-- Cold-calling on potential clients.

[Simply Red]

I never really opened up much over the last 7 yrs. Maybe some of you know - but; others may not. I lost my business in January. T'was a good run from '10-'17 however; Once we came home from Afghanistan spelled doom for my company - as my customer's client held a military contract for laptop repair for the marines in Leatherneck/Bastion (Helmand Province) - I almost lost everything. I never went bankrupt but chances are my leasing company will sue me w/in 3 mos. or so. This all being said, I began a new job selling RMM tools for PBX systems and network environments.

Do any of you cold-call? That's pretty much my job now and it's going pretty good. My approach is simple, take your time when/once you connect live w/ a person - pronounce your words well and have plenty of volume - generally these folks will talk to you, I've found.

Who else cold-calls? Any tricks you'd like to share?

Thank you in advance...

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by cooper barrett

Cold calling sucks I don't care what you're selling. But if customers are not coming in the doors, you get on the phone and invite them to come by and see the deals on the leftover Tweetybird yellow turdmobiles that were left over from last year....

Honestly, you have to do what it takes to get a funnel to appear, them managing your opportunities becomes your next challenge.

Then there's hometeam who teaches you how to get the ones that try to get away...or at least he used to.

One of my current job duties is managing a BDC. Meaning I have a call center of 8 ladies whos sole job is to call and follow up constantly with customers of all kinds. My ladies know what is expected of them, and they are diligent. We call and chase customers until they buy, die, or cry, and we also do prospecting. Everything they do is reocrded in our customer management system, and its not just calling, its emails, and texting as well.

Prospecting just by nature is a fraction of the return of a customer who contacts you.

We turn about 35-40% of customers who contact us via a web form into a store visit

We turn nearly 80% of customers who contact us by phone into a store visit.

Prospecting/cold calling nets us about a 3% visit rate.

As a lot of people have said in here, cold calling is dying, people just dont want it, they are annoyed etc, far more than when I started in this business. its not a great use of time for the sales floor either, the only reason we do it is becuase we are tasked with ONLY doing these sorts of things, and its a time filler.

[RippedmyFlesh]

Good luck SR and hang in there. You know how sales can be you do everything right and still may not get the results. Like others have said you bring tools to the table that gives you a excellent chance to succeed.

[cooper barrett]

I was sure you had all those things in place, and those numbers look great from what I recall. (as it's been a while since I have been around car stores to be privy to that kind of info.) With several profit centers you have lots of contact opportunities to take advantage of to keep your dealer's names top of mind and generate referrals.

I am sure with the group you manage, especially being part of a larger group, you live and die by the numbers generated by your CMS.
It seems to be all about the CMS data these days in the car game and many other businesses. I have been told that is becomes a very good management tool once you learn what it is telling you and trust it's numbers.
It can probably pick out the rep who is on CP all day vs. the ones who focus on making the calls...

Originally Posted by hometeam

One of my current job duties is managing a BDC. Meaning I have a call center of 8 ladies whos sole job is to call and follow up constantly with customers of all kinds. My ladies know what is expected of them, and they are diligent. We call and chase customers until they buy, die, or cry, and we also do prospecting. Everything they do is reocrded in our customer management system, and its not just calling, its emails, and texting as well.

Prospecting just by nature is a fraction of the return of a customer who contacts you.

We turn about 35-40% of customers who contact us via a web form into a store visit

We turn nearly 80% of customers who contact us by phone into a store visit.

Prospecting/cold calling nets us about a 3% visit rate.

As a lot of people have said in here, cold calling is dying, people just dont want it, they are annoyed etc, far more than when I started in this business. its not a great use of time for the sales floor either, the only reason we do it is becuase we are tasked with ONLY doing these sorts of things, and its a time filler.

[58-4ever]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

how do you subscribe to LI? are you paying month-to-month - or do you buy by the year?

I pay month to month for a tool they offer called “Sales Navigator” ... it’s awesome .. you can add your accounts and get daily news on them.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by 58-4ever

I pay month to month for a tool they offer called “Sales Navigator” ... it’s awesome .. you can add your accounts and get daily news on them.

If you don't mind; how much are you paying?

[Simply Red]

There's little glamorous about my new job. However it IS solution-selling in the IT world - so there's $ to be made and I'm doing the best I can. I like the challenge of getting the attention of VP of Sales or even CEO's. I've had a few try to cow me - but I never get cowed. So there is an element of reward. We get them to the dinner table by booking demo's to show them a more granular look at our solution. Demo's are very hard to get, and I've averaged one per week. Which is better than any salesman they've previously employed. Once I get my clientele my role will shift into more of an account management role. If any of you know of any Managed Solution Providers, that's our target - we don't sell to the end-user. There are a few we will sell to - but it's usually a large university or medical facility.

[Simply Red]

Also I appreciate all the kindness via reps and other posts. You guys are very nice.

[BleedingRed]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

If you don't mind; how much are you paying?

I have signed one major deal off LinkedIn, sales navigator is like 89.99 a month

[cooper barrett]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

I have signed one major deal off LinkedIn, sales navigator is like 89.99 a month

When you're at "C" level you get the all the good selling tools.

[TLO]

Safe word for game chat tomorrow will be "cold call"

[scho63]

I just remembered a very very important item when cold calling I do: when you leave a v/m with your phone number always leave your email address as well clearly spelling it out as well as saying it. Works great for me.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by TLO

Safe word for game chat tomorrow will be "cold call"

have fun - I'll be at the Falcons game.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by scho63

I just remembered a very very important item when cold calling I do: when you leave a v/m with your phone number always leave your email address as well clearly spelling it out as well as saying it. Works great for me.

I don't do that. Great. thanks.

[58-4ever]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

If you don't mind; how much are you paying?

59.99 per month... and I think I get 15-20 Inmails a month. (Private messages to people I'm not connected to)

Also, it helps me aggregate my feed and shape it to my customer lists...

[58-4ever]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

There's little glamorous about my new job. However it IS solution-selling in the IT world - so there's $ to be made and I'm doing the best I can. I like the challenge of getting the attention of VP of Sales or even CEO's. I've had a few try to cow me - but I never get cowed. So there is an element of reward. We get them to the dinner table by booking demo's to show them a more granular look at our solution. Demo's are very hard to get, and I've averaged one per week. Which is better than any salesman they've previously employed. Once I get my clientele my role will shift into more of an account management role. If any of you know of any Managed Solution Providers, that's our target - we don't sell to the end-user. There are a few we will sell to - but it's usually a large university or medical facility.

I've sold IT Solutions for 7 years now.. We should really chat over the phone. I think the landscape is changing. Gone are the days of simple labor arbitrage. The new era is a few select partners that can get away with charging a bit more because they are a true partner, and they provide value above and beyond bodies or a simple service.