It was a Sunday morning in the fall before a Denver Bronco game. I was playing fantasy football and desperately wanted to watch the pregame shows to make the best decisions for my fantasy team. After all, there were bragging rights on the line, but instead of going to the remote, I reached for my phone.

He had a small office in the basement of the house he lived in, located in Thornton, a northern suburb of Denver. It was basically a hallway outside the laundry room and my roommate was busy doing her laundry. I had to stop at my desk to let her pass whenever I needed to check things out. There were several other places he would have preferred to be and other things he wanted to do. He didn’t want to be in that hallway with a phone to his ear while the clothes were blasting, but he had a goal to achieve. He needed to make 30 calls before the Broncos started.

This was my routine every weekend and most nights of the week. I had a great phone script, but it was adjusting that script, making it my own, and practicing on the phone that helped me succeed. I bought over 50 homes by calling sellers directly, and over the years learned over the phone what makes an investor successful. Here are three keys to cold calling salespeople that will make you successful.

Have a script. The routine generates success. This is nothing new, but it is worth mentioning. The most successful people in the world, in any area, have a routine for what they do best. You can be a professional golfer, a builder, a waiter or a waitress, or a school teacher. In business, if you find something that works and do it over and over again, you will get rich. It really is that simple. A script is your routine, it helps you work through a call, and should be used every time you make a call to the salesperson.

Make the script your own. While a script is extremely important, it can also hurt you. If you follow a script that you are not comfortable with and read it word for word, you will sound nervous and stiff. This will make the motivated salesperson uncomfortable and want to end the call. It is best to find a script that you can change a bit to suit your personality. It’s also important to know that you need to be prepared to deviate from the script and follow the call. Enjoy the conversation. That’s why I like really short scripts with a lot of flexibility.

Don’t sell by phone. When I was just starting out, the script I was using made me make a creative offer over the phone. If the seller was open to the offer, he would set up the meeting and negotiate the numbers. It took hundreds of calls to make an appointment with a salesperson, because you were over-rating them by selling over the phone. Your time may one day be too valuable to meet with salespeople you may not do business with, but for most of us, getting the appointment with a qualified prospect is the most important outcome. The way to do this is to rate your motivation and then schedule a time to see the house; the goal is not to get a deal over the phone. If they ask you for an offer, you can simply say that you need to see the house before you can discuss it and that they should invite you. The qualifying question in my script is: “Sounds like a great house. Why would I consider selling?” The answer to this question will give me enough information to schedule a meeting or not.

Focus on “no” questions and never catch your lead. Many sales books teach “yes” questions. Hearing the word is not scary and as salespeople we are taught to make our potential customer say yes. This is done by asking questions whose only answer is yes. For example, you might say “Most people are looking for the best price for their home, do you agree?” Of course they will agree with that. Doing this can create some uneasiness and make them feel uncomfortable with you. People want to feel like they have options and give them the option to say they can’t be powerful. A question like “Don’t you agree?” will be much more powerful than “Do you agree?”

Another strategy often taught in sales that makes people uncomfortable is offering them limited options. I think this can be extremely useful and is a great strategy, but you have to be careful. A lawyer called me the other day asking for a donation. Their questions were, “Would you like to donate the normal $ 50 or would $ 25 be easier?” This is a great closure when you have a good relationship with someone, so it could be very effective in a meeting, but it made me hang up the phone. I do not know you!

Remember the purpose of the call is to gather information and make an appointment. It’s not closing a deal, and it’s certainly not catching a potential customer on an awkward call.