Let’s pick up where we left off in the previous blog post talking about how to have a successful prospecting and cold calling campaign for your business. Business tips 1-5 were in the previous blog post (a link is featured at the bottom of this post to refer back to the article).
6) Be prepared to make your cold calls successful by:
A) Make sure you have your targeted prospect list in front of you. To increase your focus and concentration level make one call after another without taking any breaks in between. Call for 45 straight minutes. Then take a break for a few minutes before going back at it again.
B) Be properly set up with your headset in a quiet, non-distracting office environment. Have as a goal a specific number of calls that you want to make daily. A good number to keep in mind is 20-30 dials per hour.
Keep in mind, however, that the goal of making the calls is to connect with the decision maker. On some days you may spend more time actually speaking with the decision maker which may reduce the number of calls actually completed for that day. Other days you may get a lot of voicemail or leaving messages with the gatekeeper.
C) Set up a contact management database (CRM). There are many good software programs to choose from. To make sure you don’t waste time or lose critical prospect information, develop a tracking system to keep yourself and your sales staff aware of weekly call accomplishments.
D) Understand how many dials it takes to get an appointment and ultimately, a sale. In the end, cold calling comes down to plain old math – so many calls result in a corresponding number of appointments and customers.
It’s a numbers game. But only if you are calling the right company and talking to the decision maker.
Although each company will have a different ratio and percentage with this equation, after enough experience you can identify how the equation works out for you. Is it one out of every 4 dials to get an appointment? Or is it one out of every 20? Or it may be some other number that you will determine by your own experience.
Also determine: How many appointments are needed before a sale is closed?
Over time you will see a clear pattern connecting the number of appointments and sales presentations with the number of closed deals or sales. Once you’ve identified this equation you will understand how many cold calls it takes to close a sale.
Knowing these cold calling statistics will help you to better utilize your time each day. Also what to expect from your sales calling efforts.
E) Be script-ready. Know what to say. Be able to really custom fit your script in order to develop a dialogue and a prospect’s interest quickly. Always update your script as you become more experienced because you only have seconds to get their attention.
7) As you make the calls, keep in mind what the goal is: to get good appointments that will turn into sales.
8) As a CEO, president or business owner, you must take the time to constantly monitor the progress of your lead generation team and the progress of how your sales force is handling those leads. Make sure you request daily prospecting and sales reports. Have your sales people report to you what they are doing every day and if they have reached their goals.
9) To really understand how the process works you need to become proficient yourself with cold calling. If you have done it, if you understand it, you then know what to expect from your employees.
So if you haven’t done so already, take the time today to launch your company’s cold calling and sales prospecting campaign.
– Decide on your potential targets.
– Take the time to map out your sales prospecting and cold calling strategy.
– Identify a specific timetable for calls and appointments.
– Finally, invest the time to educate yourself about the process.
Once you understand how it works you’ll know if the job is being performed properly.
You’ll be rewarded with sales as well as new customers you can nurture and develop to grow your business.
Here is the link to 9 Business Tips For A Successful Cold Calling Campaign, Part 1.
To your sales success!
Want to increase sales at your company? Talk with Howard! – 888-738-1855 – Howard Lewinter guides – focuses – advises CEOs, presidents and business owners to MORE success and MORE profit.