Recently I was training a brand-new sales professional. His job was to find leads for his company but he had never worked in sales before. After a couple of weeks of learning about his company and coming up with a plan, the time for action was upon him. In our coaching session he realized that he was going to have to pick up the phone and make cold calls. He needed a script and we worked one out. Then I picked up the phone and started phoning for him, modelling the script and the tone of the calls. I explained that we were simply dialing for dollars.
While calling people might seem old fashioned in the present digital age of email, and texting, Calling gets results. A few years ago when we were having a big sales day in our retail stores, I would often print out a list of customers from our database, make a script and start phoning. The results were phenomenal. Not only did customers appreciate the reminder, they often were happy to talk to someone from the store, and often had additional questions about our products. If no one answered the call, we simply left a message. The results were amazing, often we had our best sales on record.
A few years ago, Joanne Black wrote a book called “Pick Up the Damn Phone” and talked about how face to face and real conversations had an advantage over technology interfaces like text and email. Joanne talks about the need to develop relationships in face-to-face conversations, on our shop floors, over coffee, and by phone or video conferencing. Sales starts and ends with relationships and those conversations don’t happen over social media.
Whether we are business owners, salespeople, or just trying to build our networks, picking up the phone and dropping in to see people is more effective than sending 50 emails.
In the past 7 years I have been writing, blogging, sending newsletters, emails and texts. I have rarely gotten responses that transpire into the effectiveness of getting in front of someone, or calling them up and having a conversation. Emails, newsletters, blogs, and articles all have a place in your marketing mix, however when you can talk to people one on one or in a group, your success rate will sky rocket.
My sales coachee quickly got over his hesitation after watching me make a few calls for him and started phoning himself. After an hour of phoning and several No’s, no answers, and not interested, he got a maybe and scheduled a meeting with a prospect. His confidence skyrocketed and he realized that as a commissioned sales rep he really was dialing for dollars.
Picking up the phone and calling your customers and prospects takes guts but it also gets results. Why not try something new that your competition isn’t doing and take your business to the next level?
Dave Fuller, MBA, is an Award-Winning Business Coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Pick up the phone and call Dave today 250-617-7467.