SMALL COMPANY CATAPULTS PROSPECTING RESULTS USING OFFSHORE CALLING OPTION. Actual coaching case history.
Learn how quick and cheap it is, how it was almost self-sabotaged, how “hot” prospects are being identified every day and 3 key lessons for successful prospecting.
No matter how much we know, we can always learn something.
A previous coaching client of mine is a small business selling to other small businesses (under $1 million.) in California. Using a tool that I initially mocked, he identified dozens of new prospects daily at a low cost. There are a couple of points in this story that illustrate common problems.
First, it took us about 10 days to get into a position to call well. Selected a great quality list, setup and trained him for success with a contact manager, put a coding system in place, created a great fax, prepared our ID the decision maker, set the appointment and responses to objections scripts… and were ready to call…. then my coaching client sprung a surprise on me.
The client said “I want to use a telemarketing firm in India to make these calls for $6 hourly.” My response? “You have to be kidding me.”
How do you know what is being said on your behalf? How well are you going to be represented? I didn’t give this option much credence… but a few days later…I started to believe.
After a few days of calls my client forwards me the spreadsheet results of calls and an AUDIO FILE CONTAINING A RECORDING OF EVERY SINGLE CALL MADE ON HIS BEHALF. I couldn’t believe it. Click a button. Listen to every single call from “ring ring” to “Goodbye.”
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Here are the initial results and the issue that could have derailed the success of this program.
Roughly 100 calls a day. 31% of the calls resulted in identifying the decision-maker. No one with a need identified, just the decision-maker handling this service.
The problem. The phrase being used to describe the service was not being understood so gatekeepers were asking again and again “what do you want?”
Now my client almost made a common mistake, which we avoided. Faced with a script that wasn’t working to total satisfaction, he had written a totally new script. New opening. New description of company and service. New phrasing of asking for the appointment. “What do you think Scott?” he asked?
I see a lot of people who bounce around from script to script, but don’t test scripting approaches methodically to really know what approach works best. My suggestion was that since in virtually all the calls, there was a problem with just one phrase…. to just change that phrase and simplify the language so that the caller would be understood…then compare results.
You might be making the same mistake. If you seem to get interrupted at the same point in your pitch, or your benefit statement might be stronger, or the way you ask for the meeting isn’t working… test one thing at a time to see if you get different results. Fix only the problem… don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
If a script is working or not working you need to know why. By fixing only the problem… this client would know what results this script produced. If he wanted to test the other approach separately, fine, but at least score a baseline of results.
After another couple days of calling, results look like this. I was turned into a believer.
About 100 calls a day. 39% of calls result in decision-maker being identified. Average of 2 “hot prospects” daily – those who say they are looking for a provider NOW, and 3 – 4 that warrant further immediate investigation.
The prospecting math works out very favorably, and it is not because of the $6 hourly rate. Someone else contacted me last week about getting some help who had people calling for $6 hour stateside and didn’t have much to show for it.
If you are calling the wrong people with the wrong offer and are not setup to call efficiently and setup to follow-up, a low call per hour rate is not going to save you.
The lessons from this…
1. Be open minded and willing to test. I didn’t think much of this option initially but with only a few hundred dollars at risk for a test, wanted to make sure the client had the best test possible.
2. Fix only what is broken. When something isn’t getting results what is the real issue? Is it the list? The scripts? The call process? Your offer? Your setup? What? Know how to diagnose the real problem, and fix only the problems. Don’t tinker with what is working.
3. The math. Low cost is not cheap if you get no results. Higher costs per hour can be very cheap if you get results. The real issue is not cost per hour, it is cost per decision-maker identified, cost per inquiry, cost per meeting, cost per sale. Know those numbers. The marketing math must make sense. Many people only see the hourly rate.
Best wishes for good selling,
Scott Channell