What marketing activities help your response rate with phone calls?
A couple of weeks ago I was with a client in their office for a meeting. During our time together I noticed on several occasions that he paused to answer a call. On each occasion, his manner was polite and short, “No thank you. I am not interested. Good-bye”. After the 3rd call that day, I made the remark, “Sales calls?”. He shook his head and sighed, “I get them nearly every day.”
Of course, my response was just a “you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them” response but I also had to be honest with myself because, often enough, I have made my share of calls as the “seller” on the other line. So my questions is, how often do you interrupt people with your calls each day? More importantly, what choice do you have?
The truth is, we are all conditioned to the phone call. So much so that we can anticipate the end of the conversation before it arises. (If you’re in sales, this is the part that makes you cringe.) However, the fact remains that phone sales is reaching an all time high on the irritation list for most office employees. As a sales person, how many times have you called asking for the owner only to get sidelined by the friendly front desk person with “Sorry, we already have enough…” or “Sorry, not interested.” Didn’t you ask to speak to the owner?
Yet, we are met with a quota and we have to make “x” amount of calls per day. (As if there is a magic formula behind that magic number?) I get it though because it is a numbers game yet it doesn’t have to be so cold and interruptive. In order to be a bit less invasive, here are 3 ways you can reach out to your target list and avoid the scrutiny of the front desk person.
Shorten the number of calls – If possible, avoid going through a list of 20 or more calls in a day. Wow, can that be anymore droning? Instead, go with a shorter list of calls and spend time finding ways to send them a letter or an email. With a large list, it’s human nature to want to get through the list as fast as possible. However, once you call on each contact you will only have “touched” them only once. Which brings me to my next point.
Increase your number of attempts per contact – So let’s say you have a list of 40 contacts that week. Instead of calling all of them by day 2, try calling 10 on day 1 and spend the next part of your day sending them an email. Repeat this on day 2, and on day 3, and on day 4. By day 5, you might write an article on a subject you know would solve a problem for your target list. Now email that article to each of your targets. Why? It’s your way of offering free and helpful advice and it adds a more sincere approach to connecting with the client.
Get online and promote! – If you have a LinkedIn account or access to the company social media sites for posting, ask to have your article posted. Post your words of advice with links that come back to your email and your company’s website. Increase the curiosity of your contact list to find out more on their own. This is an “inbound marketing” method that if used correctly, works!
Once you accomplished this on the first week, do it again for your same 40 contacts. Your goal is to touch each account in multiple ways and not just with an annoying phone call. Maybe you try calling first, send an email, post an article, call again, send another follow up email, and then stop by face-to-face to see how things are going.
We all do not want to be sold to but we are curious creatures and crave human connections that can add to our daily lives. If we don’t sense it, we run! Don’t have your contacts running from you and start “touching” their lives with smart online lead generation approaches that work.
LUXA Enterprises offers outsourced inbound marketing services for small and mid-size businesses in the Tulsa and surrounding areas. If you’re considering a short or long-term approach for your growth needs, give us a call for more information at 918-928-7288.
