Cold Calling - Cold Calling Techniques That Really Work!

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AppId is over the quota

Call it cold-calling; call it telemarketing; call it sales; telesales; call it lead nurturing. At the end of the day one thing remains common: you want to connect with the person at the other end of the line and sell them something.

Now I'm in a unique position as a marketing professional. Not only do I have the pleasure of working with "inside sales" and developing programs, scripts, etc., I also have the pleasure of receiving many of these "cold calls". As such, I feel a kinship, heck even empathy, for those folks who are on the other end of the line/email when it seemingly appears out of the blue.

I have made it a personal rule over the years that if I don't recognize the incoming phone number, it goes to voice mail. If I do happen to pick up the phone, in a momentary lapse of judgement, you'd better be on the ball. I can promise you, no matter what time it is, I DON'T have a few minutes to spare right now. Offer to book a time and send me some information in advance.

If you REALLY want to talk to me then I need to see the value in it. How will you make my job easier, my day better or my campaigns more successful? Know who you're talking to, both from a business perspective and a persona perspective. Understand my challenges and offer a differentiating alternative.

On the other hand, I do tend to sympathize more than others, since I too am measured on the success of outbound marketing and lead conversion. This means that yes, I may fill out your survey, I might listen to your pitch, I will review (skim) the material you send me and I will probably visit your website.

So if you want to elicit a response from me, here are my top tips:

Do speak slowly and clearly. Spell your name and/or company name if you have to. And for goodness sakes don't whiz through your phone number!Do tell me why you're calling.Do send me a proper calendar invite when I agree to a call. Make sure your contact details are included should I need to reschedule.Do spell-check your email and any attachments you send me.Do have a compelling subject line for your email and make sure the 1st paragraph supports it.Do make sure you know my name and the name of my company.Don't leave a voice mail that says you want to discuss an "opportunity" without giving me some clue as to what it's about.Don't leave your whole pitch in a voice mail. If 10 seconds has passed and you're still droning on, I will hang up.Don't tell me you have done work with IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. Apparently everyone has. It doesn't differentiate you.

Finally, if it sounds like you're reading from a script, if there are lots us "umms" and "errs" then, you guessed it....CLICK.

But here's the good news. If you impress me with your approach and if I see a fit for your product/solution, chances are very high that I will give you an opportunity to quote for my business. And once you win me as a customer, and deliver on your promises, then not only will you have a repeat customer, but you will also have a loyal recommender to a vast network of colleagues and friends.

About Joanne Gore

Joanne Gore has nearly twenty years of enterprise marketing and communications experience, including corporate and small office environments. She is a talented and creative marketing professional, always positive and able to see the big picture. She possesses the organization/prioritization skills which allow her to manage multiple projects from inception to implementation, meeting deadline demands and budgetary constraints.

A true mentor, Joanne marries her passion for marketing with clear, creative feedback and inspiration. Joanne develops lead generation and conversion programs, re-brands product lines, implements social media strategies, manages PR and media relations campaigns, overhauls websites, develops highly targeted marketing campaigns, and delivers results.

Joanne is a marketing geekette by day, a fitness instructor by night, and a mom 24-7.

Email: joannegore@rogers.com
Blog: http://joannegore.wordpress.com/

Voice Mail As a TeleSales Tool

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AppId is over the quota

Does it seem like voice mail is the bane of your inside sales existence? As inside sales people, we want to be able to directly speak with our decision makers. When we get voice mail after voice mail, it can seem as though we are wasting our calling efforts. Voice mail, however, presents us with some unique opportunities.

For some telesales personnel, the opportunity to say something - anything - to a live person is all that counts. This can be an unwise and wasteful attitude. Used effectively, voice mail is a powerful addition to our telesales toolkit.

The subject of how to handle voice mail effectively is a particular favorite in my training classes. One of my favorite questions to ask a group of people about voice mail is "How many people have received unintelligible or incoherent voice mail messages?" Without hesitation, every hand in the room will shoot up. Here's the rub: it stands to reason that if we all get unintelligible voice mail messages, we are all leaving unintelligible voice messages.

Let's take a look at what make a voice message unintelligible. Many voice mail messages are spoken too quickly, leave no return telephone number and consist of a rambling message. Prepared for properly, there is no reason to be incoherent or inarticulate.

There are steps to take which can help ensure a greater return on your telesales time investment.

Slow down. Probably the biggest offender of poor messaging is speaking too fast. You want people to be able to comprehend your message - and in some cases write it out while listening - the first time they listen to it.

Make sure you leave your first and last name as well as your telephone number twice during the voice mail message. Give your name up front, leave your message, give your telephone number, repeat your telephone number. This allows people to get the pertinent information without having to listen to the message a second time.

To message or not to message. There are two schools of thought. One is just leave your name and number, the other is to leave a detailed message so the person will have enough information and/or reason to call you back. Both have their pluses and minuses. I felt that both techniques can be used, but you must be careful how you use them. Avoid leaving a voice mail message the first 2-3 times you call. Really, your goal is to speak with a live person. If you've tried at different times over a few days and can't reach someone, then it's time to leave a message. The pitfall of just leaving a name and number is when you are called back the decision maker will be turned off when realizing this is a sales call.

Be prepared to call back. Do not expect a call back from leaving a message. Instead, think about building a campaign of messages. Over time, you will have made a great sales case for yourself. Voice mail messaging should be thought of as a radio advertising campaign. You have 30 seconds with your target market to convincingly get your point across.

If you are given a choice by a receptionist, ask for voice mail. Remember messages aren't always passed on. Make your calls in a relatively quiet place. Whether you're actually reaching decision makers or leaving lots of messages, you want to be able to concentrate on your activities.

Create a message outline that includes your name, company name, an interest generating statement and call to action. Finish your message by leaving your telephone number, repeat your number again slowly and thank them for listening.

You should develop several interest gathering statements that you can use sequentially over a period of 3 to 4 calls. Each statement while being short, informative 1 or 2 sentences that give people a reason to call you back, should build on each other. Give people a chance to get to know you.

Remember these basic points: Always use your first and last names. It shows accountability and professionalism. Use area codes with your phone numbers - not everyone is using a phone with an incoming call display feature. Messages should be brief. Message should give reason to call back. Make message an opportunity for a 30 second commercial. Finally, before you even dial the phone: rehearse, rehearse.

Voice mail shouldn't be considered the bane of an inside sales person's job. Used properly, voice mail messaging can be an effective telesales tool.

Jo Ann Kirby is president of KRG Communications Group. She has 20 years experience in inside telephone sales/mgmt & customer service; and an extensive background in training & development. As a coach and motivator of sales people, Jo Ann works with a wide variety of sales positions in different industries. She excels at needs analysis and coaching. Find out more at http://www.krgcommunications.com/ Follow Jo Ann on twitter @kirbyjt

Improve Sales By Understanding The Difference Between Customers And Buyers

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AppId is over the quota

Customer and buyer are two terms used interchangeably but businessdictionary.com defines the terms as follows:

Customer - "A party that receives or consumes products (goods or services) and has the ability to choose between different products and suppliers."

Buyer - "Party which acquires, or agrees to acquire, ownership (in case of goods), or benefit or usage (in case of services), in exchange for money or other consideration under a contract of sale."

With the definitions above, it could be said that there is a very thin line that divides the two terms. Customers buy what they want and from whom they want while buyers buy what sellers want them to buy. Another point to emphasize is that customers are not necessarily your buyers.

Applying the first concept above, we could come up with a marketing approach that would maximize profit potentials. Instead of letting prospects buy what they want, make them buy products that you would want them to buy - those with higher profit margin. That way, you convert them from being customers to buyers.

One approach that could be taken is offering of additional products - products that would complement to the product that they bought. The idea is simply having them to spend more on your products. You could even throw out discounts just to entice them into buying more. It would create an impression that the more they buy, the more they save.

On your part, as a business owner, the more they buy, the higher is your profit. Another approach would be making the prospect interested on some other product instead of the product he is planning to buy. This would seem like marketing against your own product which would then result to higher profit.

This might sound difficult, especially to those who are new in the business world but there are options to get around with that. One is by having a marketing consultant and another option is to enlist the entire marketing task to a company that has specialization and experience over the matter. Yes, it would be an additional expense for your company, but it would all pay off in the long run. Return on investment could even be faster if you could enlist a company that would provide you with an above average service at a substantially lower cost.

Going on the second point mentioned above, we have to make it clear that customers are those that consume the products but it is not necessary that they are the one to personally buy it. This leads to two possible target markets - the customers and the buyers. In such scenario, it is necessary to identify who has the buying power. Buying power here does not only reflect financial capability but more importantly, influence over the decision to buy. There are instances wherein the buyer has the buying power. This usually happens if the customer does not have any specific preference over the product. In such scenario, marketing should be directed towards the buyers. Though, it may also be possible for the customer to have buying power. This is observable on products that don't actually have direct value on the buyer. Education, toys, and gifts are just few examples of products wherein marketing efforts should be targeted towards customers.

To sum it up, it is necessary to identify the profit margin of each product that you are offering and try to maximize your profit by pushing for those with higher profit margin. This would then be supplemented by properly directing your marketing efforts to the right target market.

Sheryse Currey
Data Rich Australia - Business Marketing
ABN: 72 884 886 102

Level 15 Corporate Centre One,
2 Corporate Court Bundall QLD 4217

TELEPHONE: +61-730538014
E-MAIL: sheryse@datarichaustralia.com
SKYPE: sherysecurrey

The Difference Between Telemarketing and Telesales

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AppId is over the quota

What's the difference between B2B telemarketing and telesales?

These two terms are often misunderstood and are always interchanged. But bear in mind that the intention and plan of B2B telemarketing is really different from telesales. The unfavorable impression related to telemarketing is oftentimes due to its misunderstanding with telesales. The latter, as a matter of fact, is a form of telemarketing.

B2B telemarketing is very dissimilar in the sense that its purpose is to generate interest, foster additional contact, so that in the process, it can establish strong connections and calls are usually made directly to the decision makers within the likely or the present client's organization. Telesales call is normally utilized in the world of business to sell a product or service-or basically, to close a sale. Telesales will not be successful if the sale is not materialized and accomplished during the call.

Depending on the preferred results of your B2B telemarketing campaign, outbound phone marketing callers can try to attract the call recipients into wanting to hear and know more about the products and/or services they offer to the public. Or, these telemarketers also try to schedule a follow up visit with a firm representative in order to talk about the needs of the prospects, as they relate to the business, but in more details.

B2B telemarketing agents typically call and communicate in order to collect data from their clients or prospective clients to perk up their own processes and systems. These kinds of calls are regarded to as telemarketing surveys. The outcome of these telemarketing surveys are influential when it comes to developing strategic decisions, company procedures and policies.

And if you are seriously taking into consideration using a B2B telemarketing company, then, why not? There are plenty of services given by B2B telemarketing service providers to facilitate you if your company is not doing very well in the market these days. They can aid you in identifying business opportunities, build favorable leads, raise revenues, and more.

Building favorable business-to-business leads is by far one of the greatest advantages of a B2B telemarketing service provider. They could assist you on how to identify your audience and how to efficiently target them so that you would accumulate more sales and probably long-term clients. When you make use of a B2B telemarketing agency, it can help you in identifying opportunities that you may have possibly overlooked before. The significance of being always on the lookout for each opportunity as you possibly can cannot be overemphasized. They could aid you in identifying every opportunity and to go after it properly.

The, B2B telemarketing firms can help you in filling your pipeline right away so that you could speed up your sales cycle. The end goal would have to be improving your business by way of maximizing profit. There are actually several reasons as to why you should consider getting the services of the business to business telemarketing service providers. They serve to help you when it comes to your issues concerning with sales, identifying opportunities and the problems which may cause your business to fail.

Jayden Chu helps companies in Singapore and in other Asia Pacific countries increase their business revenue through lead generation and appointment setting services. He is a professional consultant for telemarketing services. To find out how you can increase your business revenue, go to http://www.callbox.com.sg/

Software Lead Generation With Software Telemarketing

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AppId is over the quota

Increasing revenue is all about making more sales. For a software firm, revenue is important as it brings in the needed funds in order for them to continue operating, and of course, to continue improving the products and types of services they can provide to their clients. Making sales however, is not such a walk in the park and one cannot expect sales to just happen overnight, especially when there aren't any good leads that are available. And as a fact of life, having business leads is important in today's business world. Software leads are much even harder to come by, especially ones of good quality. And although there may be all sorts of lead generation firms out there, one cannot be guaranteed of the results they will be getting.

For a software firm that develops and specializes in the development of ERP software, it is very important to have good lead generation services at their disposal. After all, the software they develop could turn out to be a very hot item in the market and they could make a hefty sum of profit out of it, the only problem being that without knowing who would be viable customers it would be very difficult to make sales. ERP leads can be acquired from many lead generation companies that sell leads lists and databases but when it comes to the finished product, a software firm wants to receive high-quality software leads that have high chances bring about more sales. When it comes to software leads, it is quite better to emphasize on the quality of leads, not the quantity. Although quantity is also good as it means more leads can be used at your disposal but what would that mean if all of them didn't even result in a sale? It would mean a waste on your investment.

With software telemarketing, however, that problem may have a chance to be rectified. When it comes to the generation of software leads such as ERP leads, software telemarketing gets the results that many software firms want to see. When you work with telemarketers, you can really expect that your lead generation campaign will take a turn for the better. Professional telemarketers know all the right ways to get the information they need out of prospect companies and out of clients they reach. This gives your software lead generation campaign a big boost to not only the quantity of leads, but also on the quality of the software leads that are generated. So when it comes to a service such as software lead generation, try having a telemarketing firm do the service for you. You'll be surprised at the outcome of the campaign.

And with other services such as software appointment setting or handling your customer service needs, software telemarketing is a wonderful thing to avail of if you have the resources to spare. It truly is a great sales and marketing solution and if you find your software firm in need of more software leads, or even sales, then this may just be the fix you are looking for.

Claire Hansen works as a marketing communications program manager. She is inviting you to visit http://www.erpsoftwareleads.com/ to learn more about lead generation and appointment setting for the software industry.

Do you have fear of calling? Here's an easy fix!

Professional sales people are shocked at the beginning of their careers, find that they have a fear of sales calls. This fear is not rational for those who developed the social skills and other competencies. Fear of challenge is real, and now there is a simple and effective solution.

If you are in sales or a small company, sales calls are part of your professional life. Without the ability to pick up the phone and calls on a daily basis the chances of success are slim. Consistent sales of phones are the cornerstone of most Top producing sales people.

Fear of cold calling or call reluctance can be surprisingly direct. Emotional freedom techniques (EFT) is an energy therapy that appeared at the beginning of the 1990 's.

Think about EFT as emotional acupuncture. We have the Meridian energy system works throughout our bodies; as the cardiovascular system. When we follow the sequence of clicking on specific "acupoints" on our body, the old emotional issues that are holding us back, to dissolve. Old injuries and unproductive emotion like shame, guilt, fear of success, feeling unworthy of success can be identified and released.

If you think this sounds incredible, your skepticism fade away as soon as you personally experience the remarkable results.

I was skeptical at first and then use EFT for my free daily frustration and relax easily when I wanted to help. I continued to use EFT in a dozen other matters, all with fantastic results. I have used EFT to become a better professional.

Medical and therapeutic practices worldwide use EFT to help millions of people. You can be completely free from any anxiety associated with cause resistance. Anyone who has ever experienced a call reluctance knows how completely miserable he feels.

Emotions and injuries that we have accumulated since childhood will remain in our minds and bodies as we grow into adults. The old, outdated beliefs to block the free flow of energy through our bodies healthy and prevent desirable behavior today. Although injury or negative experiences over years if not decades ago, remaining negative energy embedded in the us until it is released.

Once the negative ideas, feelings, unproductive beliefs and false assumptions are cleared from our being, new behaviors, beliefs, and ideas can take hold and give us new life. The most obsolete conclusions that we carry with us are not true and has never been true. Hurt us, and corruption beliefs affect our behavior.

"If only I had graduated from College, I would be able to handle this sales job." "Once I lose 10 pounds, I'll be better." "I want to be rich, but I'm afraid I'm not worthy of success. Bullshit. You can be a successful sales person today!

Free yourself from guilt, shame and senseless thoughts combined who sabotaged your life. Enjoy calling prospects and make money.

Kimberly Schenk is a writer/Executive recruiter/trainer. Cold calling therapy is designed to eliminate any reluctance to challenge or any negative emotions affect the performance, forever.
http://www.coldcalltherapy.com/

Using Telemarketing Services to Generate New Businesses

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AppId is over the quota

The production and diversification of business operations correspond to a chief concern for almost all firms and enterprises. It is only natural that a lot of effort should be taken into consideration, and also time and money. Since setting up an in-house sales lead telemarketing team has proved to be quite costly, the rise of b2b (business to business) telemarketing to generate sales leads has become quite popular in the past years. Under this system, the favored and more cost-effective option for all companies and business enterprises is to outsource their telemarketing tasks. The end result would be more firms are capitalizing on all the benefits which can be obtained from partnering with a reputable telemarketing company.

Sales lead generation is among the most significant services which a telemarketing service provider can give. Other b2b telemarketing programs also involve telesales, email support, customer service and appointment setting. They can also be very advantageous to your organization. As a matter of fact, b2b telemarketing services represent the strongest and most cost-efficient strategy intended for direct sales. As already mentioned before, establishing a sales lead marketing team inside the company can be expensive and not time-effective. However, making use of phone marketing programs provided by a specific agency would improve your marketing campaign and expand your market reach, while at the same time, being very time and cost-effective. Not to mention that this useful and helpful tool enables business owners to supply the answers to all of their client's queries, while also rising above any likely unfavorable initial impressions as well as how to address the clients' concerns. Eventually, the telemarketing leads produce a continuous stream of possibilities for the development of business enterprises that make use of them, and of course, for the continued long-term success.

The most qualified sales lead generation could only be provided by the most professional and experienced sales lead telemarketing specialists. Intensive filtering of the target market of each firm and looking beyond the market trends of every particular niche is what makes sales lead generation qualified and makes sure that most leads would be closed out. But then again, sales lead generation is simply not just about giving a firm with a myriad of leads. It must be about sorting through these leads to the level of every company's precise needs and standards.

A professional sales lead generation would considerably add to the bottom line of your enterprise, but it takes a quality business to business telemarketing programs to guarantee that. Also, this process aids the sales staff within the organization very much, in that all the likely clients they approach will already be pre-qualified, which also means that the opportunities for the sales appointment converting into a real sale are higher.

With the advantages of telemarketing programs being covered, there is another facet to consider, and that is making the right choice in hiring a telemarketing firm. Moreover, the needs of the client should be the primary focus of the agents' continuous training. This is the kind of b2b telemarketing agency that business owners must be looking for, the kind that aims to ensure that every sales lead is just as good as a definite sale.

Belinda Summers is a professional telemarketer and appointment setter with extensive experience in generating qualified b2b sales leads for businesses through telemarketing. Learn more by visiting http://www.callboxinc.com/