The cold call script we actually use
Most published scripts are written by people who stopped calling years ago, or never started. You can tell, because they open with a sentence no human has ever said out loud. This is the one that is actually on the screen during a live call, and it has produced $1.54M in closed assignment revenue.
Use it as a spine, not a cage. The words matter less than the order.
The opener
The first seven seconds decide the call. You are not selling anything yet, you are giving them a reason not to hang up.
Hi, is this [NAME]? Hey [NAME], my name is [YOUR NAME], I am calling about the property on [STREET]. I know I am calling out of the blue, so I will be quick. Are you the owner?
Three things are doing work there.
Naming the street. Anyone can dial a number. Someone who says the street name has done something first, and that alone separates you from the four other calls they got this week.
"I know I am calling out of the blue." Acknowledging the interruption defuses it. People forgive a cold call far more readily than they forgive a cold call that pretends to be something else.
A closed question at the end. "Are you the owner" is answerable in one word. Ending on an open question this early asks them to do work before they have decided you are worth any.
If they say they are not interested in the first ten seconds, that is not a rejection of your offer. They have not heard one. It is a reflex, and the answer is:
Totally fair, I did not expect you to be. Can I ask one thing and then I will let you go: if the number was right, is it something you would even look at?
About one in five say yes to that. Those are the calls that pay for the rest of the day.
The qualifying block
Once they are talking, you need four things. Ask them in this order, because each one earns the right to the next.
- Condition. "If I walked through it today, what would I be looking at?" Open, easy, and it lets them talk. Listen for roof, HVAC, foundation and anything they say twice.
- Timeline. "If you did sell, what would the ideal timing look like for you?" Timeline before price, always. A number without a timeline is a wish.
- Motivation. "What has you thinking about it now rather than a year ago?" This is the most valuable question on the call and the one most reps skip because it feels intrusive. It is not. People want to explain themselves.
- Price. "Have you got a number in your head?" If they give one, do not react to it. If they refuse, that is fine and normal.
You do not need all four on the first call. You need enough to know whether there is a second.
Anchoring the number
The worst thing you can do is name a price before you have framed what the price is for. The frame is always the same: certainty, speed and no work on their side.
So just so I set expectations properly. I am not going to be the highest number you hear, because I am buying it as it sits, paying cash, and closing on your timeline. What I am is certain. If you need the most money possible and you are happy to fix it up, list it with an agent, that is genuinely the right move. If what you want is done, that is where I am useful.
Saying "list it with an agent" out loud costs you nothing and buys you enormous credibility. The sellers who were going to list were never yours. The ones who stay after hearing it are real.
The close
Never close on the price. Close on the next step.
Here is what I would suggest. Let me run the numbers properly tonight and I will call you back tomorrow at [SPECIFIC TIME] with a real number, not a range. If it works for you we talk about it, if it does not you have lost nothing. Does [TIME] work?
A specific time is the whole close. "I will call you back" is a call you will not make. "Tomorrow at 4:15" is an appointment.
What to do after you hang up
Write the note while it is still in your head. Not the summary, the specifics: what they said about the roof, the name of the sister who owns half of it, the word they used about their timeline. Six weeks from now that detail is the difference between a follow up call that lands and one that starts from zero.
The reason OfferDesk writes call notes automatically is that this step is the one everybody skips, and it is the one that compounds.