August 26th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
Last week we talked about the power of consistency in our dialing habits. Today we’re going to offer a simple example to reinforce the value of making some dials each and every day.
We tend to fixate on today’s goal – whether it be 50 dials or 5. The easy way to justify not doing it today is to tell oneself that it is only .5% of my year’s total for instance (5 dials per day x 220 selling days per year). It’s the approach most of us use every day. “No big deal, it’s only 5 of 1,100 I committed to make this year.”
Next time that happens, try thinking about it in this way. If I make just 2 more dials today than I would have if I acquiesce and make none, what impact would that have on my success, by year’s end?
- 2 dials x 220 selling days in the year = 440 dials over the year
- If I get through to the decision maker 20% of the time and convert 25% of those conversations into appointments = 22 more Initial Appointments over a year’s time.
- If I close 18% of those Initial Appointments = 4 more sales from just those 2 dials per day.
- So what is your average sized sale?
Do the math and start getting in the habit of making some calls every day.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
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August 23rd, 2009 by Barry Caponi
It is hard to stay consistent in the number of appointment making calls we make over a month or year. What can we do to make it easier to accomplish?
We’ve talked before about how each of us has experienced one month/quarter that was an ‘award winner’, and how it was then almost always followed by a dud. We’ve also talked about knowing how many dials we need to make each week in order to hit our financial goals. Here are 5 simple rules to help eliminate the ups and downs of a sparse pipeline.
- Know how many dials you need in a year (use our free Activity Calculator)
- Review how many dials we actually made during the last 90 days. What it enough? What number passes the ‘reasonableness’ test?
- Once we’ve established an objective, commit to it. Write it down.
- Set the time aside in each week on your calendar as an appointment before setting any other calendar events.
- Lastly, if our goal is let’s say, 10 dials a day, and we get busy and can’t (or won’t) get it done. Make 5 calls today. If we can’t do that, make 2. Get in the habit of making some dials every day. It will even out the ups and downs of the pipeline.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
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August 12th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
We see a lot of companies spend an inordinate amount of energy trying to cram lots of great reasons why the target should meet with them into the opening script. The result is that they become too long. Back on May 20th, we covered the concept of how to build the right opening.
Because the appointment making call doesn’t really begin in earnest until the target says no, we recommend keeping the opening very short. How short? Here’s a rule of thumb: when delivering the opening, if we feel uncomfortable and start rushing through it before the target hangs up on us, it’s too long.
Check back through our blogs over the past two plus years for some ideas on writing a good opening and how to conduct the call.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
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August 12th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
During our Coldcalling101 Prospector’s Academies, we always see a very substantial (double or better) increase in the number of dials being made, conversations with decision makers had and, of course, appointments being set. What we also see is that once the academy is over and we are gone, the number of dials drops back off to a reduced level (not back to the old numbers, but less than what happened in the academy). Why does that happen?
We believe it is all a matter of priorities. As I said back in 2006 in my white paper, Is Cold Calling Really Dead? Searching for the elusive ‘Silver Bullet’, here is no better way to proactively control our own destiny than to make more effective appointment making calls. There is a direct correlation between the number of dials made and the size of one’s commission.” “T
What we believe happens is that during the academy, making dials is the priority. It is scheduled into the program and reviewed during the academy review sessions. As soon as the academy is over, any interruption in our new process and we tend to go back to old habits – fit in the dials when we have time. (There is also the issue that the pipeline is fuller for the first time in a while, draining time away from setting appointments with new targets. One could make the argument that this is the ‘penalty’ for successfully setting so many appointments!)
The reduction in dials has two impacts though – 1) we get less practice with the new techniques which means those new skills can atrophy because they are not yet second nature (it takes 21 days to establish a new habit); and 2) fewer dials mean fewer appointments after the pipeline is exhausted again. Going back to the phone is tougher to do than continuing to do it.
Whether you are in one of our programs or not, there is a lesson to be learned here. MAKE APPOINTMENTS WITH YOURSELF on your calendar to make the appropriate number of dials EACH week. Use our free Activity Calculator and be honest with yourself as to what that number is (don’t be overzealous, for instance). Consistency is more important than quantity.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations – the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 214 483-5800 or at barry@coldcalling101.com.
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