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December 30th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
In our Prospector’s Academies, we hear all the time that, “I don’t cold call. I network and follow up on marketing generated leads.” So what’s the difference between a cold call and a ‘warm’ call?
There are 4 components to an appointment making call regardless of whether it is cold or warm.
- The Approach
- The target’s Response (No)
- Our Counter
- Asking for the Appointment again
The Approach will vary slightly as we want to invoke either the name of the person who suggested we call, or the fact that they had asked us to contact them through a marketing program of some kind. The processes of how we get through a gatekeeper, leave a message, send an email, gain their attention, introduce ourselves, etc., is the same.
If we really think about it, the target’s Response is generally the same as on a cold call. They’re just nicer about it. Ever run into a referral target that said, “Hey, I appreciate Barry suggesting you call, but we’re all set in that area”. Of course we have. That’s because in very few instances does the referrer know the target’s business in enough detail to know they need us.
Even in the case of an inbound request for information from a lead generation program, we sometimes are surprised by a response of “No”, to a request for an appointment. It’s not uncommon for an inbound request to be a tire kicker or information gatherer and not someone ‘In the Market’ right now for what we sell. Maybe they just want us to ‘send something’. Perhaps not often, but it happens more than we think.
There’s also many times a different challenge that occurs on these calls; the temptation to ‘sell’ on the appointment making call because of their interest. So how do we keep from falling prey to this? Easy, we use the same process we do on a cold call to provide enough value to get the appointment.
My point is this. The reason our curriculum is called The Appointment Making Formula™, even though we talk a lot about cold calling, is that process or ‘formula’ that we apply in a warm call also applies in a cold call. It’s all appointment setting. We must be prepared in order to be successful.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. 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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December 21st, 2009 by Barry Caponi
No matter what your beliefs are, as we approach Christmas in two days, take a moment to reflect on the important things in life (thought I was going to say we should reflect on our appointment setting skills, right?).
All of us at the Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science hope that you have a wonderful few days off with friends and/or family. And may God bless you and them.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. 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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December 17th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
According to the Wall Street Journal: An analysis of 600 companies in the 1981-1982 recession found companies which maintained or increased their marketing expenditures during this slow period averaged new sales growth of 275% between 1981-1985. Companies which cut back on their marketing averaged just 19% sales growth during the same period.
The government says we’re beginning to come out of the recession (if you can believe the government on anything). 2010 may not be a boom year, but it should be better than 2009. What are you doing to prepare yourself for the coming good times?
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. 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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December 7th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
When making cold calls, many of us use certain questions that make our process more difficult. Here are the top three to avoid:
- “Do you have a moment?”
If you believe, as we do, that the targets we’re calling don’t believe they need us when we call, asking them if ‘they have a moment’ is just giving them a perfect way to get rid of us. Just get right to the point.
- “How are you today?”
If you think about it, when we call your friends, this is not the first question we ask; at least not in the fashion most of us ask this question on a cold call. This approach just signals that this is a cold call. Our target doesn’t believe we really care (do we really?), so if we’re trying to build credibility we’re off to a bad start.
- “Do you mind if I ask?”
This is not as big as the first two, but if the target is still looking for reasons to get rid of us, why give them the opening? Use the ‘I’m just curious’ or ‘I was wondering’ approach instead until we get them into an open conversation.
Very few of us like to cold call, so why make it harder? Avoid these questions and you’ll be more successful!
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. 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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December 2nd, 2009 by Barry Caponi
Sales professionals seldom take the long term view of their jobs, and hence. the concept of building their territories over time. As sales managers, we also tend to focus on this month, this quarter, and certainly this year. It’s how compensation plans are built. Companies also tend to change compensation plans and territories at the end of the year and sales professionals change companies, so it’s no wonder that no one pays attention to multi-year planning.
I believe that it our job as senior management to build processes and compensation plans that support the long term growth of the company. What do I mean by that? Look at your compensation plans. Do they encourage making the territory a bit warmer in the future?
Even if the compensation plan doesn’t explicitly encourage this approach, build appointment setting Best Practices that support warming up targets over time. Leave or send consistent voicemails and emails that build and tell the story you want the target to understand. Build into those Best Practices the ability for the target to request written information instead of taking an appointment at the moment. And make sure to follow-up on a consistent basis. Don’t waste the effort, even if the sales professional changes.
Why do that? Simple: next year your goal will be higher won’t it? Taking the same approach year after year will finally become a scaling challenge. There will be no efficiencies of scale, so your cost of sales cannot be successfully reduced.
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called The Prospector’s Academy™ under the brand name Coldcalling101. 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 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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October 28th, 2009 by Barry Caponi
The appointment making process is not just ‘a numbers game’. Most of us sales managers believe it is. Make enough dials and you’ll get sales! And when our sales charges aren’t setting enough Initial Appointments, we respond with another platitude, “Just make more dials!” Let me explain why this is a dangerous thought through a story.
A colleague of mine, Stu Schlackman (http://www.competitive-excellence.com) related the following story to me recently. When he was a young pup, he was hired by a sales training company, handed the yellow pages and told to get on the phone. In his first week, he literally made 1,000 dials (how many of us could do that?), left 650 voicemails, had 50 conversations of which 49 said no and he gave up, got one appointment and one sale (to an existing customer who told him they were going to call him and buy again anyway).
What if he would have had a set of proven Best Practices and a process to follow? What if he would have known how to ‘Counter’ those 49 ‘nos’ he heard? How about if he had had good voicemail scripts so that at least some of the 650 would have returned his calls? What if he would have had good solid questions to ask (we call them ‘Bridge Questions’ http://www.caponipg.com/The%20AM%20Formula%20Description.htm) that would have gotten his targets to stop and think for a moment and enter into a meaningful conversation? And lastly, what if he had been able to make those 1,000 dials in half the time? See http://coldcalling101.com/how-we-help/ for an example of the value of improving those key ratios.
He didn’t last very long there. And, by the way, who do you think the rep that followed him called? Probably started right at the front of the same yellow pages and called the same people, expecting the results to be different.
Now think about the time and money that was wasted recruiting him, vetting him, training him on what he was selling, and finally, paying him to make those calls. We have the tendency to think that our time is not ‘real’ money. We’re there anyway, so it doesn’t ‘cost’ any money out of pocket to repeat this process over and over, right?
Our company, Coldcalling101 www.coldcalling101.com, also must rely on the cold call, but our sales team would have had 36 Initial Appointments out of that 1,000 dials, and done it in half the time. Plus, I would have had real time visibility into the calling, so I could have taken corrective steps before Stu would have burned himself out and left.
The appointment setting process is a very expensive one, even if your sales team is commission only.
By the way, there’s also another self-serving story here. Most sales training company’s expertise lies in the pipeline, or back-half of the selling process, not the first half. They try to apply the same concepts that work well in the pipeline, in the appointment setting process. We eat, sleep and think about this process 100% of the time and we’ve gotten pretty darn good at it.
(See the four part blog beginning on April 8th of this year to read about why the techniques, tools and process that work to get prospects through the pipeline, don’t work getting them into 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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