How to Get Cold Calls Taken Every Time!

A couple of years ago I hired a young man with the first name Kemp. His unusual first name began to cause problems immediately. He’d call a prospect and say, “Hi, this is Kemp from Legendary Marketing.”

The prospect would pause and then say, “Did you say Kent?”

“No,” he’d say, “it’s Kemp.” The prospect, unused to the name, would invariably say

“Ken?”

“No,” he’d say with rising irritation “Kemp. K-E-M-P. Kemp!”

By this point, the prospect was either feeling stupid or Kemp was so frustrated and distracted from the sale process that he couldn’t sell anything. It seemed as if every conversation he had started out as an argument!

One day I walked in and he was practically yelling at the person on the other end of the phone, trying to get the person to say his name right!

“That’s the final straw,” I said. “Every time I come in here you are arguing with someone about your name. Change it to something else — anything else!”

“Like what?” he said as I walked out the door.

“Like Elvis,” I said. “No one will forget that!”

At first he was offended but despite his misgivings, the very next day he started introducing himself as Elvis Anderson. All of a sudden no…