, I mean, myself included. Right? I I don't love the cold call. What would you say that adjustment would be from and that you double down on 7 days out of the week?

Ben Miles [00:05:09]:

Well, I I feel like when when you're typing up emails, as great as it is to be able to sit back and and really get Clear mind and and think through exactly the way that you wanna position a message, whether that be 1 to 1 in a personalized email Or a personalized message of any form, whether that even be over text message or in a cadence where it's automated. I feel like There's a lot of time committing to someone who may or may not actually respond to you, so there's there's no verification that there's any fit. When you're cold calling, you can do that efficiently, and I would argue you can do that very effectively. And you you get that person on the phone. You get that immediate feedback, and you can test your message right there.

Celeste Berke [00:05:54]:

I love that. Yeah. That's such an interesting way of putting it putting it. And, yes, we spend so much time on, like, here are email sequences, and this is the cadence. We're gonna drop them into this and hope we're using, like, hope. Right? Hope is our strategy when it comes to that. Mhmm. Versus, like you just said, if I'm making a cold call, I get that immediate feedback.

Celeste Berke [00:06:12]:

It's either a hang up. It's either, like, Heck no or you've piqued their interest enough. When you're talking with individuals, what are you finding that resonates that allows you to have someone hang on the phone. I know that's I'm asking you some of your secret sauce here, but What is something that you do that piques interest?

Ben Miles [00:06:34]:

Well, I I think it's acknowledging what The call is. Having been cold calling for 10 years, I've bumped my head a lot. I I've learned a lot of what to do, but I've also learned a lot about what not to do. And I think where some folks get lost, myself included, is in trying to obfuscate the call, Whether that be the call live or even a voice mail, you you you wanna be genuine, and you wanna level with that prospect. So I think what generates the interest early on is acknowledging it's Cold call. Very common for me to say, hey, Celeste, it's Ben with XYZ Company. We've never spoken before and this is a cold call. I was just Hoping to get 27 seconds of your time and see if it makes sense to discuss it beyond that point.

Ben Miles [00:07:18]:

And what I've found is folks appreciate that. In fact, Oftentimes, I'll I'll get thanked for the way that I approach the call because there's a lot of questions swirling in their head when they're getting a call from a number that they don't recognize, Then they hear a name that they don't recognize, and then they hear a company name that they don't recognize. It is right there fight or flight on that call. And that's a little bit about what I was talking about earlier when I said it's very unique what we do as cold callers. You're putting people in fight or flight. So my goal and what I think brings Folks is is to immediately acknowledge it's a cold call. We've not spoken before, but you wanna let them know that you're not the salesperson that's gonna sit there And keep them tied up. That's why I drop in the 27 seconds.

Celeste Berke [00:08:00]:

Love that too. And I will say for any of you who's listening to audio, I can see why people are like, yes. I will listen to So you have that voice for the phone as well. So I'm sure that that how it's like that radio voice, right, where you're like, yes. Tell me more. So I do I do not have that voice. So I can see how people are like, oh, yeah, Ben. I'll give you those 27 seconds.

Celeste Berke [00:08:20]:

Interesting.

Ben Miles [00:08:21]:

Yeah. Thank god I don't prospect with my face. So it it works out well. I can just cold call.

Celeste Berke [00:08:26]:

Well, that's interesting. In 10 years of cold calling, let's talk about the no's. So something I struggled with as a seller. I mean I think you and I joked via a message a while back when I turned 44. Right? My 44th birthday. I had a tough time up even through earlier this year of of the rejection and taking rejection personally. And I don't know what it was if it was coming on with the ASG, the gap selling team. There's so many badasses.

Celeste Berke [00:08:59]:

Right? Or you just get to a point in your life where you're like, the nose roll off my back. Right? I I don't let them affect me the way that they used to. I used to take every no so personally because I was so hung up on the outcome. And I'd love to know from you 10 years in, When you get a rejection, when you get a no, how did you overcome that and not let it, like, stop you in your tracks and and allow you to keep going.

Ben Miles [00:09:24]:

So this might seem like an interesting way of framing it, but but I I really mean it. It's taking that no and looking at the underlying yes. The underlying yes to that no is them saying, Yes. You have my permission to find someone who has a problem that you can solve. So when I get that no, as a human, of course, there's a degree of disappointment. We don't want that. Whether it's a no to my pitch, because my pitch does start off with asking if I can get 27 seconds of their time, or it's it's a no to whatever it is that that I happen to be selling for for a company. But that yes is what drives me.

Ben Miles [00:10:06]:

And I think reminding yourself that them saying no to you, They're saying yes to you spending your time somewhere where it's spent better and being able to actually help someone. And I think, ultimately, what keeps me going between those nos or in between yeses is being able to real reminding myself constantly, I sell to serve. That's what I really like about what I do, and companies that have good products or services that can solve problems, I wanna be a part of, And I wanna get that message out. So that's that's what keeps me going and and and keeps the wind underneath my wings between those, you know, between yeses.

Celeste Berke [00:10:46]:

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Super insightful. And what I loved when we first met is you had talked about or what struck me is that you have this concept of, like, I'm a lifelong learner. Right? I'm a student of learning. I love learning about sales, different methodologies, maybe methodologies that you don't like, methodologies You do so this this idea that we're never at the finish line with our learning, and I think that even the books behind you probably Resonate with that. But along the way, we've gotten a lot of bad sales advice or seeing things we don't like, or maybe we just across a point in our life where that no longer serves us. And I like to ask every guest on here what their sales myth is that they wanna bust.

Celeste Berke [00:11:32]:

So, Ben, What's a myth around sales that you wanna bust?

Ben Miles [00:11:38]:

That we that everybody has to see the light. The truth is when we're calling or emailing or in any sort of a sales interaction, As a salesperson, we're taught to be hyperaccountable, and I think that's a great thing. And that's bled into my personal life, but I think it's important to remind ourselves that we can't help everybody, Whether the person has a broken process that our solution can solve for Or they don't. It at a certain point, you have to know when to move on. So I think you can get in a cycle Of trying to make something work, that's not gonna work if if you cold call that prospect, which is why I love cold calling so much, is you really can get to the heart of the matter Pretty quickly. In fact, one of my my favorite opening lines for a company I previously sold for was to really hit on the three business problems that we solve for. And I I would just say, look. You know, these are we help, you know, so and so with Problems that that they're facing that are like this, this, or this, are any of those something that your team's facing? No.

Ben Miles [00:12:45]:

Great. Have a nice day. I I can't help you, but I wish you the best, and and the goal there is to not put yourself in a position where you're trying to say, well well well, maybe we can make it work. We're a salesperson. We're supposed to grease our hair back and and just make things work. That's not always the case, and I think that's a big sales myth That I I think needs to be buzzed.

Celeste Berke [00:13:05]:

Yeah. Definitely. And and I think you hit on something there. Right? There's that immediate no, you can't help me. No. I'm not interested at Versus when we send emails out into oblivion, and we're like, we don't know because they're not telling us, so we'll keep trying, which probably goes back to that movie with, like, Will Smith. Right? How he was, like, so great on the phone because he learned those nuances of if I don't hang up the phone or if I just press and I'm able to get in more dials. Right? Those the more times you're getting to that no, it's probably getting you to that yes quicker then sitting back and thinking about it and the strategy and what did this person say, and now they gave me a no, etcetera.

Celeste Berke [00:13:43]:

So you built a suit of armor around that. Well, Ben, any parting words before we leave the podcast on how, you know, really we like to look at Sales leadership often isn't in tune with what is happening in the day to day, right, in the trenches. What's What's working, what's not, what's working for some person. You know, somebody may not work for somebody else. And for all those team members who are telling their VP of sales or CRO, like, Cold calling is dead. Give us some final thoughts on why you believe cold calling is a skill that still needs to be mastered.

Ben Miles [00:14:23]:

I I really believe that it is the most efficient way to fill your pipeline, And I I feel like if you do it right, you can accelerate your sales cycle. You're spending your time with folks who Quite literally picked up the phone, stayed on the call, you were able to ask the most important questions, And ultimately determine if the pain or or problem that they're facing as an organization is something that your company can help with. And When I started to pitch that way, I had a number of prospects where I didn't even have to close them on the cold call and ask them for a time to meet. They asked me, and when we met for the meeting, my colleague asked, you know, you know, what made you take the call today? And it was Ben understood the challenges that we were facing because I offered up those pains on the front end of the call. So cold calling is not dead. It's a way to make things more efficient and bring in the kinds of buyers who are actually gonna buy, even if that means saying bye to some of them and hearing some noes.

Celeste Berke [00:15:29]:

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. Again, it's it's pretty rare that people are speaking up about cold calling is not dead. Obviously, on LinkedIn, there are a lot of people who are talking about cold calling done right, and I think you've laid out some great examples of when done properly and you're armed with the problem information. And you're speaking to that, and you're, like, asking for permission, and you're telling people why you're there. Right? There's nothing worse as a human being of Not knowing what's gonna happen when you're in a situation, right, and you go into a doctor's office for a procedure. Like, this is why you feel a level of Comfort when someone walks you through, what's going to happen? And it's no different in sales. Like, people want to be disarmed and have an understanding so that they hear you out but if you just come out the gate with it usually the defenses are up.

Celeste Berke [00:16:13]:

So I appreciate you sharing that and please connect with Ben on LinkedIn as He shares information on cold calling or if you want some tips on the side definitely DM Ben on like, Hey, man. I need some cold calling help. Can you go over what you say one more time so it can help you or your team have success? So I appreciate you being here, and, we'll see you on LinkedIn.

Ben Miles [00:16:39]:

Thank you, Celeste. Thanks for having me.

Celeste Berke [00:16:42]:

Alright. Awesome. You did so great.

Ben Miles [00:16:46]:

Woo. Thank