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The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

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The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

Calling out to small business?  It’s not dead.  Cold calling, Warm calling, Smart calling – whatever you want to call it.  It ain’t dead.

And if you do it right you can make an impression “above the clutter”, earn 20 seconds more or get that appointment or meaningful conversation going.

So let’s cut to the chase and all the quadrillions bytes of information out there (including everything I’ve written) about how to do it well and put only 3 of the best of the best out there for you today.

 

“45 seconds”.  …..“Did I catch you at a horrible time or do you have just 45 seconds?”   (Who really doesn’t- the phone was picked up (And do you realize how much you can actually say in 45 seconds?))   And what sales rep actually says “45 seconds?” (Nobody).    I skipped over the greeting but you get the point.   You can use “45 seconds” or “65 seconds” or heck “73 seconds” —the point is it is differentiatingly odd (attention getting), short (45 seconds is time tension goodness).  Try it.  It works.  Oh, and make sure your 45 seconds is killer and you may earn some more time.

Local Local Local :  Got a local company name you’ve done business with?  Got some local customer counts of those you are doing business with?   Use them right up front.  All business is local (if given a choice).  “Mr. Johnson, there 14 customers right there in Salem trust us already with their….”.   (Credibility, Popularity, Local).   It doesn’t matter if you are not local- just make sure some of your customers are. 

Insight, no strings attached.  Don’t always sell you, the company, the product, the appointment, the opportunity up front- sell Insight.  This real example works – “I can give you 3 tips in just 3 minutes to get more sales no strings attached, just by looking at your storefront…”  Prospect interested?  If yes, then that is because there is a reason, a need, a gap, a worry, an ego, a dream or all of the above and THAT is more than enough to qualify as lead worth pursuing.   You make the Insight make sense for your effort and lead with that.  Smart sells.

 

By the way, these 3 tips work just as well too when “warm” calling – cross selling into new product spaces to existing clients. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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The Luckiest Man In The World

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The Luckiest Man In The World

3 years ago today I married her.

No surprise to any of you readers out there that this 3 year old post is shared again today.  It is still one of the most viewed pages at the site. 

Nothing here is going to help you do your job today so sorry about that,  but I don’t expect to be publishing anything else on any given June 13th, in the many years to come.  

By the way, nothing’s changed in 3 years except I feel even luckier

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originally published June 11th, 2009

 

The Luckiest Man In The World

I admit I’m not an expert on marriage and have the track record to prove it.   But my guess is that you’ll be alright if;

You marry someone who feels it is more important to be there for others who have less or are in need, than to be there for everyone.

You marry someone who works hard, never misses a day, and defines her performance only by the happiness of her customers.

You marry someone who when she first met your child of 6 years old, knelt down, looked at him eye to eye, said hello and then gave him a big hug.

You marry someone who loves with all her heart, the movies from the 30’s and 40’s because they always have happy endings.

You marry someone who cries tears of joy almost daily just upon hearing that a total stranger had a baby or if she happens to she see two toddlers walking, holding hands.

You marry someone, a single mother who from her teenage years has raised a beautiful person in her daughter with the crazy belief that “I want to raise her not to be like me”.

Susan, your daughter is just like you and it is the greatest gift you have given her.  My son has known you nearly half of his life and I swear, he loves you as much as I do. 

Saturday, I get to marry you.

I think we are going to be more than alright.  It’s a trite statement but there is a reason someone came up with it.  Now, I know.

I am the luckiest man in the world. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

The Laminator

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The Laminator

This is the actual machine pictured in Kansas City.   

It has its own cubicle The Laminator does, right outside the Site Leader Dale’s office.    Really it does.  It is the only thing on this desk right near the front door.    And it deservedly has this space all to itself because of all the good work it does.   

The Laminator’s work was plastered everywhere in the KC facility I visited.  Laminated Certificates were hanging from the shelves, the monitors and the walls.  For some folks, they even hung from the ceiling. 

I sat with some employees for a bit that day.   A few had evidently received many certificates from The Laminator and I was kind of surprised by the care in which these were displayed and hung in their cubicle spaces.

I commented to one person I was talking with who had a dozen or so in his cube and said “Wow look at all of those…” and with what I admit was more pride than I expected,  he grinned and said “ Yeah, pretty cool eh?”

The other folks I sat with seemed similarly proud of them.   Dale’s center had a pretty good vibe and I couldn’t help but think this emphasis on recognition had something to do with it.

Flying back home that night it got me thinking about that darn laminator and how we need more of those around these parts.  But of course what I really walked away with is how important it is to recognize and be recognized. 

Sure some of us,  we tend brush the need off with comments mostly to ourselves like “Who cares” or “It’s no big deal” or “People know they are valuable”   but if we are honest – recognition is a big deal.     If we are honest, we do look twice at that email from the boss that says “good job” or “great point”.  If we are honest, we do look at the comment from the blog reader or the person that liked your status update.  If we are honest, we do smile a little inside when we get a little public recognition be it your name called out in a meeting or yes, on a certificate for all to see. 

The Laminator knows this.  The Laminator is as honest as they come.  A little heat, a little plastic and Voila! – it’s a shot in the arm for someone.   There are dozens of other ways to recognize people and I’m sure Dale and his team is using more than just The Laminator. 

But here’s a thought – if you have an empty desk and a need for a bit more acknowledgement of good people and good work, fill that space with a laminator.  It does a darn good job. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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I Hate You Ann Peterson

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I Hate You Ann Peterson

I don’t really.   Just in a few trying moments now and then.  

Anyway I wonder if what she said works elsewhere in life or at work.

Ann said something 5 minutes into our first running session that really hit me. 

“It’s not how far you run, its how much time you run”.  

Really?  Since when?  It’s all about distance when I was running back in the day (way way back in the day).  It was all about running 1 or 2 or 3 miles every time and if time got involved it was “can I run those 2 miles faster?”

But I did what we as a big group of us were told.  We had all joined the “Couch to 5K” running club a couple of weeks back.  Ann is the leader, the one with the whistle and the stopwatch.   And in that first session we ran for a few minutes each time, walked for 3 minutes, ran for 3 minutes.  Rinse and repeat.  Increase the time running each week she said.  Hard.  Brutal.  But I like it the concept.  Makes sense.   

Let the time you run each week grow, not necessarily caring about the overall distance.

While I can’t say I’ve enjoyed the running these last 2 weeks (I still cursed Ann out last night in fact while running in Stoll Park a thousand miles away on business here in KC)  The stopwatch can’t be right—these time intervals are the longest ever!  But I really like the premise of focusing on time. 

  • Maybe I don’t need to get through my whole to-do list today but rather spend one hour solely focused on that to-do list every day.
  • Maybe I don’t need to read those two books by next Friday, but rather focus an hour a day every day on just reading.  Period.
  • Maybe if I am a sales rep, I don’t have to focus on making 45 calls out before lunch today but rather focus on 3 hours of just making calls as quickly and wonderfully as I can.
  • Maybe it doesn’t matter what I do with the kids on Saturday but how long we just “do” something that matters.
  • Maybe if I quit counting stuff (am I the only one who does that?) and focus on counting the time I spend doing stuff I should, maybe the results would better.

Let’s hope I’m right ( and I think I am)  – I don’t need any more reasons to be taking it out on Ann.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Mother’s Day 1985

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Mother’s Day 1985

Warning: There’s nothing here today that will help you sell, train or market better.  So it’s fine if  you wander off and go do your thing.  I’ll not be offended – it’s rare detour here -come back soon.

It’s Mother’s Day Sunday and my brother just recently found a letter I had written to my mother that she had kept  for 26 years until she passed last June.

Seems it’s a letter I wrote to her for Mother’s day back when I was 20.

I have a vague memory of having written it and that it was important but I don’t remember thinking about it, writing it,  mailing it from college or even if I came home that weekend and gave it to her in person.  No idea.

I share it though because there is a message here.   The message though, has the gift of hindsight.  I didn’t know the letter would mean what presumably it did for her.   For all I remember,  I was probably so flat broke in college that all I could afford for a gift was to write her this letter.   I can assure you however, there’s no other Mother’s day gift or Hallmark card I ever gave her that she kept for all these years- we’ve looked.

But the message is this;   If you haven’t done so already, you 20 somethings ( or maybe even you 30 and 40 somethings)  should put on paper,  words for your mother like maybe you haven’t done before.   They may mean much more than you think it will.   For my mother it did.   And do it now before it doesn’t make sense to write her.

I’ve copied letter  below from the pictured yellow paper that it was written on.   Sure, it’s personal.   With the gift of looking back though, I’m happy I said these things.  Lucky probably.  But damn happy I wrote it.    You don’t have to be lucky; you can do this now.

Like I said,  I don’t remember writing this.   Heck, I don’t even remember now the “green sweater” I refer to.   But again, it’s not what I remember that matters; it’s what your Mom will.

Dear Ma,

Very often, kids take it upon themselves to either blame their parents for whatever goes wrong in their lives, or merely take them for granted.  I’ve never felt the need to feel the former, but while at school I have the tendency to commit the latter.  For that I apologize.  But today is a day for you to enjoy and for me to reflect on my mother.

All the thoughts that come to mind are pleasant ones:  You dressing me in my favorite spring green sweater when I was 5.  You, sharing in my enthusiasm the day I made the choir in the 6th grade.  Reading the letter that you sent me, and crying, in my senior year @ Xaverian in XLI.   Every single show I’ve ever been in, you don’t know how much it means to me to have you there. 

Anyways I don’t want to take you for granted, and in a large sense I don’t.  It’s more that a son of 20 is trying hard to do everything he wants to so fast that the people he’s closest to are the first to be forgotten.  My body is still moving, but my head is slowing down – Everyday, when I think of you, I smile and appreciate you more and more, not for what you’ve done for me, but for what you’ve done because of me. 

 

                                                            I love you!

                                                                           -Mark

 

If your reading this Mom ( and I bet you are),  you should know that nothing’s changed in how I feel all these so many years later.  No, nothing at all.

Happy Mother’s day.  We miss you.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

My Books For Dummies

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A box of Online Marketing for Dummies book showed in my office today.  Good little book. Going to hand them out to folks and some customers too. 

But it got me thinking.

I really need the books for dummies you see below.  (Something tells me I am not alone.)

Send me please!

Managing Email For Dummies:  I’ve been in “email jail” more than Lindsey Lohan lately.  (Email Jail is when you have wasted so much of your memory that you get locked up and can’t send messages).  Aside from that being kind of Lindsey Lohan’s problem too, I just can’t delete my emails.  What if I need them? And what’s wrong with 3,000 emails in my Inbox anyway?

How To Say “No” For Dummies:  It is just hard to say “No” – “No” to people, an opportunity or a need.   But if you say “Yes” to everything, nothing gets done well and it gets really customized and expensive and people are crazed putting out fires all day because not everything gets done well.  A vicious cycle.   But it’s hard to say “No” because people look at you funny and they don’t smile back. 

How To NOT Multi-Task For Dummies:   Of course we know the truth – True Multi tasking is a lie (and proven a lie by the way) as very, very, very few people can actually do it.  But how do you stop trying?  IM, the Twitter Feed, Email,  a Conference Call, a bird flying by the window etc.  Even in “flesh to flesh” meetings we all bring our gadgets and distract ourselves.  We meet but never “meet”.   I’m not the only one on a conference call who has ever said “Let me think about that” praying to all that is mighty that no one realizes I haven’t a clue what I was just asked about.

How To Go Green At Work For Dummies:   Not sure about this where you work but where I am, I’m afraid to throw something away.    There are  blue buckets and green buckets and tall brown buckets and huge grey buckets with like, locks on em’ everywhere.   There are buckets with holes, buckets with floppy tops and there are the unlabeled nondescript buckets just randomly lying askew in hallways staring at you, judging you as you walk by with nothing to give.  For coffee, should you use paper “tree killing” cups? Or the styrofoam “landfill forever” cups? Or do you use your own cup and waste the water to clean it?  It’s not easy being green, or is it?   

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Sudden Death

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Sudden Death

I don’t like going to the Doctor much but he’s a smart and funny guy, so it’s kind of bearable. 

Bantering with him last week (cuz’ the longer I can keep him talking, the less prodding he ends up doing – which is fine with me),  I joked about how I read that recent studies suggested a daily aspirin regimen could cause some nasty side effects like stomach issues.  (I don’t have a problem with the daily aspirin he recommended but like I said, the more I keep him talking….. )

Anyway, being funny but mostly smart,  he said, “Well then don’t take the aspirin Einstein, it’s no big deal to me. The side effect though could be Sudden Death for you – so have fun with that.” 

Hilarious.

But it hit me as a bit more poignant as I walked out of his office thinking about how we do some horn blowing at work about the perceived awful side effects of doing this or that, but sometimes we forget the side effects of making a change to something we know works could be a lot worse.   

You can give up walking over to talk to someone or using the phone:  Heck, a stroll down the hall wastes time because you don’t know if someone is there.  A phone call or Skype doesn’t get recorded so you don’t have a record of what you talked about like email does.  But truth is, face to face and/or voice to voice carries a gazillion other intangibles that are still valuable.  And the “Sudden Death” impact of giving that up?  Sudden Forgetfulness of YOU.   Do people only know you by your emails?  If so, you matter little to them no matter how many you write.   

You can give up making quality cold calls:  Cold Calling has awful side effects at times that can be painful, depressing and darn near ruin your day or week.  So you can hire someone else to do it for you or fire off a gazillion emails and skip it altogether, hoping the darn phone rings.  Or you can suffer the Sudden Death side effects of not cold calling and not make any sales at all.  Good luck feeding the kids with that.
You can give up saying fervently “Thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “I appreciate you” or “Mr.”  or “Ms.” to customers:    After all, everyone has no time, everyone is busy and heck, there are a lot more important things I should be saying to customers.  But no, your getting in the words “today’s special promotion is…” or the “the confirmation number is…” or the “best number to reach you if we get disconnected is…” doesn’t trump the power of the smaller phrases or titles.   The Sudden Death impact of losing those little ones is the erasing the difference between you and someone that can be replaced by a computer.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What Needs To Be Tougher

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What Needs To Be Tougher.

We are all competing on a global stage today.  No joke.  Our prospective and existing clients have global options for highly intelligent, well trained partners, providers and suppliers that are literally seconds and clicks away.

 But if I’m going to compete, I like to win.  If you read this blog regularly, you do too.

 Some things then, need to be tougher for us to keep winning.

Training:   Tougher should begin at home.  (Training is where I lead today).   Training needs to be tougher.  Think Training Idol. Think harsher judgments, tougher role plays, more tests and certifications.  We’re not talking Gladiator camp here but learning what you need to learn has to stick and stick better.

 Coaching:  Not in the way you think.  A lot of us coach (me included) and a lot of us “wing it”.  That’s not fair to folks who need us to help them and frankly, it is not effective.  If you coach, get smarter about it.  Get a structure.  And most importantly- plan in advance; give it some hard thought and do it more often.

 Representing The Brand:  You are an extension of your brand.  Period.   You must wear it well especially when you are in front of clients and prospects.   It’s not enough to just fix the problem, enter an order, answer a question, blather an awful answer about “what you do” at a party or pull together some information well for a prospect.   You must proactively extend the brand’s promise.  How you help clients, how you differentiate, how you bring amazing to the marketplace.  Brand Matters.   This isn’t easy to do.  You have to do it in ways that don’t raise tension or confuse or annoy but you must do it.  The stage is bigger now and we all need to stand out.

Tougher isn’t a bad thing. 

On the other side of tougher is a better chance of winning.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark.

On Dislodging

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On Dislodging

You best be getting better at dislodging the competition.  It’s going to get harder out there.

Oh sure it’s fun to sell products/services to small businesses who have never had a website, or any online meeting software, or water/ coffee services, or insurance, or you fill in the blank.

And it’s not just fun, it is darn easier too.  Everyone knows that.

Every salesperson ormarketer knows it is a heck of a lot easier to get that small business into some product or service they never had before than to dislodge the competitor and stealmarket share. 

I remember us sales people back in the day ( I was one of them),  nearly careening into each other as we screeched out of the parking lot upon hearing a new construction site was opening up.  Oh to be the first one there to sell the contractors on stuff!  So much easier than kicking out the competition.

But you can’t bank on being first anymore – it’s just harder.  More competition from not just your local region but from around the world.  More competition because that small business prospect is not waiting for your knock or your call but is on the web looking at you and your competition making decisions and placing orders while you are snuggled in your bed unawares.

And soon,  very soon – every small business new or old,  is going to have things like a website package, online meeting services,POSsoftware, promotional products, outsourced legal support,  business cards and more often right at the time of their business launch and just as likely right at the time you decide to give them a ring or a knock on their door.     Now you may be lucky and all that business belongs to you, but I’m guessing you’ve got a bigger quota to hit than relying on that pipe dream.

All is not lost – Here are 5 Keys to Dislodging:

  • Find The Trigger:  When you need to dislodge a competitor or another means in which the client is getting something done, search for that opening -be it a new sales leader or business partner that moves in, a new location that opens up or they just started putting a Twitter logo on their materials.  Whatever that trigger is – there is a chance that new blood, new ideas or new budget is involved and your chances of dislodging have just gotten better.
  • Make is Easy & Fast & Painless to Come to You.   Get it all done inside 24 hours; be it the product, the demo or the proof that gets in the clients hands.    If you can, offer to cancel the competitor service for the client (like Geico does).  Pain to change and pain to switch is as big an enemy of dislodging as anything else.  
  • Remove The Risk;  If there is no pain to “try you out” or “run side by side” or “guarantee you will be more satisfied”  then you have great shot.  Gutsy stuff for sure but what you do with that shot is what really matters.  And do the math, compare this CTA ( Cost to Acquire) versus CTA for new business and you’re often surprised it’s cheaper. 
  • Say it/ Script it:  “I want you to come to us”, or “We can do better than what you are doing today” are great phrases.   I know one group of sales people today who are having success dislodging by saying right up front to customers –  ” This year we are committed to an aggressive approach towards competitive packages based on an annual volume.”  
  • Be Incomparable or Comparable ( not anywhere in between) :  Sometimes the worst thing you can be is “kind of like the other guy “.  Nothing bores like a perceived commodity.   Be, and accentuate the difference(s) hard or go straight up head to head ( like Flo’s Progressive insurance company ads do.)  If you are decidedly different in one area – that is your lead story.  If you are similar across the board to the competition; share that, be an advocate for getting the right solution for the client and beat the competition more often than not on price,  service or quality.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

If You Knew, You’d Act Differently

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Let’s start this post with Jeopardy like feel except that the answer to the following 6 questions is the same:

 What is, “You bet I would!”

 

  • If you knew small business prospects are 3 times more likely to act when you give dollar discounts versus percentage (%) discounts, would you handle your offers or pitches differently?
  • If you knew most small business prospects had already looked at your website before they called you inquiring about pricing, would you handle the call differently?
  • If you knew most small business prospects initially dislike being interrupted over the phone by sales reps, would you handle your call opening differently?
  • If you knew most small businesses think you are more credible if you give specific details (like “we are launching a 3 part welcome program to all new customers..”) vs. sharing a customer testimonial, then would you speak or market differently? 
  • If you knew that 3 out 4 small business prospects in Manufacturing, Construction and Healthcare have their interest piqued when you share information specific to their industry ( vs. say just 1 out of 4 Retail prospects care about information specific to their industry), would you plan your contacts, visits and marketing with these types of verticals differently?
  • If you knew that most small businesses don’t yet realize social media is the new and most sacred  “Word of Mouth”, would you talk about, advise, encourage and role model social media differently?

The above are true and just a smattering of real data about real small businesses I culled from the research done by firms like the Enterprise Council on Small Business (ECSB) and other reputable research orgs. 

Now you know.   Go forward differently.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark