May 28th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
Ever get a voicemail that you’ve got to listen to the phone number several times in order to hear it completely?
I have a rule. If you cold call me, leaving your phone number so fast that I have to listen to it more than twice to get it, I delete the message and give up.
This is one of my pet peeves (whatever that phrase means – other than it means it ticks me off). Have we become a society that is in such a hurry and so self-centered, that we can’t take an extra second or two to leave a message that is understandable for the person we’re calling? What message (pardon the pun) are we signaling about our concern for this person should they become a customer if we’re not empathetic enough to make their job easier while they’re still a potential customer?
Saying the number slowly seems to resonate pretty easily, but some of our workshop participants have said, “But Barry, what if I am calling from a land line to a land line? Why do I need to repeat my phone number again? It’s going to be clear.” My answer is to ask a question back in return. “Do you ever check your land line messages from your cell phone and have you ever had a number or a word not understandable on one of those messages?”
By the way, when you’re calling a customer, a colleague, even a friend who you know has your phone number (somewhere) do you make it difficult on them and not leave your phone number? Always make it easy on those that have to call you back. Say your number s-l-o-w-l-y and repeat it.
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May 21st, 2008 by Barry Caponi
I’m often asked when placing a cold call, whether I recommend addressing our suspect by their first name (Barry) or by their last name (Mr. Caponi). Here’s what I think. It depends!
Seriously though, I have two thoughts on the topic. I would recommend calling the person by their first name under most circumstances. My reasoning is that if we don’t start out that way, once we get into a buying cycle we are at the mercy of our then prospect to tell us its okay to call them by their first name. If they do not grant us permission, we must either ask if we can (which can be awkward) or we are at a power disadvantage during any negotiation that occurs during the sales process.
The second thought is all about age and/or experience, the level into which we’re calling and comfort level. If you happen to be a young, new sales person (or particularly young sounding over the phone), and you’re calling very high, its okay in my book if you address your suspects as Mr. Caponi.
But when making the decision for yourself, do what is most comfortable. If you’ve been brought up calling older adults by their surname your whole life, then go for it. Just make the calls!
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May 14th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
There’s an old adage in sales about always calling high first. But is it always the right way to go?
Last week we talked about how to approach Mr. or Ms. ‘Big’. But it’s not always appropriate. The most obvious situation is when you know nothing about the challenges the company you’re calling on is facing and can’t find enough out through your typical external resources. Then it makes sense to call lower within the organization to find out what you need to know prior to placing the call to Mr. or Ms. ‘Big’.
One word of caution is appropriate here. One of the reasons the old adage exists is that once we get to people of responsibility, they’re usually the ones that don’t want us to ‘go over their heads’. So, if you want information first, start even lower than normal. Those people won’t generally get upset when you go upstairs because they won’t be involved in the decision making process.
If this won’t work, (and only you’ll know your marketplace), then use something like Linkedin or MY N10 to find someone who either used to work there that you can be introduced to, or find someone in your network that can introduce you to someone within the organization that could give you some direction without becoming a later roadblock.
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May 7th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
There’s an old adage in sales about always calling high first. But is it always the right way to go?
First of all, let’s define who Mr. or Ms. ‘Big’ is, as it’s not always the CEO, or top dog, right? If we’re selling janitorial supplies the only time the CEO will notice what type of toilet paper has been purchased is, well, you can figure that one out. HERB is who we’re looking for; and HERB stands for Highest Executive Responsible for Buying. HERB could be a non-manager, a front line manager, or could very well carry a ‘C’ level title depending on the value of what we’re selling and how big the company is.
When calling higher than the level that will actually be involved in the investigation of the potential alternatives, expect to get pushed back down to the appropriate level. If we expect that will happen, we’ll not be nervous or defensive so it will actually be easier for us to get into a short conversation (using The Formula’s techniques) that makes HERB think that our other customer’s know something his or her company may not. Then when he or she pushes us down, that’ll be okay in most situations if we gain permission to check back with HERB to let them know ‘how it’s going’.
One last thing; when we ask for permission to check back, we need to get an email address and send HERB a quick note thanking him / her for sending us to their designate, copying the designate. We must make sure we say something to the effect that we’ll keep them abreast of the progress where appropriate. Make the designate understand we’ve discussed this in enough detail with HERB so that if we get pushed aside by the designate later down the road we can go back to HERB, and the designate will know it.
Next week, we’ll talk about when it may not be appropriate to start at the top.
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