Building the value of a cold calling territory over time.
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.
Leave a Reply