Cold Calling

I used to believe in the 60/30/10 rule when it came to be booking sales appointments and discovery calls. That rule stated that 60% of your prospecting success would come simply by hitting the right targets, 30% will come because you have the right message and 10% will come from all other reasons combined.

With the benefit of 25+ years of experience, I think that a better rule is 50/20/20/10.

50% of the results come from interacting with the highest-probability highest-value targets you can with the time and resources you have.

20% of results come from your process of interaction. When do you call, voicemail or email? How many times? You must work a total process of outreach from start to finish calculated to get the result you seek. The quality of that process and the quality of your execution is 20% of the reason for your discovery call success.

20% of the results come from your messaging. Does your messaging give those with needs sufficient reason to meet? Does your verbiage communicate value, credibility, and benefits clearly and concisely?

10% of your results come from everything else.

50/20/20/10

50% of your results come from just hitting the right targets. Here’s the biggest mistake I see over and over again. Rather than carefully profile the best targets to call, you grab some local list that is free or easy. Or, major assumptions are made about a list that is good enough. The result of this is that your net is cast far too wide and you are pretty much doomed to fail no matter how good your call process or scripting is.

When your list is not properly selected you and your team spend way too much time reaching out to low-probability and no-probability targets. A major cause of appointment setting failure. If your target list is not properly selected you and your team are doomed before you make your first call. All the odds are stacked against you, and it is your fault.

Get this right, and you can screw up a lot of things and still be successful

Even if you have an average message and screw everything else up totally, if you select the right targets, you can have a successful prospecting program.

If you select the wrong targets, no matter what else you do, no matter how good your message is, no matter how efficiently you work, no matter how good your process is, you are guaranteed to fail.

How do you pick the right targets? Very simple. Make a list of your best clients. Make a list of your competition’s best clients. Make a list of the specific accounts that you know would be great, profitable accounts for you to have. Then go to a database and look up those specific companies. Create a chart that notes their SIC or NAICS codes.

Every industry has a code. Do you sell to consultants, restaurants or retail? They each have a code. Find out what the SIC or NAICS codes are of the companies you are profiling. Make a note of their revenue range or number of employees. This information can be obtained for free using publicly available databases such as referenceUSA.

In addition to the information you find in public databases, make a note of how your best clients/customers/accounts first found you. What needs did they have when they first became your clients?

Write it down. What did your clients tell you their problems were when they first came to you? Write them down.

Do this enough times, and you will have an accurate profile of the people whom you should be calling. That is to say; you will know the exact industry codes and the size of the businesses you should be calling. These are the only people you should be calling.

DO NOT FOCUS ON “NOT MISSING ANYONE.”

Let me tell you one of the biggest mistakes you can make. The phrase that I hear that tells me I am talking to someone doomed to prospecting failure… “I don’t want to miss anyone.” Surer words predicting prospecting failure will never be spoken!

The point of prospecting and appointment setting is to generate the most results for your limited time and resources.

When you start, you should call only those that fit the profile of your best potential clients. Usually, there are more of those targets than you could reasonably call in six months or more. So, you are not limiting yourself in any way. After you contact all your targets that fit your “best suspect” profile and do it very well, then you can start thinking about contacting others.

Let’s discuss a close to real life example. You make some assumptions about whom to prospect, and your list universe has 5,000 targets. If you do some basic research and analysis, you might find that about 7% of that list, 350 targets, most tightly fits the profile of your best clients. Let’s call those your “A” targets. Another 7% or so, about 350 records, are close to your best target profile. Let’s call this the “B” group. Then you have “all the rest,” about 4,300 records that maybe possibly might become clients in shades of decreasing probability.

Who are you going to call first? The A’s, the B’s or all the rest?

If you are like most that just jump in and call without knowing which targets are in the A or B group, you are going to spend 86% of your time calling “all the rest,” while the A’s and B’s get very little of your time and attention. A recipe for guaranteed failure. A scenario that is all too common.

This is where the self-destructive thinking comes from. We all have clients that are great clients who don’t fit the profile of our very best clients. For example: if most of our best clients are businesses that have at least $2.5 million in revenue, we probably have some great clients that are much smaller, only doing say half of a million or a million a year in business.

It may be true that there are some businesses out there that only do half a million dollars in revenue which could be “great” clients. But, if you tried to prospect companies in that revenue range, you would lose your shirt trying to find those “great” clients.

You Want to Jack Hammer Through a Solid Vein of Prospecting Gold. Not Work Through a Pile of Prospecting Crap Trying to Find a Nugget of Gold.

You are not “giving up” on anyone when you resist the temptation to dilute the quality of the suspect pool you call.

It is financial suicide and sheer madness to invest limited prospecting time sifting through sludge panning for a few small nuggets of gold when you could spend the same amount of time jackhammering through a solid vein of gold.

The more you vary from a suspect pool that most resembles your typical “great” client, the more you can expect that your success rate in scheduling appointments will be lower. Your conversion rate from appointment to sale will be lower, and your average order size of the sales you do make will be lower. Do not make this mistake. Initially focus and prospect only those companies who fit the profile of your very best clients.

Once you finish prospecting that pool and have a baseline of results, you can then selectively start prospecting other pools of suspects.

50% of your results will come just from communicating with the right targets.

20% of your prospecting results come from your process of interaction. How many times do you call, voicemail or email and when? If you don’t do enough or interact the right way, you will fail. If you do too much and work past your point of diminishing returns, your results will plummet. If you don’t do enough, maybe call just a few times or haphazardly, then you are not doing enough to get steady results.

So assuming you are calling the right targets, you must work an effective process when you interact with those targets. That process moves you through your high probability group very efficiently and increases the odds that you will “bump” into a high-value prospect at the right time.

50% of results from calling the right targets.
20% of results from working the right process.

20% of results from effective messaging. Very simply, when you call the right people and work a system which earns you their attention for a few moments, don’t screw it up. Have something worthwhile to say. Communicate what you do, your credibility and value clearly and succinctly.

In those few crucial moments of attention, you worked so hard to get you must communicate words that enable buyers (those that recognize a need) to conclude that you are worth more of their time. If your message is weak, watered down or non-existent in those moments you are toast.

50% is the list.
20% is the process.
20% is the messaging.

10% is all the rest. All the other issues that suck up your time and attention that are on the fringes of what matters, they have a very little impact on results. I am generous when I say they impact results 10%.

Call the right people, the right way and have something worthwhile to say and you are 90% there. Don’t let other issues divert your attention.

How much fake sincerity does it take to earn trust?

Do you know your biggest challenge as a vendor or service provider?

Your prospects don’t trust you.

They have been on the receiving end of too many exaggerations, part-truths, and distortion. Too many reps have misrepresented their capabilities and experience. They have wasted too much time with salespeople who could not stick to the truth.

I attended a meeting last week conducted by four experts on inside sales. A very sharp and knowledgeable group. They put forward the idea, backed up by some studies I can’t remember, that the biggest complaint buyers had with vendors was misrepresentation. They thought too many potential vendors were less than totally honest.

Here are some of the ideas shared by participants at that meeting as to how to get in the door.

– Find out from Linkedin what college they went to and send them some knick-knack or clothing item with their college logo on it.

– Peruse social media to find out a cause they believe in or hobby they have and mention it in your pitch.

– Communicate with two decision-makers within the same company. Send one a letter with a key. Send the other a package with a letter and a box. The executives would have to connect to unlock the box (to extract some item or small gift certificate), and I assume to discuss the merits of meeting with you.

There were a lot of clever ideas shared along these lines about how to get a prospect’s attention, get a conversation and book a demo or discovery call.

Two Problems With The Faux Sincerity Approach.
One of them is Math.

There is a very practical reason I didn’t like these approaches. Math.

You need to communicate with a lot of targets to meet sales goals. When you are personalizing to this degree the size of the pool you are prospecting shrinks substantially. When you spend that much time looking up personal information on prospects so that you can seem interested, you call far fewer prospects.

There is another reason I didn’t care for these ideas. Reality.

Buyers have seen it all. As soon as they sense a whiff of insincerity or that their time is being wasted, you are done. And for those that do agree to speak, the no-show rates are high and the closing rates are low. Your closing rate is going to be lower when you start the relationship faking genuine concern and interest or rely on gimmicks. That sales relationship is built on sand.

Who’s calling? Mr. Jones from the I.R.S.

True story. Extreme but true. Many years ago met a rep who proudly shared this technique to get decision-makers to come to the phone every time. When the gatekeeper asked “What is this regarding?” the rep would say “This is Mr. Jones from the I.R.S.” Of course, when the decision-maker picked up the phone to learn that Mr. Jones was from the Increased Revenue Service, they were not very pleased. The rep closed not one deal with this. Start with a lie, end with good-bye.

Now any idea will work on some people some of the time. Doesn’t make it good. Certainly doesn’t make it the idea that will work consistently to deliver the best outcomes over time.

I’m picturing two highly paid executives authorized to make major purchase decisions chasing each other to unlock a Starbucks gift certificate. Some might think it clever, but many will not be pleased their time is being wasted.

And sending items with college logos on them or striking up a conversation about a prospects hobby or cause they believe in  The gift is obvious manipulation and faking interest in items found on their social media is very easy to see through.

If you were going to send something, it should relate to the outcome you can achieve for clients.

So How Much Sincerity Do You Have to Fake to Earn Trust?

You can go in another direction. Many do. Rather than waste time with all these gimmicks and tricks and spending time digging for something on each sales suspect so that you can “sincerely” relate interest or caring on some topic, why not just lay your cards on the table.

Clearly and consistently state what you do, why you are credible, the benefits you deliver and why you are worthy of their time and trust. Relate that message over and over again. Respect your suspects enough to deliver a message they can clearly understand and then let them say “yes” or “no.”

You will communicate with a larger group of suspects as you are not wasting time searching for items to be sincere about and those with needs can conclude you are worthy. That starts your sales relationship off on a foundation of trust.

As Franklin Roosevelt said, “Be sincere; be brief, be seated.”

When you are cold calling / appointment setting and your sales prospect rejects you, does it make sense to call back?
If so, when?

You will learn…
– What is true today is not true tomorrow.
– Diminishing the size of the quality pool you prospect cripples success.
– What you hear is not literally true.

Lately, have had a rash of coaching clients relate matter of factly that when a prospect they call tells them “we are all set,” “we have a vendor we love” or “hell will freeze before we buy from you,” that they never call that company/contact again.

When I inform them that practice is crippling their success and amounts to self-sabotage, they are incredulous. Why would you waste time calling someone who just called your mother names?

Let us count the ways. Lesson #3 is eye opening.

Your Sales Prospecting Call Is a Mere Moment in the Life of Your Prospect

Lesson #1. Things change.

We have all had the experience of being thrown to the curb and soundly rejected only to learn later that your prospect signed a bazillion dollar contract with a competitor ( a lousier more expensive competitor at that) nine months later.

Maybe their need for your offering was a mere seed not yet fully grown. At that moment, maybe they did not recognize a need.

Assuming you picked that prospect to call for good reason. Hopefully you picked them to call because they belong to a group highly likely to buy from you. That didn’t evaporate because of one call. Things change. Call back.

Lesson #2. What you hear when sales prospecting / appointment setting is not literally true.

Maybe they were having a bad day or you caught them at the wrong time. Maybe your approach sucked and they could not grasp your credibility or what you might do for them, so they threw you to the curb for wasting their time. Maybe the person you spoke to is a moron incapable of rational decision making whose rejection of your company saving solution is a big mistake (they are out there.)

Don’t assume that what you hear is literally true. So long as they continue to fit the profile of a prospect highly likely to buy from you, call again. Recommend six months give or take depending upon potential worth.

Lesson #3. You are self-sabotaging yourself by actively reducing the number of good prospects you can call.

A big part of sales prospecting and appointment setting success is profiling and calling companies that are most likely to buy from you. (Do that well and resist the urge to cast your net too wide and you can screw up a lot of prospecting things and still be successful.)

Many companies may only purchase or change vendors for what you offer every 2 – 4 years. The odds of your call coming at exactly the right time is slim.

When you decide not to follow-up ever again on people who tell you that, at that moment, they are all set or never going to buy, you are shrinking the pool of highest probability prospects to call. When you do that it becomes harder and harder to get results. Why? What do you do when you run low on high probability people to call? You call lower probability people.

Extreme case but true: Coaching client working way too hard for prospecting results. Whenever someone said they were “not interested” they would drop them from their list. Over time, due to this over-reaction and short-sighted thinking they had whittled down the pool of high probability targets to practically nothing.

Remember, things change. People who are rude to you one day could very well write a big check to a competitor six months later. It happens all the time. Don’t assume that what you hear on one short call accurately represents what is going on. Don’t self-sabotage yourself by shrinking your pool of good quality targets to call.

If you find out in your calling that a suspect does not fit your profile, wrong size, wrong number of employees or something, that is different. You stop calling them because they don’t fit your profile of high probability buyers.

But so long as they fit your profile of those most likely to buy from you… when they scream “No, never, I will die before we buy from you” and call your mother names… schedule a follow-up call.

The Sooner You Stop the Cold Calling is Dead Delusion and Accept Reality, the Sooner You May Close More Great Accounts.

Fact: “Cold Calling is Dead” is a lie.

Mail is dead. Books are dead. Email is dead. The internet is dead. Cold calling is dead. Newspapers are dead. Those that believe such things are denying themselves powerful tools that can be component parts of a very powerful business development system.

Does Cold Calling Work? Do Bears….

… well, you know.

Let me share one trait that very successful business developers share. The ability to accept reality.

Accepting reality is key to exposing the cold calling is dead lie.

Truth #1: Practically all that sell higher ticket or longer sales process items, most that seek to close more strategic accounts and higher value work, those that know they have a superior service offering for yet unaware qualified future accounts, use some form of cold calling. How is that for a cold calling is dead factoid.

Truth #2: Many of those that use successful cold calling techniques for great personal profit… don’t like to do it. Yours truly among them. I smiled and dialed my way to setting more than 2,000 B2B sales appointments in diverse industries and it took discipline and stupid mind tricks to keep doing the right things consistently. Even now I have to take a deep breath before starting a phone session.

Use Cold Calling Techniques that Work and You Will Scoff at the Cold Calling is Dead Crowd

Not liking cold calling, not wanting to do it, preferring to eat glass rather than cold call, all understandable. But that doesn’t make the cold calling is dead lie true, nor does it make this potentially very effective business development tactic less valuable as part of your overall effective new business development process.

The foundation for “cold calling is dead” beliefs are very weak. Frankly, I believe that many of the core beliefs of the cold calling is dead crowd are silly.

Before I get to the grand daddy whopper of the cold calling is dead lie, lets review some cold calling tips silliness

Inbound is better. Hopefully, that is true for you and receiving more qualified inbound inquiries at an acceptable cost should be a part of everybody’s plan. It is certainly easier to close a qualified prospect that comes to you. But, if your inbound volume is insufficient, or attracting losers and tire-kickers, then you might want to peel off your cold calling is dead bumper sticker. If you need more leads and can identify qualified suspects that would benefit from your offering, call them. Cold call them as part of an overall effective process and use cold calling techniques that work.

Social Media has replaced it. How many top producing sales people do you know that credit their superior success to tweets and facebook posts? I don’t know any. Do cold calling is dead believers really think that key decision-makers within desired future accounts will find their online posts and call them…. and in sufficient quantity to meet sales growth goals. Not happening.

Linkedin has replace cold calling. Linkedin is a tremendous tool and proper use of it is an invaluable cold calling technique. It helps you to find high value qualified targets and identify key decision-makers within them. Lets pop another cold calling is dead fantasy. These people don’t know you. When you contact them it is a cold call. Freezing.

Before we get to the grand daddy of all cold calling is dead lies, one more…

There are “new rules.” This piece of cold calling is dead propaganda typically expounds that “new rules” have made previous methods of cold calling obsolete and that new cold calling version 2.72 has replaced it. Funny thing though, when you scrape the coating off this one (use gloves, it’s messy) and get to what is underneath you will typically read things like “only call the best ones,” “say things meaningful to your prospects” and “don’t waste their time.” These revelatory game changing cold calling tips sound an awful like the key components of cold calling in the old days. Are there new resources and technologies being used by effective sales prospectors today? Yes. But the core principles of what got you a meeting, a phone appointment or a webinar meeting in the “old” days have not substantially changed and should not be abandoned.

The grand daddy of the cold calling is dead fantasy machine… drum roll please…

That by sending an email or letter, that you have transformed your cold call into a warm call. That when you follow up you are building an existing relationship or somehow continuing a conversation. David Copperfield could not pull that one off. The only way you continue that conversation is by talking to a mirror. Not only is this ludicrous, but it is very dangerous advice to sales prospecting. This is the real world. 99.5 % of those that get such emails or letters never see them and if they do see them, forget them immediately. On a meter ranging from stone cold calling to welcomed trusted adviser, you haven’t even moved the needle. To think you have is delusional.

Why the cold calling is dead lie costs many a lot of money.

I am not suggesting that cold calling is superior to other tactics and should be used by everyone.
I am not assuming that cold calling is right for you or your company.

I am suggesting that you be objective about evaluating whether cold calling can be part, part, of your overall effective business development plan.
If it is, do it right and use cold calling techniques that work and have been proven.

Like any stage of a sales process, there are techniques appropriate for that stage. Execute them well or you lose.

When seeking to earn a “next step” with someone who doesn’t know you, there are specific techniques proven to get you to that next step and closer to a close.

The cold calling is dead thinking is dangerous as it encourages you to make believe that cold is warm and use techniques not appropriate for that stage of the sales process. The cold calling is dead lie discourages you from using proven cold calling techniques most appropriate for your real world situation.

Like Dorothy said, the cold calling is dead lie is not merely dead, it is really most sincerely dead.

Smile when you dial.

copyright 2014 scott channell

How Mike…. who was singing the woe is me, my market is so competitive, everything is price driven, I can’t figure out how to communicate my value blues…

…turned it around and got his prospecting up to speed.

Once upon a time there was a hard-working schmoe named Mike.

Very knowledgeable, knew the ins and out of his industry, knows how to deliver a project on time and avoid the mistakes that cause delays and cost overruns. With many years experience in his industry he had a lot to offer.

But he hated to prospect. Hated it. And felt like he really didn’t have much different to say in an extremely price driven competitive market.

He was stuck. Couldn’t motivate himself and was falling further behind.

So he called up his guardian angel Scott and asked what to do.

His benevolent angel gave him a tip that ended up shaking him out of his funk.

Call up your current good accounts and people you have done business with previously and do three things.

1. Ask them why they selected you over the competition and what you did that they appreciated or made a difference to them.

2. After you ask them that… shut up. Don’t say a word until they are done talking.

3. When you think they are done ask them, “Is there anything else?” Keep asking that until they are finished. Do not say anything else… not one word… until they are done.

Since Mike wasn’t calling prospects, he figured he would do that. What he discovered totally changed his attitude.

His clients and previous accounts said many things he would not have thought of and didn’t consider very valuable. They said so many good things he was inspired and wrote his benevolent angel a note.

“Hi Scott –

I’ve gotten up to speed by taking your advice on some things. Somewhere along the way you told me to write out my benefits… so I put some time in on weekends/nights on ’14 Ways to Squeeze a _____ Budget.’ It certainly can use some editing, but it makes the point that there is validity to using someone like me rather than just going out for bids.

Prior to doing this I felt like I really didn’t have much to offer people and I believe it affected my contacting. By writing it all out I’ve found ways to express the methods better, and with some conviction, when I do talk with people about their work. I also loaded this stuff on my website. I’d like to possibly work some of the sections into the contact faxes down the road.

I’ve turned this into a small booklet and worked it into prospecting. People like getting something for nothing.

Mike “

He wrote out all the benefits discovered from those calls and decided to write a booklet to use as his hook or grabber. He rewrote his scripts to have more punch, more specifics, more benefits meaningful to his targets. It’s making a difference.

The booklet he put together is great and is the beginning of his Plan B offer and a great way to solidify a first meeting.

The process of writing out his benefits and calling his clients gave him the specific copy he needed to be successful prospecting.

Now Mike has great powerful scripts that are doing the job.

He has a great little booklet that is having a big impact on getting new accounts… big accounts.

He makes info and strategies available so that he is more of a resource and separates himself from the lowest price (not necessarily the lowest cost) mob.

He is now motivated and getting it done believing he has something truly different and valuable to offer.

The moral of the story… hard working schmoes treading water can turn things around by seeking help, asking the right questions and taking action.

Best wishes for great selling,
Scott Channell

How Sean Turned a Cold Call Into A Cool Space Shuttle Tour and…

Closed a $220,000 deal in three weeks.

Read the Good, the Bad and the Uglier.

Read Sean’s reply when they said “We have plans but they don’t include you.”

Sean told me these 4 things right after he told me about the $220,000 deal he closed from an appointment made from a cold call just 3 weeks earlier… and his getting inside the space shuttle.

1. But Scott, it felt so cheesy.

2. But Scott, how it began felt so scripted

3. But Scott, I felt like I was bothering them.

4. Scott they actually said to me “Yes we have plans, but they don’t include you.”

But, because Sean had read my book and listened to my scripting CD set he had planned out the best responses to common recurring phone scenarios and was able to deliver a response best calculated to achieve his business result, which he did in spectacular fashion.

Lets quickly review what he did to prepare himself to get results. These things took 3 – 4 hours in total. He wrote a 30-second set the appointment pitch loaded with clarity as to what he offered, credibility statements and specific benefits ending with him asking for the meeting. He wrote 5 responses to common objections which stayed consistent with the credibility and value statements related in the initial 30 second pitch, which also were calculated to discover whether they were real or Memorex and whether he should invest anymore time with them. He wrote two emails consistent with the themes along with a 20-second voicemail with his name and number AT THE END of the voicemail.

Then he started calling. Lets deal with his very honest feelings of discomfort.

“Scott, it felt so cheesy.”

Sorry Sean. What works works. Your feelings about it are irrelevant. Got a memo for you. If you felt totally comfortable with it in the beginning you are using the wrong strategy. This is a structured unique process that in the beginning does not resemble normal conversation. That is why it works. It is different from all the comfortable stuff that gets you nowhere.

“Scott, it felt so scripted.”

Yup, nothing like being prepared when seconds count and there is a lot at stake. Scripting is just preparation. What are the best words I can use to convey value, credibility and benefits within seconds such that a high level person could justify spending more time with me, on the phone or in person?

Anyone that thinks they are going to consistently set appointments with top prospects by winging it or that their friendly witty personalities are going to carry the day are out of their minds. VALUE and CREDIBILITY is what breaks down doors and overcomes the awkwardness of the beginning of the calls. It is the structure and the format of the script which conveys your value and credibility so that if the person you are talking to has a need… let me repeat… if the person you are talking to has a need you can fulfill…. your value and credibility hits them between the eyes.

You have to prepare the best words to use and when you find something that works, you have to use it consistently.

“Scott, I felt like I was bothering them.”

Guess what? You were. They had never heard of you or your company and didn’t know what you did. Of course you were bothering them…. until you educated them about your value and benefits and were very precise and direct so they could get it. You have to speak as if someone has a need. If they have no need, you are bothering them. So what. If they have a need, you are bothering them until you educate them as to what you can do for them.

It is interesting to me that those who say, “I don’t want to annoy people” typically have terrible wasteful scripts that get no results and waste their time and the people they reach. People who use structured strategic scripts get results because they have made it easy for people to “get it.” Believe me, only non-buyers or buyers who can’t grasp your value get annoyed.

“Scott, they actually said to me, “We have plans but they don’t include you.””

But, because Super Sean had prepared a response to this very similar to the “I’m all set” objection, he was able to turn it around, get the meeting, and a few weeks later the sale. Here is what he said in a nutshell. Sean read that strategically when he heard people say “I’m all set” he had to find out what that means specifically. Are they all set for a week? A month? Forever? Find out the specifics. So Sean laid this response on them, ” That’s fine. Are we not in your plans for now or forever, because companies like X, Y and Z that have looked at all the options chose us and there are very good reasons for that. If you are evaluating options we would like to share with you specifics as to how companies have accomplished goal A, goal B and goal C. At the least you will be better informed and know you are making the best decision for your company. Would you have some time the week after next on the 26th or 27th?” BOOM!!! He got the meeting.

By being prepared, using pre-thought out best words calculated to get his business result without wasting even a second, he repeated his credibility, value and benefit statements, told them what they would learn AT THAT MEETING THAT WAS VALUABLE, and did the most important thing…. asked for the meeting again.

Hail Sean. He got the meeting, got the sale and sent me a photo of himself in the space shuttle (his prospect had something to do with it.)

Sean got such good results from the book and CD set on scripting he started the coaching program and in a short period of time we cranked him up a couple notches… got his infrastructure setup, his best target prospects identified, a calling process going and have our sights on plan B.

Best wishes for successful selling,
Scott Channell

PLAN “B”-PART ONE: WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE WHO ARE UNREACHABLE, DON’T AGREE TO MEET, OR TELL YOU THEY HAVE NO NEED.
Also revealed… the #1 follow up strategy.

Here are five cold cruel realities of sales prospecting that a good plan B will
overcome.

1. Most prospects will turn you down.
2. With “major sales” the odds of initially contacting someone at exactly the right time is low.
3. Most costs are up front. Most profits are in that group that don’t mmediately agree to meet.
4. Most know what they want. Most don’t know what they need.
5. The best prospects call you.

1. Even in wildly successful programs, most prospects will decline your request to meet with them. A rough rule of thumb I use is that you can expect to book a meeting with one out of every five to eight decision makers you speak to. There usually is a lot of great potential business among those that decline. If you don’t have a solid “plan B”, you won’t have a chance to get that business.

2. If you are making “major sales” which involve larger sums of money, have longer sales cycles or which your prospects only add/switch vendors every few years – the odds of initially getting them on the phone at exactly the right time are not high.  You need a “plan B” to automatically communicate with viable prospects cost-effectively and without you having to make numerous phone calls in the hopes that you catch them at the right time.

3. Most of your costs are up front, most of your profits are in that group of
prospects that don’t immediately agree to meet with you. Plan B enables you to realize a high return on investment on your prospecting activities as you will be able to generate business from those who don’t immediately agree to meet by enabling them to “raise their hands” from the crowd when they are ready to buy.

4. Most people know what they want, fewer know what they need. Plan B enables you to educate people as to new options that will help them, options they had not previously been willing to consider, because they have been on the receiving end of your Plan B strategy. I have seen a lot of business generated from prospects whose response to an initial offer is a resounding “NO”, as a result of effective plan B strategies.

5. The very best prospects are those that call you. If you want people to call you,  you have to include an effective plan B strategy into your prospecting program. After about three months of implementing the strategies in this tutorial, if you have a plan B program in effect, about 25% – 30% of your results will come from those who call you to initiate a relationship.

Why is it that someone would call you? Very simply, you have credibility in their eyes. Credibility usually is earned with a consistent message over a period of time. Consistency builds credibility. With a consistent message over a period of time your targets develop confidence that you have knowledge or expertise which can benefit them. They develop confidence that you have solved problems similar to theirs for others. They develop confidence that you may be able to help them.

An effective plan b is necessary because most people are going to turn you down, there are a lot of profits in that group that initially says “no”, the odds of touching someone the first time at a good time to make a sale is low, you have to educate and inform your targets and that requires multiple touches, and if the best prospects call you… you have to provide the opportunity and reason to call.

Let me describe the “plan B” used in my business (it may seem familiar).

When a targeted decision maker picks up the phone and ultimately replies “nope” to my set the meeting pitch, I immediately say..

“That’s fine. Look… I have a free email tutorial that has proven popular which includes samples of winning prospecting scripts, techniques on how to overcome objections and tips on time management. Can I put you on that list? You can opt-out anytime.”

Three times out of four the answer is “OK”. Then comes the Columbo questions. You remember Columbo. The detective who asked the most important question after he had said goodbye and was half-way out the door. “How many salespeople do you have?” The answer is obtained, goodbye’s are said. Click.

Someone who has said “no” HAS GIVEN YOU THEIR PERMISSION to send them information. Information which has value in their eyes, which is delivered in multiple hits over a period of time which builds trust and credibility, and awakens them to consider options they had not previously considered.

I then do three simple things. 1) Enter their e-mail address into my web based sequenced E-mail program and they get all my messages automatically without my having to think about it. Costs less than $30 a month. 2) Code them appropriately in my contact manager program. ACT, Goldmine and Maximizer seem to be the most popular desktop programs. All work well. A code is entered which indicates the size of the potential opportunity and a code is entered which indicates the step in the prospecting process. Simple, easy, enables you to focus your time and money where it will do the most good. 3) Schedule a call back in 30 days when the tutorial ends.

30 days later I call back. The target now knows me, is fully informed of what value I can deliver, and has formed an impression as to my worth and credibility. This is a very different conversation. This is a much warmer conversation than the initial cold call. I have noticed two things. First, people are much more likely to take or return your calls. Makes sense… you are now perceived as a valued service provider… even an expert… not a dreaded vendor. Second, people open up to you about their needs and challenges. This is important as it enables you to properly code them and properly allocate your future time and resources.

You may end up booking a meeting, agreeing on a future action or deleting them from your list. All important objectives. Many times the good prospects call you, because the e-mail tutorial makes it easy for them to do so by replying or filling out a form.

If you didn’t have a “plan B” with impact, you would lose the opportunity to begin building a relationship with a future good client, all the resources of time and money you invested to have that conversations would be wasted your return on investment for prospecting activities plummets and frustration builds quickly.

What about those you never get a chance to speak to? You have to have a “plan B” to generate some response from that group.

In an earlier tutorial we talked about how fax can help you increase response when prospecting. When you are in your initial prospecting cycle, you leave a voicemail commercial and send a fax to those you don’t speak to. The key to a good prospecting fax is an offer with high value as perceived through the eyes of your prospect. You might offer the e-mail tutorial in your fax, you might repackage the same info and offer it as a report or series of reports or, you might record your tips and offer it in audiotape or CD form.

Your targets receive your fax with your powerful offer and some will enter your sales pipeline. I would recommend always offering your e-mail tutorial as an option in your fax as I find that many who wouldn’t fill out a form will sign up for the tutorial. Maybe there is less commitment involved, I don’t know, but a good number of people enter your sales pipeline who would not otherwise be there.

So with a good “plan B”, with virtually no additional effort and no additional costs of consequence, you dump more prospects into your sales funnel and greatly reduce your costs of inquiry.

What is my favorite Plan B strategy… sequenced E-mail. It’s cheap, powerful, automatic and never has to be touched again once it is setup. Active prospects to receive messages THEY REQUESTED that communicate worth and credibility automatically.

Final note: Sequenced Email follow-up should be the foundation of your “Plan B” system. It can also include touches by mail if it makes economic sense and proves responsive. The key is that the follow-up touches be systematic and automated. If not set up on a system, the reality is they won’t go out.

Happy smiling and dialing,
Scott Channell
For a free CD, complete tutorial and lots of sales script samples click here.

copyright 2004-2011 Scott Channell

If you want to connect with high value prospects that will convert fairly quickly to a closed account… you better be doing these 5 things or you can kiss it goodbye.

1. Stop thinking you can’t.

This still puzzles and saddens me. Hard working people with great products and services keep banging their heads against the wall in low probability land to meet qualified prospects, when with literally a few hours of effort they can set up an efficient total system, be targeting the best people, have scripts that communicate their value instantly and be able to follow-up automatically.

Many tell me they can’t because they don’t have enough time or enough money to do it right. Really ridiculous when you think about it. They have the time and money… weeks and months and sometime years of effort… to pay salaries and overhead and keep doing something that is very hard and delivers inadequate results sporadically… but they don’t have the 5 – 10 hours or hundreds of dollars it takes turn it around.

The business is out there. Desired accounts are meeting and buying from competitors. Stop thinking you can’t get that business.

2. Invest more effort into fewer targets.

It happened again. A now in-recovery former time-wasting new coaching client uttered the words that reveal someone doomed to prospecting disaster. “I don’t want to miss anybody.” Sorry, but that should never be your goal. Your goal is always to allocate your time and resources where you will get the greatest return. Those that refuse to prioritize spend 60%, 70%, 80% or more of their time in low-probability land when they could just as easily be spending 100% of their time in high-probability land.

Why would you call a low-probability target when you could call a high-probability target? Plus, remember that it takes an average of 7 dials to speak to a high-level decision-maker. Call too many people too few times and you can’t win at this game.

3. Use the right tools to maximize effectiveness.

Throw away your paper and stop using your spreadsheets. You won’t win a race carrying a bowling bowl and these methods are holding you back from reaching enough high-value prospects to meet your sales goals. If you don’t already have one, for less than $175 you have at least three options to work with a tool that will maximize your effectiveness and eliminate most of the drudgery from your prospecting. It can’t be money keeping you from using these tools… the value of opportunities you are losing weekly due to working ineffeciently far exceeds the one-time cost. It can’t be time either… done right, it takes just a few hours to start cranking. Drop your bowling ball and start running faster.

4. Get to the point.

Was talking to a hard working capable person frustrated by lack of prospecting results a few days ago. Every time I asked a question the response took two minutes and didn’t include an answer. When she tried to tell me something it took 50 words to say something that could have been stated in 10. Any guesses as to why she is banging her head against the wall?

You need to be able to communicate value very quickly, respond succinctly and ruthlessly rip out unnecessary words from your standard rap. Preparation, writing down and at times revising the words you use in common scenarios… will make sure that you get to the point.

5. Set-up a multi-touch system.

Coaching client calls me last week amazed at the following. Targets they never speak to are opting into their automatic multi-touch system and then calling them ready to do business.

Should this really be a surprise? Communicate with the right targets, communicate a concise benefit rich message, make an offer that is genuinely valuable to them, make it easy for them to accept, touch them multiple times automatically and let them know how to contact you when they are ready.

It took about two weeks of back and forth to write, re-write and then revise again the “touches” and plug them into the system, but now a powerful system is working that is being used over and over again.

This is within everyone’s grasp.

copyright 2007-2012 Scott Channell

A SALES STRATEGY TO BEAT THOSE “I CAN’T GET MY PROSPECT ON THE PHONE, VOICEMAIL BLUES”.

We have all been there. Suffered excruciating aggravation and annoyance, when we can’t get someone to pick up the phone or return a call.

They were interested enough to request information from us. We diligently follow-up, yet soon we start hitting our own heads against the brick wall that has “voicemail hell” and “no returned phone calls” written all over it. What to do?

Well here is an idea which seems to work well. Adapt this model to your own situation and let me know what happens.

First, let’s dispose of some misconceptions.

A. People will recognize your potential value when they get your first package.

Wrong.

No matter how good your initial response package is, one touch is not enough for people to appreciate the benefits you may provide them. There are exceptions, but they represent the cream skimmed off the top, not the prospects from which you will eventually generate the bulk of your business. You must remind people frequently of what you can do for them.

B. Your goal is to talk to them.

Not necessarily. Your goal is to get the information you need, (let me repeat – that you need) to determine whether there is a “next step” involved with this prospect, and when the best time is for that next step to take place.

C. That if you can’t talk to them, the opportunity is lost. As you will see shortly, that is not true.

TRY THIS. STEP ONE.

When you follow up, try this format for your voicemail message. Here is a format I use. “Hi, Jane. You had previously requested information on improving sales productivity. If your salesforce needs more appointments with decision makers, more leads, or the ability to close more accounts faster – and you have an interest in exploring some options that have worked for others, please call. This is Scott Channell, Breakaway Growth Strategies, 978-296-2700.” Hang up.

Notice what this script does. 1. Talk about the prospect. You, you, you is mentioned repeatedly. There is no “I, me or we”. 2. Reminds them of the benefits you have to offer. 3. Tells them that you have options which have worked for others, hinting at credibility and giving them a reason to call you back. 4. Puts your name and phone number at the end of the message.

The first thing they hear is that they have contacted you (who is this I called? I will listen for a moment.), then they are reminded of the benefits you provide (I could use help in this area. Did I throw that package away? Did I get it?), then at the end they get your name and number. Why leave your name and number at the end? So that people can’t immediately write you off and hang-up without being reminded of what you can do for them.

STEP TWO

You are not finished yet. Just because you leave a distinctive message doesn’t necessarily mean people will respond. We want to increase the odds further that you will get the info you need – and you have to make it easy for your prospect to respond. You can do that by using a unique fax form.

Any decent contact manager can merge information with standard letters for a personalized look. You will create a standard letter which can be faxed to your prospect. When you finish leaving your voicemail message, just press a button on your keyboard and this personalized letter will fly out of your printer. This is what it should consist of.

NOTICE FROM SCOTT: The rest of the article makes reference to fax. This is an older article and this is the way it was done back in the day. Please don’t get your shorts all twisted and disregard this article simply because it references fax. The concepts are what counts and you can apply them to all your “touches.” Whether it be Email, letter and yes…. some people still do use fax as part of their calling process with great results…. you can pull some great strategies and model language from this article. Scott

1. TO: Their name, title and company name.

2. RE: YOUR RECENT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON IMPROVING SALES PERFORMANCE.

This is your benefit oriented headline to get their attention. Again, notice the use of the word “your”. All the attention is on them, not you.

3. Two or three short paragraphs reminding them of the benefits you provide.

4. A format whereby they can literally check off the appropriate response.

Examples:

“Yes, I would like to meet with you. Call me, the best time to reach me is ____________, or call my assistant _____________ at extension _________ to schedule a time.”

And/or

“I have some interest in your services, please call me on this date.________”.

And/or

“I am particularly interested in: then list ub-categories of your services they can check off.”

And most importantly…

“We would like to consider you conduct some sales training or speak to our salesforce.

The date of these events are ______________”.

You get the idea.

A nice touch is to hand write “Jane, Sorry I missed you. Scott.” across the page.

Makes it more personal.

The point of all this is that you provide your prospect with an alternative method of giving you the information you need, while at the same time reminding them of the benefits and services you provide. It requires virtually no extra time to do this and can drastically increase the response from prospects. There are various ways to structure these fax forms.

Having used and experimented with fax back forms for years I have many samples of formats which have significantly increased response at minimal cost. I like to tell salespeople I work with that I have about 10 forms that seem to work consistently, but that I have a stack about an inch thick of formats tested that bombed. During my training and coaching sessions I share these forms with you.

You can format your merge form so that all their specific info is already on the form. All they have to do is check off and fax.

If you do this a number of times and receive no response, you can reasonably conclude, that after having consistently communicated your most important benefits and having made it very easy for them to respond, that they have no major need at this time — and you can move on to better prospects and not waste any more of your time. Calendar them for another cycle of follow-ups some number of months in the future.

Best wishes for prospecting success,
Scott Channell