| |
| |
|
Sales Information |
|
|
|
The Email Blow-Off
This week's article is my response to a question by Lisa Boudreau of ePresence. "I cold call into Fortune 1000 companies, often times the admin will tell me to send the CIO, or whoever I'm calling, an email about who we are and what we do. I tend to think of emails as a last ditch effort, but others think they are a good follow up to a live conversation. I'd be interested in what you think! - Lisa Boudreau, Sales Rep, ePresence Inc. Thanks for writing in Lisa. The title I gave this article pretty much sums up what I think. When making cold calls, administrative assistants are instructed to get rid of salespeople as nicely as possible. One of the easiest ways to blow off a sales rep is to ask you to send some information, literature, or an email. Many sales reps then think "I got one!" They believe that they have a prospect, and they put it onto their follow-up list, and they call and call again until they get through, give up, or are told to get lost. The reality is you were just told that your sales pitch didn't work. Your email, or brochure or whatever, goes into a huge pile of other solicitations, that may never get reviewed. It's useful to think of cold-calling as advertising, only one at a time. In advertising, you are "interrupting" people with your message. By delivering it to hundreds, thousands, or millions at the same time, you can persuade a certain percentage of the people who view the ad. The people who are persuaded are those who fit the target profile that the advertiser is looking for. Cold-calling is just like shoving a billboard in one person's face, or running a commercial for one prospect, and then asking them if they want the product. How well you do at this depends on two things. First the quality of the target list of prospects you are calling on is very important (this is akin to which freeway you post your billboard on, or which TV show you run your commercial on). When you have the right target list, the next element under your control is the effectiveness of your message at getting the prospect's attention. The reason why I use the advertising analogy is that when cold-calling we are an interruption, until we have the prospect's attention and the permission to probe further and ask questions. When we fail at this, prospect's nicely ask us to "send info please". To improve the effectiveness of your message, I advise you to focus on using prominent customer references with benefits centered around revenue increases, cost reductions, or efficiency gains in your cold-calling approach. Combine this with effective prospect targeting and some persuasive questioning techniques and you will get through to more decision-makers. © 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved. Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Sales - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Secrets to Buying Without Being Sold Have you ever asked yourself, now how did I let that guy sell me on something that I had no real need for at the time? Do you ever get a sneaking suspicion that your probably not going to really use whatever it is that your buying in the way that it was presented? If this is true which is often the case, then why in the heck do we give up our hard earned money for something that until we heard some sales spiel, we really had no need or want to have.Please allow me to expose what marketers do to us on a regular basis in an effort to develop those perceived wants, needs and desires in us which drive us to buy what is being offered. Five Things More Important to Buyers than WHAT Youre Selling - I Article I of a two-part series.No matter what customers say they want, what they're really looking for is "something special. Youve Got a Great Business, but Nobody Cares! I would like to share a disturbing little secret with you. Almost 70% of the people you do face-to-face business, with will never speak to you again!It's not that they didn't like you or get value from your services, but they just don't care. Flea Marketing Lessons A few days ago, I was signing copies of my book - Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness - at the flea market. Nobody expects an author to sign books at a flea market. The Damaging Admission - A Persuasive Technique We would all like to think that our product or service is flawless. More importantly, we would like for others to believe that as well. 60 Ways to Increase Your Mail Order Catalog Sales This article is meant to inform. Please don't construe this as legal advice. Smooth Sailing (Selling) In The Second Half of The Year You can make a difference in the second half! You can't do it by doing the same things the same way.You can make a difference in the second half every year! You can do it by thinking differently and being different. Dr. Seuss's 3-Step Selling Process Hello Everyone: Here's a unique look at learning how tosell: "I am Sam. Sam I am. A Simple Truth - Authentic Sales Tip A Simple TruthDo you have the right stuff?Are you consistent in your business?Do you build relationships easily?Are you approachable?I'm writing this E-letter aboard American Airlines flight # 2005 from Atlanta to Miami, and then on to my final destination Tampa International Airport.For the last three days I've been attending the National Speakers Association annual convention. Five Deadly Sales Letter Mistakes To be effective your sales letter must be opened, read, believed and acted upon. In order to do this it must attract attention, warm the interest of the reader, create a desire for your product or service and cause your prospect to take positive action. Impotent Questions - How Much Are They Costing You? Last issue we talked about what motivates people to buy something. A person or a business is motivated to buy when they perceive that a change needs to occur to fix or avoid a problem, or to enable a greater vision for their future. Why Arent They Buying? You've polished your sales page over and over againuntil it's gleaming with benefits. You're gettingplenty of traffic. How To Improve Your Voice VOICEThe Image the customer has of the Salesperson is vital. In telesales the image is created through voice alone. Improve Your Sales Closing Ratio Occasionally EGOPOWER readers send me questions or topic suggestions that I feel would be of interest to you. In this issue I give some tips to improve your sales closing ratio in response to a question Rob Smith wrote me from the UK: "I sell IT equipment to schools in the UK over the phone. How to Sell Your Products Without Competition Selling your products at shows can be difficult when you have a lot of competition. Although some show organizers are careful to have a good mix of vendors, it's not uncommon for other shows to have 20% or more of the booths filled with vendors in the same niche - which is a buyer's market and a seller's disappointing show. Business Lessons Learned At The Mall Normally in this column I dispense highly-intelligent small business advice in response to thought-provoking questions submitted by future and fellow entrepreneurs. This week, however, I have a couple of questions for myself, one of which makes me wonder how truly intelligent I really am. How To Seal The Deal In Seven Seconds Can you close a sale in just seven seconds? If you make a great first impression, you can do it even faster. Seven seconds is the average length of time you have to make a first impression. Why Are Customers So Indecisive? Do you know why your customer won't buy? You've given her the best price, possibly even the best options. Yet she fidgets. Increasing Short and Long Term Profits "I was at your site for all of two minutes before I bought one of your manuals. I'm impressed!" I love to get emails like this one sent by Vicki from Tucson, Arizona. 6 Ways To Get More From Your Promotions 1. Settle On The Right Way ForwardThe purpose of your promotions is to get more sales, not to soley enhance the image of you or your company.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
