The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling

Transcription

1 The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling

2 The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling - Introductory Notes This document is based on my experience doing telemarketing myself and teaching it to others. Today I advise clients to avoid Cold Calling wherever possible: There are much more effective ways of marketing Cold Calling positions you badly - it positions you as chasing them rather than being in demand Cold Calling can be intrusive and annoying to potential clients It can be soul destroying for the person doing the calling - unless you re very lucky you will get rejected - a lot Rather than using telemarketing to try to get initial meetings with potential clients, it can be more effective to use as follow up after you have shared a lead magnet, for example - or to offer a lead magnet in the first place But if you have no option - and you need to get in front of clients fast - read on...

3 The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling Cold Calling is a subject that strikes fear into the heart of many professionals. It brings up painful images of boiler rooms of unscrupulous sellers pestering hapless victims to buy things they neither want nor need. And the thought of going through the pain of call after call, being turned down by potential client after potential client is hardly the most motivating one for most professionals. In fact, many advisors prey on this fear and sell books and training on how to never cold call again and on how cold calling is dead. But the truth is that cold calling is very much alive. And the reason is that it works. Not all the time, and not in all circumstances. But if you have something of value to offer, and you know exactly who your service benefits and you can get through to them - then cold calling offers an unparalleled opportunity for direct access. Unlike more indirect approaches where you put your message out there and hope the right people come across it, cold calling works because you go directly to the person your message is relevant to. If you can do it well, cold calling can be a real shortcut to getting face to face with high potential clients for your services. And that s the first key: cold calling for professional firms is not about selling your services immediately. That s a step (way) too far for an initial call. Your objective for a cold call is to identify whether the person on the other end of the call would be a good fit for your services, and if so, to set up a meeting with them. In essence, you re selling the meeting not selling your services. (Actually, later we ll see that mindset-wise you shouldn t be selling anything - you should be looking for fit). Cold calling itself is a two phase process: Preparation Execution You need to get both right. It s incredibly difficult to wing it successfully with cold calling. Preparation is key. Having said that, you do need to execute. Make sure that preparation doesn t become a was of avoiding making the calls. Let s look at each phase in turn. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 1 of 10

4 The Cold Calling Process Preparation Execution Target List Service Value Proposition Meeting Value Proposition Script Contingencies Research Rehearsal Schedule Targets Environment Mindset Objection Handling Motivation Recording The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 2 of 10

5 Preparation The key to a successful cold calling campaign is to do the right preparation. You need to get your thinking clear in advance so you don t stumble in the precious moments you re live with a potential client. You need to get clear in your mind who exactly you re going to be calling and what value they ll get from meeting with you. You also need to plan how you ll deal with various common roadblocks like hitting voic . If you re selling high value services, and each individual prospect could be worth a lot as a client, then it s worth investing in pre-call research for each prospect to find out as much as you can about them, their business, their needs, etc. Finally, you need to rehearse your calls until you can handle them confidently and naturally. Then you need to set yourself some targets and schedule those calls. Target List The number one factor in whether someone listens to your call beyond the first few seconds is whether they have a need right now for your services. So if you can target very specifically who is highly likely to need the services you re promoting (or tailor the services to meet what are likely to be immediate needs) then you ll have much more success. Conversely it s almost impossible to use cold calling to sell services for problems clients aren t aware they have or don t think are important right now. Best off finding other services to promote, or other approaches to promotion. At minimum, try to figure out a profile of businesses or individuals who are most likely to benefit from your services. Cold calling takes a lot of time and effort - often half a dozen or more calls before you get through. So if you invest this time in getting through to people who are unlikely to need your services you ll struggle to get a decent return from your activities. A good example of doing this well is a consultant I know who does marketing for technology startups. He s found from experience that a large number of technology startups suddenly realise they need to focus on marketing about 3-6 months after setting up. So he targets tech companies that have recently moved into business/science parks. He knows they re taking things seriously since they ve now arranged an office and working environment. but they re still in that early startup phase. So when he calls a decent number of them are open to speaking to him. You can also use trigger events to identify when the time might be right to call. Companies who ve just completed a merger or acquisition, for example, are likely to be about to look round for support on HR related issues as they have to integrate the workforces and move locations, make redundancies, etc. A merger or acquisition is a trigger event The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 3 of 10

6 that precedes needing these employment law or HR consulting services. Identifying the events that trigger the needs for your services and then keeping an eye out for them will tell you when a good time to call is. Service Value Proposition When you get through to a potential client you need to quickly get to the point and explain who you are, and why you re calling - and by implication - why they should listen. To do this you need to be very clear on the value that a potential client would get from working with you. It s no good saying you re a marketing consultant or an accountant and expecting them to extrapolate for themselves as to how talking to you could benefit them - you need to spell it out quickly so they understand the what s in it for me? for them. By now you should have worked out a compelling Value Proposition for your business and this is your starting point. You may need to alter the Value Proposition to reflect the specific point of view of the person you re calling. For example, a procurement manager will see different value from your service than the end user of that service. Meeting Value Proposition Just as important as the value proposition for your service is the value your potential client will get from meeting with you. The truth is that today, our clients are incredibly pressed for time and inundated with requests for meetings from potential suppliers. So whereas 10 years ago, a request for a meeting from a reputable supplier with the goal of understanding your needs would be accepted by most potential clients - today it s much rarer. If they think they re going to need your services soon, or they re looking to switch their current supplier then yes - they ll probably take an exploratory meeting. But in the majority of cases they ll pass. In their minds they think they ll get back in touch when a need actually arises - or do a thorough search. In reality, they ll forget you and probably be to rushed to do a thorough search when their need is pressing. So it s much better for you if they meet with you now and you strike up a relationship (and continue to nurture it) so that when their need does arise, you ll be at the top of their mind. And, of course, it s quite likely that if they do meet with you, even if they don t think they have immediate problems or opportunities, you may be able to identify areas where they have needs they didn t realise. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 4 of 10

7 So how do you get a meeting with a potential client who isn t necessarily ready to buy right now? The answer is to make the meeting itself valuable and enticing for the potential client. If they believe they re going to get something useful from the meeting - irrespective of whether they re looking to hire someone anytime soon - then the chances of them accepting a meeting go up exponentially. This value can come in multiple forms. If you ve done any benchmarking or created any interesting case studies of how businesses like theirs have addressed certain challenges then you can offer to share that. And if you don t have case studies or examples of best practice you can share - it should only take a few hours for you to be able to construct something based on your experience. Any useful information, benchmarking, or a diagnostic/analysis of their situation can be used to make an initial meeting valueadded and attractive to potential clients. As long as it s relevant to the services you d like to sell them or the problems you d like to help them with. Script Most effective cold callers find it useful to develop a basic script for what they re going to say. They don t read from it when they re calling - they typically talk more naturally based on a list of key points and adjust to how the potential client responds. But writing out a script helps them to get their ideas straight, to structure the call effectively, and to have a repertoire of useful phrases and semi-sentences to fall back on. it s much easier to improvise on the call if you re doing it on the back of a solid script, rather than completely making it up as you go along. So write out (in the natural language you d speak in) a simple and brief script. The key elements to cover are: Greeting What we do Value proposition Benefit of meeting Request for meeting Once you re in the meeting, you share that information - then ask which elements are an issue for them right now. Or which bits rang a bell. pretty soon you re into the exact discussion you wanted where they share their challenges with you so you can see if there s a good fit with what you can deliver. So, for example: Good morning Mr Smith. It s Jim Jones from Arkon Consulting here. We re marketing consultants specialised in helping technology companies have profitable product launches. So The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 5 of 10

8 we ve worked with companies like X and Y and helped them to launch their latest ranges in half the time originally planned and with twice the profit. We ve recently completed a short study of best practices with technology product launches for small businesses. I think you ll be really interested in the results - could I set up a short meeting to discuss the findings with you? I have some time next Tuesday afternoon or Thursday morning - would either of those dates work for you? Obviously you need to adjust the language and the tone to fit with your style and what you d feel comfortable saying. But something along these lines is short, to the point, assertive without being aggressive - and promises to deliver value in the meeting itself. Contingencies The next element to plan out is a series of what if scenarios. I suggest you think through and prepare strategies for three specific situations that you re likely to come across: How to handle voic - what to say if you get through to voic . How to handle a PA/secretary - what to say if you get through to the potential client s assistant Fallback if not interested - what is your fallback position if they won t agree to a meeting. For example, could you ask to keep them in touch with useful information for them in your monthly newsletter Research If you re going to be calling a small number of potentially high value clients then you should think about researching more about each one individually. Very often, 30 minutes of research can have a huge payoff in terms of increasing the likelihood of getting a meeting and eventually a sale. Research their Company Via their website, annual report, news, analysis reports, social media, personal contacts Research the Individual Via Linkedin, web search, personal contacts Direct Intelligence Gathering For really high potential clients consider fact finding with others prior to your call with the senior client. So, for example, see if anyone connects you on Linkedin and whether they can broker an introduction. Potentially call people you know (or even people you don t such as other suppliers) who have experience or insight into the organisation and it s challenges. That way when you call the senior executive you won t be wasting their time by coming from a point of zero knowledge. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 6 of 10

9 You ll be clued in to their likely issues and challenges already and be able to add value quickly. Rehearsal You should practice your script by yourself, and in front of a friendly audience. Get familiar enough so you can do it without notes - but not verbatim. Turn your script into a list of key points you ll then use to prompt you on the call itself. Schedule Pick the best time to get directly through to the prospect. Usually early morning or late afternoon reduces the chance you ll be intercepted by an assistant. Calling on holidays or even weekends can also increase your chances of getting through to a business owner. But don t use finding the right time as a reason to procrastinate. Calling right now at the wrong time is much better than putting off the calls to next week at the right time. You should also schedule blocks of time to get on a roll with your calls. This works much better than trying to fit in a call in between other activities when you can. You lose the momentum, and you waste time getting organized only to make a couple of calls. Do your calling in a block of at least 30 minutes, and reward yourself for making a predefined number of calls. if you have many prospects to call, schedule in a recurring time in your calendar and make calling a habit. Targets The most important target for you to set is an activity target for the number of calls you re going to make. You can t completely control how many people say yes to a meeting, or how many turn into sales. But you can completely control how many calls you make. Once you ve made a number of calls you should also get a feel for how many calls it takes to get through to someone, and how many connections it takes before someone says yes to a meeting. Calculating back will then tell you how many calls you need to make to hit your quota of meetings. And if you know how many meetings eventually turn into sales, you can make a rough guideline calculation on how many calls you need to make to hit your sales targets. It s usually far more than you initially think and it can be quite motivating to keep that daily number pinned near your phone.. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 7 of 10

10 Execution Once you ve done your preparation you need to make your calls. All the perfect preparation in the world won t deliver any meetings or sales if you don t pick up the phone and make a connection. You can increase your chances of success by adopting the following strategies when you call. Environment Make sure you call from a room with right equipment and no distractions. Make sure all the paperwork you need is available - the names and numbers you re going to be calling and any notes you have on them. Even if you have a CRM system, I find it s best to best to print the information out. It s easier to quickly refer to, you can scribble notes quickly as you make the call, and you don t get distracted by other online activities such as coming in. Mindset It s crucial to enter into each call with the right mindset. This will filter though in the way you talk to potential clients, the tone you use, the confidence you project etc. The best mindset to use for each call is that the purpose of the call (and the meeting you re trying to set up) is to find out if there s a fit between our businesses not I must sell to them. This may sound counterintuitive - because in the long run, the reason you re calling people is to sell. But on each individual call, your goal is to try to see if they would be suitable people to talk to further. It s mutual qualification. if you go into the call thinking you must sell to them, it will seep into the way you talk and interact. You ll push just that little bit too hard. You ll seem just that little bit desperate. And they ll push back. Your job is not to sell to everyone. It s to find the right people to sell to. The ones who would benefit the most from working with you. If you make the call with that mindset you ll have much more success that if you go in with a sales mindset. In addition, you need to be confident when you speak in the value of what you have to bring to the table. If you don;t believe in the value of what you have to offer, you won t be able to convince the potential client of it either. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 8 of 10

11 Objection Handling Objections are difficult to handle on an initial cold call where you haven t yet established a relationship and you can t see them face to face to read their body language. However, there are certain techniques you can use which will improve your chances of getting a meeting despite initial objections. If you hit an objection early on - before you ve even had a chance to explain what you re looking to do in the meeting, then it s best to redirect the discussion with a question. So if they say We re not looking for help with marketing - ask OK, no worries, what are you doing with your marketing right now? This gives you a chance to see what they re actually doing, puts them at ease more because they re talking about themselves, and usually leads to an entry point where you can say something along the lines of Well, it looks like you re doing a lot of the right things already. You know, we ve just finished a short study into best practices in marketing for XYZ. I think you d find some useful additions to what you re doing in it. I d be happy to share the findings over a coffee with you.... Or, for example, if they say they re happy with their current supplier: That s OK - obviously lots of people I speak to are in that situation when I call. What s your normal timetable for revisiting your supplier base? What sort of things would you be looking for to be more than satisfied from a supplier? The key is to get them engaged, talking and expanding on their initial objection. So before the call, think through the common objections you might get for your services and prepare questions to reply. Focus your questions on understanding the concern rather than obliterating it or providing a clever answer. Then position what you have as being in addition to what they currently have or the reason for the objection. Don t try to take on the objection :head to head on a call - you just don t know enough yet about what the real concern is. Focus on getting a meeting where you can talk about it in more detail. Of course, if the objection tells you that the potential client wouldn t be a good fit for you then don t push for the meeting - move on to the next prospect (but potentially keep in touch for when things may be different). Motivation In today s environment you will need to make many calls to even get through to a potential client. And not everyone will say yes to meeting (by far). Your mental goal should be to information gathering ( is this a good fit?, when should I call again? ) vs I must sell. In this way, you haven t failed if you don t get a meeting - your objective wasn t to sell, it was to find out whether a meeting would be appropriate. After a block of calls, take a break - reward yourself for action. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 9 of 10

12 Recording Make notes after each call you make: Who did I speak to? When? What were the main points we discussed? What were some specific keywords they used that I can use when we meet? What was the agreed follow up? When s the best time to call them? What s the name of their PA.? Do they use voic ? etc. Feed your notes back in to your CRM system at the end of each session (for most people, trying to feed them in to the computer immediately can break your flow - so make the notes on paper during/after each call and type them up later). Also note what wording and phrases seem to be working. What questions get people engaged - and what objections come up repeatedly. Over time you can then revise your approach to incorporate these learnings. Let s Do It OK, we ve reviewed both phases of cold calling, Preparation and Execution. The next step is to put these ideas into action for your business. You don t need to do all of them at once. Go through the document again, take notes and implement what you feel are the most salient principles for your situation. Do a block of calls. Take notes. Review how it went. Then come back to this document. For further research I can also recommend Art Sobczak s book Smart Calling. Art particularly focuses on cold calling for high value products and services and on how to do pre-call research to turn a call from a cold one into a smart one. The Pain Free Guide to Cold Calling! Page 10 of 10