An introductory call script you write yourself and are comfortable using will help give you confidence and the ability to control each call. But how to do it? What to say?
How QUALITY Appointments Develop
It is by working your prospect list with emails and real-time follow-up calls that your appointments will develop.
Today's business marketing by phone is about building trust...strengthening relationships...and educating your prospects on how you can help them.
Sure, it's a process.
But it pays you back with higher close rates and more repeat customers than one call telemarketing ever did.
You may have overlooked this appointment setting strategy completely.
Or have been hooked into trying it by call centers that are not suited for your particular industry niche.
But sales prospecting with the right personal touch is a practical way to get new customers and keep your existing customers from drifting away.
Other than your overall general impression with how your call is going there is something I have found effective for prospect qualifying.
Ask a question.
How your prospect answers will indicate if they are a qualified prospect...or a prospect you want to drop.
I find the good prospects not only answer the quesiton but keep on talking and tell me something about what they do and what they need.
Used as part of your introduction this simple question helps you spot good prospects from the not so good prospects.
George Clay First off, phone prospecting is a skill you can learn, develop and fine tune.
Genuine friendliness...business savy...good etiquette all very important.
But your introductory call script --- so key and so easy to overlook.
Why use a script?
Isn't that what annoying telemarketers do?
Stay with me on this.
What's different about my stragegy is getting you comfortable with what you say.
Make your script sound like you.
Not just another telemarketer.
Write it yourself and let it be yourself.
Keep It Short.
How brief?
Twenty to thirty seconds!
That's all you get.
Say exactly who you are: The prospect you are calling is at a disadvantage.
He or she does not know your
name or anything about you.Prospects will refuse to speak with you unless you immediately confront these issues.
State the exact reason you are calling. Make your cold call introduction specific and brief...twenty seconds or less.
Effective cold call marketing by phone is about information gathering.
That means asking specific questions that properly qualify ---or disqualify--- each prospect.
Picture a crowded room. Your goal: find the folks interested in your offer. How to do it? Ask for a show of hands. There, that's the goal of your cold call --- (1) finding the right prospects; (2) separating them from the crowd; then (3) qualifying their interest level.
R-e-l-a-x. Dialog and delivery in movies, TV, and plays flows from carefully crafted scripts.
Yet these staged conversations sound completely natural and -spontaneous.
Effective cold call prospecting is no different.
Subtle inflections and pauses make your presentation more natural and far more believable.
Prospect Qualify. Good prospects...weak prospects?
Find out who's who by asking specific questions.
For example, "Does this interest you?" Or "When would you like me to recontact you"?
Make prospect qualify questions part of every cold call script!
Test, Test, Test ----but control your variables carefully.
Be especially careful with key words or phrases.
You might think they don't matter, but they do!
My outreach services may be what you need.
First off, important you know that I do not farm out your work to a call center.
I'm the one making the calls.
I qualify prospects with introductory discovery calls. Old school outreach with hardly any selling.
Just finding out if there's an interest which in most cases there is none.
That's the grind of real-world prospect qualifying!
Weeding out the good ones from the mostly bad ones.
If you want to test my services here's how we get started. Select the prospects you want contacted.- New prospects from an outside list.
- Old customers who have drifted away
- Folks from your house list of existing prospects (BEST CHOICE!). Working your house list is a sales strategy winner . Select 25 names from your list. Yes, 25 names is plenty.
858-756-2085
Q: What goals are realistic for prospecting to get appointments?
A: Forget phone prospecting for appointments.
Effective lead generation and list building are about qualifying prospects for future contacts.
You are calling to get information -- NOT to book an appointment!
That means finding out if your prospect qualifies being added to the front end of your sales funnel.
Picture a crowded room.
Your goal: find the folks interested --- more or less --- in what you offer.
How to do it? Ask for a show of hands.
There, that's the goal of your cold call ---
- finding the right prospects
- separating them from the crowd
- qualifying their interest level
My goodness --- now you have three goals!
Also, view each call as a means for fine tuning your prospect database.
It's a work in progress that never ends!
Sooner or later every vendor screws up a project.
My real-time follow-up calls keep you informed on account activity so you’re ready to move when opportunity knocks.
Feedback: I give you full notes and clear records of each call at all stages.
You Monitor Account Activity:
Because these updates are ongoing you can track results and jump in whenever a prospect is ready for a face-to face or wants a demo scheduled or has questions best answered by you or your team.
Question: Does effective business outreach cold calling require a background in the industry or markets you are calling?
Answer: Surprisingly, industry specific knowledge about the business segments you are calling is NOT essential.
Your ability to bond with someone --- usually a complete stranger if you're cold calling --- will have more to do with your tone of voice than anything else.
See my post: How To Make A Successful Phone Introduction
But too many sales managers insist only salespeople with deep understanding of the markets they are selling can do business development cold calling.
It's myth based on lack of real-world testing and experience rather than tested cold call business experience.