PLAN “B” – PART THREE:
WHEN THEY SAY “NO”: YOUR REAL MONEY LIES JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE. HERE IS HOW TO DIG IT UP.
That top executive at a great prospective client company has just declined your request for a meeting despite your best efforts… what do you do now? Exchange meaningless drivel about keeping in touch or calling you when they have a need. How stupid.
WHEN YOU CAN’T GET THEM ON THE PHONE AND WANT TO GIVE UP.
After a great investment of time calling carefully selected targets the cold cruel reality is that you will never reach most of your list… what do you do now? Give up on them in frustration? What a waste that would be. Read on.
You have worked the system described in this tutorial. You have called carefully
selected high-value companies. Identified the decision-makers, obtained fax numbers, picked up info on how much they buy. Many targets have scheduled meetings with you. Many decision makers have asked that you call them back. Your calls have given you good reconnaissance information as to future buying decisions and you have decided to give some accounts more attention. Most you haven’t been able to reach.
Plan “B” is all about what you do next. You have already made your greatest investment in prospecting – your time in selecting, organizing and then making your first sequence of calls to your targets.
To have something worthwhile to say that will advance a sale when your target says “NO”, or to get good quality prospects to “raise their hands” out of the crowd when you have been unable to reach them – you will need three things.
1. A sequenced autoresponder service.
2. An offer of information with a high perceived value which offers immediate benefits.
3. Consistent “touches” of information which remind your targets that you even exist, educate them as to what you do and build credibility.
4. Website pages that give people reasons to leave their names.
This is an oversimplification. There are more options.
Let’s take the situation of the top decision maker who you finally get on the phone after great effort and despite your carefully prepared pitch says “NO”.
You have to do something to further a relationship with this person and build credibility in their eyes – what do you do?
You say something like this. “Mr./Mrs. top exec I don’t want to be on your back, but we do a lot of work in this area and companies like A, B and C have selected us for projects that worked well. We have a special report containing 23 specific strategies as to how you can ______________ (fill in the benefit which is of interest to your audience) and periodically send out E-mail tips on how you can ____________ (fill in the benefit). Can I send them to you? Great. Your E-mail address is…. your mailing address is……. and when would be the best time for me to contact you again… thankyouverymuchgoodbye.” Click.
What just happened? You didn’t get a meeting. You did have a conversation with a top decision-maker at a company you believe would make a great client who gave you permission to communicate with them periodically and told you when to call next.
The things you send are carefully crafted to be beneficial to your targets while communicating what you do, building your differentiation and credibility and making it easy for them to contact you when they have a need and are ready to buy.
The above example uses a written “special report”, but it doesn’t have to be that. It could be a CD of you speaking on a topic of interest. It could be you interviewing an expert or author on a topic of interest to your targets (these people are amazingly easy to communicate with and I tell you how to go about it in the seminar in a box or teleseminar class).
The bottom line… that information offer builds your credibility and provides you another “touch” with your prospect. Remember the “Rule of 7”. Our prospects have to be touched by us 7 times before they even start to realize we are communicating with them. You just created a touch.
Knowing that your targets have to be touched by you repeatedly, you have to give them opportunity to contact YOU when they are ready to buy, and the means of this communication has to be automated (let’s face it, you won’t follow-up) and cheap…. E-mail sequenced autoresponders are perfect tools.
Essentially what you do is create a series of E-mails full of stories, information, tips, strategies and just good stuff of interest to your targets. You enter their E-mail address (you did get permission) and your target gets a sequence of high value messages from you without you having to coordinate a thing.
They hear from you consistently. They get information they value. They begin to understand your differentiation. They have an easy way to signal you that they need more contact or are ready to buy. All without you doing a thing.
Not only that, but when your initial sequence of messages is complete, you can send periodic updates to the group very easily.
Now lastly, you have that group you have never been able to reach. You have made your biggest investment of time and resources, yet have no results as to a large segment of your targets audience. What to do?
I would recommend either or both of these strategies.
First, when you were making your calls you paid heed to my advice to obtain fax numbers and to code your targets as to potential worth. So you have a segment of your targets which are high worth, a segment which are definitely low worth, and a segment which is either average worth or you know nothing about.
You listened when I advised you about how important it was to think in terms of groups, well here it comes into play.
As a group select a category of prospects then send them a fax or series of faxes which invites them to…
A. Request that special report or CD which has a high perceived value.
B. To receive all your E-mail tips and strategies.
C. To visit your website where you have made it easy for them to respond and identify themselves to you.
Faxes, properly used, properly formatted and containing the right offer are an extremely high return on investment marketing tool. I know what you are thinking. You are wrong.
Another option, to be used in conjunction with or instead of the faxes, would be a series of postcards, letters or mini – newsletters which serve the same purpose. Your targets hear from you consistently and begin to understand what you do, your points of differentiation and just how credible you are.
And because you were coding in your contact manager as you were calling, you can do this easily and inexpensively as you are dealing with groups of prosects and not individual names. Very efficient. Very cost effective.
Best wishes for prospecting success,
Scott Channell
copyright 2004-2009 Scott Channell
