How to sell when they won’t pick up the phone
I made 15 new cold-calls today. Of the 15, only one picked up the phone.
It can get pretty discouraging. ”How am I suppose to sell to someone who won’t pick up my phone calls?” In a world where our target customers are blasted with advertisements, emails, phone calls, and direct mail, selling can become a real up hill battle.
I wish I could tell you secret techniques that will allow you to increase your sales by 200%! I wish I could tell you a universal solution for selling to top executives. Unfortunately, these things just don’t exist.
From my personal experience, I have found that consistency, organization, and a positive attitude are the key attributes that a successful businessman has.
What I found after trying the Tim Ferriss method of calling really early in the morning or really late at night
My target customer: Ecommerce Director or Online Marketing Manager of an Ecommerce store
My target customer is just not in the office at those times. Furthermore, I’ve found that about 15% of the companies that I call send you to a voicemail if you are calling during hours that the office is closed.
Keep in mind that I am still experimenting with this technique. Because I’m Pacific Time, I’m only able to call companies that are in the Pacific Time Zone during early hours. I save my after hour calls for the East Coast companies.
What usually happens when I call during business hours
I have found that on average, only 15% of the calls that I make during business hours get answered. Furthermore, I have found that my target market simply does not return voicemail.
For reference, this is the current voicemail script that I use:
Hi Name,
This is Jun Loayza from Viralogy and we have lead social campaigns for LG, Levi’s, and Victoria Secret. The reason I’m calling is to set up a call to show you how our platform can increase average order value and conversion rates for Company Name at no upfront cost.
You can reach me at anytime at 714-657-9332. Thank you very much and I look forward to speaking with you.
I’m constantly evolving the voicemail script and will let you know if I find an optimal script that actually gets returned phone calls.
Though they don’t return my calls, they still listen to my calls
Nearly no one has returned my voicemail; however, when I call someone who I’ve left a voicemail for and they actually pick up the phone, I have nearly a 65% rate in setting up a meeting. This is HUGELY IMPORTANT! This means that every voicemail that I leave and is not returned is NOT a failure. It means that every voicemail I leave is an opportunity for me to follow up with the potential customer and schedule a meeting.
This is why consistency, organization, and a positive attitude are so important.
The method of selling that has worked for me thus far
1. Consistency
Everyday I make 15 new calls. I need to make these 15 new calls because I constantly need to find new prospects for my business. Lets break down an example of why you must continuously keep prospecting:
Lets say your sales cycle is 3 months. If you start calling September 1st, this means you won’t close your first client until November 30th! If you have a net 30 payment, then this means you won’t see the first paycheck until January 1st! Yikes!!!
Therefore, if you make calls on September 1st but then stop making calls again until September 15th, then this means your next paycheck won’t come in until January 15th. The longer you wait to prospect, the more the paycheck will be delayed. Get the point?
2. Organization
This is the process that I use to sell that has proven successful so far:
- Every night before I go to sleep, I use Jigsaw to find 15 new prospective clients that I will call the next morning
- Every morning I call 15 new prospective clients
- I leave a voicemail if they don’t pick up
- I update the status of the client on Highrise
- I mark if I spoke to the client or if I left a voicemail
- I assign myself to email the Viralogy Deck to the client by the end of the day
- I assign myself to follow up with a phone call in 3 days
- I send the info deck before the end of the day
- I make a follow up call on my assigned day
All this is made possible because I keep myself extremely organized using Highrise and PB Works.
3. Positive Attitude
I made 15 new calls today, and of those 15, only 1 potential customer picked up the phone. But you know what, I don’t let today phase me because tomorrow is another opportunity to sell my product; furthermore, the voicemail I leave today can turn into sales in the future when I follow up with the potential customer.
You have to learn to love the rejection. You have to crave it because the more rejections you get, the closer you are to making a sale.
It’s all an attitude. I know people that get depressed because they made calls for two days straight and they weren’t able to successfully set up a meeting. If you get depressed after only two days of phone calls, then you need to get out of selling and find a better use for your time.
You know what I do? I purposely smile and walk around the office while I’m cold-calling prospective clients. Try it for yourself; I promise it will greatly improve your attitude and your sales will increase :)
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Like most things in life, there is no secret ingredient to selling. The only attributes you need are consistency, organization, and a positive attitude.
Thoughts?
- How many calls do you make a day?
- What tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
- How do you maintain a positive attitude?
Really great post. This key in all of this is keeping your sprits up as the wins definitely make up for the rejections, and I agree sales is not for everyone.
I also think your point on organisation is spot on, even just getting back to someone when at a time they specify can mean the difference between getting the sale or not. That why a CRM is vital for anyone that is in sales. Thanks for your post.
I can definitely relate to your experience; cold calling can be brutal. I agree that organization is key; without which, it would be nearly impossible to be effective and keep names, dates, conversations and commitments straight. As with the previous commenter I find a good CRM system to be vital, I have been using ZohoCRM. In addition I use the Mac spreadsheet program Numbers as an overview of my contacts and calling and make about 10-15 calls a day, but this is tough to keep consistent.
As for motivation - make hay when the sun shines. If I’m motivated first thing in the morning but didn’t schedule myself to make calls until the afternoon, I make the calls when motivation is at a high as I realize that for me, cold calling is one of the most difficult things to do. I do find it gets easier the longer you are around and people begin to recognize both you and your company name through your other efforts. One of my highest points is the first time someone recognized my company name when I made a cold call when previously I had to describe who we were and what we did!
Another way to maintain motivation is to cold call in pairs, one person calls while the other updates CRM; essentially you both will push one another forward.
Keep it up and push on through!
Jun,
I’ve definitely been in your shoes. Your approach appears to be very process driven, which can be a detriment to you - you start to act like a robot. Two thoughts on how to change that:
1.) Never COLD call. The message you left is ICE COLD. Spend ten minutes before every call researching the company and the person you’re calling. Then sculpt the message you leave to show that you know about the company you’re calling. Then you won’t sound like a salesman. In particular, if there was a recent article about the company in the press or an award they won, congratulate them. It shows that you care and boosts the ego of the person who you called. If you give them a chance to boast, most people will take it.
2.) You (like me) are a young entrepreneur - and this gives you a distinct advantage. When you call, don’t make it a sales call. Call to ask questions about how the person you’re contacting became so successful - this often works best if you go after the CEO or President. When I’ve taken this approach, I have well over a 50% response rate and of those, at least half meet me face-to-face. The additional benefit of this approach is you can continually call the same person under the guise of “looking for advice” without really pissing them off. You’re more likely to look eager and hungry, rather than an annoying salesman if you continue to call with a sales pitch.
Best of luck!
-Brian
Brian, good advice. My comments:
1. Taking ten minutes to research a company cuts into my calling time. If I’m calling 15 new companies a day, that’s 150 more minutes of just researching time. However, if the researching time turns into a new client, then it is definitely worth it.
Calling a Director or Manager to congratulate them about a recent news article sounds cheesy to me. I know I can say it in a non-cheesy way, but I’ve had people call me w/ that approach and in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Just get to the point.”
The way I call is tailored to get to that point as quickly as possible. When you call, you’re interrupting someone, which means they don’t want to have a conversation with you. My goal is to get to the point and help the person I’m calling get back to their day as soon as possible.
2. I’m calling Directors and Managers, not founders, which means these people do not have an entrepreneurial spirit and will most likely not care to tell me about how they got to their career. I can change it up and start calling the President or Founder for a chat, but that’s an indirect way of selling that could take even longer - not sure. I’ll go ahead and experiment.
Thanks!
I’ve always found that if you contact a higher up, and they tell one of their directors or managers to work with you, you’ve got a 95%+ chance of getting the business… But that’s just my experience.
Great advice then.
I’ll be testing it out and report back in a couple of weeks
I agree to this a certain extent. All leads are not created equal. If you have a really hot lead, it might be worth 10 minutes of research. But otherwise just get people on the phone and don’t waste your time.
I cold call Realtors and direct clients. If I am calling a realtor, I might take a minute to research. Why? There are a finite amount of Realtors in the area, so butchering a call or not being prepared can be costly. Maybe they like cats, and that comes up.
Everyone needs a mortgage though, so I am not going to waste my time on leads that are plenty or if I am not sure how hot (how likely the lead is to convert)- just pick up the phone. They are interested or not, and you pretending to like cats probably won’t effect the outcome much.
Fantastic post and fantastic comments.
I am currently cold calling accountants, travel agents, printing companies and the like. This post really helps.
I love the tenacity and real world experience. I read/hear about cold calling techniques all the time working for a consulting firm (I’m an IT Admin though) … poise and filling the pipeline is everything or so I hear…I’m inspired Jun. Great stuff, it’s going to happen.
To answer your question… I’ve made 50 calls a day before for weeks on end.
Develop a thick skin and keep on going until you hear a ‘No.” If you don’t hear a “no” the answer is “yes!”
This is great advice and I hope you do well because you are obviously very intelligent and strategic about the way you conduct your business. Good luck!
Gene
Western Dental
In my line of work I make a ton of cold calls. I probably picked up the phone over 20,000 times last year… and the one thing I found? That you are absolutely right! There is no magic answer or perfect script that will get you call backs. Consistency, organization and positive attitude are right on.
Here are a few guidelines that I have found that constantly ring true and seem to consistently produce higher conversion:
1) call 5 times before you leave a voice mail. Messages suck, they are less personal, and more like a blast advertisement. If you have a “hot lead”- make every effort to get in touch with this person live.
2) Call late and on weekends. Most professionals are busy with what they have to do all day. They are stressed, distracted, and generally not in the mood to be interrupted by an uninvited solicitation.
3) If you are calling a cell phone, always leave a message. Image you get a call from an unknown number, and you let it roll over to voicemail because you are busy or don’t know who is calling. And they don’t leave a message, but they call you 4 more times in the next week. What does that feel like? Creepy? Pestering? Unprofessional? Desperate? I don’t know but it’s not good. Leave a voicemail the first time.
4) Never leave more than 2 messages in a month. Period. At that point, they have your name and number. If they want to call back, they will.
5) Get real with people. Your script is very polished, professional, and crisp. You know what else it is? Cookie cutter. It probable sounds like the other 12 B2B solicitors that called and left messages that day. DELEEETE.
How about “Hi, this is Jun…”(long, almost awkward pause that builds suspense… this will get there attention because it’s not crisp, professional, and NORMAL. Then let them know how serious you are about wanting to get in touch. End the call with “if I don’t hear back from you I’ll call you Tuesday at 2″ and do it.
1 of 2 things will happen: a) they call you back because they are interested, or because they believe that you really will call them back and they want to avoid this. Either way you have them on the phone- mission accomplished. b) they are impressed that you actually called back when you said you would- it says all the right things: serious, organized, reliable. Make sure if you leave a message this time you reference that you called them back at 2, on Tuesday.
6) Make cold calls with other people on your team. It creates energy and makes an otherwise banal activity fun; maybe even competitive. Make a game out of it.
7) Read books, listen to others, take advice- but only do what you feel works. If you feel awkward saying it, then chances are it sounds awkward. I had a district manager who always wanted me to be peppy and high energy on the phones- but that’s just not me. I am serious, direct, and take a no bullshit approach. It doesn’t always work, but go with your style.
Hope this helps- I’m sure you guys will rock it, 65% pull through is stellar!
9) forgot a good one- leverage referrals. This is huge. If you have a super duper hot lead, use facebook, linkedin, whatever. Find someone who knows someone who can get you an in. Even if its just like “Hey, Jen in accounting said you are the one I should talk to”- this will double, even triple your chances.
You seem to know a lot about the subject,like you are writing a book in it or something.