Glenn Brackin
Help
Posted 1:14 PM on 01/04/08 -
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I am in sales and recently purchased the Sales Bible, Little Red Book of Selling Answers and Little Green Book of Getting Your Way. After reading them I was totally inspired, but putting the information to use is a different story. I work for a IT consulting firm and 9 times out of 10 I get the "we are not interested" or "we are happy with our current IT provider.", click.... When I leave voicemails nobody ever returns them. I have two questions for the forum, what is the best way around these mishaps or road blocks? And, could anybody suggest a good, free website to research companies for information relevant to their business, competitors or information about buying habits? Thank you very much, I really enjoyed the books.
Shad M
Help offered.....
Posted 10:45 AM on 01/07/08 -
Reply to this postGlenn,
My company provides IT support as well as our core IP PBX Phone systems, so I have some experience with this. "we're not interested" and "we are happy with our current provider" is another way for them to say "you have given me no value". Think about that very carefully....Ok, now you have a couple avenues. 1. You can use a rebuttle method and say "I'm so glad youre "happy" with your current provider, but you should know that my customers are reporting that they are ecstatic with our service. My customers are more profitable, able to handle critical IT challenges effeciently, and excited about our relationship, I'd love to send you some video testimonials so you can see for yourself". Hey, sometimes it works. Most of the time, it doesnt. 2. You need to spend more time calling on and getting referrals. A referral won't say those things to you, because you aren't a stranger anymore. Go through your customer base and ask happy customers for people they know in the same line of work. Their are plenty of educational "groups" for IT people that you could speak at as well. You need to be a leader, you need to be known. You have to do what it takes to do those things. Give value first, and ask engaging questions. But you have to have someone to listen to them. Set up a free seminar on "database security" or "disaster recovery", offer incentives for existing clients if they bring a friend to it.
For voicemail try this "Hi, this is Glenn calling for (insert prospect), I will be in my birmingham (or your city name) office today at 555-4444. You WILL get call backs, but you better have all the other stuff I just mentioned worked out BEFORE you leave this message. Another way I use is to leave a message like this "tom, hi, this is Shad. I was wondering if you knew the 3 most common network failure points in disaster recovery? The first one is......How about giving me a call and we can discuss the other two over lunch?" Try it, what have you got to lose?
Glenn Brackin
Reply
Posted 5:28 PM on 01/08/08 -
Reply to this postThank you very much. I will try all the things you have listed. I really appreciate your response.
Don
Call strategy
Posted 10:09 AM on 02/19/08 -
Reply to this postGlenn, people buy in their own time and for their own reasons. Someone that says "no" today may be a "yes" next month. It's impossible for you to know what's going on in all of these instances, so the best thing to do is to systematically call your prospect list every month with a different offer every time. If they answer with a "no", simply say okay, and move on to the next call. Don't waste time trying to convert the "no's" into "yes's"; spend your time searching for the people that want what you offer, are ready to buy now, and are willing to buy from you. Interestingly, when prospects learn over a period of time that you will take no as quickly and easily as yes, you'll begin to get better results with each call through your list. Sales really boils down to being in the right place at the right time.
Brian
Cold Calling
Posted 1:34 PM on 01/03/08 -
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Jeffery, I am new (3 months) to the health and life insurance industry. I am a health and life specialist in a major insurance company. My job is to cold call on small business for individual insurance and pivot towards life insurance if I can. My problem is that I keep reading about how cold calling is a waste of time and not let this discourage me. My boss wants and expects me on the streets selling insurance. I've been reading your books and listening to you speaking on-line, which is highly motivating, but I find myself getting drug down when reading about how cold calling is a waste is a waste of my time. How do I avoid this when it's my job?
salty
cold calling
Posted 1:52 PM on 01/05/08 -
Reply to this postSales professionals skilled in the art of cold calling will tell you that "cold calling works big time"... unless of course you don't know what you're doing.
Here are a few questions to consider;
How do you currently cold call? How is that working for you? Is anything missing? If there is something further you'd want but aren't getting, what's stopping you from getting what you want from your cold calling? How are you currently set up to fix this problem with the current resources you've got in place? What's stopping you from using your current resources to fix the problem? What would you need to know in order to consider doing something different from what you are currently doing in the area of cold calling?
Jack
Cold Calling
Posted 7:32 AM on 01/07/08 -
Reply to this postCold Calling, get Jeffrey's CD on the subject it is well worth it! Also, go to
www.nervercoldcallagain,for some great ideas and solutions, instead of pounding the pavement.
Shad M
Cold calling : still a poor way to sell
Posted 10:23 AM on 01/07/08 -
Reply to this postI disagree with the last post, even a "skilled cold caller", if they are honset, will tell you it is a waste of time. But don't let it discourage you. Let it encourage you! Make a commitment to take at least 1 hour a day that you would spend cold calling and develop a stategy, a way to stop cold calling. Write an article, develop a referral plan, read a book on marketing, build your own website, start a leads group, do SOMETHING besides cold calling. I have tracked cold call production for years, it makes up less than 5% of my sales. So it boils down to this, if you know cold calling is a waste of time (if it wasn't you wouldn't be asking us for ideas) then why not do something else? Get out there and talk to kiwanis clubs, rotary clubs, and trade associations. Even if they reject you, who cares? Your getting that with cold calling anyway. Even if you get a speaking engagement and do a lousy presentation, it is still better than a full day of cold calling.
Even if you continue to cold call, utilize Jeffrey's books to give you smart questions and other ways to engage people in a different way. Come up with a way to sell more than "health and life insurance", sell a way to get and keep good employees through proper benefits, get it? You can't say, "do you have insurance?" say "what would happen if you were disabled in a car accident?" Or try "what three major events aren't covered by most insurance?" Or whatever the number might be, this requires you to get creative and have some answers most others in your field dont. Be different. Check out www.technologyguy.net for my ideas and some ideas for a personal website. That site only costs me $9.95 a month and that includes a subscription to constant contact, USE IT!
newbie
cold calling
Posted 12:20 AM on 01/08/08 -
Reply to this postShad, what formal training have you had in cold calling? Knowing your background could help in understanding your comments.
I agree that in addition to cold calling you can talk to clubs and associations, build your own website, etc. but don't kid yourself, you're going to have to invest your time, talents, energy and more to be effective with any of those just like you'd have to when learning how to cold call effectively.
The bottom line is this: "Prepare to win, or lose to someone who is"!
Shad M
I KNOW how to cold call, it still sucks!
Posted 12:56 PM on 01/08/08 -
Reply to this postI don't think formal training has anything to do with it. But since you asked, I have been through Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Jeffrey Gitomer, countless wasted hours in corporate "sales training" and a 9 year "real world" education. In 2004 I was #7 out of 75 sales people for a regional wireless carrier. Out of $33,000 in recurring revenue sold for the year (and it earned me a trip to Los Cabos I might add) and $2,000 came from "cold calls". By the way, the corporate "requirement" was 20 cold calls a day, tracked and verified. In 2005 I switched to telephone systems and sold $500,000 in my first year, which was the best ever for a brand new salesperson for this particular company. A whopping $0.00, came from cold calls. Again, tracked and verified. Same for 06 and 07. I was the "cold call guru" according to all my co-workers at both jobs, they said I did it better than anyone (I can get them to verify if you like).
But it isnt about sounding good, giving an elevator pitch, or getting the decision makers business card. I have a drawer full of CEO's business cards, and not one of them will give me the time of day without some real reason to call on them. Otherwise I am just one of hundreds of calls they get asking "do you want to give me money?" Where is the value for them in that? I know, you can say you do it different, and you have foudn the true path to cold calling bliss. But if you did, you aren't "cold calling" in the true sense of the word. On the flip side, when I can get someone interested by pointing them to my website to read my articles full of real, new ideas; send them a bi-weekly newsletter, and call on them to be featured in my "CEO spotlight" page (newly being added this year), they respond and ultimately they buy. Maybe you can do better than I, but I'd rather spend my time "thinking" ways to make sales, not knocking on doors. Besides, if you knock on a door in the middle of the day, how important do you seem?
salty
cold calling
Posted 3:58 PM on 01/08/08 -
Reply to this postHello Shad, you wouldn't be the first to disagree with my statement that "Cold Calling Works Big Time". In fact, if you Google that phrase, "Cold Calling Works Big Time" you'll find an excellent discussion at another website that echos many of my own thoughts. At the end of the day the fact remains that cold calling is a viable source of new business when understood and executed properly.
TALK ABOUT TIMING: As I was writing the original draft of this reply an agent in our office approached me about a sales opportunity that popped up in her territory today. The agent was concerned about losing this opportunity to the competition and asked me what I recommended she do. I said, "Let's go talk with them". We cold called (in-person) the prospect and an hour later left with a contract. As I said before, "Cold Calling Works Big Time".
newbie
cold calling
Posted 6:38 PM on 01/08/08 -
Reply to this postShad, you wrote "But if you did, you aren't "cold calling" in the true sense of the word". In your opinion what is cold calling in the true sense of the word?
Shad M
I'm glad it works for you
Posted 3:36 PM on 01/09/08 -
Reply to this postYou said "a sales opportunity popped up, was that a "lead" or a cold call? If it works for you, I say go for it. I am glad you have found a way to be successful. My idea of a true "cold call" is walking into (or calling) a business that has NO IDEA who you are, what you do, or what you want. If something "popped up" as you say, I bet you didn't just walk in cold. But again, if it works for you, great! But I will NEVER say it is a good way of doing business, and if people would just do the "hard stuff" then selling is easy. I learned that from Jeffrey.
salty
cold calling
Posted 5:13 PM on 01/10/08 -
Reply to this postI'm in the people business by way of real estate, and the sales opportunity I mentioned was a "cold call" to a private seller (aka 'For Sale By Owner'). This private seller did not know (or know of) me, the agent or what we wanted. This was a good old fashioned cold call. I wanted 'THAT' listing and I took effective action to get it before someone else did. As I wrote previously, cold calling is a viable source of new business when understood and executed properly. This is not to say that "cold calling" is going to be the highest and best use of your time or the most effective prospecting strategy at all times or under every circumstance. The true professional knows can recognize or perceive the difference (discriminate).
