Nothing kills a cold call’s success faster than a weak opening line.  Many legal recruiters who don’t have sales training waste the first few seconds of a cold call saying things such as:

“Hi my name is Jane, I was wondering if…..”

Or

“Hi my name is Joe, I was calling to let you know about….”

While every recruiter is not using the above mentioned opening lines verbatim, many are using similar variations. While the opening lines are good enough for normal conversation, they are not good enough for sales.  Opening lines during a cold call need to achieve the following:

1. Introduce yourself.  “Good morning, this is John from ABC Recruiting” or “This is John a legal recruiter with…”  The introduction should give them your name and let them know you’re a recruiter.
2. Qualify the prospect.  Before going into a long drawn out sales pitch about your services find out if the prospect can 1) afford your service, 2) needs your service and 3) knows that they need your service.  For example, a legal recruiter might say, “This is John from ABC recruiting, do you currently have any staffing needs?” or “This is Jane, I’m a legal recruiter and I was calling to find out if you have a need to hire litigation attorneys in the next few months?” If the prospect makes it clear that he is not in need of your services you can stop here. However, if he does need your services you should be prepared to offer a value statement.
3. Offering a value statement.  Legal recruiters should be prepared to show the prospect how they can 1) save them time, 2) save them money, 3) increase their profits or 4) solve some type of problem.   A matter of fact, if a legal recruiter has done their homework, they already know the problem the potential client is facing and can offer the solution at the beginning of their cold call. For example, “Good morning this is Jane from ABC recruiting, I have four experienced litigation attorneys….”