logically begins with an appropriate introduction. Picking up where I left off from my June 18th blog post, the purpose of this posting is to compose Cue Card # 1, your Introduction. If this is your first visit to this blog, I suggest you read my June 18th entry so you will grasp the full value of this posting.
Let’s review some important ground rules. First, this scripting system is not intended for use as a cold calling tool. Heavens No! Always, always pre-mail (snail-mail, NOT e-mail) 3 tangible mailing pieces to this prospect BEFORE dialing to ‘qualify’ this person. The intent of your mailing is to set the stage for this qualifying call. An effective mailing campaign of 3 pieces, mailed in succession over a 15 day period to one prospect, so the addressee receives a personalized mailing on their desk every 5 days, is to whet their appetite. Never tell your whole story. But, only just enough to set them up for your timely and expected ‘qualifying’ phone call conducted within 5 days of their receipt of your mailing piece # 3.
No, your eyes didn’t deceive you when I said ‘your expected phone call’ in my last sentence. I expect some of you are saying, “this guy is nuts! I’m not going to mail 3 personalized mailings to one prospect over 15 days just to ‘qualify’ their need, authority or understanding of what I sell.” The whole point of my Power Prospecting Formula is to conduct your entire prospect qualification process by skillfully using personalized direct mail and the phone from the convenience of your office before getting into your gas guzzler so you only gain ethical access to thoroughly well-qualified decision-makers who have an urgent need, authority to buy and a concise understanding of what you sell. Before you discard my recommendations, consider this:
I have been a direct mail practioner (some, who paid me call me a ‘direct mail expert’ because my recommended results greatly exceeded their expectations) since 1978 when I opened the doors to Mr. Mailer, Inc., Central Florida’s first personalized direct mail processing center and list brokerage boutique. Over the course of 7 years and 1 month, we mailed 18,000,000 personalized mailings on behalf of 192 B2B corporate clients. While I sold Mr. Mailer, Inc. in 1983 to form my present sales prospecting consultancy, Leads-Plus, Inc., I have never left the mailing business. Frankly, I love the creative opportunities of personalized direct mail. It still works marvelously well to set the stage for timely, professional follow up ‘qualifying’ phone calls.
There is another more important reason for 3 pre-mailings. You are completely eliminating the coldness from your follow up ‘qualifying’ phone call. You are making a ‘warm call’ even though you haven’t ever spoken to this prospect. This will give you enormous self-confidence, so essential to project in your phone voice, when you call and speak with this decision-maker.
A well-orchestrated pre-mailing campaign that demonstrates tasteful originality but not at the expense of a relevant, benefit-driven message can make your reception during your initial ‘qualifying’ follow up call a memorable success - one you will want to repeat!
One last justification for a 3-piece pre-mailing. My most successful ever mailing was conducted in 2006 when I tested a new concept, which has since become my one-and-ONLY personalized direct mailing tool. The response from mailing 4 greeting cards to one prospect so that individual received a different personalized greeting card every 4 days; and then, a follow up ‘qualifying’ phone call from my telemarketer or me was 83%. That’s right, 332 of the 400 target prospects, who each received 4 distinctly unique greeting cards, over a 20 day period spoke either to me or my telemarketer. E-mail me at eurekaman43@hotmail.com if you want more info about the vendor who conducted the B2B mailing and the total mailing campaign cost.
Lets return to Scripting Cue Card # 1, your Introduction.
In my June 18th blog posting, you were asked to purchase a pack of white 5″ x 8″ index cards and a red and blue felt-tipped pen. You will only use one side of 8 of these cards to compose your entire qualifying script.
You will hand-print the single italicized line below at the very top of 1-side only of Cue Card # 1:
[1] “[Mr. Prospect], This is [Your Full Name] with [Company Name]“ [in red ink]
[in blue ink, hand-print this body copy]
“Recently, I mailed you 3 Greeting Cards about [Your BIG BENEfit Statement or a Testimonial where the delivered 'Quantified' value of your products or services was experienced by a very satisfied client]
“Suppose I could show you how to achieve [re-word your BIG Benefit Statement or your Testimonial Story so it fits into this scripted delivery] ? I’m sure you would agree Results, such as these would be worth 20 minutes of your time, wouldn’t it?” [pause and wait for a reply]
Prospect replies: YES-> Go to Cue Card [7] -> [ask your 5 key Qualifying Questions] -> Re-confirm your Appointment day, date, time and appointment address] -> End the Call and Decide whether to keep it or reschedule it.
Prospect replies: NO -> Go to Cue Cards [3], [4], [5], or [6] -> End the Call and Begin next Qualifying Call, [Cue Cards [3 - 6] are your 4 most frequently heard Objections, with your carefully-worded responses to each] If, after, voicing each of your 4 responses to these Objections, your prospect, still persists with a NO reply, then you are probably speaking to a non-prospect. End the call and cross this non-prospect off your calling list and proceed to your next call. Don’t personalize this rejection. Get over it! Be thankful you didn’t waste a valuable in-person sales call and the gas to discover this reality.
Prospect replies: Yes or No are Branching Statements which send you to either the Appointment-Setting Cue Card [7]; or to your 4 most frequently heard Objections, with your carefully-worded response to each.
Bold-faced words should be spoken louder to grab and keep the prospect’s attention.
Note, above, ‘5 key Qualifying Questions’. Their answers to your documented questions will tell you IF this prospect deserves your appointment time. Be selfish with your time! If you fail to obtain answers to these essential qualifying questions and you show up for the appointment, you are making a social call, NOT a sales call.
At $4.50 per gallon, none of us can continue to conduct social calls and remain in the sales game for very long. Asking your 5 Qualifying Questions, at this stage of your scripted sequence, works well because your prospect has already agreed to an appointment.
To learn how to get your ideal testimonial from a satisfied client which you can reword to use in Cue Card [1], please read my blog post titled, Best Ever Sales Prospecting Door-Opening Sales Tool.
If you would like to see the entire Scripted 8 Cue Card set with actual wording and the complete explanation and justification for use, CLICK on Purchase the E-Book Now in the right sidebar. My Power Prospecting eBook costs $40 and includes 4 FREE Bonus items. Plus, my NO NONSENSE Money-Back Guarantee gives you an entire year to try my program and then, if it doesn’t work for you; e-mail me your 5 completed Homework Assignments as proof, and I’ll refund your $40 credit card payment. Why does my guarantee require proof you have completed the 5 Homework Assignments? To discourage impulse buyers!
Remember, if you want more info about my personalized direct mailing vendor, just e-mail me at eurekaman43@hotmail.com and I’ll send you complete details. In my next blog posting, we will discuss how to effectively word Cue Card [2].
One other closing suggestion I mentioned in a prior entry is I have had great success acquiring new prospects at www.linkedin.com, an international professional online business networking community. You can sign on for FREE; learn how to apply it’s many user-friendly features; and build relationships among it’s 22 million members.
becoming a master communicator when using the telephone to access sales prospects. Never, never has mastering phone use skills been more important than right now. Today, at $4.50 per gallon, I’m going to make it easier for you to quickly and effectively make your point when using the phone to communicate with new sales prospects.
In December 1985, I conducted a seminar titled, “User-Friendly Telephone Use Skills” in Troy, MI. The audience was comprised of 83 retail computer store managers and members of their sales teams. Variations of the content of this seminar have since been repeated thousands of times to sales professionals and small business owner audiences throughout North America.
The 3 key concepts of this first seminar in 1985, and every one I have delivered since, are these:
It sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? You would think every selling professional would conduct some form of advanced preparation before dialing. Yet, fewer than 3% of the surveyed selling professionals, who have attended my seminars since 1983, admitted to completing 1 of these 3 key concepts. In round numbers, that’s 2,800 people out of 93, 500.
Is it because 97% of the selling professionals who responded to my pre-seminar survey form just didn’t care about their phone-use skills? No, I believe the answer is because the telephone is such a common everyday household and office appliance that people presume to know how to use it. They do: know how to operate it.
There is a very wide chasm between use VERSUS skilled-use. The telephone is one of our most universal intuitive appliances. When I stepped off the plane in Stockholm, Sweden in 1966, my first action was to call my parents in Miami to advise them of my safe arrival. No one had to explain to me how to operate one of the banks of telephones in the baggage claim area. It was second-nature, even though the operating instructions were in Swedish.
Call Purpose is basic. Is this your first contact? Follow up on a recent mailing? Follow up on a recent meeting? Very specifically, what outcome do you anticipate as a result of initiating this call?
Decide, in advance of dialing, your specific goal or expected call outcome. I’ll presume most of you who are reading this blog will use the phone to follow up on a timely snail mailing. In this case, I urge you to prepare a complete script of what you plan to say during this 8-10 minute call. Even though you probably know everything about your products and services, it’s wise to script every word, for 7 reasons, namely:
A scripted presentation gives you the confidence of being completely prepared and thus achieving your call purpose, which is thoroughly qualifying each prospect as to decision-making authority; an urgent need for what you sell; and, a concise understanding of your services.
Lets face it, when you are thoroughly prepared, you project more confidence in your voice which is crucial when using the phone to greet and meet a new prospect. You sound more professional because you are more professional.
Using the phone, in this manner, will dramatically eliminate wasted in-person, face-time appointments and thus reduce your number of trips to the one-armed bandit at your gas station. Imagine, conducting all of your prospect qualification calls from the convenience of your office! You will be equipped to qualify many more prospects since this method is exponentially more time-efficient than just showing up, unannounced, like a peddler.
Script every word of your telephone presentation. Go to an office supply store and purchase a pack of white, lined 5″ x 8″ index cards and a red and blue felt-tipped pen. You will only need 8 of these white index cards. Think of these 8 cards as your ‘Cue Cards’. Each has a specific purpose:
In succeeding blog posts, I’ll provide you script composing techniques that will turn you into a master telephone communicator. I will take each Cue Card, in succession, and explain how you can master this simple but proven effective 30 year old tool to achieve your call purpose - everytime you dial.
Practice your scripted presentation until it’s second nature. After composing each of your Cue Cards, I will introduce you to a script practicing methodology that will fine-tune your Cue Card use skills.
If you are in a hurry to learn this Cue Carding Process, the entire snail mailing and telephone follow up Formula is documented in my PowerProspecting eBook which is for sale. Click on Purchase eBook Now in the right margin. Click on View Sample Chapters. The Introduction and Chapter 3 are FREE for your viewing. If you purchase my $40 ebook, you have 1 year to keep it or get a refund. Enough said!
Next week, I’ll begin the Cue Carding Process with Scripting Cue Card # 1.