Question from a reader --
Sebastian,Sure. Start with Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Bible and Red Book of Selling.
Do you have a "go-to" book or other material that explains good strategy for cold calling and emailing potential clients?
I'm about to begin the process of breaking our business into a new market and want to be as effective as possible. I don't have a background in sales and want to avoid as many rookie mistakes as I can.
Thanks for your time,
C
However, I'd say this -- Why are you cold calling, anyways?
You didn't name your products or services, so maybe it's warranted. But much better is along the lines of doing at least "luke warm calling." Anyway, I have a few thoughts. With the below advice, I'm assuming you're selling some reasonably high-priced product or service.
Here's a few brief guidelines --
1. You (usually) can't sell high value products or services on a cold call, so if you do cold call, just sell the next meeting. If you need to cold call, thus, just sell the next meeting. Don't sell your services. Hell, you probably don't want to mention your services except in passing. The goal is to get the person on the phone, confirm it's them, inquire in passing if they'd be interested in a benefit of meeting you and that the meeting will be valuable by itself and short. Just sell the meeting to start. Don't sell your products or services.
2. Cold calling different people constantly is a bad strategy. Instead, make a target list of around 20 ideal buyers who meet your criteria, and follow up with them weekly until you get those meetings. Cold calling means you (typically) don't have credibility and trust, and spreading your efforts thin won't work. Do thorough research so you know your group very well, and then keep calling and following up repeatedly. Mix in email and perhaps physical mail along with calling. More touchpoints is better.
3. You can "lukewarm call" by buying a database and sending a single message to them letting them inquire on your services with a link to a Wufoo form. This can be done with direct mail or online. Actually sit down and read CAN-SPAM if you do it with an electronic newsletter and only buy a good database. The basic rule is that you need (1) an opt-out link, (2) tell them honestly where you got their info, and (3) your contact information. But check it up and confirm for yourself. If your services are mass market, then offering something outstanding (a free booklet, or even free trials / free services) can be a good way to get into warm calling.
4. Free services can be smart to offer if you're brand new. If you can reach someone who is legitimately a great future buyer and/or is well socially connected, offering free services to start might not be a bad idea. I did it with a past company I was with, where we offered around 40 hours of free services. In return, we got excellent testimonials (including video testimonials), referrals, precious market knowledge, and future buyers. One client who we did a project worth about $2500 for free for, then went on to purchase over $30,000 in services from us over the next year. A very good ROI. I also know people who do services near free or dirt cheap to start that have some sort of logical maintenance and follow-on path. You can pro-rate the cost of your services across the expected future business once you have numbers on it, and see if it's more or less lucrative than other forms of customer acquisition. (Many factors will affect this. You will need to have intelligent requirements and screen potential clients to ensure they're serious and a good fit if you're doing this.)
5. Referrals are worth their weight in gold. Before you start cold calling, solicit them. Tell everyone you know that you're in this kind of business and ask if there's anyone they know who would be interested. The "strength of weak ties" is particularly strong -- ask distant cousins, uncles, accountants, attorneys, and your business banker and/or the VP of your bank's branch (depending on what you're offering). If you're married or in a close relationship and have good ties with your partner's family, ask them to help with this. They'll be quite motivated to see you succeed, obviously.
6. The biggest "rookie mistake" is talking too much and failing to ask questions. You should be asking a lot of questions. You (generally) shouldn't be giving advice or running your mouth until you've thoroughly diagnosed your potential customer/client's situation. If you're asked what you're selling, the right answer is, "I'm not selling anything, I'm trying to see if there's a fit here... is it alright is I ask about XYZ-core-part-of-your-business to see if there is?" If you're asked about price straight out of the gate, the right answer is, "I dont know what product, service, or pricing would be appropriate until I know more about you/your-business/whatever. But if there's no fit, I won't push anything. Can I ask you a few questions to get to know more?" And so on. Talk less, even when asked questions. Talking before you've listened is usually fatal. Don't ramble and dont talk. No one cares about you and what you're selling. Have a list of questions that will help you understand and make recommendations, and ask those. Be prepared to go off your list of questions and don't interrupt much.
7. The next biggest rookie mistake is poor followup. It's a followup business. Speed wins. Don't go too slowly. Sometimes you'll be forced to go slowly because you don't have needed materials in place that should be deployed on the same day. Rectify that quickly and don't make that mistake again. Go fast and followup diligently. Have a system to track leads (I've used Pipeline Deals and I'm a fan of them) and then go through your system every week day and don't miss any followup.
8. Have a simple closing line with no gimmick, and rehearse and practice it repeatedly until you can say it in a dead-even tone without hesitation. I recommend something like: "I recommend XYZ for you. If you want XYZ, the price is $XXXX. 50% is due right now to get started. We accept all major credit cards." And then shut up. Stop talking. Don't ramble or justify. You might get a further question here and need to repeat yourself. If so, you can come back with something simple, "So, if you're ready to get started, would you like to use Visa, Mastercard, or AMEX?" Don't be clever or tricky. People are smart and hate sales nonsense. Just be matter-of-fact. But don't ramble and don't let the nervousness crack in your voice. That's why the repeated practice is so important.
Finally, you're going to make a ton of mistakes. Just own that; you will. You're going to lose sales you should have gotten, and I'll tell you -- it hurts. It's painful. It's viscerally painful, because you'll be able to see where one mistake you made cost you thousands of dollars.
But that's normal. You need to mentally allow yourself to make mistakes and lose money from those mistakes, because there's about a billion things you don't know yet that you're only going to discover through a trial by fire. The rewards, of course, are well worth it. Both in terms of monetary rewards and developing your character.
Godspeed, and let me know how it goes.