Video - Reduce Cold Calls by Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the more popular online business networking systems. I mentioned a case study in my post on cold calling trends yesterday. But nothing happens on its own. See this 3-minute video by Nigel Edelshain and hear how he used LinkedIn to open doors for sales opportunities instead of cold calling. He says:

Instead of making taking time to make 100 phone calls, you make 6 contacts via LinkedIn. It's 16 times more effective.

Like all marketing tools, LinkedIn creates a system. It's waiting for you. But it is up to you to understand how to use it... and to take action to get results.

You can use the LinkedIn system to expand your circle of influence. To make it work for you, you must have a planned approach and spend time developing the contacts and familiarity required to engage with your network. Otherwise the contacts are just names of strangers on a list.

Interested? Check out my LinkedIn profile and connect with me.

Does Cold Calling Really Work? The answer is...

After working in sales and marketing for many years the most despised area of promotion seems to be 'cold calling'. This is when a prospect is contacted via the phone, and is solicited for new business.

See... even the way I used the word 'solicited' makes it sound dodgy. A bit cheap and nasty.

I could have said: This is the process of personal contact used to identify if a prospect is likely to have a need for your services.

You see, it depends on your point of view.

* Does cold calling work?
* Should you be using it for your business?
* Should you be dumping the phone and instead opt for the new online social networks?

In short, you can read articles like this one from the UK that gives some pro's and con's of cold calling, and discusses the use of online networks as an alternative.

You can also attend quality telesales training courses like the one provided by Jenny Cartwright at Sales and Telesales Solutions.

And you can see results of comparative 'tests' like this one reported at Modern Selling, comparing the number of cold phone calls made, versus making contact via online networks.

All roads lead to the same answer.

It's true that the use of telemarketing is slowly declining. That is occurring for many reasons.

Importantly, using the telephone to contact potential clients is a tactic that will not be disappearing any time soon.

- It is relatively cheap (especially for smaller businesses who don't have the massive advertising budgets to get 'on the radar')

- It is immediate. You know what the result is.

- It is personal. You can make an impact (positive or negative!).

- And if used professionally it can be one of the best ways to create sales opportunities.

Most people dislike 'cold calling' because it is done badly so often.

However, you can do a better job and get better results.

1. Train your staff who will make the calls. It requires skill, tact, and professionalism.
   
2. Develop a script (statements and questions) that doesn't trigger any 'sales person' alarms for your prospect.
3. Develop supporting documents (marketing materials)... I call them sales tools.
4. Create a question-based strategy that quickly gets to the core of if there is an opportunity for a further discussion.
5. Be selective in who you call - have a relevant list to work from. If possible do some homework to identify what the company does, what their current issues are, and who you should speak to.
   
6. Implement a marketing strategy that will warm up prospects, potentially creating interest in your services - essentially getting your prospects to qualify themselves, without you having to call them.

Finally, remember that for B-to-B selling the focus of cold calling is most often about identifying opportunities. It is not about trying to 'clinch the sale' on the first phone call.

Danger... Danger... 9 of 10 Businesses to Cut Their Marketing Expenditure

A report out this week by PriceWaterhouseCoopers claims that the current economic downturn has severely affected business confidence in Australia. As a result, 9 out of 10 (of the 750 private businesses surveyed) say they will cut marketing costs.

How dumb can you get!

(Aside: they need to attend my marketing planning workshop in Sydney Oct 30)

And I'm not just saying it's a dumb thing to do because I work in marketing.

It is well known that marketing creates new business. To cut back on marketing because it is seen as a luxury, or 'expendable', is just plain poor business management.

Often these decisions are made by the bean counters who control the purse strings within the company.

Now look... I know many nice accountants. But the nature of their profession makes most of them focus on how to reduce costs. Not how to maximise profit.

Don't become a victim to others peoples fears.

Make your own decisions about how successful you want your business to be.

You certainly do need to manage expenditure. But be prudent and make smart decisions to build your business. Don't just throw up your arms and say... we have to cut costs, at any cost.

If you are in Sydney, why not consider attending my 2-minute Marketing Plan workshop on October 30. At the workshop you'll learn all about how to stretch your marketing dollar and choose marketing tactics that will work for your business.

Do Big Words Make You Important... or Lost?

I was reading this post by Gerry McGovern that says:

There seems to be a desire among organizations to not quite tell it as it is. These organizations create classifications and content on their websites that either use soft, fuzzy words like “low fares,” or official-sounding words like “pandemic influenza.” There is often a logic to doing this. It is a logic of experts and bureaucrats, and of old school marketing and advertising executives.

I commented on Gerry's blog that it reminds me of the old days when using big fluffy words was done to make you sound important. Gerry says the same sort of thing.

Now the web is here. Everyone wants to get to the heart of their interest. Straight away. No delay. They don't want to have to learn new words, or go to Dictionary.com just to figure out what someone is saying.

Do you make it easy for your readers, listeners, or prospects to easily understand what you are saying?

Too often I see confusion created by:

• Using industry jargon or acronyms.
• Using too many words, when fewer words will get the message across.
• Using too many ideas, which just gets confusing.
• Using bad examples to explain a key point.
• Rushing to write material before the main ideas are fully understood and developed. This results in too many words, saying too little.

This is bad enough when talking or writing directly to an individual.

On your web site it can be disastrous. Your clients will get lost. You will lose out.

If people can't get the picture straight away, or if they cannot understand what you are getting at. They will leave. Click away. They don't want to figure it out. They just want answers to their questions. And clear steps they can take to get what they want, in language they can understand.

TIP: make sure you are using the best words to maximise understanding... and action.