Does a CRM get you better appointments?

I spent a very late night this week customizing a CRM, standardizing data, importing it and creating a new reports...in fact the whole process took about two weeks.  Somewhere around 2am I asked if it was really worth it.

The answer is yes.  Why?  Because in sales prospecting two elements have to be perfectly balanced:  efficiency and effectivenss.

You have to be efficient at making calls, printing letters and sending emails...the more efficient you are, the more prospects you contact and the more results you generate.  But you also have to be effective...contacting the right people, in the right industry and at the right size companies.

And the key to being both efficient and effective is having the right tools.  And that means the right tools which let you address the requests of prospects immediately and move on to the next.  In my experience, both small companies and large fail their staff in this area, but it's their obligation to provide the right tools if they are going to require results and compensate based on results (as they should!).

So yes, if you are a sales prospector/appointment setter, it's worth having a well-tuned CRM.  And if you are a manager or company owner, it's also in your best interests, so put in the time & money it takes to get it right!

How to be the most knowledgable telemarketer

You would think the best approach to being a highly knowledgeable prospector or sales person would be to study diligently and immerse yourself in all the details about your service or product.

But you'd just be deceiving yourself. It's impossible to know all the answers to every question a prospect might throw at you. Most likely they have years of expertise in their field and you will always lack their level of knowledge...so don't even try to impress them, you'll just look silly.

But you can sound intelligent and prepared by remembering one key point: the person asking the questions ALWAYS controls the conversation.

It's simple, but difficult to do in practice. The key thing you need is not more knowledge, but the ability to answer with a question.

Some question versions which work well are: "That sounds like an important issue to you; can you tell me why?", or "I'll check into that, but can you tell me how you've handled it in the past?", or "That's a great question; how would you be using that feature?"

Always remember, you are the sales expert, not the product expert!

A secret prospecting opportunity

For a number of years I've followed prospecting results to see if there was a pattern to timing. You know what I mean...everyone says don't call Monday morning or Friday afternoon (bunk!), or don't call the day before a holiday. Is it really true, or is it just folklore so we can all squeeze in a long weekend?

Turns out it's not true. Regularly, we have some of our best results on Mondays and Fridays. More surprising is the consistently strong prospecting results we get between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Sound strange? Maybe. But think about it...after Thanksgiving business travel and meetings slow down, budgets are set, new initiatives are waiting until January.

This all means your prospects are more available, which is exactly what you want when making a prospecting call. You don't want them to make a decision or even necessarily meet with you...you just want them to take your call and have an initial conversation to see if the topic is worth pursuing for a future in-person meeting.

So don't ignore Mondays and Friday, but especially don't ignore the two weeks after Thanksgiving. It will set you up for a very strong January!

A newbie no more

How to get a new telephone prospector up to speed and producing results quickly? A couple weeks ago we had a new staff member start, and I followed the process closely.

First, and most important, we interviewed and screened her very carefully. You might think a five-interview process over several weeks is a waste of time for such a "low level" position as a telemarketer...but it's not. Through trial and error (ok, lot's of errors!), every minute invested before the hiring decision significantly reduces the uncomfortable conversations and firings later on.

Second, we spent a lot of time with role-playing. Sounds simplistic, but practice does make perfect. We started with the basics...covering the script and key phrases...moved on to personal variations, then into objections and difficult personalities. Once she could deliver the key phrases nearly effortlessly, it was on to...

Third, be paired with an experienced staff member. This started with listening and watching, then doing. Then it finished off with some refinements and additional perspective from a second senior person...can't have the newbie stuck on only one point-of-view!

Fourth, and most important, expect results. By the second day our newbie had set her first appointment and was a newbie no longer! Three days later her call efficiency was as good as the veterans...and still she was setting solid appointments. Total time: 5 days from beginner to valued contributor.

The Critical List

In any prospecting program there are three major variables: the script, the person calling and the list.

The list is one you can control most and plan for in advance. And it is worth every hour you spend on it. For example, a purchased list can have a discard rate between 10 and 30 percent, depending on the target market...these are wasted dollars if you mail or call them.

So where to get a good list? We've found one of the most reliable sources to be association membership lists...often well worth the cost of membership.

Next come subscription lists, if you can meet the minimum purchase requirements and don't mind renting rather than buying.

Then, if you to decide to use a retail list source, our experience has shown InfoUSA/SalesGenie to be one of the more accurate. The best thing about a retail list provider is you can test small, random selections from whatever demographic you select.

But keep your eyes open for new developments...we visited a Seattle company last week and were shown a beta version of a list selection resource which provides the best of all the above. More to come.

Just the right script

How do you know if you are using the right script when making prospecting calls?

First, throw out the script! You have to be able to "tell" the story, no "read" it...remember that advice from grade school book report presentations?

Especially throw it out of someone else has written it for you.

Today one of our most successful agents was working from a script written and used by another of our most successful agents. But even after a couple hundred calls he sounded just awful...flat, no energy to it. Worst part...prospects were cutting him off and he knew it.

We spent about 30 minutes doing several role-playing exercises, digging in deep about how he felt about this company's products. It finally clicked. He took the key phrases we had identified and made them flow in his own words. It was strong and believable. I'm certain he'll set an appointment today with the "new" version!

Finding your compelling voice

This week one of our newer staff was struggling and after getting hung-up on a couple times, complained, "I wouldn't want to listen to me either!"

After congratulating him for his self-awareness, we took some time to dissect what was happening and why he wasn't connecting with the prospects. It turned out to be two simple things.

First, his voice was tense and thus higher pitched than normal. This removed all the authority from his voice and almost invited prospects to run over him in their rush to hang up the phone.

Second, the script sounded too much like begging for an appointment, rather than inviting for one. A couple word changes fixed that.

But most important was a shift in his attitude...he came to understand he didn't need these prospects to set an appointment with him. In fact, they needed to qualify in order to be worthy of getting an appointment from him! This change in power balance was immediately reflected in his voice and the script delivery; he sounded more calm and confident.

Did the prospects respond positively? We'll see next week!