Cold Calling Tips: Scary News If You Don’t Like to Cold Call
“(Cold Calling) ¦ certainly isn’t anybody’s favorite activity of the day,” says Chuck VanGronigen, assistant director of branches at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. as quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal article:
“But (cold calling) really can and does work.”
In an informal poll of sales professionals we found that
many sellers unfortunately think of cold calling as being
as enjoyable as getting a vasectomy with a chain saw. Ouch!
One of our clients actually said that! Now, staying with
the metaphor and with a few new skills and adjustments in
attitude the seller can quickly come to think of cold
calling as better than sex!
Cold calling certainly does work and it works quite well.
Many top notch sales pros who cold call can and do:
Schedule appointments with 2-8 out of every 10 calls made
to prospects.
When the success rate is poor, meaning sellers neither
schedule appointments nor get call backs from voice mail
messages, they come a conclusion that costs them dearly.
Without collecting input from successful cold callers,
these sellers come to the erroneous conclusion that cold
calls just don’t work. When in fact, the failure comes from
the mindset and the verbiage used by the sales professional.
Sellers are wordsmiths with high levels of discernment and
phenomenal people skills. It is no surprise to sellers when
these talents come together and click into place like
pieces of a puzzle when those sellers are face-to-face with
the prospects. However, as these same gifted sales
professionals move to cold calling the pieces of the
selling puzzle no longer seem to fit. What works in person
does not seem to work well on the telephone. So, the
sellers figure cold calling is a mystery, can not be done
successfully at least by them.
Why do these sell-ice-to-an-Eskimo successful sellers
experience disastrous results with cold calling?
The one thing that will make your customers pay attention
The key to getting your reader to pay attention is simple – give her something to learn!
Claude C. Hopkins was one of the early greats of
advertising and maybe the greatest innovator the industry
has ever seen. He invented the money-back guarantee, free
trials and the whole concept of market testing; but perhaps
his most brilliant stroke was realizing that advertising
could succeed by educating the customer.
Hopkins used this wisdom to grow Van Camps’ pork and bean
business. Hopkins did research and found that 94% of
housewives were baking their own beans at home and only 6%
were buying canned beans.
So Hopkins ran an advertising campaign explaining how it
took 16 hours to bake beans at home, and that you could
never make home-baked beans digestible. He talked about
crusty beans on top and mushy beans on the bottom. Then he
highlighted the process Van Camp’s used to select their
beans; the soft water that they used; and how they made the
skins less tough by extracting the lime. He emphasized the
steam ovens where the beans were baked at 245 degrees in
sealed containers so no flavor was lost. Then finally he
offered a free sample so customers could compare.
Strategies for Leading Through Change
I need to make a change in my company…How do I do it, and how do I manage it?
This is a question I hear from business leaders every day .
. . yet the question often comes to me after the fact . . .
when people are up in arms and ready to bolt. A change can
be something as simple as new stationery or as tumultuous
as a merger or acquisition, and while the change is often
seen by top leadership as necessary to move ahead of
aggressive competitors, this is not always the case for
employees. Why? I believe the answer is this: Your
employees are not angry about the change itself . . . they
are angry because they are often the last to hear, you did
not get their buy-in, their vote didn’t count , and bam . .
. Trust is shattered!”
Imagine this: During a strategic planning meeting, the
executive team of a large technology company makes the
decision to launch a new product line and ditch an existing
one. Ditching the existing product line means that a few
talented employees will become obsolete, and the new
product line will require a new pool of talent. The
executive team chooses to “keep this quiet” until they are
ready to launch (yeah right!) They begin to meet after
hours in a locked room to discuss their plans. As human
behavior often teaches us, it is very hard to keep a secret
when you know you have one inside you. So . . . Sally
Smith, CIO, makes the decision to tell one person outside
the executive team: “I have something to tell you, but you
have to promise not to tell anyone” (yeah right . . .
again.) In addition, the janitor knows something’s up . . .
he cleans after hours and sees the big dogs locked in a
room every night for three weeks, and he begins to whisper
in the halls to his comrades. Suspicion builds and the
grapevine begins to circulate rumors: “I hear the company
is closing,” or “I heard we are merging” or “I heard that
we are headed for a 20% lay off” or “I heard that the
company is in big trouble” and so on. The fear, doubt,
worry and anxiety begin to build. People are not sure what
is going on, but all they know is that it must be big, and
they are nervous . . . very, very nervous!
Market With Every E-mail You Send
The best way to market yourself with every e-mail you send is to have your own e-mail address at your own domain name.  It helps build your brand and reinforce the products and services you offer your clients. However, even if you don’t have your own domain name, there are some innovative ways to market with every e-mail using signature files.
Signature Files
Signature files are a quick and easy way to send a
marketing message with every e-mail you send, even if you
don’t have your own domain name. A signature file is set
up within your e-mail package and is automatically attached
to every outgoing message. Even if people know you well and
call you often, they often go to a recent e-mail as the
easiest, and fastest, way to access your phone number,
street address, or even fax number.
The set-up window for signature files is usually in the
Tools section of the window bar at the top of the screen
when you’re in your e-mail software. By clicking on
Signature in the Tools window will open a new window and
allow you to create a new signature file or edit the
signature files you’ve already made.
Your standard signature file can include your name, company
name, phone number, e-mail address, and web site. You can
also include your street address, and a short, 10-15 word,
marketing message.
Your signature file will give your reader all of your
contact information and be reminded of the kind of services
or products you offer. Most e-mail programs let you have a
large number of signature files. Set up several to help
automate the little tasks you need to do regularly.
Use a signature file when you regularly need to send out
the same information to multiple people at different times.
Simply open your Signature Tools file, click on New and
write the information you want to relay.
Entourage and Outlook both allow very large signature
files. This means you can include detailed instructions
for a meeting announcement and arrangements, explain how to
use the product you’ve sold, or explain what people need to
do to get on your mailing list. Be sure to include your
contact information at the bottom of these “information
files.”
Signature File Marketing Messages
Use the short marketing message of a signature file to
encourage people to sign up for your ezine by offering a
sign-up bonus. In later chapters we’ll discuss how to use
your one-page web site to deliver bonus items, products,
audio files, client services, and even marketing packages.
Many Internet-savvy one-person business owners have found
combining your offer with a sign-up bonus can significantly
increase the size of your database.
I’ve found signature files to be very effective in
marketing my monthly complimentary teleseminars. Others
have used them to announce their latest book or other
products, direct readers to their blogs, and by using their
affiliate links, profit from marketing other people’s
products or services.
Because signature files are forwarded with their messages,
your marketing messages get forwarded when your recipients
pass on the messages you send. This puts your message in
front of people you would otherwise never reach, or even
know.
Signature files are crucial for those professionals who
haven’t yet installed their own domain names as part of
their e-mail system. When your e-mail comes through Yahoo,
and your address is some version of
yourfirstname732926@yahoo.com, you can clearly indicate who
you are, how to contact you, and what you offer with a
signature file.
The lesson is clear. Don’t send naked e-mail!
—————————————————-
Need to get your small business more strategic, organized,
automated? Click here => http://www.1PersonBusiness.com for
Pat Wiklund’s complimentary introductory course on How to
Run a One-Person Business Without It Running You.
Resume rehab: 5 common mistakes that could keep you from your dream job—and how to fix them
Your resume is your calling card, your ticket to an interview, dream career or life-changing opportunity. “Lots of employers look at your resume and make a snap decision about you,” says Donna Milch, partner at Kardon Search, a New York recruiting firm. With so much riding on your resume, be sure yours is flawless. Scan for any of these faux pas and correct them fast.
MISTAKE #1: TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
Depending on the type of software you have, your resume could go from perfectly formatted to an illegible mixture of coding when you hit “Send,” giving a potential employer an excuse to pass over your resume for the next.
The Fix: When sending a resume from Microsoft Works to Word or WordPerfect to Word, you will generally have formatting problems. Try saving your resume in a Rich Text Format to avoid mishaps.
Handling Awkward Job Interview Situations
Interviewing can be a challenge to your professionalism
No matter how weird or crazy the interview situation gets,
it is in your best interest to “keep your cool.” The
interview process is a professional experience. You are not
there on a social call. You are there to check out a
possible job opportunity. Sometimes unprofessional,
awkward, or embarrassing events occur which can test your
ability to handle yourself.
Out of line – Jeanette was interviewing for a senior
position in Human Resources. Her interview was before a
panel of six people. At the end of the interview, one of
the interviewers asked, “This job requires a lot of
‘cheerleading,’ would you please stand and lead us in a
cheer?” Jeanette was totally caught off guard.
Inappropriateness – Katlyn was dressed very professionally
for the interview. She was enjoying talking with the man
across the desk, as they had a lot of common experiences in
the sales field. All of a sudden, her interviewer leaned
over and looked very serious. “Would you consider going out
with me?” he asked in a low voice. Katlyn didn’t know what
to say.
6 Steps To Engaging Your Team
Many business owners and leaders have an exciting vision for the future of their business.
A vision that inspires new people to join them on their journey.
But despite this exciting future, these businesses can
still struggle to retain employees.
Why?
Well, it’s all very well having a great vision for your
future, but that’s pretty useless if your staff don’t know
what is happening on a day-to-day basis.
At any one time, your team MUST know what the key
priorities are for your business, and then what their role
is within those priorities.
So how do you ensure that you have a team that is engaged
and motivated?
Here are 6 steps to follow:
1. Clearly define the 3 Year Vision
- It is not sufficient to have some great ideas for the
future in your head
- You need to write down your vision for the future
- Where will the business be in 3 years’ time?
- What products, what type of customers, what level of
sales and profitability?
- Whether this is written, typed or you have something
visual is up to you, but it must be clearly specified for
your team to be totally engaged with your long term plans
2. Have a clear 12 month plan
- What needs to happen over the next 12 months to keep you
on track?
- What are the key milestones & priorities?
- Has this been communicated to the team?
3 Steps to Predict Your Sales Accurately
Have you ever figured out how many people you have to contact to get the sales you want? It is not as difficult as you might think.
Step 1: Determine your financial goal.
Once you have calculated how much money you want to make in
a year, then you need to figure out how many clients it
takes to add up to that number. For example, if you have
decided you wish to gross $60,000 in a year, and each new
client brings an average of $1,000, then you will need 60
new clients. Monthly, you would need 5 and weekly you
would need at least 1.
Step 2: Your conversion percentage
How many sales meetings does it take to get one client? If
it takes you 4 sales meetings to get 1 client, your
conversion percentage is 25%. You convert one fourth or
25% of your prospects into clients.
This is a very important number. Hopefully, your
conversion percentage has improved since you started your
business. If you have had your business for less than two
years, you might want to track how you are improving.
7 ways to earn more and work less every day
They say every cloud has a silver lining. But when I recently spent a whole day desperately giving the kiss of life to a relatively new computer, it was hard to see the bright side.
Yet, when the machine finally started working again, I made
a fantastic discovery.
That little icon at the bottom of my screen that flashed as
each new email arrived was no longer there. And, not only
did I survive the day quite happily, I realized I was much
more productive.
It helped me recognize the importance of taking control of
my time. As business owners, time is arguably our most
precious resource. We can choose to sell it, invest it or
waste it. So the more effectively we use it, the greater
our chances of success.
Here are my 7 tips for mastering time.
1. Know how much your time is worth – The first step in
getting control over your time is knowing its real value.
The most obvious way to value your time is just to divide
your annual earnings figure by the number of hours you work
in a year.
But our number of productive hours is much lower than the
actual hours we work. So to get a better picture of the
real value of your time, estimate your number of productive
hours – for most people it’s less than three a day.
Once you know your hourly value, you should ask yourself if
what you are doing is worth your hourly rate. Outsourcing
activities is now so easy that you can often pay someone
else significantly less to carry out tasks.
2. Clone yourself (or your work) – While it’s not yet
possible to clone yourself, you can easily clone your own
work without any ethical issues. When you’ve written
something, leverage it for maximum benefit. With a little
additional work, a presentation script easily becomes a
magazine article or a sales letter, for example.
3. Spend more time on output than input – Are you spending
too much of your time reading emails and learning new
things? When you’re inputting information, you’re not
outputting. And it’s only output (like working for clients
and developing products) that makes money. New knowledge
and different ideas are valuable but sometimes us info
junkies need to go on an info diet!
9 Keys to an Effective Website
Many small companies choose not to invest in a professionally designed website, although a well-designed Web site may raise the company’s level of professionalism and exposure – AND drive business and sales!
Make sure your website is working for you with the
following characteristics: • Usability enables your users
to get the most out of your site. This means that the
site’s navigation is consistent, clear and easy to follow;
forms and links are in working order; and the information
on the site is current and answers incoming clients’
potential questions.
• Findable: If people can’t find you, then they won’t buy
from you. Make sure your pages have text coded in HTML
instead of embedded in the graphics, so that search engines
can read it. Put ALT tags on the images you do have –
search engines look at these, and they can improve your
rankings. Include META tags in your code and submit them to
at least the major search engines. You can do this for free
– ask me how! Finally, find some online directories where
your site would be a fit and add your site to those
directories. This is one more way potential clients can
find your site; having directories and other sites linked
to yours can also increase your ranking in the search
engines.
• Legible fonts, sized for easy reading on different
platforms and browsers. Also, make sure your font is either
significantly lighter or darker than your background color
or pattern, so that your site is readable for colorblind
people, too. If you’re using a background pattern, make
sure that it doesn’t interfere with the text.
• Cleanly designed, with graphics that enhance the
website’s message, instead of detracting from it. This
applies to animations as well, which should be designed
with a purpose.
