Cold Calling How To Warm Yourself Up Before You Start

Writen by Robert Warlow

Cold calling … even the name is enough to strike fear into the heart of many a small business owner! What image comes into your mind? Sitting in a lonely damp office, surrounded by paper, 2 day old coffee cups and a stack of outstanding work. In other words, something not very nice!

Why do we hate cold calling so much? Why does the very thought of it send shivers down some people's spine? Firstly, what were we taught at school and by our parents? Don't talk to strangers! No wonder picking up the phone and speaking to someone you have never met causes such mental problems.

What about every small business owner's fear – the fear of rejection. That's enough to find any reason not to pick up the phone. Here's another one – lack of self confidence and the nagging doubt that you won't live up to the expectations you put in your prospect's mind.

I think that's enough! Perhaps all very good reasons why you may find it hard to pick up the phone but, at the end of the day, to be really successful in business, it's a necessary evil. Yes, you can convince yourself that you are too busy servicing your existing customers and looking after their every need, but unless you get out and bring in new business, one day you may find yourself with a tired and sold-out customer base. But it doesn't have to be this way. You can do it. All it needs is careful planning and a structured approach. If you can see the error of your ways and understand the impact this lack of action is having on your business, I'll show you how you can become a successful cold caller. You have got it made if you follow this structure: Identify, Preparation, Just Do It! and Review.

Let's consider each of these steps in turn.

Identify

The first step is to identify who you are going to cold call. How do you go about building up a list? Here are some ideas:

• Ask your customers who they think you should be talking to; who could benefit from your product? Referrals from happy clients can be very powerful when speaking to your prospective customers. It tells them that if their colleague was happy to pass on their name then that's a good recommendation

• Go through your old database and identify companies that no longer deal with you. Unless you really messed up first time round, they may appreciate a call

• Read all your local newspapers and magazines. Is there a story which would be a great excuse to call them up? "I read about your award in the newspaper and …"

• Use networking events and any other social gatherings to make new contacts

• E-mail everyone in your mailing list and tell them that you are on the look out for new leads!

• Train your brain to spot new opportunities

It doesn't matter how outlandish your first draft list seems, stick the name down and get thinking about where the others are going to come from.

Preparation

Having got your initial list, the first task in the preparation stage is to tidy it up. Take another look at it and pick the top 5 which are likely to end in success. Why do this? Because to be motivated to carry on with something, there is nothing like success. Failure will not spur you on, but success will. So go for the ones which are likely to yield positive results. With practice, you will be able to tackle the more challenging ones later on!

Next, set yourself an objective. What do you want to achieve out of your phone call? An appointment, an agreement to send a sample, a sale? Being realistic, the best you can hope for is an appointment. Be clear on what your aim is. This will help you focus on the outcome during the rest of your preparation.

The most crucial part of the preparation stage is your research. Find out whatever you can about both the company and person you are going to call. What exactly do they sell? Who are they buying from at the moment? How many employees do they have? Do you know of any problems which you could resolve? What is the perception in the market place? What can you learn from their web site?

All of this information will help you in the next part of your preparation – your opening statement and subsequent words. Actors don't go out on the stage without thoroughly learning and rehearsal and neither should you. Write out your opening statement, which says who you are, which company you are with and what you do. Keep it short, focused and punchy. Remember that many businesses receive cold calls all the time, so what is the benefit in the person spending some time with you? Think of a clear benefit statement to include in your remarks.

As in any selling situation (which a cold call is after all), you are very likely to be met with objections – can't see you, too busy with a rush order, its Audit time, too many staff on holiday etc. Try and think of every objection and write down what your response will be. Being this prepared will keep you ahead of the game.

Bearing in mind your end objective, how are you going to go in for the kill? What are you going to say to get that appointment?

Going through all this preparation will give you a much needed confidence boost, ready for the next step.

Just Do It!

If you have identified a number of names, set aside a whole morning or afternoon to make your calls. It's easy to say to yourself that you will do one call today and another tomorrow. Athletes know that you perform better when you are warmed up, so doing a number of calls in a row means you will get better each time – remember what I said earlier about success breeding success. Put the time in your diary and stick to it!

When should you call? Some people will say it's better to avoid Mondays and Fridays. On Mondays, people are recovering from the weekend, they are too busy planning their week, or clearing up the mess from the weekend! On Friday's people are winding down and are recovering from a hectic week.

But think about it – if people are planning their week, wouldn't Monday's be a great time to call? If people are winding down on Friday's, they may be in a good mood with the weekend approaching, so more willing to talk and agree an appointment. The bottom line is that there probably is not an ideal time – just do it!

Now you are ready to go. Before picking up the phone, relax your body and muscles, take some deep breaths and 'see' yourself achieving your objective. What does it feel like to have achieved your goal? What are you doing to celebrate all those appointments you have got? See yourself as a success!

Now you are ready to go. Pick up the phone, ask for the person you want to speak to and in a confident, crisp and clear voice, start off with your opening statement. Be warm and friendly. Don't switch off into your own 'self-talk', really listen to what the other person is saying; listen out for those inevitable objections. When they come, answer straight back with your prepared answers. The standard objection is that they are too busy to talk now. If so, agree a time when you can call again as this will avoid telephone tag, where you keep missing each other. In the end you will become a nuisance and you want to avoid this at all costs.

At the end of the call, summarise what was agreed so you are all clear on what will happen next. You don't want any potential costly misunderstandings.

Review

You will be glad to know that the final step is a review of what took place! After you have put the phone down, sit back and write up your notes, put the agreed meeting time in your diary. Think about what went well; what could have gone better; how you could have approached things differently. Do you think you sounded confident? Did you anticipate all the objections? Did you successfully handle the ones which were thrown at you? Did you meet your planned objective? If so, then celebrate!

Armed with all this new information, pick up the phone and dial the next person on the list.

You may feel cold calling is a bit of a chore. But if you follow these steps then you will very quickly find yourself having too much new business to cope with. What a great problem to have!

© Robert Warlow Small Business Success

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles. Visit http://smallbusinesssuccess.biz

With Less Telemarketing Aimed At Homes Are Prospects More Receptive At Work

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

An emotional boiling point was reached in the anti-telemarketing hysteria that came over America about a decade ago.

This spilled over into legislation providing for the establishment of the Do Not Call Registry, enabling tens of millions of people to opt-out of receiving unwanted sales calls at home.

Now that this legislation has been in effect for a number of years, and there are fewer unwanted calls being made and received, are consumers becoming more receptive to cold calls received at work?

Or, are they just as prickly about being pitched at their desks as they are at their dining room tables?

While there isn't a scientific answer to this question, there is an anecdotal one that comes from the annals of door-to-door selling.

Crews that are deployed in residential neighborhoods are often instructed to knock on doors where signs are posted that warn, "No Solicitors." This seems strange, doesn't it?

Here's the logic: People who hide behind such signs have so little sales resistance that they have to announce it to the whole world. And to whom would you prefer to sell, to those who are the most resistant or the least?

Ironically, those who logged their names onto the Do Not Call Registry are perhaps the very easiest to sell also, wherever they are situated, in the workplace or at home.

Their location may be irrelevant.

At the same time, because they haven't been practicing saying no at home, you might infer they're rusty at slamming the electronic door in the faces of telemarketers.

Thus in this battle of wills, the advantage may have shifted once more to those who dial and smile.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Anybody Can Write A Script

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I was having a conversation with a couple of prospects the other day.

The afternoon sunlight cascaded through their ground floor conference room, but it was the only source of illumination in the place.

Otherwise, we could have been in a cave, tens of thousands of years ago—this is how primitive the conversation was.

After I assessed the lack of quality in the script they're using for handling inbound sales prospects, one of them snapped:

"I can get anybody to write a script!"

Of course, that's exactly what you did. You got just anybody to write the current version, and that's why:

(1) It is not producing results, enough conversions of inquiries to appointments;

(2) Your people aren't using it, because it doesn't flow, like natural conversation; and

(3) You're shopping for professional help, right now. If the script was good, or you were effective at putting it to work, and managing your folks so they performed it consistently and well, I wouldn't be sitting here, right?

Before you get the idea that all my prospects are stupid, let me say quite clearly, they aren't. Usually, they're quite successful, and their problem isn't intelligence.

It's DISRESPECT.

As my professor, famed management guru Peter F. Drucker said: "We won't succeed in any area that we don't respect."

Frame these words!

Most people disrespect customer service, telemarketing, and sales work; largely, because they don't understand it, and they think it's easy, entailing not true ability, but a "knack."

Unfortunately, there isn't a school that you can attend that will teach respect. This is supposed to happen in one's upbringing, along with its behavioral manifestation: good manners.

As long as people disrespect the work I've described above, they'll be powerless to improve it.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

How To Make That First Call Of The Day A Success

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

The first call of the day is always the toughest.

For some reason, I get a little shy and introverted before speaking to the first prospect in the morning.

But I'd say eighty or ninety percent of the time that initial prospect I get on the line is courteous and surprisingly receptive to my offer.

How can that be? Aren't people supposed to be grumpy first thing in the morning?

That's what we might tell ourselves as we start our routines, but we should edit that expectation.

Instead, we should say, "This call is going to be great!"

What if it isn't?

Then, we can just as quickly add, "Now the first call is out of the way, the frogs are leaving my throat, and all's well with the world!"

In other words, there's always a positive spin that we can put on STARTING, a reward or a pat on the back we can bestow, no matter how wobbly we appear to be to ourselves.

The other day, for instance, I followed up by phone with a prospect to whom I sent a proposal, but had received no feedback. When I got her on the line, frankly, I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect.

My voice warbled a little, not at all filled with its customary confidence.

Still, and perhaps even because I sounded genuine and perhaps a little vulnerable, I revived the deal, and submitted a better proposal, one more closely geared to what the company expected to buy.

That follow-up was my first call of the day, and I felt great afterwards.

So, how should you prepare for the first call of the day?

Relax and tell yourself you won't be perfect, and more important, you don't have to be in order to come out ahead.

Being in the same early morning mood, your prospects and clients will empathize with you and probably go out of their way to help you out!

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 900 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard"--the foremost expert in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Telsales Just Got Easier

Writen by Mike Palman

Your sales structure for outbound calls can be summarised using the well know acronym AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) we will explore at a high level what should be happening during a telemarketing call.

Open The Call Then Set Your Agenda

The opening minutes of any sales call are vital. You must remember that rapport is built immediately so how you sound is important. Everyone makes decisions about who they are talking to in seconds. This is why it is so important to sound great as we are immediately graded and however we do will be the starting point of the relationship. We are now at the beginning of the process of building rapport and developing what we hope will be a long term, profitable relationship – so sound fantastic.

When we meet someone for the first time we typically shake hands, smile and then swap business cards. On a call we also have some definable stages that can be measured and optimised. The opening part of the call is where we ask low risk questions which may, or may not concern their business. We might have a common interest, or even know the same group of people. Working on the phone is not really so different but in many ways is harder as we have no visual clues and can only 'hear' how the prospect is reacting. This is where you learn that, different approaches to different people will get different results.

During the opening stage of your telemarketing campaign should keep to a realistic timescale with clear definable objectives. Understand early on that no rapport means no sales regardless of how good your product or service is. The real purpose is to introduce yourself to your prospects establish rapport before moving into the business part of the call. Another tip is to avoid being too familiar with your prospect - it rarely works even if you know them! Asking low risk questions is easier than going for a bulls eye in less than 30 seconds! Be friendly, but not over familiar. We cannot get along with everyone but we can be professional regardless of who they are.

The next stage is to set your agenda in your opening statement (prepared earlier please). The purpose of the agenda is to put you in control and establish how the telemarketing sales call will be structured. It also gives you the right to ask questions.

Ask Great Questions

Selling is about identifying and then solving problems. The next stage therefore is to ask questions in order to find and explore customer problems. It usually relates to one or some of the following areas that need exploring including, contact, organisation, current supplier, challenges, needs, decision making process, competition and finance.

We ask questions at this stage for two main reasons. Firstly to gather facts and secondly to identify attitudes, problems and needs. Essentially we are taking a temperature check.

One important factor here is how we structure our questions and the quality of the questions we ask. Open questions (starting with how, what, where, when, why) encourage the customer to talk and closed questions (those that can only be answered with a yes/no) give us specific information.

The sequence of our questions can be very important, especially when a customer is only willing to divulge a little information. We need to listen out for buying signals and ask follow-up questions at the appropriate time.

One of the key issues is being able to ask questions, then listening to the answer without interrupting. (Interrupting and speaking over someone will not win you any friends!) This is common sales behaviour and customers find it most irritating sometimes worse. Also, while we are talking we are cutting off the supply of free information coming from the prospect.

Identify Needs

The process of asking questions will clarify the customer's and give you a clear idea of whether a feature or features of your product could solve those problems and satisfy the customers' needs.

Usually, we see the need for our products and or services before our customers do. They see problems rather than needs and there could be a range of potential solutions.

When people buy they also have a number of buying criteria. This usually means there are a limited number of reasons to buy that are of greatest interest to them. People don't buy for lots of reasons. They have their own buying criteria, which we will need to establish.

Also, it has been shown that people buy on only two levels; Logic and Emotion.

Their logical buying behaviour wants to know if the solution they are choosing is technically correct. Their emotional buying behaviour is asking for reassurance that their decision is a good one and they are not making a mistake.

Present the Solution

Having clarified the customer's problems and identified needs, present the Features, Advantages and Benefits of your own product in such a way that the solution matches the needs of the customer. An important issue here is timing. We cannot present effectively if we haven't identified their main buying criteria. When we present we must also be aware that we are not just listing a series of features. We must match the feature that solves the problem turning features into benefits.

The most common mistakes made by salespeople is to present too much information too early in the sales process. We need to look at the problem from the buyers' perspective. Think about it and ask yourself this question 'If I was in their position, how much information would I need and when would I need it?'

Gain Commitment Using A Trial Close

Having presented a solution that meets the customer's needs the next phase is to gain commitment, to go ahead or else for some future action that will move you nearer towards the sale being made. You will usually meet with objections at various stages of the sales process and techniques will be developed for dealing with objections later in the programme. One of the problems with asking for commitment is that we sometimes lack confidence and fear rejection. It is important that we keep control of the sales process and maintain responsibility for moving to the next stage of the process and taking the customer with us. A trial close will flush out any last minute objection. Once you are satisfied that there are no additional objections you can present your solution.

Your Final Step

Once you have presented your final solution you can then close the sale (or move to the next stage). Remember if you break down complex sales into manageable chunks you will be able to move forward far quicker. Gaining commitment for a meeting, a trial or whatever your objective is means that you have created a logical structure and you have achieved your call objectives. With practice everything becomes so much easier. But then if telemarketing was so easy everyone would be a runaway success – you know just how hard it is and the fact that you may make it look easy is a real skill!

© The Sales Academy 2005.

You may include this article in your ezine or on your website or distribute it to others, provided you include the copyright statement and the bio information tag line found at the end of this article.

Mike Palman, is an International Master Sales Coach and author. Mike helps people and businesses do more, do it better and get the results that they want. Mike had a successful career in sales and sales management for over 25 years and now helps salespeople and organisations get the sales edge. Since starting The Sales Academy in 2000 Mike and his team have helped 1000's of sales people and companies globally achieve outstanding results. For more information about Mike and The Sales Academy visit http://www.thesalesacademy.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Effective Phone Sales

Writen by Freddy Pineda

Hate cold calling prospects? Yeah, me to. But in todays fast moving business environment prospecting either directly or by phone is a must. Gone are the days when you sit back and just wait for your products or service to be sold. Theses days you have prospect daily in order to get your products,service, and Company, out there on customers mind.

In my daily work, I call about 100 prospects daily. I wish it could be more but being a small business owner of safety supply company and "wearing a lot of hats" time just does'nt allow me.So what do I do to get into the flow of making "cold calls" and baing effective at it? Well, it pretty simple.

First, you must have some sort of contact manager. I work with a very inexpensive one that already comes with my computer bundle of software (Microsoft Outlook). I set up my prospects information and set up times.Second, I use a cordless phone with a headtset. Headsets are great becasue it frees up your hand to write down important information you can use to profile your prospect. Third, I make the call. I ask for the person who makes the buying decision. Also, try to keep it short. "Gatekeepers" usually dont like to hear long, scripted speeches. Besides they are not the ones you want to sell to.When you get the person you want to speak with, be pleasant, direct, and dont SELL them anything. Rather offer them a solution. You do this asking question on what issues they have and you present them how you can help them solve the issue/problem.For example, when I call a prospect and ask them about there operations and the hazards they may have, I pick up (LISTEN) on what they tel!

l me an OFFER them a solution. (Dear Mr. Doe, it seems to me your meat cutting line may be in risk of some serious danger from the knive/machine use. I have this HandFortress glove that has been used in similar plants with good result) Get the idea. And last but never never never least...Follow up..Follow up. Follow up even if they say No we dont need your products/service at this time. Always say something like " thank you for the opportunity. Im sorry to hear we cant work together now, but is ok if I call you back in a few months? Remember things chage and (the person who said to you the first time may have Changed his job).

Well hope this helps. Remeber every situation is different but the principles remain the same:

* organize yourself

* make the call (dont be scared of a NO)

* ask for the right person and ask how you can help, not sell

* follow up follow up.

About The Author
Freddy Pineda has been running a successfull small safety supply business in Miami, Fl that offers products such as gloves, hairnets, ear plugs, safety vest, welding consumables, safety glasses, Tyvek covealls, etc. He has 12 years experience in phone sales and 10 in safety distribution.Hr hopes some of the simple principle he uses could help you in your business.

www.asasupplies.com

How To Cold Call Without A Pitch

Writen by Ari Galper

In the old way of making cold calls, we offer a sales pitch to a perfect stranger, cross our fingers, and hope for the best... isn't that right?

This really doesn't work very well in building a business relationship (or any other relationship, for that matter). This is done best by stepping into the world of the other person and finding a problem we can solve for him or her.

That's how we begin a conversation with another person – talking about them rather than talking about ourselves. It's just a very common dynamic that occurs in any human interaction. When you're dating somebody, for instance, if you just talk about yourself, they're not going to like you very much, right?

It's the same in cold calling. Don't talk about your solution for a while. Talk instead about their problems for a bit. It's a movement of dialogue. This dialogue is around talking about their world and not about your product. That's the shift. All you have to do is identify three or four major problems that your product solves, and use those problems as phrases to begin the dialogue of your cold call.

You see, this new cold calling approach has to be tied to a specific, real problem that the person experiences in their world. This is needed in order for them to feel comfortable having a conversation with you. When you're relevant to them and their world, they trust you. They sense that you're there to help them solve a problem – not sell a product.

So remove yourself for a moment from what you have to sell, and think about what problem your solution solves for somebody. For example, if you're in the coaching industry, think about what problem you're solving for your clients. You might say, "I'm just calling to see if your company's open to the idea of using coaches to improve management performance."

When you use the word "open," people respond positively. Who would say "no" to being open? You're not challenging them. You're not forcing a solution. You're not even saying what you're offering to sell. You're simply asking a question around whether they have a particular problem.

This also invites a question back to you. Potential clients will often ask at this point who you are and what you do. They might say that they already have a service, but they may need some more help. So it opens up even more conversation.

Here's an example of how salespeople focus their cold calling around something that appears to be a need, but they haven't tied it to a specific problem.

Let's look at financial services. In this case, people who sell financial services start cold calls with a focus on the future of the person's situation. They might say, "I'm just calling to see if you'd be open to some new ideas to help you increase your income." The better approach here would be to problem solve. For example, "I'm just calling to see if you'd be open to identifying any gaps in your portfolio that might be holding you back in some way." It's about problem solving and closing gaps, as opposed to promoting a beautiful future. "Hire me and I'll make you a lot of money!" Everyone does that. That's the problem. It gets old and very stale

You see, there's no push here. There's no sales pitch. There's no presentation. The conversation is focused on really seeing if the person has a problem, and if they want to solve it. After the first few phrases, you have a natural conversation back and forth. They may say, "What's your service?" "How much does it cost?" And that's the time to begin to really tell about your service -- but not before that.

If you don't talk about your solution for a while and instead talk about their problems, you'll find yourself having better and deeper dialogue, with more trust.

So be careful not to immediately go into a presentation and spend the conversation talking about your service. In this new way of cold calling, you're asking in a very conversational tone whether the other person has a problem that you can solve.

You won't believe how this simple technique can make such a difference in the way potential clients receive your cold calls. Tension and resistance are vastly reduced, and results are greatly improved.

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don't know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.Unlock-The-Cold-Calling-Game.com

But I Am On The Script

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

At this point, I've written a number of articles about scripting sales calls, especially over the phone.

Let's recap my main points:

(1) Scripting is inevitable. Even when we think we aren't using one, we are!

(2) Scripts need to be brought to life through special delivery techniques.

(3) Four T's inform the success of scripts: text, tone, timing & training.

(4) Theoretically, you can have more than one script working in your sales unit, providing users are committed to sticking to those they adopt.

(5) There are special ways to craft language so it sounds spontaneous and not canned.

I suggest you take a look at prior articles on this topic to get up to speed.

Here is today's point about scripting,

Reps think they're using them, word for word, when you know they aren't. You've just passed by a desk where the rep is off the mark in several places, yet he, quite sincerely, insists he's on it.

What can you do to set him straight?

The best way is to tape him and to play the tape in his presence and have the script in front of both of you.

But guess what? He still may think he's on it, word for word. Amazing, I know, but it's true.

Example: Your goal is appointment setting and the language in the script reads: "So, what we'll do is stop by to say hello on Tuesday or will Wednesday be better for you?"

The tape reveals the rep said: "So, what we could do is stop by to say hello on Tuesday or will Wednesday be better for you?"

Is there a difference? You bet!

What we "could" do and what we "will" do are dramatically different in the impact on potential customers.

Your job is to sell the rep on the necessity and desirability of doing the script, word-for-word.

When you use scripts, they need to be thoroughly enforced; otherwise, reps will think they're on them, when they aren't!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

B2b Cold Calling Sucks

Writen by Tino Buntic

Yesterday I received an unsolicited phone call from a woman. It turns out she was a B2B cold caller. Here's how it went:

Cold calling woman: Hello, can I speak to the person in charge of your janitorial cleaning services?

Me (the decision maker): We don't use janitorial cleaning services.

Cold calling woman: OK, then. Good-bye.

That was short and sweet; it was the shortest cold call I had ever received. I regularly receive unsolicited phone calls from B2B telemarketers trying to sell me their services. I actually am one of the few that enjoy receiving these phone calls. Although, I never purchase any of the goods or services being pitched, I enjoy hearing the sales pitches. I like to hear everybody's selling techniques. Normally, when I say "no" the cold callers don't stop. They try to overcome my objections. But not this woman.

I'm pretty sure that this woman has been told that she needs to make X number of cold calls a day to book X number of appointments to make X number of presentations and close X amount of sales and earn X amount of commission. I think what happened yesterday was she called me then she finished the rest of her X amount of cold calls with no success. No appointments, no new sales. Today will probably be more of the same – unsuccessful cold calls.

Too many sales managers in B2B sales advocate cold calling as a way of generating sales leads and new business. But it doesn't work anymore, at least not the way it used to. Executives and decision makers, like me, don't respond to unsolicited sales pitches any more. They know what they need for their business and don't need to be interrupted by a telemarketer to tell them.

What usually plays out when a new sales rep gets a B2B sales job is that they are told outdated statistics about how much they need to cold call to be able to sell and earn a certain level of commission. It sounds so easy and too many new sales reps get too excited. It's not as easy as it sounds. So many new sales reps fail. And, they fail for one reason. Cold calling doesn't work; B2B cold calling sucks!

I suspect "cold calling woman" that called me yesterday had a bad day. I declined her sales pitch. I'm sure she made another ten calls after that, with no success. I'm sure she'll quit her job shortly. And, I'm sure it's because her boss forces her to cold call.

Cold calling suck!

Visit Tino Buntic's website, TradePals to receive free B2B & B2C sales leads without cold calling or prospecting. TradePals provides free sales leads to business professionals in major cities across North America, including Nashville, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Vancouver, Seattle, Fresno, Hartford, Greenville, Orlando, Kansas City, Reno, San Antonio, Albany, and Biloxi. It is great for business professionals, entrepreneurs, and freelancers such as attorneys, CPAs, engineers, financial planners, investigators, risk managers, insurance brokers, sales consultants, mortgage brokers, realtors, caterers, and office furniture sales reps.

Should You Sell By Using Phone Tricks

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I picked up the office line and a live human, who sounded very much like a robot, said in a machine gun tempo:

"Hello I'm with XYZ Associates and this is not a sales call, it's a survey and we'd appreciate your opinion. Who is the person who handles the bills for your SBC phone account?"

You know, I know, and probably everybody knows that this is patently false.

SBC has nothing to do with this survey. It's a competing carrier that wants to identify the person who can switch the service to them.

And if they can get that person to come to the line, a sales effort will definitely be made.

What do you think of this approach? All may be fair in love and war, but does this also apply to selling?

How about this scenario:

You've been trying to reach someone that you believe is ducking your calls. Should you use a false name to get him or her on the line?

What if you call the customer service department of his company and ask to be transferred to him, knowing if they comply, you'll appear as a company insider on his telephone display.

Is that fair?

Where should you draw the line between what is permissible, or ethical, and what isn't?

I'm not going to tell you!

I believe you should figure it out for yourself, given your values. Once you do, you'll probably feel a lot better about yourself, sound more confident as a result, and actually have your calls accepted with greater frequency.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

10 Creative And Lowcost Ways To Locate New Business Leads

Writen by D.M. Arenzon

1. Compile A List Of All Chambers Of Commerce In Your Area.

A majority of chambers across the United States have a searchable online member directory. Where are these online directories located on these chamber sites? Many of these directories will be listed under the "Membership" or "About Us" button. Or, you might see a button that says, "Membership Directory" or "Business Directory."

How do you locate chambers of commerce in your area? One way is to compile a list of all the major cities in your area. Once you have completed this task I would then take each city (one at a time) and enter them into a google.com search. Next to each word, I would type the phrase, "and chamber of commerce." (i.e. Denver and chamber of commerce). Is there an easier way? Yes, you could try going to a website that offers a database of U.S. chambers. An example of this would be (www.2chambers.com), but do keep in mind that while they have a large list of chambers they may not have every chamber in your area. For this reason, it might be in your best interest to try both of these ideas!

2. Get Your Hands On Your Local Business Newspaper Or Magazine.

Do you want to know what's going on in your local business community? Then buy a copy of your local business newspaper or magazine. Many of these periodicals have an online website where you can get some of this information for FREE! Also, when you contact prospects that are featured in one of these two mediums it's a fantastic way to warm up your cold calls! These prospects could be in featured stories, picture captions, in advertisements or even in a section called "People On The Move" (business professionals who have been promoted or who have just joined a company). Have you ever done this? If not, or even if you have, check out my latest article called: "Cold Calling The Movie Star Way!"

3. Target Industry Associations.

Make a list of all your target prospects (i.e. attorneys, doctors, chiropractors, builders, marketing professionals….). For each prospect enter them into the search box of google.com along with these words "and association" (i.e. doctor and association). You can even target this search further by adding an "and" then follow your keyword with your state (you will get more responses when type a state in the search box versus typing a specific city). For example, your search would look like this: doctor and association and California. Once you locate the website of an industry association you can see if they have an online searchable member directory. If they don't then perhaps they have an upcoming networking event that you could attend.

4. Use PR Newswire Association To Find FREE BUSINESS LEADS!

A phenomenal source for finding FREE business leads is PR Newswire Association (www.prnewswire.com). This service provides electronic distribution of news for nearly 40,000 corporate, government, association, labor, non-profit, and other customers worldwide. These companies use PR Newswire to reach a variety of critical audiences including the news media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the general public with their up- to-the-minute, full-text news developments.

If you visit (www.prnewswire.com) and click on the "Advanced Search" text link just under the "Search Box" you will enter a special section where you can search thru a multitude of press releases (within the last 30 days). You can perform searches by company, industry, subject, state, and even search by keyword! In my opinion, one of the best features on PR Newswire is your ability to search for newly hired or promoted business executives (i.e. Personnel Announcements located under the news by subject search feature) in over 50 industries in all 50 states. This is definitely worth your time!

5. Consider Using The Fish Bowl Marketing Technique To Generate Leads.

Fish Bowl Marketing allows you to get hundreds of leads, even thousands of leads. How is this possible? It's so easy, first you need to locate a restaurant that caters to your target demographics (i.e. business professionals). Next, walk into the restaurant and ask to speak with the owner. If they say, "The owner can't speak with you right now!" You then say, "Would the owner speak with me if I were going to buy 11 people lunch every week for the next few months?" When you respond this way it will increase your chances of speaking with the business owner. When the owner enters what do you then say?

Here is one suggestion:

"Hi, My name is _______, I'm with ___________ and I would like to buy 11 people lunch on me every week for the next few months." The owner will then say, "Sure, how?" You then say, "I would like to put a fishbowl by your register. The sign that is posted on the fishbowl will indicate that the winner will receive FREE LUNCH and may invite 10 other people from their office (or if you like, you can say that you will draw names individually--it depends on your target audience)." The sign that you post will also indicate that the winners receive FREE Lunch while they attend a 5 to 10 minute seminar on your product or service. Your next job is to come up with something catchy, creative and fun. You need a topic that inspires people to drop their card into the bowl. Finally, make sure that your sign looks professional and eye- catching.

6. Locate Companies That List Their Employees Online.

Many companies list their top-level executives online. There are also companies that list their employees in a searchable online database. What companies? Here are a few examples:

* Law Firms

* Residential Real Estate Firms

* Commercial Real Estate Firms

* Insurance Agencies

* Financial Institutions

7. Develop A Referral Program.

I would devote one hour each day to calling your existing customers. I would start off the call as a customer service call and then if you hear that they are happy simply ask them directly for a referral. As a courtesy, I would then follow up your call with a nice thank you note. You may even want to keep track how many referrals you get and how many referrals convert to actual sales. My guess is that you will be more than pleased with your results! Another suggestion that you could try is to send a direct mail piece or even an email and offer your customers a free gift in exchange for a few solid referrals.

8. Target Large Office Buildings In Your Area.

Once you have developed a target list of office buildings I would then come up with a good marketing flyer. What should you say? How can you get their attention? I would put together a flyer that includes an offer for "Free Starbucks" or "Free Pizza" for their entire office (then set up a meeting with your target prospect). In fact, if you do decide to do the Starbuck's flyer you may even want to carry around a Starbucks cup (might be easier empty) with you!

9. Exhibit At Tradeshows.

Get familiar with all the local networking association and groups in your area. Many of these organizations have quarterly or annual tradeshows. If you decide to be an exhibitor then I have one suggestion for you! BE PROACTIVE! Don't wait for people to come to you! You need to bring your prospects to your table. How do you do this? I have five words for you, what are they? A positive attitude is contagious!

10. Form Your Own Networking Group!

Do you know what time it is? It's time to start your own networking group! You can keep your expenses down by having each member host a different networking event at their office location. I would try to keep your group to a manageable membership level of about 20 members. This way you can get to know everyone so that you can easily exchange business leads.

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling" and "115 Common Sales Objections, 156 Clever And Savvy Responses." According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11 winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of Success!)." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect's curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then sign-up for his weekly cold calling tips at http://www.mrcoldcall.com

5 Requirements For Being A Strong Telemarketing Manager

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

In graduate school, along with college teaching, I held down some part-time tele-sales jobs, enabling me to eat well, drive a sports car, and have a lot more fun than a lot of my academic peers.

One telemarketing place was owned by a couple of bodybuilders.

Looking at them, you just felt they were going to deter most misconduct that telemarketers would think of getting into.

I'm not saying all tele-managers should be able to bench press more than three hundred pounds.

But you do need to be tough, because tele-sales people, especially those you'll find in major urban areas, will test your mettle, time and again.

Specifically:

(1) Managers or supervisors need to "own" the space in which their people are selling, walking down aisles, standing next to desks, dispensing coaching tips here and there as much as is necessary. Weak managers won't spend enough face time in the selling environment. They'll be cowering in corner offices, every chance they get.

(2) Managers need to compel compliance with rules and regulations. Do you remember Arnold in the movie, "Kindergarten Cop"? He blew a whistle to get the attention of his distracted little ones. You need to do something similar.

(3) It's a pain to have to correct people when they stray from selling scripts, but no pain means no gain! EVERY SINGLE TIME PEOPLE STRAY THEY MUST BE GUIDED BACK TO THE PATH. This takes strength, commitment, fortitude, and yes, toughness to do, day in and day out.

(4) Managers need to fire people, fast. There is no such thing in a successful unit as giving people a month or two to prove themselves. A day or two is about right.

(5) Managers need to be vocal, outgoing leaders and motivators. Sales meetings need to take place frequently, and they should be upbeat, energetic exercises.

This job isn't for the laid-back individual who wants to "retire on active duty." It's only for the tough, believe me!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Cold Calling 101 How To Get More Sales Reps To Cold Call You

Writen by Tino Buntic

Busy business executives like yourself don't have time to pick up the phone book or yellow pages to find products and services that you need for your business. You want sales reps to call YOU! Being on the receiving end of cold calls makes your valuable time more productive. After all, picking up the phone book to find what you are looking for takes a few minutes; receiving a cold call only takes a few seconds. You are industrious; that is why you will do anything to become more productive.

Alas, there are tips, techniques, and strategies that you can implement to get more sales reps to cold call you. You must know what the mind set of the cold caller is and understand his motivation to be able to use that to your advantage.

Here are 5 strategies that you can implement immediately to watch your inbound cold calls soar through the roof:

1. Many times, cold callers are stopped dead in their tracks at the gates. The gatekeeper (receptionist or secretary) is usually programmed to filter out unsolicited phone calls so that they never get through to you, the decision maker. Tell your secretary to interrupt any meeting, lunch, or appointment that you are in the middle of to put those calls through to you. Your meetings are not as important as receiving a call from a salesperson that wants to sell you something like a new software program, a copier, a CRM system, a cutting edge way to advertise your business, etc.

2. Understand that cold calling consultants suggest that sales professionals are advised to make cold calls at off hours when there are no secretaries available to filter their calls. This would be before 9am or after 5 pm. This is the time when there are no nine to fivers and the only people working are the owners, principals, CEOs, executives, and decision makers. Sales reps love this time of day because their success rate of getting through to the right person increases dramatically. If you understand that there are significantly more calls during these hours, you must get to the office early and leave late to be able to field these calls.

3. Cold Calling is a numbers game. Sales consultants, like Stephan Schiffman, love to talk about the numbers. In Mr. Schiffman's experience, it takes fifteen no's until you get one yes. In other words, you need to make fifteen cold calls, on average, before you will make one appointment. That is, you will hear the word "no" fourteen time before you hear the word "yes." This is crucial to understand. Although, you would love to make an appointment with every sales rep that cold calls you, YOU MUST NOT! This will skew their numbers. You must only make an appointment with every 15th cold caller that wants to sell you something. Don't be discouraged that you must reject fourteen out of fifteen cold callers; they love rejection.

4. Understand that you are not the expert of your business. Sales reps know better what you and your business needs. When a sales rep visits you, they will try to sell you their goods and services. NEVER agree to buy immediately. First, throw out some objections. Sales reps are trained to counter your objections. Next ask questions. When you ask questions, this indicates to the sales rep that you are interested and it is their job to show you how their product or service is what you and your company need. After you propose five objections and questions the sales rep will proceed and undertake to "close" you. The sales rep comes equipped with an arsenal of closing techniques to finish the deal.

What you didn't realize is that during your sales meeting with the rep, he had been sizing you up the entire time to choose the best sales closing technique to use on you to increase the odds of closing the sale. He will, then, dig into his arsenal of closes and choose the one that's best for you. Sales reps are experts in psychology and they will choose the close that best fits your profile. When you hear the close, BUY. Buy immediately. When you hear the sales close, it means that the sales rep has decided that it is the right time for you to buy. The sales rep is a lot smarter than you are, so you must do whatever he suggests. After all, he knows your business and industry better than you.

If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to receive many more cold calls than you do now. Maybe even 20 per day (if you're lucky). Receiving cold calls is an art, not a science. Good luck!

Tino Buntic hates cold calling. Through TradePals, he provides sales leads without cold calling to business professionals.

Selling Customer Service Upgrades By Phone

Writen by Lance Winslow

There are many companies who are allowed to call citizens even though there are Telemarketing Laws against such calls. Have you ever wondered how they are able to do this? Well it is simple you see if a company has done business with you in the last 6 months or is currently doing business with you, then they are allowed to call you even at dinner time.

In fact they can also give your phone number to other companies who are vendor partners who may call you. Companies you may not even know.

These companies know that if you are already a customer that there is 10 times more likelihood that you will buy from them than a cold call non-customer. They also know that you pay your bills if you are recent or current customer. Further, upgrade phone calls are indeed an easy sales tactic that they use to make more money from you.

Often they will present themselves as if they are a customer service representative and ask if you are happy or have any questions and if you say yes then they work a sales routine into the conversation to sell you more stuff. If you say no they suggest another service they offer, which usually costs more to make you happy. You see, Selling Customer Service Upgrades by Phone is big business. So consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Bigger Voices Sell Better

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I was never really fond of my sales manager when he strode into the call center and bellowed: "It sounds dead in here. Raise your voices!"

Was he crazy?

Here I was, having another intimate chat with a prospect about Time-Life's Nature Library and suddenly, I sounded like I was calling from a zoo!

Later, after becoming the top seller and then a sales manager in my own right, I came to appreciate the validity of his rude advice:

Bigger voices sell better.

Period.

This may seem counterintuitive to you, as it did to me, long ago, but it's actually true.

Here are three reasons you want to raise the volume, whether you are a salesperson or a manager:

(1) Louder voices sound more confident than whispery ones, and confidence is contagious. Prospects must believe in what you're saying, and they defer to you more often when you sound big and extroverted.

(2) When you can hear other reps as they sell, it picks up your spirits, and you feel less alone and self-conscious. So, you enjoy yourself more, just as you do at a louder party.

(3) This works in a sales context in the same way that Dale Carnegie's advice works in public speaking: Act enthusiastic, and you'll be enthusiastic. In other words, your attitudes follow your behavior. If you can get yourself to sound confident and successful, you'll become so.

I know, you may be thinking, "I don't like that; I don't want to sell that way!"

I can relate. If your want to argue with success, go ahead.

Just do it LOUDLY!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Reduce Resistance And Inspire Curiosity By Becoming A Quotcold Calling Journalistquot

Writen by D.M. Arenzon

We've all heard the same brush-offs from our prospects at one time or another. And you know what? It really gets old after awhile and often it can get a bit frustrating, these include responses such as:

"Call me back in six months and we can talk."

"I'm too busy to speak with you right now, but you can try me back this time next year."

Your prospect's assistant says, "(Name of your prospect) said that you could call back in three months and he'll take your call then."

If you ask a few more qualifying questions and are unable to get any further with your prospect then you need to listen to this creative sales idea, are you ready? If nothing else works for you then smile on the phone and say, "(Name of your prospect), may I quote you in my ACT Database that I can call you back in (Length of time) ?" A majority of the time they will say yes and agree to your request. What do you do now?

When you do call them back in three months, six months or even one year later you mention to them the day and time that you had spoken. Further, mention to your prospect that you have a direct quote in your ACT database from them saying that you could call them back and that they would take your telephone call. If you cannot reach them directly, you can apply this idea when leaving them a voicemail message. Finally, if you happen to speak with your prospect's assistant make sure that you mention that you have a direct quote from their boss saying that they would take your telephone call. This should give them a good reason to transfer your call directly to your prospect (or at least their voicemail).

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling" and "115 Common Sales Objections, 156 Clever And Savvy Responses." According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11 winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of Success!)." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect's curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips at http://www.mrcoldcall.com

Scripting Advice Editing Is Always Easier Than Writing

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

You need to write a telemarketing or customer service script, and you always find it especially challenging, so what is the best way to do it?

If you're like most, you'll pull out a blank piece of paper or put a clean Word document on your computer screen. Then you'll freeze up.

You'll gaze into the vastness of that endless WHITE SPACE, wondering what you're going to fill it with.

That's a very inefficient way to go about crafting a winning presentation. Instead, try this:

(1) Write down the words, "Hello, Mr./Ms.___. Hi, this is ___with ___. How are you this morning/afternoon/evening? That's good.

(2) Or, have one of your colleagues talk out, and then write down what he or she thinks a presentation should sound like.

Either way, you will have BEGUN, which according to some famous source, is HALF DONE!

Starting is the most difficult part of ANY WRITING, whether it's a phone chat, email, or formal business letter. That's the stumper, what makes the whole process so vexing.

Remember this: It's always easier to EDIT something than to craft something from scratch. Even if you don't like my opening, or your pal's text, we have done you a great service.

We got you past that GREAT WHITE SPACE.

It's a lot easier from this point, forward, believe me!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Cold Calling The Movie Star Way

Writen by D.M. Arenzon

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

In my office, I have a fabulous collection of framed autograph pictures of movie stars like Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Farah Fawcett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Barrymore and even talk show host Jerry Springer (I'm a former employee of the show). Those who enter my office for the first time, both business contacts and friends, say, "WOW! How did you get those pictures!" You should see their eyes and how they light up like a light bulb. I'll tell you one thing; it's a great ice-breaker! Keep reading.

Then I thought to myself, "What a great idea!" Are you asking yourself, what is he talking about?" Then it hit me, why not contact sales prospects who have been either pictured or quoted in an online or offline medium.

A few more detailed examples include the following:

· People On The Move Sections

· Industry Leaders profiled on a website or in a newspaper or magazine

· Names mentioned in advertisements

· Awards found in press releases

· Management listed on company websites

Why contact these people? This approach helps to reduce and remove your prospect's level of resistance. It helps to make the dreaded task of cold calling actually FUN and something to look forward to each day! You will find that utilizing this approach helps to change your prospects attitude in a more favorable way. I mean people buy from people they like and people love to buy. Also, why wouldn't these people take your call? I mean, who doesn't like to being recognized? We all want our 15 minutes of fame right? This philosophy ties into Andy Warhol's most famous words, "In the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes!" So, I'm proposing that anyone in sales seriously consider using this technique. So let me guess, you are really excited now right? What now? How do you get started? Keep reading.

Great sources to find these leads include your local newspaper, a local or national magazine or even your local business journal! Be creative in your search, use www.google.com or www.yahoo.com to locate specific opportunities to find additional leads. You will never have any problem finding these types of leads and you will never run out of places to look. That's another reason why I love this approach, the opportunities are endless!

One of most strategic places to begin your search is to visit www.prnewswire.com. What exactly is this site and why use it? PR Newswire is a press release service that companies use to distribute their news to large media outlets. What's great about this site is that you can search over 50 industries, search by state, search over 40 subjects and even search by keyword. Since, breaking news may affect your industry, especially in the areas of prospecting for new business, you find important leads such as:

· Personnel Announcements (if there is a promotion, maybe they are expanding the department

· New Contracts

· Acquisition, mergers and takeovers

· New products and services

· Real Estate Transactions

· Awards

· Joint Ventures

All of these areas mentioned above are opportunities for you to contact these companies to see if they may need your products and/or services. It's an opportunity to be a creative thinker, it's an opportunity to use a creative approach to win a sales prospect, it's an opportunity to standout amongst a crowded room of sellers. Welcome to my world. The question that you may now be asking, "How do you open the call using my technique?" Keep reading.

Let's say for example you do a search, and you come across a press release on a new product that will be introduced on a national scale in the next few months. The prospect that you may be calling may already be working with your competition, however, you don't know that for sure right? In business, you are either proactive or reactive; my advice is it's better to be proactive. It's easy to say someone else has called on them, but I can guarantee you that you no one has approached them in this way! Thus, when you use my approach your prospect will remember you so that when you do call back they won't forget how creative you were in contacting them. This will give you a strategic advantage in case they are not happy with their current vendor.

When you contact this prospect try saying the following, "Yes, I'd like to speak to the movie star (use their name here)?" Your prospect will most likely laugh and say something like, "Movie star, ha-ha, that's me!" My name is ………and I work for (list your company here) and we specialize in …………..and I saw your name mentioned in a press release issued the other day. Your prospect will say something like, "Yeah, we issued that the other day." You then say, "I actually didn't think you would take my call?" They then respond, "Why is that?" You then say, "I thought you would be out signing autographs!" Your prospect will find this very funny and then you continue to go on (while they are laughing) with your sales pitch. Here you can state the reason for your call and that you have some creative ideas that you wanted to run past them that would help to compliment their existing marketing program (just one example).

This technique works great either on live call or just as effective on voicemail. In many instances, I have found that when you leave a voicemail message, they end up playing your message for their entire office. What a compliment! Keep in mind that your sales prospect gets tons of voicemails, why not be a little different right? Okay, so you want an example voicemail now? You can't wait right? Let's take the same example above and try saying the following on a voicemail, "Movie star (list their name), I didn't expect you to take my call, you're probably out signing autographs. This is ………calling from (list your company) and I saw your name mentioned in an article about your new product that will be introduced in the next few months. When you get back from your autograph sessions can you call me back at (list your phone number) I wanted to run a few ideas by you that your competition is not doing and that you could be doing to increase market share of this product. I'll be expecting your call today, thank you!"

I have never received a negative response using this technique. Every sales prospect loves it and they always tell me how creative I am. What they are really saying is that I want to do business with you! One more thing, have I said how much I LOVE USING THIS TECHNIQUE! Have I made it clear how much MY PROSPECTS LOVE TAKING MY CALL! Why? BECAUSE IT'S SO DIFFERENT! Being different is a necessary element that will separate you from others who contact the same prospects. If you are looking for a way to STAND-OUT in a crowded marketplace then I strongly encourage you to this innovative approach to cold calling and sales prospecting!

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

___________________________________________________

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call

Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling" and "114 Common Sales Objections, 153 Clever And Savvy Responses." According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11 winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of Success! )." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect's curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then sign-up for his weekly cold calling tips at http://www.mrcoldcall.com

10 Tips For Telephone Success

Writen by Jo Ann Kirby

The telephone is an often under-appreciated and much maligned piece of office equipment. Have you stopped to consider how much business you conduct over the telephone? These 10 tips will help you improve your telephone presence and presentations.

1. You are the "Manager of First Impressions" for your business. Whenever you pick up the telephone, put a smile on your face first. It will enhance your vocal quality and you will sound pleasant and relaxed.

2. Listen attentively to the person you are speaking with. Recall why your dog is such a good listener: listen actively and in the moment. Multi-tasking is the enemy of effective listening.

3. Let other people talk! Make sure your caller has completely finished speaking before responding. Remember: sometimes they aren't done talking; they are just coming up for air.

4. Use open-ended questions to get people to speak more freely. You should always talk less than the person you have called. It makes others feel more comfortable, particularly if you are asking them to make a decision. The more they talk, the easier it is for them to "buy into" what you are proposing.

5. To create affinity with your callers, speed up or slow down your speaking voice to better match theirs. They won't realize why they feel comfortable, they just will.

6. Use your words for best results. Keep in mind you can phrase anything positively, negatively or neutrally. Phrasing your words positively will help you get better results more easily.

7. Voice mail can be your friend. Avoid leaving voice mail messages but if you must, think of it as a 30 second commercial on a highly rated radio program. You have the opportunity to get your message into the "ears" of your most desired audience. Your message should reflect this.

8. Plan your telephone presentations in advance. Think out all the various scenarios you might be faced with and write it out. This is called pre-call planning.

9. Tape yourself for self-improvement. Listen to yourself carefully and decide what areas you want to improve.

10. Make an action plan. Focus on only one area at a time. When you feel comfortable, move to your next area and repeat.

We use the telephone as our primary form of personal communication. People who are good with this medium increase their opportunities for success.

Jo Ann Kirby is president of KRG Communications Group. She has 20 years experience in sales, telephone sales and sales management and an extensive background in training and development. Her background also includes extensive b2b telesales management experience. Jo Ann has been published in The Toastmaster, NAPPS Network and Commerce magazines. More can be found at http://www.krgcommunications.com

Why Dont Telemarketers Earn More

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I used to literally sit at my father's feet while he made business to business calls, to introduce himself, and to set appointments.

He was a spectacular telemarketer, before that word was invented.

His formal title varied, but one of them was, Account Executive. Wherever he worked, he rose to the top in sales, and his earnings reflected his achievements.

He used to enjoy the fact that his ministrations were largely invisible to his cohorts, and he made a point to make his calls from home, to keep them shrouded in mystery. His peers and managers saw sales results, but they seldom saw sales processes.

I think if he were alive today he'd agree that the most crucial part of his success came from telephone effectiveness. Without breaking the ice and being able to get through to top decision makers and setting appointments with them, there would have been significantly fewer sales.

Today, my dad might have had people making calls for him, and he would have rewarded them, handsomely.

They are doing the heavy lifting of the persuasive process, opening doors and making a smooth entry. Why shouldn't they earn top dollar?

There are some biases that hold down their wages, unfairly, I believe. Favoritism is shown toward field salespeople, who almost universally earn more in a company that has both inside and outside sellers.

But as most astute observers can attest, it is easier to transform an inside person into a field person, than doing the opposite. What does this say about their respective skills?

To me, it says you have to be more talented, more resourceful if you're on the phone. If so, why aren't you paid at least the same, if not more than the outside person?

Perhaps field selling is thought to be more arduous because it involves driving a car, occasionally in traffic? If you're inside, you don't have to brave the elements? You're closer to a coffee machine?

No matter how you slice it, it's very hard to generate a sensible and defensible reason that telemarketers are paid less money. If you have a viable explanation, please send it my way!

Until telemarketers are recognized and rewarded for their true and significant contributions, we'll continue to have difficulty staffing the phones with talented, motivated folks who stick around and see it as a solid career opportunity.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Telemarketing Lists

Writen by Damian Sofsian

Telemarketing plays an important role in today's marketing campaigns. The right strategy used in the campaign results in huge profits. For the attaining of right results, the company must target the right customers. Telemarketing lists are therefore prepared well in advance before the launching of a marketing campaign. Good telemarketing lists help to generate maximum results out of a marketing campaign.

Telemarketing lists are prepared based on criteria such as consumer location, income, age, ethnic background, children's age, hobbies, education, marital status, surnames, mortgages, and other such personal information. Many agencies specialize in preparing telemarketing lists. They have at their disposal huge databases of customers of various backgrounds and localities. Depending on the requirement, names are filtered out from those databases. Telemarketing lists are prepared by marketing experts after doing a lot of research and customer profiling. These customized telemarketing lists are then forwarded to the marketing agencies, which, in turn, target the right audience to get the maximum results.

Telemarketing lists are also prepared for business-to-business marketing. Lists pertaining to business establishments are prepared using criteria such as number of employees, location, number of years in business, type of business, credit rations, gross sales volume, trademark codes, population codes, employees per office, and number of employees belonging to individual job titles. These telemarketing lists help companies to identify potential partners for their future business initiatives.

Telemarketing lists are available from a number of agencies for a fee. Agencies preparing these lists have to constantly update them. They have to carefully exclude the names in the do-not-call lists during the updating process. Customers who do not want to be contacted over the phone enlist their numbers in the do-not-call lists. A marketing company calling any of the enlisted customers is liable to attract legal actions. Agencies preparing telemarketing lists must carefully include do-not-call consumers.

Telemarketing provides detailed information on Telemarketing, Telemarketing Software, Telemarketing Services, Telemarketing Lists and more. Telemarketing is affiliated with Telemarketing Lead Lists.

Beware Of Telemarketers Who Speak Too Softly

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

You can save yourself a lot of time, money, and disappointment if you don't hire people who speak softly, either when they call you about a telephone job, or when they interview.

Here are some reasons the soft-spoken should be avoided:

(1) Louder voices sell better over the phone. (See my article, dedicated to this topic.)

(2) It will be difficult to manage the person by walking around their workstation. You can't correct what you can't hear.

(3) By sounding soft, they'll send an inhibited message to their cohorts, who, in turn, will echo the soft tones, and your entire group will under-perform.

(4) They'll seem shy to you, and you'll feel you're going to break their hearts by giving them any negative, but corrective feedback. In a word, they'll intimidate YOU!

There are exceptions, and it's worth a little time to explore them.

We know, from the pioneering work on shyness done at Stanford University, that this debilitating malady can be situational, in nature. Some people are shy, face-to-face, when they're in the presence of only one or perhaps two others, as in an interview.

But the same people could be very accomplished actors or public speakers, and feel cozy as can be in front of huge audiences.

I've trained big, burly and outgoing field salespeople who love presenting before people in the flesh, and have a handshake like a vise, but who quiver and break into a cold sweat when asked to pick up a telephone and set an appointment with a stranger they can't see.

So, that timid, softly spoken person in the interview could be a TIGER over the phone. It happens, every now and then; we can be fooled, or pleasantly surprised.

But it's uncommon.

Generally, follow this principle: tiny voices make tiny sales, and big ones make big sales!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Do You See Opportunity When Your Competition Goes Under

Writen by D.M. Arenzon

Companies go out of business all the time; it's just part of everyday business life. There are probably as many reasons for companies that go out of business as there are companies, but for starters some of these reasons include the following:

A business owner jumped into an industry that they knew very little about.

A business owner expanded too quickly and could not meet payments to their creditors.

A business owner lacks the work ethic that is needed to sustain the growth of their business.

While it's an unfortunate situation when a company goes under, the opportunity for you to capitalize on your competitor's misfortunes could prove to be a steady source of additional income. The two most practical and low-cost ways that you can capitalize on your competitor's misfortunes are through their telephone number and their company website.

Often when a company goes out of business their phone number is disconnected and another business (usually one that is in a non-competing industry) inherits their number. Most major phone companies reuse telephone numbers and that is why a company may inherit a telephone in such a manner. Since this happens so frequently, why not look into transferring the company's old number to your existing business line? This may sound a bit uncomfortable to a select few, but what do you have to loose? Another business will ultimately get their number, why can't this be your business?

The second most practical and low-cost way to capitalize on your competitor's misfortunes is through their soon to be expired or already expired company website. Once a domain name becomes expired another individual or company may register that domain and transfer this domain to their existing website. The person or company that "takes over" this website will now reap the benefits of the original owner and they will do so in the form of incoming web traffic. What exactly do I mean? This newly registered domain is still listed in a variety of major search engines and as a result, anyone who clicks on this domain name (or types it into the address bar) will now be transferred to the new owner's website.

The process of acquiring expired domains, transferring them to your existing website and then complimenting these efforts with transferring an old business telephone number to your existing business will help you to create even more business opportunities! As a final thought to support the summation of these ideas and their ability to create business opportunities, I'd like to leave you with a famous motivational quote. Alexander Graham Bell once said, "When one door closes another opens; but we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that is opened for us."

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling" and "115 Common Sales Objections, 156 Clever And Savvy Responses." According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11 winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of Success!)." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect's curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips at www.mrcoldcall.com

The Wasted Unproductive Follow Up Call

Writen by Wendy Weiss

I received a telephone call yesterday. It was someone I'd met at a networking group months ago. She reintroduced herself, mentioned the group where we'd met and said she was calling to follow up. She did not say about what. I asked the question for her, "Why are you calling? What did we discuss?"

She told me that she makes customized covers for laptops. I thought that was nice, but I didn't need one and still didn't understand why she was calling me. She then told me she makes other types of customized covers too. I said, "Oh."

We had now been on the telephone for a couple of minutes. I still really didn't understand why she was calling me. She seemed to want me to lead—but she was the one who had made the call!

I try to be nice, I always talk to people who call me—it's my business. Other people are not always so nice or willing to give time to strangers who call for no apparent reason.

Finally my caller asked if I was developing products that might need covers. I'm currently developing a new product that will go in a binder. I told her about that. She said they also could do customized packages for products. She continued to point out that the work was customized and I could get "whatever I wanted." Now what I wanted was binders, I could get them in Staples or some internet discount site or from a vendor who specializes in these types of products, so telling me I could get "what I want" doesn't make a lot of sense.

I asked if she could give me an example. She had no samples to send and no brochure or catalogue with appropriate examples. She had a web site, which only showed laptop covers. The caller kept reiterating that her creations are "customized" and that I could get "whatever I wanted." She kept reiterating this as if it was important. It wasn't.

She was selling features, "It's customized," rather than benefits, "It will make your product unique and it will make it stand out. It will add value. It will help with your brand and image. You will sell more because of the way it is packaged." These are benefits. What a better outcome to the conversation if she had only mentioned one of them!

Think also what a better outcome if she had suggested, "Let's get together and talk about your product. We could do some brainstorming as to how it might look and what you want to accomplish with the packaging and I could make some recommendations." I would have gladly met with her. Who knows what might have followed that meeting?

At that point it was time for me to get off of the telephone. I had a coaching client calling in 5 minutes and I needed to get ready. As we ended the phone call she said, "I'm here if you need me." That's nice, but she had never given me a compelling reason to think that I might need her.

I was annoyed. She was probably very frustrated.

So what are the lessons learned?

1. Understand your sales cycle and the goal of your telephone call. This caller had no agenda beyond calling to "follow up." After that, she expected me to lead.

2. Focus on the benefits not the features! Imagine your prospect thinking to themself, "Why should I be interested? What will this do for me?" If you want your call to succeed, you must answer those questions.

3. Ask for what you want. (See #1.) Once you know the goal of your phone call, you must ask for what you want.

4. Keep asking for what you want.

© 2005 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, "The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success," is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, "Cold Calling College", and/or her book, "Cold Calling for Women", can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy's free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com

When Traditional Sales Calls Dont Work What To Do Instead

Writen by Kerri Salls

In classic sales training which has been entrenched for over 60 years, we learn that there are five simple steps to selling. If you followed the steps, you get the sale.

Open the Call   Investigate needs  Give benefits   Handle Objectives  Close the Sale 

But as small business owners have been vocal about, they need to grow their business, yet they aren't getting the sales using this approach. So what's happening? If you are selling a big ticket item, like a year-long support contract, an infrastructure installation, or a long-term training program for a corporate management team, your selling cycle doesn't fit the traditional model any more.

What am I supposed to do instead?

The selling cycle for larger/longer products/programs/services has four characteristics that make traditional selling techniques ineffective.

1. Length of Selling Cycle

The selling cycle may require many calls or connections over a period of months. Multiple sales calls have a completely different psychology from a simple product sale that you close on the first appointment or their first visit to your website.

2. Size of Customer Commitment

Large purchases involve bigger decisions. This alters the strategy of the sale. As the size of the sale increases, successful salespeople must build the perceived value of the service.

3. Relationships

Most large sales involve an ongoing relationship with the customer. This is where multiple offerings that represent different pricing levels, what some call your 'marketing funnel,' come in. Why? They must get to know, trust and respect you before they will invest greater time and money in your offer.

To the customer, the larger the decision, the harder it becomes to separate the seller and the product. So it is important to keep in mind, that as the sale grows larger, the customer puts more emphasis on the salesperson/service provider (you) as a factor in the decision to do business with you.

4. Risk/Return/Resistance

In small sales, customers can afford to take more risks and try something new on the spot, like your e-book or tele-class, for less than $50 on your Web site. The consequence of that risk is relatively low.

Each larger purchase represents a bigger decision and more significant risk. The perceived value of a $250 program package and the pain it will solve must be more explicit. It must be targeted and it must promise greater results. When you expand that to a $999 package or a retainer of $5,000 or $10,000, the customer becomes more cautious with each increase in the size of the decision you are asking them to make.

You Need Different Selling Skills For These Major Sales

There are four distinct stages of a sales call when dealing with the large sale. Neil Rackham developed this model in the book SPIN Selling: Preliminaries --> Investigating --> Demonstrating Capability --> Obtaining Commitment

Preliminaries

In large sales, preliminaries do NOT have the influence on success that they do in small sales. The more senior the people you sell your services to, the more they feel their time is at a premium. So your objective in the preliminaries is simply to get the customer's permission to move to the next stage of the call. That means your traditional questions and comments to build rapport around personal interests do not apply.

Investigating

Investigating involves asking lots of questions, collecting data, uncovering needs, and understanding the customer and their organization. In fact, for higher value selling, investigating is the most important of all selling skills and can increase the overall sales volume by more than 20%.

Success in larger sales, be it personnel placement, commercial development or technology installation, depends on how you handle this stage. Successful calls entail asking a lot more questions than we were trained to ask in traditional selling. Uncovering implicit and explicit needs is the sole objective of the Investigating stage of the call. This is where you build the relationship before the sale is made.

Demonstrating Capability

There is no surprise here – you must demonstrate to each prospect that you have something worthwhile to offer. You must prove that your solution will address each customer's unique problems. Selling a solution is not the same as rattling off a list of features and benefits. You must connect with their pain and offer a solution that makes you exceptionally qualified to meet their need.

Obtaining Commitment

Obtaining commitment is not the same as your classic closing script. Remember, the bigger the decision and the more sophisticated the buyer, the more negatively they generally react to pressure and closing techniques.

In larger sales, there may be a whole range of other commitments and other decision makers, you must obtain before you reach the order stage for your program or service. In seeking the next step, your call objective may be to get the customer's agreement to attend a seminar, or to identify the next decision maker. Larger sales always contain a number of intermediate steps – advancing the customer's commitment toward the final decision.

Next Steps to Get it Right

These steps are only theory until you put them into practice. Here are four rules for learning any new sales skills:
1. Practice Only One Behavior at a Time - Focus on one new thing at a time.
2. Try the New Behavior at Least Three Times – Don't knock it, until you try it.
3. Quantity before Quality - Use it often enough and the quality will look after itself.
4. Practice in Safe Situations – not on your biggest client

If you apply these distinctive strategies to approach major sales in your market, you will see more doors open and more clients moving deeper into your marketing funnel. The more they engage with you and the more you build the relationship, the easier and more successful will be the sale and delivery of your offering.

Writer, speaker, business coach Kerri Salls MBA, Breakthrough Business School founder/CEO inspires business leaders who are ready to initiate change. Her program of training, consulting and coaching helps CEOs and entrepreneurs develop business-building strategic solutions to create more profit in less time. She publishes Breakthrough Success a free weekly ezine delivering leadership tips, tools and ideas you can use now. You can reach Kerri at http://www.breakthrough-business-school.com