Why Being Positive Is Killing Your Cold Calls (How To Be Negative To Get Appointments)

Alexis Valladares

Jul '25 (edited) • Announcements 🔔

Let’s cut straight to it:

Most agents are still using positive frames on cold calls. “Would you be open to hearing a strategy to net more money?”

“Can I take 30 seconds to tell you why I’m calling?”

That used to work.

But not anymore.

Here’s the reality:

🔒 Your prospect doesn’t know you.

😤 They don’t trust you.

❌ And they want to say NO.

So what do you do?

You give them permission to say no.

That’s where the negative frame comes in.

Here’s what it sounds like:

“John, I get it—right now, you probably don’t want to work with an agent. At the end of the day, I get the sense that what you really want is just to net the most amount of money from this property… right?”

He says: “Yeah.”

Then you drop the reframe:

“And John, let’s just say I offered a second opinion…and for a second, imagine that second opinion actually made sense—You wouldn’t want to take a quick look at that right now, would you?”

Now John says:

“Well… I mean, what does that even look like?”

Boom 💥 You’re in.

You created curiosity without pressure.

You gave control to the prospect.

You lowered resistance and earned permission to move forward.

🔥 Pro tip: Once they start engaging with “no”…That’s when you can switch to positive framing and lead the conversation.

But if you start with sunshine and scripts?

They’ll shut you down before you even get momentum.

📩Comment if you're going to start being more negative on the phones. Also comment your biggest takeaway below 👇

Let's have a great week 🚀

—Alexis