How to Warm Up Your Prospecting Calls in Unconventional Ways
How to Warm Up Your Prospecting Calls in Unconventional Ways
There is no excuse for placing a "cold" call to a prospect. With the abundance of online information available about individuals and companies, and by asking questions of others within a prospect organization, you can gather useful intelligence that can help you "smarten" your calls. This means you can quickly relate to the prospect, his/her concerns and desires, and perhaps something that is a burning issue for them right now.
You also can warm up the prospect prior to the call. If you, a staff member or marketing person can send something in advancesomething that can possibly acquaint them with you, and perhaps create some interestthen by all means, do so! IF it is targeted and relevant, it can have a significant return on investment.
My friend and fellow sales trainer Bill Lee (www.BillLeeOnline.com) suggests a good idea: Put your prospect on your mailing list long before you make your first call. Of course, this requires some work and planning on your part; but again, if you are serious about this and make Smart Calling a systematic habit, then it will become a ritual for you. Bill suggests sending things that you feel the prospect might find useful ("useful" is the key term here; don't send purely self-promotional propaganda). Send things such as:
News clippings
Magazine articles
Copies of web pages with interesting info
Helpful hints pertaining to their business
Your company's newsletter (again, the more about them, the better)
And let me add to the list:
Books. Find general, current, popular business books. Include a brief note about how you thought the prospect might find this interesting, and that you will be contacting him or her soon to discuss some ideas. Sound too expensive? Of course, you wouldn't send these out by the thousands; but let's say a book is $15. I bet you'd have a better chance of getting in to a high-level prospect when you say to the executive assistant, "I'm the guy that sent the book." When this prospect becomes a client, you'll make that $15 many times over.
Audio CDs or video DVDs. Similar to a book; be sure it is something educational, topical, and of value that will pique their interest and curiosity.
Greeting cards. A very persistent sales pro sent me personalized greeting cards every month for 16 months (that right16!) while I continually evaded his phone calls. I finally agreed to take some time to listen to the automated system he was using for sending out the personalized cards. I was sorry I had waited so long to discuss it with him, and now endorse and use the program. I suggest you look at it as well; See complete details on the program at www.BusinessByPhone.com/soc.htm
The best time to send the items is after you have already asked some questions of others in the decision maker's department, what I term "social engineering." This allows you to tailor what you send to the prospect's interests, and then enlist his or her assistant in helping you get it to the buyer. And when you do call, you still want to follow all of the steps in the Smart Calling system. Do NOTI plead with you do not start out your call with, "I sent you a letter, did you get it?"
Emailing Before a Call
Emails before a Smart Call can warm them up, if structured well. I recently received an email that did catch my attention. It started out with,
"Art, thought you might be interested in hearing about how another sales trainer like you was able to get new customers and maintain them at a high lifetime value."
Then he went on to share a success story, mentioned some of my services and how they were similar, and shared some testimonials. He said he would call me. That message earned my time because it was personalized, not just in name, but in content. He did his homework. He also built credibility by using a testimonial with an example of someone like me. Very nice.
This can work also with a hard copy letter. Again, the key is using Smart information, and not trying to sell in the document.
Sending Unusual Items Prior to a Call
Donnie Deutsch, host of the CNBC show, The Big Idea, tells the story of when he was building his ad agency, and he wanted the account of a regional car dealer. To get to the person who was in charge of awarding the contract, he shipped an assortment of individual car parts every half-hour for a 12-hour period to the guy's house. Each part was accompanied with a different message, like, "We'll Give You Bright Ideas" (a headlight); "We'll Protect Your Rear End" (fender); "We'll Steer You in the Right Direction" (steering wheel). In total, Deutsch sent 24 of these packages. He got the account.
There is no doubt that sending unconventional items to buyers can get their attention. I put these things into the "gimmick" category. Just like a trick play in football, they make for a sexy story, and they are fun when they work; but you likely won't build a career on them. Here are just some of items I have seen and heard about.
Packages of coffee and a mug. "I'd like to have a cup of coffee with you to discuss some ideas about??
Shoes, or blow-up feet. "I'm trying to get my foot in the door."
Lumpy mail. Direct mail marketers know that a three-dimensional envelope gets opened before standard direct mail. You are limited only by your imagination. Oriental Trading Company sells all kinds of fun things. www.OrientalTrading.com.
A sales rep with Troy XCD Inc., Angie Medina said that in order to really differentiate herself, she sends a crumpled up catalog or brochure in an envelope and attaches a note saying, "Don't throw this away again!"
At a marketing seminar I once attended, one of the participants shared the method he has used to seize the attention of high level decision makers. I thought that I had heard most of the gimmick-related techniques of sending odd objects to decision makers; but this one beat them all. This sales person purchases cheap, $20 disposable cell phones (the kind you can get at WalMart). He then sends them to his highly-targeted top level decision makers along with a note that says, "I believe we can help you increase your profits. I will call you at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday the 16th. Please listen for my call." Then he calls the cell number! He claims that it is so unique, that it works almost every time.
Again, if you are having a difficult time getting through to a buyersomeone you feel you must have as a customerand have exhausted all of your other avenues, you have nothing to lose by trying an unconventional approach.
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