Calling the Next Door Neighbour

Calling the Next Door Neighbour

This is something that I have always found to be very useful and it more often than not missed. When we win a new client one thing we should always be vigilant about and I seen it many times where Sales Professionals are not, - thus is their ‘location’ as they may be based in a prime business area or business park with many companies around them.

Now, as we are now doing business with company based at Office A, we can now contact Office B, C, D and so on... We can find all the information online all we need to do is simply, key the postcode into Google or even royal mail address checking facility. It then kicks out all the local business and we have an instant reason to call them.

The big reason here is we all like to know what the ‘Jones’ are up to and what is new in their business even if we don’t like to admit this. So when we call the Offices around our ‘new client’ we can make reference to the business pain we solved with our customer and how we can do the same for them. This is very powerful as you have immediately created some common ground and ‘hooked’ the potential client’s interest and he is now listening to you and what you have to say.

More reasons this is again very useful is many businesses talk – they might even know each other but as they are based next to one another they are aware! Your new customer may even be able to make this even easier for you as you could use him as a soft reference point! Should the client wish to be contacted (permission from the client is essential here as a new client might feel uncomfortable about giving you a reference so early on and especially if he has not been prepped beforehand this could become very uncomfortable for the future).

This technique done effectively is a great way to win new business and can create a warmer approach to prospecting.

Going forward, if you need any additional information on the technique detailed above, please contact me on:

nobusinesslikenewbusiness@gmail.com

LinkedIn and relationships don’t miss out!

LinkedIn and relationships don’t miss out!

Last week I was a delegate at a fantastic LinkedIn session and we covered some great points that I felt were really useful and helped me to understand that there are many ways to increase traffic to your LinkedIn page (your professional personal website if you will) along with how to be proactive in generating relationships and connections.

This word ‘relationships’ is the keyword, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking site and has well over 200million members worldwide, with 12.2million in the UK alone. So the potential to reach so many professionals is better than ever before.

One of things we discussed in our session was to make the most of the love between Google and LinkedIn – meaning that your name, header and profile summary needs to contain as many keywords which you want to be associated with as possible. So when someone searches in Google, your LinkedIn site has the SEO capabilities to get you up there and found. Oh, another thing, please remember the picture – Your profile picture must not be of you on a nightclub dance floor with one eye open...Its best to keep it presentable and professional. LinkedIn likes this...

The 2 areas I found most useful was the tagging of contacts into a new 'tag name' so you can send them messages and material specific for them 'in one hit', whether it be industry, title, company, locations or whatever. We simply create a tag and then select members to go into this ‘tag name’ and with a few clicks there on after can be mailed with ease. What a Brilliant and efficient way of getting in touch with specific, targeted connections. Secondly, groups, now using groups to their full potential is important as we join groups relevant to our business and interests – Then, when we are members of our chosen groups we can message ALL other members without being connected, Amazingly, you all share a similar interests after all you’re in the same group! Dont forget, nothing stops you to comment on a current discussion or create a discussion of our own…Its massive to help gain credibility and a reputation within our network. Furthermore, a personal favorite is a ‘poll’ we can create a poll on any topic (best relevant to the group of course) to gain results and to do our own research and development for any project, campaign or whatever you wish to use the results for.

Potential is HUGE guys!

*Don’t forget we don’t sell on LinkedIn – We create business relationships where they can recommend our products and services and if so, benefit from our offerings themselves! 

If you have any questions on any of the topics I have mentioned please, contact me!

Who makes the 5th call?

Who makes the 5th call?

I always say its all about giving that little bit more, such as getting to grips with Telemarketing that can make all the difference to your career, lifestyle, income and self-satisfaction.

I come across this quote a while back which demonstrates that a little bit more makes a difference;

‘At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train’ 

The hard truth is that most professional sales people are only one skill away from increasing their earning potential by over 200% and this skill is often Cold Calling and not only making a single call but to be strict and have self-discipline…I and many others love it! Reason being is I love it as so many don’t.

Bob Etherington provides a reality check for many sales people on what I would call the ’tacky numbers game’ he explains that;

95% of sales people make the first cold call,

50% of sales people make the second cold call,

25% of sales people make the third cold call,

15% of sales people make the fourth cold call,

10% of sales people make the fifth cold call,

Leaving just 5% of sales people make the sixth cold call and they take 85% of the available new business in any market.

 The statistic’s above show that the more effort we put into to pursuing an opportunity the more chance we have of being in the top percentage of the best Sales Professionals.

In my team we often discuss the parts of the day and hammer around for new business over the phone; this by many professionals in our industry is done in the hours of 10am-12noon and 2pm-4pm.

During these times we can be faced with challenges and granted a good chance of reaching the decision maker who will be in his meetings and doing the job they are employed to do.

Sometimes I often suggest we do something different which other people are not doing and we can from the hours of 8.30am-11am, 12.30pm-2pm and for you hard working winners 4pm-5.30pm.

The main reasons these times are good is we can often bypass the difficult gatekeeper who works 9am till 5pm and has lunch 12noon – 1pm won’t be at the other end of the phone…cover will be on and also at these times we have known to get straight through to the decision makers and can pitch our offering immediately.