Cold Calling - How To Get Noticed And Speak To The Right Person
Copyright (c) 2010 Michael McMeekin
In a previous article I covered three prospecting approaches that I had used in last few months.
Someone asked me the other day for a definition of cold calling. My view is that cold calling is when you contact someone you have never met or spoken with before and interrupt their day to find out if they need something that you sell! Easy really!!!
The cold calling I will concentrate on in this email is Approach B
To give you a reminder of the cold calling approaches here they are:
The first activity approach A is "there is a list of companies for you so get on the phone and sell" - the list is generally thrown at you by your Sales Manager. I call it the 'yellow pages' approach
The second approach (Approach B) is three pronged activity - phone to get the name of the right person, send a letter and follow it up with a phone call. This I call the 'get noticed' approach
Approach three (Approach C) has two actions, you research who you want to target - Companies who fit you target criteria. Once you have a list of who would be your ideal targets you find out who can help you get an introduction into the company.
You will use your existing contacts, customers, friends, network clubs and the likes of Linkedin. Once you have a link to the company through a contact you get permission off your contact and then ring the prospect. This is the 'can you help me approach'. We will cover this in the near future.
I will cover the 'get noticed' approach in a bit more detail. The first part is important as you need to decide on your ideal clients. The criteria will include the size of the company, turnover and staff numbers, the geography, the personnel, the sector, the right people and what ever criteria is relevant to you - it could be budget spend on your products or service. Aim to get a list of about sixty names.
Once you have researched your potential prospects and come up with your list it is time to get the name of the right person.
Call up the switchboard of the company and simply ask for his or her name. In most cases you will get the name in a few cases they will have a no names policy.
You should be able to get most of the names in only two's hour of calling - roughly two minutes per call.
After you have completed your list write a letter and the most important part - get noticed. You are going to be sending your prospect a free gift, something cheap and inexpensive but something that will get you noticed.
Get yourself to Tesco or Asda (Wal-mart for our American friends) and visit the party section and buy some little toys. You can get yo-yo's, puzzles, little parachute men, whistles and anything that takes your fancy.
Decide on your little gift and write a brilliant headline to the letter i.e. service contracts shouldn't be puzzling.
Send out the letter and follow it up within two to five working days.
In summary you have three approaches Approach A - Yellow Pages approach! Approach B - Get Noticed approach! Approach C - Can you help me approach?
Here is the first part of your new sales campaign for you to try until my next article Use Approach B - Get Noticed approach! Find 60 potential ideal clients Phone and find the name of the right person Write up a letter with a great headline Enclose a little gift - tie in the gift with the headline Send out the letter to you 60 ideal clients
Some of you might think that this will not work however only this week after a campaign targeting national retail companies a client of mine was invited to bid for some service work for over 500 shops in the UK. The campaign started with the first mailer on 6th August 2009 and involved only four mailers. Our client is only a small company and has already punched above its weight by beating competitors over a hundred times bigger than them.
About the Author
Arrow Sales help individuals and companies improve their sales skills and increase their sales figures.
Over the years we have had some great success and we have made some big mistakes. Including a classic of sending a cost price list in an email to a major client - the email went to fifty senior managers in the account!
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