ASN Connect · resource · open this while you dial
You are not selling on this call. You are selling a fifteen-minute video meeting, using one true fact about their business that they don't know yet.
Keep it open on your laptop while you work — it's built to be scanned mid-call, not memorised. The bar at the top jumps to any section.
You're a 1099 contractor, so none of the technique here is mandatory — it's what's actually worked, written down. The compliance rules are the exception: calling hours, DNC, recording consent and never promising rankings are legal obligations of the engagement, and those aren't optional for anyone.
There are two kinds of fear you can put in a business owner, and only one of them books meetings.
| Generic fear — dead on arrival | Specific fear — books the meeting | |
|---|---|---|
| Sounds like | "AI is changing everything and businesses that don't adapt will be left behind." | "I asked ChatGPT who the best septic company in Ocala is. It gave me three names. Yours wasn't one of them." |
| They hear | A sales pitch | A fact about their business |
| Their move | Hang up | "Wait — who did it say?" |
The fear has to be theirs, already true, and about them by name. We never have to invent it — we run the scan before we dial, so the alarming thing we say is a thing that actually happened. That is the entire advantage. Nobody else on their call list can name their competitor back to them in the first fifteen seconds.
And the mechanism underneath it isn't really fear — it's an information gap they can't close on their own. Once you tell an owner their competitor is the answer and they aren't, they want to know two things immediately: who, and how bad is it. Neither is something they can go look up. That's the meeting.
A cold call with no prepared fact is just noise. Do not dial without this.
Rule: if you can't say a specific competitor's name, don't make the call yet. The whole script hangs on it.
The first 27 seconds
The opener wins or loses the call in the first 7 to 10 seconds. Slow down.
This is the approved Academy opener, word for word. Don't improvise a different one — it's the version we measure against.
Why naming the cold call works: they already know it's a cold call. Saying it first takes the weapon off the table and buys you the 27 seconds, because you asked instead of launching. Most people say "sure, go ahead."
Kill the pitch expectation immediately
They are braced for a pitch. Take it away and they start listening.
This is a takeaway and it's true. We work with one business per category per market. You genuinely don't know if theirs is available. Saying so is honest and it inverts the call — now you're the one who might say no.
The fact — say it flat
One sentence. Their competitor's name. No adjectives, no wind-up.
They will almost always say some version of "really?" or "who?" or "that's not right." Any of those is engagement, and you're in.
If the scan came back clean and they WERE named — different opener, same structure, and it still works:
Make it matter — one question, then listen
Turn a fact into a feeling. Their answer is what you'll quote back later.
The ask — small, specific, and not a sale
You are asking for fifteen minutes. Nothing else. Don't get greedy.
Two named times, never "when are you free." An open question makes them do work; two options makes them choose. And it must be a video meeting — a phone call back is not a meeting, and we don't sell on the phone.
Lock it so it actually happens
Half of booked meetings no-show. These three lines fix most of that.
Send the invite before you hang up. Not after the call, not later that day. While they're still on the phone.
Answer, then immediately ask for the meeting again. Never answer and stop.
Not interested.
"Understood — you don't know what it is yet. Twenty seconds and then I'll go: I asked ChatGPT who the best [trade] in [town] was this morning and it named [competitor], not you. Did you know that?"
Most "not interested" happens before they've heard anything. One specific fact often reopens it. If they repeat it, thank them and go.
Just send me an email.
"I can, and it'll sit in your inbox like the other forty — you and I both know that. The reason I want fifteen minutes is I need to run this live on your business; it's not something I can put in an email. [Day] or [day]?"
We're all set / we already have someone.
"Good — who's handling it? …And are they covering the AI side, or search? Because they're different, and the reason I called is [competitor] is coming up and you're not. Worth fifteen minutes just to know where you stand?"
How much is it?
"Depends on the market and what you actually need — it starts at twelve hundred a month and I'm not going to quote you a number before I've looked at your situation. If it's way off from what you'd consider, tell me now and I'll save us both the meeting."
Never dodge a price question. Give the floor, be honest about the range, and let them self-select. Dodging reads as expensive.
I'm busy / bad time.
"Course you are, that's why I called instead of showing up. Two options — I let you go and we do fifteen minutes [day], or I take thirty seconds right now. Your call."
We already do SEO.
"Keep doing it, that still matters. But SEO gets you onto a results page, and more of your customers aren't seeing a results page anymore — they're getting one answer. Right now that answer is [competitor]. Fifteen minutes and I'll show you both."
Who is this, what is this about?
"Fair. [Name] with ASN Intelligence — we get local businesses named when people ask AI for a recommendation. I called because I ran that check on [town] this morning and you weren't in it."
Call me back next month.
"I can do that. Only thing is we take one business per category per market, and [town] is open today — I can't promise it will be. Fifteen minutes now and at least you'll know what you're deciding about. [Day] or [day]?"
This is true, so you can say it. Never stretch it into a fake deadline.
Under 20 seconds. Same fact, no pitch, and always leave a reason to call back.
Text, same day — only to numbers that have opted in or called us back. Check the consent status in ASN Connect before sending anything:
1 · Calling hours are the recipient's local time, 9am–7pm. The dialer enforces it. Don't work around it.
2 · Wireless numbers are locked out at the source. If someone asks us to call them back, that's consent and it's allowed. Don't manually dial a mobile off a list.
3 · No recording without the disclosure. No disclosure, no recording — the system enforces this. Two-party consent states carry real penalties.
4 · Honour a DNC request instantly and log it. "Take me off your list" ends the call politely and immediately. No rebuttal, no second attempt.
5 · Never promise a ranking. We promise visibility and published measurement. "I'll get you to number one" is a sentence that can end a client relationship and worse.
6 · Log every call in ASN Connect. Outcome, objection, and the competitor name you used. That data is how we find out which openers actually work.
| Metric | Target | What it means if you're under |
|---|---|---|
| Dials per day | 250 | Nothing else on this page matters yet |
| Conversations | ~10% of dials | Bad list or bad hours, not bad script |
| Meetings set per conversation | 1 in 5 | Your opener isn't specific enough — did you name the competitor? |
| Meetings held | 70%+ of set | You skipped step 6 |
Track these weekly per rep in ASN Connect. The fix is almost always upstream of where the number looks bad.