The Unlimited Calling Plan!

Happy Friday!

 

I remember my first cell phone.  The company I worked for in sales upgraded us from beepers (yikes!) to phones.  Back then, a cell phone wasn't a novelty or a toy...it was a tool.

 

Just a few years later, my two boys and my wife had cell phones.  I got a family plan that allowed 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts.  With an admonishment to watch minutes (except evenings and weekends!) I handed them out. That should be enough...right?

 

Wrong!

 

I got a bill and my youngest son, Christian, had actually sent over 5,000 texts!  The bill was $700!  The kids were standing next to each other and instead of talking...they were texting!

 

Lesson learned...both of us.

 

After my blood pressure came down and his butt cooled off, I called the cell phone carrier.  They said they just started The Unlimited Calling Plan...minutes and texts with no limits.

 

That's what you need to be a true phone warrior. The Unlimited Calling Plan.

 

Something you can do successfully and repeatedly with no limits.  The challenge I see for sales people is stamina and ability to stay focused.  They make a few calls, get up and move around, get coffee and then sit down to make a few more calls.  It takes 4 hours to get through 100 calls.

 

That approach to telemarketing is aimless and creates call reluctance...and is not effective.

 

Telemarketing is purely a Law of Large Numbers game and is scientific in nature.  If you make 100 dials, then there is a science behind how many people you will contact and how many you will close.  You have to have a plan and a routine that allow you to stick with it long enough to see success.  Let's begin to review what it takes to be consistently good on the phones; 

  

The Desired Outcome - What you want as a result of your calling depends on the nature of your product and your role in distributing it. If your product is a "simple sale" then your Desired Outcome is to close a sale over the phone. If your sale requires a brochure to be mailed, then a follow up call to close the sale over the phone - that becomes the goal.

 

If you need to interact face to face with the client, then you are "selling" the appointment. If an appointment is the goal, then you should not get drawn into an in-depth product discussion. Yes, some folks will say "send me a brochure and I will call you back" - a common request.

 

This is where the science of prospecting comes in. You may get 30 of these out of 100 contacts - that is ok, based on the science. At a minimum, you should send the brochure only after securing your ability to call them back at a predetermined time - and follow through. It is all part of the process.

  

The company you represent should be able to give you data on their scientific formulas of call effectivness. How many live contacts it takes to generate a level of activity.  If you know the industry averages, then you will know when you meet it, exceed it, or need adjustment when you fall out of "the norms".

  

The List  - This is critical to building an effective outreach campaign. It should target the people who are most likely to be candidates for your product.  The List should provide a the highest probability that you can meet the scientific metrics demonstrated by the Law of Large Numbers.

 

A list should be generated with various filters (demographics) that provide insight into buying patterns and probability of receptivity. It might include data on age, gender, income, and other clues to consumer patterns that would provide the widest net of opportunity.

 

However, the greatest list will not make the fish jump into your boat!

 

With Desired Outcomes and a viable List, the rest is up to your approach...The Script.

  

The Script - The talking points of your script are secondary and could have hundreds of variations, but there are 4 things that you have to do to make a call effective; the time tested acronym of AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (we will deal with creating a effective script next time).

 

I know all of this sounds simple and on many levels...it is.  These 3 things will help you in your call campaigns...

 

What do you want? - The Desired Outcome

Who do you want? - The List

What do you say? - The Script

 

Evaluate what you are doing now and how effective it is.  Tweaking any one of these could improve your results, but if you have call reluctance or fading phone stamina, be mindful of these elements as they are the key to...

  

The Unlimited Calling Plan!

 

Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

 

Next Time: Stick to the Script!