November 25th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
Last week, I talked about one of the benefits of having goals. Here’s another one.
When I get close to the end of a Call Block (a defined set time to make a pre-determined number of cold calls), I get fired up! I know I must do this task yet I don’t necessarily like doing it. But once started, I get on a roll. As I get near the end, as I mentioned, I feel better about myself and I’m even more effective because my confidence soars. And when I hit my number and get to the end, unless I’ve got a time issue, I make ONE MORE DIAL.
If you think it doesn’t make much of a difference, let’s do the math based on the following assumptions:
- 220 selling days in the year
- Our average Conversation Ratio for the past year has been 13% (the percentage of dials that get through to the person I want to meet with).
- Our average Appointment Ratio is 30% (the percentage of those conversations that become appointments).
- Our Closing Ratio (as measured from the Initial Appointment is 33%
If I make just one more dial per day, I’ll make 220 more by year’s end. Applying our additional assumptions from above, I’ll also have almost 9 more appointments during the year. Apply our Closing Ratio and average sized sale …and I’m looking at over $150,000 more in sales. At our commission rate, “That ain’t hay”, as they used to say!
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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November 18th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
I was swimming laps this morning and faced a dilemma. For some reason I did not have the energy I normally have, so early on in the workout I began to rationalize cutting the workout short. After all, I had worked out every morning this week so far, so why not ‘reward’ myself! …not to mention the fact that working out is not my favorite thing to do each day. (I do however like the results!)
I swam my whole workout plus a little extra and felt even better about myself afterwards than if I had cut it short with my rationalization. Here’s why you should care.
The reason I kept swimming is because I have a measureable goal of 50 laps per workout. I also was able to conjure some of those old coach’s adages like ‘winners never quit’, ‘no pain no gain’. I’m sure you’ve got a few more you could add to the list. But the important message is that I am goal oriented. I kept swimming because I wanted to hit my goal for the day. In cold calling, it works the same way. It is also not one of my favorite things to do, I have a measureable goal and when I get close to that goal, I seem to get energized because I am accomplishing one of my goals.
Try it. Perhaps you’ll like it, too!
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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November 11th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
Last week we talked about the value of providing a good list to your callers who must cold call. Today, we want to talk about the value of building that list over time through a well thought out Best Practice for prospecting.
If your sales team uses spreadsheets, manila folders or Big Chief yellow pads, turnover can really kill you. Those ‘systems’ have a way of getting lost in the transition between sales reps (even when the first rep is promoted, as territory and account turnover processes generally leave a lot to be desired.) Even CRMs don’t work very well as they were not designed for the process that precedes the target becoming a pipeline prospect.
The result is the names that should be cast off are called again, and the ones that agreed to take a call again in the future can be lost.
During our Best Practice development http://www.caponipg.com/The%20AM%20Formula%20Description.htm, we help sales teams design a process to call targets on a systematic and regular basis so that over time, even if an appointment is not successfully set, the names in the territory become ‘warmer’ for subsequent calls. And who’s to say that the person who said no 3 months ago, but agreed to take a call again in the future, is any less qualified than a new name on a list?
Far too many sales reps hear ‘no, not now’ and translate it into ‘no, never’, and want another name to replace one that said no. We believe that if we ask for permission to call back again in the future to determine if things have changed, the conversations become more open and friendly over time, thus providing the platform for a ‘real conversation’ after that ‘dialogue bond’ is made.
In order to make a Best Practice like that to work, however, you’ve got to have a tool that will support it. I recommend a tool designed specifically for appointment setting called, Klpz. You can read more about it at www.contactscience.com.
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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November 4th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
When we deliver our Prospector’s Academies (sales training), sales management is responsible to provide each caller in the program with a list of targets to call. In too many cases, this is an afterthought and done at the last minute.
In a recent program, one team threw 80% of the names they processed ‘off the sled’. They were out of business, too small, too big, didn’t use what they sold, etc. That is very frustrating for the sales rep and expensive for sales management.
Part of the Coldcalling101 solution is a tool called Klpz (www.contactscience.com) that provides those effectiveness metrics, by the way. When a rep makes the required number of dials yet doesn’t get the appointments you expected, can you tell why? Our customers can and there are a number of variables – including the quality of the list.
Unless you’ve got more money and time than you know what to do with, we recommend that you invest time studying your best current customer profile and then looking for lists that mirror those. We also suggest that you measure the effectiveness of your calling programs so that you can improve them.
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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