When IT happened before we didn’t have the Internet. We were lock-stepped into drastically reducing our in person sales prospecting activities due to our reliance on our vehicles. This time, we have a more efficient and widely distributed option thanks to the growth of online business networking communities plus the software at our fingertips to mine and manage their data.
I’m no spring chicken and learning new technologies has required self-discipline and hours of self-study. My bookcase is full of the “Dummy” book series. I’ve invested the time, money and effort to learn how to author eBooks so I don’t have to conduct far away seminars, anymore; auction stuff on eBay; leverage software and some new biz tools to maximize my time away from my gas guzzler. If you read my “Let The Arabs Drink Their Oil” blog post, you know where the line is drawn in my sandbox.
My point is simply this………..now, is the time to become more skilled using today’s and even yesterday’s business tools to change the way we meet new prospects. Last year, after reading The Virtual Handshake authored by David Teten and Scott Allen (2005, AMACOM Books), I signed onto several popular online business networking communities. After kicking the tires at each of them, one became my tool of choice recently to exponentially expand my online business contacts network.
Check it out if you haven’t already done so at www.linkedin.com. The feature which convinced me to upgrade from a free membership to a monthly subscription fee and to get serious leveraging this very powerful business network is the one that permits me to Accept or Decline an Invitation to link to one of their 12 million members.
There are still too many getters who have no intention of sharing relevant, timely referrals. I choose to avoid these people. Having the convenience of quickly scanning another member’s Profile and credentials before accepting an invitation to link places me in control of who I add to my Connections.
The LinkedIn Dashboard works well with my Microsoft Outlook so I can stay on top of my new linking invitations. Another huge time-saver that will really turbo charge your email management activities is at www.xobni.com. Cute, xobni is ‘in box’ spelled backwards. At the About Xobni page it states:
“Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that saves you time finding email conversations, contacts and attachments. After a quick install, you’ll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly information will become much easier to find. When a new email arrives, the sender’s full communication history appears in the Xobni sidebar, including past conversations, attachments and contact details. Xobni also includes a blazing fast email search tool.”
It’s a free download since this is a beta version so, there may be some bugs to patiently tolerate. That’s OK, the embedded search feature which enables me to Global Search keywords in past, stored e-mail messages is a dream come true. I agree with Bill Gates’ comments about this software tool!
Next week, we will get back to mastering tactical phone-use skills to make sure we book more business by conducting face-time sales calls, not social calls. After all, none of us can make a living making social calls at today’s pump prices!
One of the most memorable and inspiring book treasures in my home office library is Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl. It chronicles, Dr. Frankl’s WW2 imprisonment and his near-death experiences at the hands of Hitler’s henchmen in several infamous Holocaust Death Camps. While there are many lessons to be learned from this extraordinary little book, one that repeatedly rises to the surface of my conscious thinking is that we all ultimately can choose to personalize and accept criticism or reject it and remain self-assured and confident. It is always our choice.
As someone who specializes in sales prospecting skill-building, I have plenty of opportunities to make this choice. In the old days, calling strangers often lead to frequent rejection. ”They didn’t have time to talk with me, now” or they responded with a gruff, knee-jerk comment such as “I’m not interested!”.
Notice, I said, In the old days. Instead of tolerating frequent rejection I chose to find a better way. As a Rule, I won’t and don’t cold call potential prospects. After 19 years of trial and error testing of different direct mailing plarforms, I discovered a better and simpler way to consistently and painlessly gain ethical access to decision-makers. My ‘qualifying’ calls are always preceded with several snail-mailings which are a series of 4 personalized greeting cards. Cards work best because:
Sounds expensive, doesn’t it? Once upon a time, but not now with gas at $4.25 per gallon!
Here is the BIG PAYOFF. When I follow up with a phone call, 70-83% of the time, card recipients are looking forward to speaking with me. I didn’t pull 83% out of thin air to impress you. In 2006, it was the actual percentile of card recipients who spoke with my appointment-setter or me, when we called, following their receipt of greeting card # 4!
Since then, we have conducted several mailings for high-tech clients who are consistently gaining timely, ethical phone follow up access an average of 70% of the time when a 4 greeting card series precedes their prospect ‘qualification’ phone calls.
My mailings and those conducted on behalf of B2B clients have a distinct purpose which to ALWAYS set the stage for a timely phone call. Painless Sales Prospecting is a reality, now! It can work for you too if you precede your initial contact calls with a timely, carefully targetted series of 4 greeting card direct mailings. Because pre-mailed prospects are expecting your calls, you are eliminating the stress and often anticipated rejection factor that historically accompanies calling strangers for the first time. The ‘right’ mailing campaign is the key variable that prepares you for a positive expected outcome when you conduct your timely, expected followup qualifying phone calls.
Chapter 4 of my Power Prospecting eBook and 1 of the 4 FREE Bonus items you receive when you purchase my $40.00 eBook is the 4 greeting card mailing series with the cards and matching copy which achieved the remarkable 83% response in August 2006.
That’s it, for now. Have a traffic-free and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll see you back here next week. As always, I relish Comments from B2B Selling Professionals, so let the discussion begin.
Here’s how I use my ACT Contact Management Software to make fewer monthly trips to the One-Armed Bandit at my local gas station. My Central Florida sales territory is divided into 4 quadrants. Each week, I conduct highly targetted personalized mailings into one of the 4 quadrants so when I conduct my timely follow up qualifying phone calls to each mailed addressee, my ‘qualified’ decision-maker face-time appointments are clustered by quadrant, thus reducing drive-time and cross town trips across my widely dispersed, traffic-challenged sales territory.
It’s a simple matter of just labeling one of the 14 ACT User Fields as a ‘Quad’ code field and editing the Drop Down Values numerically with: 1, 2, 3 or 4. Main highways and traffic arteries are the territory dividing lines and, of course, work seamlessly with mapping and even the newest GPS software.
While there are plenty of more sophisticated contact management software programs than ACT, I prefer the flexibility and the powerfully simple user-friendly features which enable me to tailor it to my specific territory management needs. It’s priced right; updated frequently; and compatible with several other time-saving sales tools I use to cut the cost of managing my sales territory.
The built-in User Guides and Feature Tours suit my impatient learning style and the online Knowledgebase Help Files accessed at SUPPORT at www.act.com match each version so non-techies, like me, can focus on what matters most: the daily business of managing our sales territories much more efficiently.
This is a FREE endorsement of a software product I have used since Patrick Sullivan introduced version 1.1 of ACT Lite over 20 years ago. I’m not shilling for Sage Software. I pay for it each time I purchase an updated version. While several contact management software vendors during the past 35 years offered me free packages, in exchange for rave reviews, I politely declined. I continue to use this product for the reasons stated in this blog post. I’m not ‘Goody Two Shoes’ but I still own my soul.
So, what works for you? Please enlighten me with Comments about your sales territory management tips.
were some casual comments made by a client to me during a long distance phone conversation in January 1986. It was one month to the day after I had conducted a sales prospecting training seminar for 83 retail computer center store managers for Inacomp Computer Centers headquartered in Troy, MI.
The client who made these casual comments was then VP of Support Services. I say then, because 11 months later he left Inacomp to launch his own consulting practice. His comments would forever change the way I approached prospective new clients about hiring me to conduct sales prospecting training seminars.
FACT: His words, spoken 22 years ago, have been responsible for generating over $3,000,000 in seminar and consulting revenue for my company since 1986. Here is what he said:
“Gordie, one of my retail store managers credits your training seminar with 11 desktop computer systems sales for over $52,000 in sales revenues.”
Then, he fleshed out the rest of the story about the client and their needs plus how this ’star pupil’ adapted techniques learned at my half-day training seminar to win this sales opportunity.
At the time, I didn’t remember much more than: “one of my retail store managers credits your training seminar with 11 desktop computer systems sales for over $52,000 in sales revenues.”
I was in shock! First, that a seminar attendee would actually give me credit for such a memorable sale. Second, this ’star pupil’ made it happen less than 4 weeks after attending my December 1985 seminar.
I do remember what I did next. I demonstrated the presence of mind to take action and preserve these comments and this moment for future posterity. I said something to this effect:
“Buzz, may I word process these comments into a testimonial letter and fax the letter to Helen (his secretary) so she can photocopy the letter onto one of your corporate letterheads?”
“Then, would you sign the original testimonial letter and have Helen mail it to me?”
He agreed. It took me 40 minutes to get the ultimate credibility tool - a third-party testimonial on a client’s corporate letterhead that quantified the value of my services.
Quantified is the key word. Also, the dollar amount is numerical with $52,000.
Which of these 2 statements has a more memorable impact?
“One of my retail store managers credits your training seminar with a substantial increase in sales revenues.”
or
“One of my retail store managers credits your training seminar with 11 desktop computer systems sales for over $52,000 in sales revenues.”
Of course, the second statement because it is specific and it established the dollar value of my services.
This letter was photocopied and faxed, with attached Post-It-Notes, to potential clients many times since 1986. Most often, the Post-It Note comments were:
“Mr. Prospect, as this letter attests, I did it for ICC. Maybe, I can do the same for your sales team. Let’s discuss the possibilities when I call you on [day], [date] and [time]. Until then, Gordie Allen, Leads-Plus, Inc. (800.548.4571) Since 1983, Training Sales Professionals to Gain Ethical Access to Decision-Makers.
It didn’t hurt that ICC (Inacomp Computer Centers) was recognized as THE fastest growing IBM PC Division’s computer reseller in 1987; or, that Rick Inatone, CEO, of ICC went on to become INC Magazine’s 1989, Entrepreneur of the Year.
I lost no sleep hanging onto the coattails of this successful client who became THE rising star in their very competitive industry. So successful, that 4 years later ICC was gobbled up by another industry giant and ceased to exist as ICC. It was a wonderful memory for many college-age ICC employees who saw their stock options turn into huge retirement bonuses. For me, it was proof and substantiation my sales prospecting training services worked magic in the hands of savvy B2B sales professionals. I took every opportunity to skillfully use this letter to ethically open decision-maker doors. I’m elated to report it worked every time.
Like the Energizer Bunny, every B2B client who hired me and raved about my tactical sales prospecting training agreed to and gave me a nearly identical hardcopy letter. In cellular sales, extrusion plastics, business forms, advertising specialty and promotional item sales…………………in 55 total B2B industries.
Third-party testimonials are still the single most powerful sales prospecting door-opening tool for getting a decision-maker’s rapt attention. They are so easy to get plus you can use them to ice the competition. If you would like to learn the complete process for free, CLICK on Purchase the E-Book Now in the right side bar. CLICK on View Sample Chapters. CLICK on <next>> at the top of the PowerProspecting eBook screen and Go to Chapter 3. Also, you can read the complete original ICC testimonial letter.
That’s it for this blog post. As always, I’d like to read your Comments. Whether you agree or disagree, they will be published except if they include profanity.