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Have Trouble Selling? Start Adding Value.

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
A row of shopping carts.Image via Wikipedia

How many times have you tried to sell a client on something, only to be turned down based on price?

The other day, I had a meeting with a client who wanted some web design done. Frankly, we turn down a lot of the web work we are approached with, simply because it takes to much time to support. There are far too many people who don’t understand how to use a mouse, let alone know what a WYSIWYG editor can do.

This job was different, though. I have a couple new employees that could learn our system by designing this project, so I wanted it for them. Armed with my estimate, I started walking the client through what all they would receive… But the sale was far from over. They started attacking the price.

All of a sudden, I was hit with a barrage of, “XYZ Company will do it for half that and ABC Company is throwing in two hours of search engine optimization.” Really? Nice for them. But as you see in my estimate – total search engine optimization is included.

This, all of a sudden, shifted the focus on what value I added in my offer. Now, I can start talking to them about the benefits of SEO, what the steps in the process are, etc. I can also sell them on maintenance packages, upgrades, and PPC campaign management.

What this value adder did for me was swing the door wide open so that I could cart my shopping basket full of goodies in and peddle them at my leisure. No more price comparisons. No more bargain shopping. Just pure, selling goodness.

PS. Don’t ever reduce your price. If you think you are in a bind, throw something in that will add value!

14.05.2008 business Comments

Grad School – Reverse Cold Calling

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Reverse Cold CallingOur business graduate school program’s final course in the area of client acquisition is on Reverse Cold Calling. It is the toughest course to master though the techniques are not difficult to teach. What is Reverse Cold Calling? Regular Cold Calling is when the business person calls others in order to ask for their business. Reverse Cold Calling is when the customer calls the business to ask for their services. It is the holy grail of business marketing, and perhaps the toughest to achieve. What makes reverse cold calling so difficult is that you can’t do it. Every technique you’ve learned up to now involves you doing it. You make the cold calls, you go out and network with people, you go out and advertise. With reverse cold calling you can’t be the one who does it. So how do you implement a technique that you can’t do? The answer, is found in the Olympic sport of curling.

If you’ve seen people on an ice rink with brooms sweeping in front of a moving disc-thing, that is curling. Basically, curling is like shuffleboard, only after one person on the team pushes off the disc, other team members can influence it’s direction and speed by using brooms to change the structure of the ice in front of the disc. (I don’t know anything else about it, so don’t ask.) By sweeping more on the right, the disc will trend over to the right because the ice is smoother and easier to glide over. Sweeping more makes the disc go faster and so on. The key is that once the disc has been released, no one can touch it, all you can do is influence its path.

In order to implement effective reverse cold calling you have to make the ice silky smooth all the way to your business. Then, those new clients will just slide right on up to you.

Referrals

So, how do we make the ice smooth for this process?

In traditional marketing, you ask current clients for referrals. This is more effective than many other strategies but it does have some potential problems. First, many clients will feel put on the spot by your question. This ends up making them blank out on people that might be good referrals. Second, people don’t like to make decisions for other people, even their friends. So, just because Bob thinks you are the greatest guy since Abe Lincoln doesn’t mean that he wants to make that determination for his good friend Frank, who may or may not think the same about you or the service you provide. The harder you push on something like this, the more it seems like you care more about your next client than you do about your current one.

The easiest referral happens when Bob is at a Barbecue with Frank and Frank says, “Man, I love your deck, who built it?” Bob will be more than happy to recommend you at this point. However, if you sit around waiting for this to happen your business will build very slowly. A slightly harder referral is for Bob to be at Frank’s house and say “You know, you could have an awesome deck out here. I know a great guy.” Even harder is for Bob to just pipe up at lunch, “Hey, Frank do you need a deck?”

In order to sweep the ice you need to give Bob all the tools he needs, plus put the idea in his mind that he can and should be telling his friends and coworkers about you.

Reverse Cold Calling Plan

The first step to making all that ice sweeping effective is to evaluate where someone will be pushing off a disc. You will eventually try to turn all of your clients into people who market for you, but you should start where you have the best odds. The best clients to start with will be those who have big networks of their own and tend to be social. You can tell by how your client is with you. Did he tell you all about his business and his hobbies the first time you met? Does he routinely tell you about his weekend or friends. Does he ever try to market to you? Jackpot! If Bob sits in a chair in your office and says something like “Your rug looks a little worn. I have a friend who…,” then you have found your man.

Now that you have the right person it’s time to give him the right tools. Forget business cards. Have you ever stashed away 5 business cards from someone else to give out to others? Even if you did, what are the odds that you had them when it actually came up? All you need is to make sure that Bob has ONE of your cards, the one he keeps. He’ll write down, or email the info to the next person. The tool Bob does need is something easy to remember you by.

Your web site is best: www.awesomedecks.com is really easy to relay to someone during a conversation and really easy to remember. No one has to write down anything.

Some key tips on your web site:

  • Always have the .com address. You can have the others too if you want, but when someone recalls a web site from memory they will almost always try .com. I can’t tell you how many people have asked me why “del.icio.us DOT COM” doesn’t work! If your web site does not have .com make sure you really emphasize that with Bob. “Bob, just remember it’s DOT NET. Tons of people screw up and go to DOT COM. So remember, DOT NET sounds more like DOT DECK.”
  • Next, make absolutely sure that your homepage is friendly to someone who has never heard of you before. Don’t make your homepage all about current clients with a button over on the side somewhere that says “Are You a New Customer” Also, skip the flash, the animations, and anything else you think is clever. Someone, somewhere, blocks that stuff, whether with NoScript, or disabled by the company IT department. Only really web savvy people will look at your site and go, “Oh, it uses something that is being blocked.” Everyone else will think it is just broken, or dumb. And if you can’t even get your web site right, how will you get their business right?

A web site is good, but it isn’t enough. Your great-aunt isn’t so web savvy, neither is that one cousin. You need another way to remember your business so they can call later. A simple name seems like it might be easy to remember but it isn’t as good as you think. Tom’s Decks is simple. The problem is that if Bob tells Frank about Tom’s Decks, and later Frank meets a guy named Bill, he might remember Bill’s Decks.

Simple is good, but distinctive is necessary too. My professional writing business is ArcticLlama, LLC. You don’t have to remember the LLC to find me, so no problem there, and llama is unusual enough to trigger a memory, so is arctic. The two together are truly odd, but not so odd that someone will think bad about it. (“Die Skate Punks”, is memorable but probably not the kind of thing that inspires confidence in your grandmother.) Llama can be a little tough becuase of the two “L”s, but it is also the kind of thing people will think that they just misspelled so they’ll keep looking. If you misspell on purpose, “Amy’s Krafts,” they might give up when they can’t find you unless you really emphasized this to your clients, “Krafts with a K.”

Now Put Out the Honey

If your business info can be passed on and remembered during a conversation that is good, but you still have to make the conversation happen. For that we turn to go old fashioned bribery. Tell your clients that you are expanding your business again. Always say “again”. This makes it sound like you aren’t always expanding your business, and also that you have done it before. Both things inspire confidence and make it a little more urgent (after all you might not be expanding your business later.) Then, tell you client that for this expansion, you are doing a special deal. You will give your current client 10% off his next order, or baseball tickets, or a free hat (or somethings else as long as it is worthwhile) for each person that calls and mentions how he heard about you. Also, and this is the key, mention that the new client will also get the discount or gift if it’s in the next couple of months.

Be vague about how long. You want to make sure that there is some urgency (“only a couple of months”) but you don’t want it to come up after a little while and it seem too late (“it was four months ago and he said a couple of months, so it would probably be ok”).

The goal is, that with a good incentive, Bob will actively look for opportunities to mention you instead of waiting for them to come up. That means he will mention your business a lot more. Even if that doesn’t translate into more customers now, it does make Bob someone that knows a good provider. So, when down the road Frank’s wife mentions how nice it would be to have a deck, Frank will remember that Bob knows a good deck business and he will ask about it. Then your phone will ring. Welcome to reverse cold calling.

01.05.2008 Features Comments

Grad School – Cold Calling 502

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

Cold Calling TipsFor most people, cold calling ranks right up there with root canals on the pleasure scale. That is, down the stairs, past the sub-basement, and so far down that you can actually hear the screams of former evil do-ers. Interestingly enough, right next to that is digging post holes in the sun-baked hard clay earth with a post hole digger because you are too cheap to rent the big power corkscrew thing that professionals use to dig holes because, well…it’s only three holes and how hard can it be? After a day of digging, compare notes with the root canal guy and you’ll both be barely moving testaments to pain and death wishes.

Show up the next day to dig holes and it will only get worse. Your hands, already raw from yesterday’s abuse, will tighten in agony. However, if you keep showing up something happens. Your hands develop calluses to protect themselves. The point here is not for me to have a chance to complain again about the whole post hole thing, but that in some cases (not the root canal, though) doing something painful and unpleasant enough times can actually lead to it becoming less unpleasant. Don’t get me wrong, slamming two poles with metal chunks on the ends into the ground over and over again will never be fun, but it will get better. Which brings us back to cold calling.

I Suck

One of the main issues people have with cold calling is that somewhere inside they know that they HATE to be the person on the other end of that call. The truth is, it wasn’t always that way. Once upon a time the supply manager of a company could expect an occasional call from a competitor of the company he bought office supplies from. This call was generally pleasant and often helpful. Then, things changed.

There is a great Saturday Night Live sketch about a talk show. The topic is: “People Who Ruined It for Everybody.” On the show is the guy who started killing hitchhikers, the woman who started tampering with Halloween candy, and I don’t remember who the third guy was. For our purposes, the third guy is the guy who started calling everybody whether they needed his product or not and then wouldn’t listen to them when they said no.

Take our supply manager, for example. Back in the day he got calls from the other office supply companies in the area, probably two or three of them. Those supply companies only called the supply manager and they only called every quarter or so. No big deal. Then Mr. Jerkin became an office supply salesman. Mr. Jerkin decided that he wouldn’t just call the supply manager, but he would also call his boss, and his boss, and his boss. Not only that, he figured the accounting manager needed office supplies and who cares if the company has a policy that only the supply manager can buy office supplies. And, you know, just because that flower shop doesn’t have a desk or copier in the whole building doesn’t mean they shouldn’t hear about great office supply deals too!

Cold calling is the father of Spam (the assistant is the original spam filter). Instead of doing research and making sure his calls actually had the potential to be helpful to the people he called, Mr. Jerkin ran down Selfish Boulevard without any thought for the people he was calling. Just like a helpful unsolicited email is welcome, a helpful unsolicited call can be welcome too.

Unfortunately Mr. Jerkin made some sales. Some of the sales were because if you throw a hundred darts chances are one of them will hit, and other sales were from people who just bought something so he would go away (which is like feeding a stray dog.) Some people took notice and asked Mr. Jerkin for his secrets. As guys like Mr. Jerkin got promoted these tactics became standard policy.

I Don’t Suck

Ok, here is the deal. Just like in college, the things you learned in undergraduate school are not the things you should be using now that you are a professional. In Physics 101 you learned that F = ma (force = mass X acceleration). That is true, but if you try and launch rockets with that, please launch them over unpopulated areas, because out in the real world there are things like friction, and wind, and air resistance, and heat expansion, and…

Back in Cold Calling 101 you learned: everyone is a prospect, never hang up until the person has said no at least three times (or God, forbid, more), use a script so you know exactly what to say, and make 300 dials per day. These techniques might get you some sales, but they won’t get you great clients. They teach this junk because it is easier than teaching someone how to actually make an intelligent call. If you are cold calling according to the above plan, you are cannon fodder, my friend. Start looking for better opportunities.

Professional Calling

Here in graduate school it’s time to learn the professional techniques:
1) No means No (you’ve heard this somewhere else, and it’s true in calling too.)
2) Only call people who you want as clients AND who might want to be your clients if they knew about you.
3) Do not use a script! Have a CONVERSATION with the people you call. Hear what they are saying so you know what they need.
4) Don’t try and get around the assistant. Ask for voicemail. If he won’t even do that, call after hours and leave voicemail. If someone is determined not to talk to you then calling isn’t the way to reach them.

Cold Calling Plan

Ok, here is the cold calling plan for business majors.

Cliff Notes Version:
1) Build your list.
2) Make 10 to 20 calls per day
3) Call One – Introduce self; ask for chance to do business
4) Call Two – Ask if there is formal process for reviewing new business partners
5) Call Three – Self Invite
6) Call Four – Extend Invite
7) Call Five – “Five is Right Out!”

First, build your list. Your list comes from your own research. Buying lead lists is dumb. If you have extra money that you would like to get rid without getting any value in return, email me and I’ll send you whatever size box you need to mail it to me. Start with your business journal web site. Here in Denver it’s the Denver Business Journal. There is something like that in every major city. They all have a “book of lists” that usually you can get parts of online. If you need more, buy it, or head to the library and photocopy the pages you need. Look for companies that might need what you offer. Call the main number and ask for “the person who handles your widgets.” When they tell you who it is get a direct number. If they won’t give you one, call after hours and see if the voicemail system offers you a chance to look them up by name. It will probably tell you their extension.

A quick word about messages: Always leave a message. It is one of the differences between a professional contacting another professional, and a dial monkey calling number 213. People always worry about what to say in their message. Got an elevator pitch? The length of a voicemail message is about the same as an elevator ride.

Don’t try and call 300 people a day. Unless you are brand new to the business and you must get tons of new clients right away, limit your cold calling to just 10 or 20 a day. After all, if you are calling only the people you can provide value to, your list won’t be that long anyway. Part of the big numbers of cold calling is that dozens or even hundreds of your calls are throw aways because there is no chance those people will become clients. If you are new, then feel free to go with a bigger number. Since you don’t have clients, you will have more time to research new prospects and therefore should be able to generate a bigger list. Once you start getting clients you will be taking care of them and won’t have so much time for calling.

Fewer calls reduces the pain of cold calling and ensures that you won’t sound like a robot when making your 382nd call. Sitting down and looking at tic sheet with 300 marks on it makes you want to see if the highest windows open…just out of curiosity. Sitting down with 15 numbers shouldn’t be tough.

The Calls

Some people are tone deaf. They just can’t hear certain sounds. Cold Callers are no deaf. They can’t hear the word no. I don’t know what it is like in the mass marketing call centers where they sell Time Magazine subscriptions, but I know that if you call another professional and ignore him when he says no, you can kiss your sale good-bye, along with his respect. You aren’t calling little old ladies about T.V. Guide. Act like it.

So, what should a cold call be like?

  • 1st Call — When you call be polite, friendly, and tell them what you do. Then ask if they could use that service. Most likely they will say no. Ask them (without sounding like you didn’t hear them say no) if it is something the never need or if they just don’t need it now. If they just don’t need it now ask,

“Would you mind if I sent you my business card and a one-pager? Do me a favor and throw my card in your Rolodex or whatever you use and that way you have it if you need widgets.”

Don’t bother asking if you can follow up. Time your follow ups to your product’s sales cycle. If they aren’t buying now but might be next month, call next month. If you sell full-sized nuclear reactors a call once a year is probably sufficient. (Oh, and the Justice Department is on line 2.)

  • 2nd Call – If you got a favorable reaction to your first call then just call back and talk to them. Remind them you called before and see where it leads. If you did not get a favorable reaction to your first call then it’s time for a new track. This time, ask if their company has a formal process for reviewing new vendors. If they say yes, then get the details and apply. Chances are they will say no. Then ask how do they review vendors. Chances are they will say something like, “Well, I handle that but…” In which case you say, “Ok, is there a way I can setup a time to meet with you so you can review our company…” They may also say, “Oh, actually Bob does that.” If so get Bob’s number. See, using the undergraduate method would have you getting hung up on every week and never even knowing you are calling the wrong guy.
  • 3rd Call – If you got nowhere with the first two calls it is time for a self-invite. In your personal life inviting yourself is bad manners. Is business, not so much. During this call, don’t ask for business, and don’t talk product. Say something like,

“Hi, my name is Bob, I’m with Bob’s Awesome Widgets, and I was wondering if I could get on your calendar in the next week or two for fifteen minutes just to see if what you guys do there is a good fit for our product. I’ll even bring coffee.”

The goal here is to turn from a cold call, “Hi, buy something” to a meeting request, “Hi, can I meet with you next Thursday.” Frankly, you haven’t been a pushy telemarketer since call one, but he may not see that, so this is your next move. If they have an assistant, don’t even ask for the prospect. Try, “Hi, this is Bob with Bob’s Awesome Widgets. I wanted to see if I can get on Dave’s calendar next week, how does he look?” If the assistant gets you on the schedule, you don’t have to worry about Dave saying no.

  • 4th Call – If any of your previous three calls have met with success or even a friendly tone, try and pick that back up when you call. Remind them about your previous conversations (only the good ones) and see where it goes. If not, then its time for making an invitation. Acknowledge that the person hasn’t been interested in speaking with you before, and that is fine, but you have an event/seminar/whatever that you think they might be interested in. Something like,

“Hi, Dave, it’s Bob. I know we haven’t really been able to talk about Bob’s Awesome Widgets and I understand you are very busy. But, there is a small business seminar from the guys at Impressive Speakers next Thursday and I’ve got an extra ticket, but my partner can’t make it. I thought it might be a good way for you and me to meet face to face, while still making sure you are getting good use out of your time. No big thing, I can meet you there and I’ll bring Starbucks (or local brand coffee). What do you think?”

The hope here is that Dave thinks that it would be worth his time to attend the event. The fact that you will be there is just secondary. This way, Dave isn’t saying yes to you, he’s saying yes to a valuable training opportunity. Obviously, the only chance for success here is to pick an event that presents value to Dave. Also, since there may be some expense involved, make sure Dave is a high priority prospect. Otherwise, it’s time for “so long.”

If Dave shows no interest at this point it is time to end it. You aren’t asking the prom queen out, you are a professional and your time is valuable. Make sure Dave knows you are ending it,

“Ok, well, thanks for your time Dave. It seems like there just isn’t anything we can do for you right now. I don’t want to be a pest or anything, so if you do ever need anything, give me a call; otherwise maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”

It probably won’t matter, but it might prompt him to either suggest a future contact, “You know if you want to give me a call next November, that’s when we set the budget…” or he might ask for your contact info so he can keep it on file. If so, great, but either way do not move him back onto your calling list. A kiss on the cheek after getting dumped doesn’t mean you are getting back together.

  • 5th Call – “The number of the calling shall be four. Thou shalt not count three, excepting that you then proceed to four. Five is Right Out!” — There is no fifth call. Bluer waters demand your attention. Get over there and fish.

You’ll find that if you shift your cold calling efforts to a method like this one you will actually get similar results to your multimillion dials technique. The reason is simple. With the standard Smile and Dial system you are inadvertently building up a list with hundreds or thousands of calls that are doomed to failure. Calling people who will never use your service wastes hundreds of dials. Continuing to call people who had no interest wastes even more dials. Honestly, have you ever said yes to anything after turning it down four times? Even worse, since traditional cold calling means never taking anyone off your list, every day you are building up more wasted dials. Your list could contain fifty people getting their fifteenth call in just weeks. Imagine how many of those will be on there after a few months.

Do It. Do it.

Now, get back to work. Today, build a list, no calls. Tomorrow call the 10 best prospects on that list and work your way up to 20 dials a day. In a month you’ll have a new client. If not, re-evaluate your lists and your calling technique. Remember, friendly and helpful, not scripted. If after two months you still don’t have any sales it is time to honestly evaluate whether calling is a viable strategy for your product. It isn’t the right strategy for all products. Can you imagine getting a cold call to buy a refrigerator? If cold calling isn’t right for your product, move on to the next strategies. After all, if your service and product are great, people will want them.

Good Luck.

15.04.2008 entrepreneur tools Comments

Getting New Clients 501 (Grad School Version)

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Business People NetworkingAs a business consultant I like to help others in business develop important skill sets. Although, as of late, most of my business in this arena has come from evaluating the training programs of others for my clients. Truthfully, a great deal of these programs are not very good. I think that they know this, which explains the high amount of fluff and splash that I end up seeing in them. Then again, maybe it is because too many companies assume their employees need the 101 level training (which may explain why my training doesn’t get as many takers as it is decidedly NOT 101 level.) So, here is the short-short version of Getting New Clients Graduate School Level.

That Is All There Is

There are exactly four ways to get new clients.

1) Cold Calling

2) Mail – Regular Mail and Email

3) Networking – Online and Offline

4) Reverse Cold Calling

That’s it. Now that we are focused, let’s break it down a little bit before moving onto the How and Why.

1) Cold Calling – Don’t let a narrow definition throw you off. Cold Calling is any form of contacting someone with whom you have no previous relationship in an effort to get a conversation with them so you can get something from them (a sale, a recommendation). Note the difference between Mail. With Mail, your goal is not to get a conversation, it is to get someone to respond to your “Call To Action,” which may include a phone call, but notice the difference between trying to “speak” with Mr. Jones even if that would be electronically. (Yes, you could argue with me here, but let’s skip that for the time being. If your goal is a two-way communication with a stranger, then it’s cold calling.)

2) Mail – Whether electronic or old-fashion paper or postcard or gift, the goal of mail is to provoke the receiver of your mail into taking some sort of action that YOU REQUEST. Your mail is a failure before you send it if it does not contain a request (whether explicit or implicit.)

There was a great post here on JDsBlog about Sales Letters.

3) Networking – When you establish contacts with the ultimate goal of sales, but with the original goal of simply creating a favorable association with another person or company then you are networking. Along with the age old techniques of Rotary, or Elks Club, are online variations including email dialogs, forum participation, social networking sites and the like. The major difference between networking and the first two techniques is the Time To Sale which can be days, weeks, months, or never and your networking can still be considered successful.

4) Referrals – When satisfied customers recommend you to their friends and family, you not only have your best shot at acquiring a new customer or client, but you also receive a great compliment. Many marketing and sales training programs focus here and for good reason. However, many try to ignore the white elephant: You cannot get referrals until you have clients. Shoot for a referral based business, but do not be blinded by the fact that this cannot be step 1.

5) Reverse Cold Calling – Once upon a time in a land far far away, I worked for a major wire house. A hands off, light management style was coupled with the expectation that you build your own client list with no help from the firm other than what it provided in the way of name recognition and brand value. They never once used the words: cold calling. Yet, there we were, those of us hired in the last year sitting in a conference room or in our cubicles calling doctors, lawyers, business owners, executives or anyone else we thought might have money. One day while I was reading the newspaper a colleague asked what I was doing and I joked that I was “Reverse Cold Calling.” I’ve loved the idea ever since.

Normal Cold Calling is when you call someone you’ve never done business with in order to ask for their business. Reverse Cold Calling is when someone else calls you in order to offer you their business. Reverse Cold Calling is the holy grail of marketing and sales. You sit at your desk and the customers come to you. This technique works far better in some businesses than others. When evaluating this technique, think about the Phone Book. There are some things people commonly look for this way (plumbers, lawn care, pizza, hair care). There are some things for which just looking in the phone book is ludicrous (doctors, financial planners, engineers). However, with the right techniques you can develop this most blessed method of client acquisition for your business.

Missing Anything?

If you think in broad terms, you’ll notice that pretty much any direct activity you can think of to generate new clients falls into one of these categories. (Advertising is indirect activity.) All that time you spend at the Chamber of Commerce meetings? Networking. Emailing other bloggers to mention or link to your blog? Cold Calling. Spending hours on Facebook? Networking. Mailing invitations to a seminar? Mail. Taking a client and three of his friends golfing? Referrals.

Next we’ll go into each of these five methods and how to use them. Most importantly we’ll look at how to develop them and where they fit in with your business. We’ll start with the dreaded cold calling in the next post.

Can you think of other direct action activities that you use to generate clients?

Do you have a favorite method or technique?

Email me or leave a comment and we’ll incorporate your ideas.

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