The basics include preparation, action and analysis.

Preparation:

Success in all kinds of marketing, including sales, is contingent on selecting the right target market. Once you have selected a clearly defined, viable target market (read our last article about how to define your target market), then you are able to identify the leads you want to call on. Targeting your leads makes it much easier for you to make a connection with your words, warming up the call. After creating your list of leads, divide the list into “A” and “B” lists.

Most professional salespeople use scripts when they cold call. You should write a basic script for when the prospect actually answers the phone and create other scripts for other possibilities. List all the possible ways the phone will be answered and write scripts for each one.

Before writing your script, make sure you understand what your target market needs and what their problems are. You will need to communicate why the prospect would want to meet with you. Also, consider the reasons why they might say no to the appointment and preempt them in your script whenever possible.

The outcome you will almost always aim for with the script is to set an appointment for a sales meeting. Be very aware of your choice of words, and resist the urge to try to sell your product right then and there. Avoid conversations about price and other features of your product. Just focus on making sure the person is right for you and getting them to meet with you. The sales meeting is where you will do your pitch and sell the product.

It’s a good idea to call your “B” list first, to try out your script and make sure it works without worry.

Action:

Once you have completed your script, you are ready to get started. It is much easier to make a lot of calls at once compared to making a couple of calls every day. After you get started, you will gain momentum and it will get easier and easier. It might even be fun!

Put a smile on your face and be interested in the person on the phone with you.

Listen carefully to the answers your prospects give to your questions. They will give you great information you can use to guide them toward a sale, if your product is a good fit.

Ask for the appointment. The “assumptive close” works well here and makes it very easy for the prospect. You assume that they will want to meet with you. You might say, “Would Tuesday or Wednesday work better for you? Morning or afternoon? 10:00 or 11:00?” If the prospect needs more information or is just not interested, they will tell you at this point.

Do not be concerned when you get a “no” answer, even if it happens often. Learn from this and continue. Don’t allow yourself to take it personally and become emotionally upset. The person on the phone with you doesn’t even know you, so they are not saying no to you, only to the appointment. Besides, as the true professional knows, the more “no” answers you get, the closer you get to “yes”!

Analysis:

Keep track of your progress with each call so you can judge your success. Analyze what words, phrases or sentences evoke a positive reaction or dialogue that lead to a “yes” when you ask for the appointment. If possible, keep track of the reasons people do not want to meet with you.

Adjust the script and make more calls!

The post This Cold Call Warm-Up Trick Will Boost Sales Fast appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

Stuart was a managed services provider looking to grow his company. He created a cold calling plan to reach three different micro-segments that he’d identified as his hottest opportunities. He built a strategy that he thought was a dynamite approach. He learned how to tailor his message to different companies, tips to get past gatekeepers, and techniques for leaving gripping voicemails.

Stuart was excited! He spent weeks perfecting everything, holding off on any calls until he felt he was fully prepared.

And then it was time to execute.

After two weeks of failed attempts, Stuart fessed up. He didn’t want to pick up the phone.

He’d convinced himself that this was the right way to prospect. He assumed that all successful salespeople did it, and if his business was going to be successful, he had to master it, too.

Not true.

Cold calling can be one of the most inefficient ways to find leads. Unless you have a list of specific contacts you want to reach, it simply isn’t your best technique to fill your funnel.

Stuart then became a passionate believer in alternate ways of prospecting, especially when you’ve got a big region you’re attempting to cover and you’re strapped with a large number to sell. Instead, you need a plan that’ll bring leads in the door in a manner that’s comfortable for you.

It’s time to change your prospecting strategy. Here are some ideas that Stuart learned:

• Start an email campaign. Afraid of the spam laws? Keep your list small and personalize your emails to participants’ needs so it feels as if you sat down to write them an individual message. Send a series of 3-4 emails three days apart to encourage a response.
• Know your target market. Stuart knew where to look for his hottest opportunities. You want to do the same. Keep your micro-segments small, 20-125 contacts at a time, so you can be more personal in your communications.
• Hold an online event. Sound time-consuming and expensive? You can run one practically for free so don’t let the price stop you. If content or participation is your concern, remember that you’re the expert. Make your topic relevant to your target market’s top issues and they’ll want to hear what you have to say. Share recommendations based on work you’ve done with other clients. Offer something at the end that’ll separate hot prospects from warm leads.
• Use social media, press releases and/or articles to get noticed. They’ll keep you in front of your target market where they get to know you as an expert. You’ll begin to create a relationship even before they require your assistance.
• Create a mini-campaign by linking email, events, social media, and articles together to keep you in constant touch with your micro-segments. As a seller, you don’t have time to run a complicated 6-month campaign, but you can run a simple one over 6 weeks that generates new leads all along the way.

Some people love cold calling. But if you aren’t one of those people, relax, breathe a deep sigh of relief and change your prospecting strategy.

Not only will you build your funnel, but you’ll also create awareness for yourself and your company through consistent exposure. When your target prospects have a need, they’ll remember you and reach out. And isn’t that so much more inviting than interrupting their day with a cold call?

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post Cold Calling Isn’t the Only Way to Find Leads appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

Send Stuff but Don’t Ask About It. – There are lots of opinions on sending letters or marketing materials to a prospect before a call. Anthony Parinello (Getting to VITO) thinks it’s a good idea to send a letter before the call and refer to it. The Sandler Institute doesn’t believe in it. My opinion is somewhere in the middle. Salespeople can use all the help they can get in warming a sales call. I love it when there are marketing materials available to send before the first call because it might help the prospect remember my company’s brand name. However, I’ve learned not to ask about the materials because it gives prospects an excuse to end the call. (“I didn’t receive it. I’ll call you back when I get it.” And what do gatekeepers say? “If he was interested he would have called you.”) I want my calls to be about the product or service not just about the mailed materials. So I approach the calls as if I never mailed anything. This approach might send your marketing department screaming because they will want to measure the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. I only hope the prospect will remember the marketing materials and mention it during the call. (“Oh yeah. I got your letter.”) But if they don’t mention it, neither do I. I can always ask after the contract is signed.

Study Trends. – What is the title of the person most likely to buy your product? In what region of the country are prospects most likely to take a meeting? Which prospect is most likely to feel threatened by what your company has to offer? The answers to these questions verify the importance of studying trends. If you can take a moment to look at the most likely title to buy your product, it might make sense to target that title in the future. If New Yorkers won’t take a meeting but Clevelanders will guess where I’m going to focus my call campaign. If I’m selling IT services and IT Managers always hang up on me, I know to focus on a title that can understand the value of what my company provides without feeling threatened.

Be Persistent. – A recent study by MarketingSherpa said that it takes 12 voicemails before a high ranking executive will respond to your messages. (If I have a large database of names, I may only leave four voicemails before moving on. However, I have left up to 10 messages and had success in setting up a meeting.) Though it may take some creativity to come up with 12 different messages, it’s important to stay the course for as long as you can. This is especially true if you’re dealing with a shortlist of names. You never know if your prospect has been on vacation, on a business trip, or just too busy with an internal project to take your call.

Measure Conversations Not Hours and Dials. – Does it really make sense to measure how many meetings you’ve set up per hour when you’re calling list is full of dead guys? Should you be proud of making 100 dials in a day when half of them were busy signals or disconnected phone numbers? If you are to get a true measurement of a call campaign, you have to measure what the caller can control. Conversations. Callers cannot control bad calling lists or if a prospect looks at the Caller ID and decides not to answer the phone. However, they can control how conversations with the right person proceed. If I speak with 50 prospects and 49 are not interested because they have relatives in the business, that tells me something. If I speak with 100 prospects and 25 of them are excited about my call, that tells me something. Understanding why prospects are not interested and making adjustments to your pitch can make a tremendous difference. This is why it is important to document in your CRM or SFA system WHY prospects are not interested.

Adapt. – If I may quote the lyrics of a popular ’80s TV show: Now the world doesn’t move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you may not be right for some? There is no one right way to execute cold calling. When it comes to educational materials, take what works, and leave the rest behind. A bit of New Solution Selling here, a touch of Spin Selling there, and a bit of common sense based on what works for you can make a difference. Every approach won’t work for every prospect. All of your savvy marketing materials won’t motivate all of your prospects. Most importantly, be ready to make the necessary changes when your way isn’t working. Otherwise, you may find your prospects saying “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Willis?”

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post 5 More Things to Make Your Cold Calling Life Much Easier – Part 2 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

Warm Calling Beats Cold Calling Any Day – What’s the difference between warm calling and cold calling? Unlike cold calling, warm calling is a result of some prior contact or some previous interest shown by the prospect. You can obtain warm prospects by attending live events, dropping in offices to get information, business cards, and maybe even an impromptu meeting, and following up with prospects who may have obtained information from your website (i.e. White Papers, Webinars, and free software downloads).

Referrals Are King – Referrals can come in many forms. You may ask a happy customer to recommend your business to another company that can use it. You might want to ask a friend or a family member if they know anyone who can use your business’s products or services. Or you may cold call top-down by starting with the company’s highest-ranking executives in hopes that the exec will refer you to someone else within the company. (In the latter situation, be sure to drop the top exec’s name early in the conversation. “Hi, George. Jim Williams suggested I speak with you…”) Referrals are another source for warm calling, and warm prospects should always be called first.

Google Rocks – Whenever I need information on a prospect, besides using sites like LinkedIn and Hoovers, I enter information on a search engine like Google. My database might only have post office box addresses and phone numbers but entering the phone number in Google can yield the physical address. If I’m looking for an e-mail address, I might enter the prospect’s name and company name to find it or enter @ and the company’s website. And don’t forget about the maps where you can get directions and estimated travel times as well as Google Earth that will show you a satellite image of a building. Google can make your life a whole lot easier.

Use E-mail as a Last Resort – I’ve used e-mail during a cold calling campaign. Occasionally, I would get a reply from an interesting prospect but 95% of the time the replies would tell me the prospect is not interested. The problem with using e-mail during a cold calling campaign is that it’s too easy for prospects to say no and nearly impossible to overcome the objection. Plus the e-mail and any subsequent e-mails could be considered spam. And spamming can get you in big trouble. When I’ve put in numerous calls and voice mails to a prospect with no response, I’ll send an e-mail as a last resort because I’d rather have ANY decision than none at all. An exception can be made for IT titles because they are usually on their computers and do not like to answer phone calls.

Confirm Appointments – When a prospect agrees to a meeting, I ask her to take out her calendar to check for availability. After we agree on a time and date, I get the prospect’s e-mail address and send a confirmation e-mail. (If she has a similar e-mail system (like Outlook), I might also send a meeting request.) A lot of salespeople don’t believe in sending a confirmation e-mail because it gives the prospect a way to weasel out of the meeting. However, I’d rather a prospect cancel a meeting than have my company spend money and time on getting to a meeting that will never be.

Be on the lookout for the second half of these cold call techniques: 10 Things to Make Your Cold Calling Life Much Easier – Part 2.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post 5 Things to Make Your Cold Calling Life Much Easier – Part 1 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

So just how can you cold call anyone?

Firstly you need to have the right mentality for cold calling. Yes I know this may sound obvious but this is where most fall down at the first hurdle. The best mentality that will help is to understand rejection better.

Allow me to explain. Sometimes in cold calling a prospect may not be interested in what you are offering. They may even be rude to you and hang up. You MUST understand that whatever they may say or do to you – it is never personal. Perhaps you caught them at the wrong time. Unfortunately many take this personally and it effects the way they cold call. They end up arguing with the prospect and cannot understand why they will not listen.

Allowing yourself to get upset and annoyed by a prospect will drown your chances of success.

Secondly, the next best method of cold calling anyone is to ensure that you ask ‘touch-point’ questions. These are a series of well crafted questions that help identify a need for your product or service. The best question that you can use to open up ‘touch-point’ questions is: “Mr X… can you tell me the biggest challenges that you face at the present with your existing supply situation?” The bottom line is that most people are never entirely happy and there will always be a niggle of some sort.

These questions help to uncover need.

Thirdly, never ever try to close your prospect there and then. Two things statistically happen when you go for the jugular in cold calling.

1. The prospect catches on and builds up their defense mechanism to sales people.
2. The sale has a 75% cancellation rate.

Once buyers remorse kicks in, the prospect may also feel that they do not know enough about the company/person/product they have bought. Always cold call to get an appointment. Appointments make sales because they secure time. That’s time spent uncovering their needs, questions and uncertainties about the product. Time in which you can follow through with a structured sales process.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

[ccf_form id=”948″]

The post Sales Tips – How to Cold Call Anyone appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

The basics include preparation, action and analysis.

Preparation:

Success in all kinds of marketing, including sales, is contingent on selecting the right target market. Once you have selected a clearly defined, viable target market (read our last article about how to define your target market), then you are able to identify the leads you want to call on. Targeting your leads makes it much easier for you to make a connection with your words, warming up the call. After creating your list of leads, divide the list into “A” and “B” lists.

Most professional salespeople use scripts when they cold call. You should write a basic script for when the prospect actually answers the phone and create other scripts for other possibilities. For example, if you get an answering machine, what will you say? List all the possible ways the phone will be answered and write scripts for each one.

Before writing your script, make sure you understand what your target market needs and what their problems are. You will need to communicate why the prospect would want to meet with you. Also, consider the reasons why they might say no to the appointment and preempt them in your script whenever possible.

The outcome you will almost always aim for with the script is to set an appointment for a sales meeting. Be very aware of your choice of words, and resist the urge to try to sell your product right then and there. Avoid conversations about price and other features of your product. Just focus on making sure the person is right for you and getting them to meet with you. The sales meeting is where you will do your pitch and sell the product.

It’s a good idea to call your “B” list first, to try out your script and make sure it works without worry.

Action:

Once you have completed your script, you are ready to get started. It is much easier to make a lot of calls at once compared to making a couple of calls every day. After you get started, you will gain momentum and it will get easier and easier. It might even be fun!

Put a smile on your face and be interested in the person on the phone with you.

Listen carefully to the answers your prospects give to your questions. They will give you great information you can use to guide them toward a sale, if your product is a good fit.

Ask for the appointment. The ‘assumptive close’ works well here and makes it very easy for the prospect. You assume that they will want to meet with you. You might say, “Would Tuesday or Wednesday work better for you? Morning or afternoon? 10:00 or 11:00? If the prospect needs more information or is just not interested, they will tell you at this point.

Do not be concerned when you get a ‘no’ answer, even if it happens often. Learn from this and continue. Don’t allow yourself to take it personally and become emotionally upset. The person on the phone with you doesn’t even know you, so they are not saying no to you, only to the appointment. Besides, as the true professional knows, the more ‘no’ answers you get, the closer you get to ‘yes’!

Analysis:

Keep track of your progress with each call so you can judge your success. Analyze what words, phrases or sentences evoke a positive reaction or dialogue that lead to a ‘yes’ when you ask for the appointment. If possible, keep track of the reasons people do not want to meet with you.

Adjust the script and make more calls!

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

[ccf_form id=”948″]

The post Increase Your Sales Fast by Warming Up Your Cold Calls appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

John was a managed services provider looking to grow his company. He created a cold calling plan to reach three different micro-segments that he’d identified as his hottest opportunities. Together we put a strategy in place with a dynamite approach. He learned how to tailor his message to different companies, tips to get past gatekeepers and techniques for leaving gripping voicemails.

John was excited! He spent weeks perfecting everything, holding off on any calls until he felt he was fully prepared.

And then it was time to execute.

After two weeks of failed attempts, John fessed up. He didn’t want to pick up the phone.

He’d convinced himself that this was the right way to prospect. John assumed that all successful sales people did it, and if his business was going to be successful, he had to master it, too.

Not true.

Cold calling can be one of the most inefficient ways to find leads. Unless you have a list of specific contacts you want to reach, it simply isn’t your best technique to fill your funnel.

I’m a passionate believer in alternate ways of prospecting, especially when you’ve got a big region you’re attempting to cover and you’re strapped with a large number to sell. Instead, you need a plan that’ll bring leads in the door in a manner that’s comfortable for you.

It’s time to change your prospecting strategy. Here are some ideas for you.

• Start an email campaign. Afraid of the spam laws? Keep your list small and personalize your emails to participants’ needs so it feels as if you sat down to write them an individual message. Send a series of 3-4 emails three days apart to encourage a response.
• Know your target market. John knew where to look for his hottest opportunities. You want to do the same. Keep your micro-segments small, 20-125 contacts at a time, so you can be more personal in your communications.
• Hold an on-line event. Sound time consuming and expensive? You can run one practically for free so don’t let the price stop you. If content or participation is your concern, remember that you’re the expert. Make your topic relevant to your target market’s top issues and they’ll want to hear what you have to say. Share recommendations based on work you’ve done with other clients. Offer something at the end that’ll separate hot prospects from warm leads.
• Use social media, press releases and / or articles to get noticed. They’ll keep you in front of your target market where they get to know you as an expert. You’ll begin to create a relationship even before they require your assistance.
• Create a mini-campaign by linking email, events, social media, and articles together to keep you in constant touch with your micro-segments. As a seller you don’t have time to run a complicated 6-month campaign, but you can run a simple one over 6 weeks that generates new leads all along the way.

Some people love cold calling. But if you aren’t one of those people, relax, breathe a deep sigh of relief and change your prospecting strategy.

Not only will you build your funnel, you’ll also create awareness for yourself and your company through consistent exposure. When your target prospects have a need, they’ll remember you and reach out. And isn’t that so much more inviting that interrupting their day with a cold call?

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

[ccf_form id=”948″]

The post Cold Calling Isn’t the Only Way to Get Prospects appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

However, there are some circumstances where “cold calling” can yield be beneficial if its handled correctly. The trick is to maximise your chances by “warming-up” your prospective clients before you even touch the telephone.

Telephone Last. At the very least send your prospective clients something in the mail – a letter or postcard would be most likely, but it could be a thank-you card or an article you have written. This would ideally be something personalised – “Dear Stan” rather than “Dear Business Owner”.

The purpose of this mail-out is to differentiate you from a telemarketer, “break the ice” with the client and, possibly, give them a chance to prepare for your call.

Be Memorable. You are not trying to sell your firm in this mail-out. You are just breaking the ice with the client. You will reference the mail-out when you call so you don’t want it going straight in the bin. Keep your mail-out brief, personal and memorable. Branding, colours and layout can certainly help.

However, the best two tactics are (a) a brief, handwritten personal message (or at the very least a personal signature) and (b) a fact that leaves the prospective client wondering more about your services. Think performance statistics, awards, volumes of sales, number of clients, topical items in the news. Something that makes the client think that they might just be missing out on something…

Be Valuable. You will have a significantly better hit-rate if you offer the client something of value.

Remember – value means getting something for “less than its worth”. You aren’t offering value if you are just selling a service and charging a fair price. That isn’t value – its just a fair price.

Everyone likes a bargain or, even better, something free. So in your initial mail-out offer your client something extra BEFORE you even start your sales process. This doesn’t have to cost you a fortune and ideally it should be something that links back to your business. Maybe it’s “free” access to research, maybe it’s a “free” copy of a presentation, maybe it’s a “free” invite to a seminar, maybe it’s a “free” copy of an article of relevance to their industry.

You reap what you sow. Most prospective clients will highly value anything you give them for free. Those that don’t – well, you don’t want them as clients anyway. Remember, brochures and advertisements are not value – they are advertising. You have to give the client something they can utilise themselves.

Be Specific. In your mail-out, don’t say “I will call you in the next week”.

Instead, say “I will call you at 10:00 am, Monday 21st July. If this time is not suitable, please contact me on 555-1234 to reschedule”. Again, this makes you sound less like an anonymous telemarketer and creates an impression that your time is also valuable.

Then call at that time. If the client is not there, leave a message stating you will re-call them at another specific time and date. If you are still not getting through on that second call, only then would you leave a message saying that you will call back “in the next week”.

I would then send a second mail-out to the client, noting that you have not had luck contact them, and including a second piece of “value” – another article, a copy of an interview, a presentation. Then, after you know they will have received that second mail-out, call a third time.

If you still aren’t getting a response, it might be time to move on for a while. But don’t write them off entirely. Give them a few months, then start the process again with another “value” mail-out. This process isn’t costing you much and no-one said this would be easy – persistence pays off.

Be Topical. If you can, time your mail-out carefully.

Think about the time of year for your prospective client – December is generally bad for everyone, June can be bad for accountants, January can be bad for executives, school holidays can be bad for families. Pick your moment, prepare your materials and book time in your schedule well in advance.

As the time gets closer, do a last minute search of topical items or news events in your prospective client’s industry and latch onto that in your mail-out. Even if the link is tenuous, remember that all you want to do is get your client remembering your mail out, your company and have the ice slightly broken when you call.

Conclusion. No-one enjoys cold calling and, hopefully, once you are established, your marketing plans will not require its use. But, with a little extra effort you can “defrost” your cold prospects and enjoy a much warmer reception.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

[ccf_form id=”948″]

The post Warming Up Those Cold Calls appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.