Introductory Calls
Are
Alive!
Cold Calling
• 17 Year Newspaper Advertising Executive with Knight Ridder, McClatchy, Gannett
• 2X INMA Award 1st place winner for Best
Advertiser Results
• Springfield Business Journal’s 40 under 40
• June 2014 – youngest, and one of the most
tenured, Ad Directors in Gannett (6 years)
• Top performing Ad Director over 2 years
combined 2012/2013.
• Certified HubSpot Partner Agency
Proud Founder of InboundStar.com
Marty Goodnight
marty@inboundstar.com www.inboundstar.com
80%
of Sales
are made
after the 7
th
call
yet
90%
of Salespeople
Today’s Session will Cover
ü Why “Cold Calling” has lost its effectiveness
ü How consumer shopping behavior has changed and
how Outbound Marketing has been diluted
ü How Inbound Marketing concepts can improve
Outbound Sales efforts
ü How to use Inbound Marketing concepts to increase
closing rates, average transaction and frequency
ü How to develop Sales Campaigns and how
“Introductory Calls” fit into the mix
ü Model an Introductory Call and how it can set the stage
for future calls
ü How to chart (at least) 7 contacts and improve overall
in-field effectiveness
What is
Outbound Marketing
?
Outbound marketing
attempts to
initiate a conversation about a product
or service by rapidly spreading word of
its existence through a variety of
traditional marketing methods.
Outbound refers to any form of
marketing that “stops” the audience in
order to transfer a marketing message.
Let’s review…
The common
1 New Sale
3 Presentations
5 Needs Assessments 15 Meaningful Contacts 45 Basic Contacts
??? Prospects
Where is the Cold Call?
Where is the “Sale” made?
Make Intro Calls More Effective
Focus on the Needs Assessment
… the other 30 contacts that weren’t meaningful?
… to the other 10 meaningful conversations that could have been needs assessments?
… to the other 2 needs
assessments that could have been presentations?
… to other 2 presentations
that could have been sales?
Does this Cold Call sound familiar?
Salesperson: Hi, I’m Marty with the Daily News. Who would I talk with about Advertising?
Prospect: That would be me, but I am not interested.
Salesperson: Oh, ok. Well… um… we have some really good options right now… uh, especially in digital.
Prospect: Well, I have someone who manages my website and social media right now, so I’m all taken care of.
Salesperson: I understand. Uh… here, let me give you one of my business cards so you can call me if I can ever help you or if you have any questions.
Prospect: Great – just place it on the counter.
Salesperson: You bet! What was your name again? Ummm.. Can I get your business card?
Prospect: Actually, I’m all out and I have to get back to work.
Post-call Curbside Coaching
•
The sales rep made the effort to call on a new
prospect!
•
Contact was made with the decision maker!
•
No real evidence of pre-call planning
•
Powerless introduction
•
Mentions a product before customer’s need is stated
•
Invites an early objection
•
Uses a business card as collateral - which has no value
•
Not much is learned much about the prospect
When they
ARE
interested
in advertising, what
do they do?
or
86%
of
consumers stated
that using a
search engine
allowed them to
learn something
new or important
that helped him/
her increase his/
her knowledge
SOURCE: Pew Research Center, Search Engine Use 2012
Almost
everyone is
60%
of prospects have made
their purchase decision before
even talking to a sales rep
SOURCE: Corporate Execu=ve Board
Most
shoppers
have
Cold Call Resistance +
Changed Shopping Behavior
ü
Ineffective sales activity
ü
Increased prospect
resistance
ü
Unintended objections
ü
Sales frustration
ü
Sales defensiveness
ü
Can’t control the future
ü
Giving up on prospects
ü
Missing sales goals
The Outbound Sales Challenge
ü
Pacing meaningful
sales contacts with
the prospect’s
“buying journey”
ü
Establishing
yourself as a
relevant resource
for the prospect
ü
Converting the
prospect to a
tracked lead in
your sales funnel
ü
Culminating to a
needs assessment
appointment
What is
Inbound Marketing
?
Inbound Marke-ng
refers to marke=ng
ac=vi=es that bring visitors in, rather than
marketers having to go out to get prospects'
aFen=on. Inbound marke=ng earns the
aFen=on of customers, makes the company
easy to be found, and draws customers to the
website by producing interes=ng content.
Inbound Methodology
Converts
leads
Blog
Premium Content
Thank you page
Content Delivery
Consideration
Content Offer
Thank you page
Content Delivery
Decision
Content Offer
Smart Forms
How the Inbound Methodology
makes an Intro Call effective
ü
MATCH your
communication
with the prospect’s
buying journey
ü
PROVIDE helpful
and educational
resources that
nurture them along
How the Inbound Methodology
makes an Intro Call effective
ü
MAP out the
contact campaign
with diverse
communication
ü
CREATE value and
thought leadership
of your brand in
the mind of the
prospect
Grow Revenue
Exponentially
By using
informational
sales campaigns
Close Rate
Average Transaction
Average Frequency
Sell your value better at a point
where your prospects are
considering
you
Inbound
Point your prospects towards
educational resources
where
your value is demonstrated
Amazing
InboundStar’s Definition of a
Sales Campaign
The full sales process that begins with the initial contact with a prospect and continues using all communication, sales dialogue and follow up that results in a needs assessment appointment.
Potential Ingredients of a Sales Campaign:
• A strong personal branding statement
• Educational marketing collateral
• Case studies
• Best practices
• Sales trends, current marketing articles
• Follow up email with educational link
• Thank you card
• Important local dates and issues
• Relevant industry articles
• Geographic specific info
• Online marketing grader (grader.com)
• AdMall statistics
• Competitive analysis
• Strengths/Weaknesses of all media
• Budgeting worksheets
• ROI Calculators
• And much, much more
Mapping 7 Contacts
1st Contact: Introductory Call with a Power Statement
2nd Contact: Written Thank You Card with a one-sheet testimonial
3rd Contact: Follow up with Basic Marketing Tips about the Thin Market
Concept (NAA Plansbook)
4th Contact: Follow up with Key Season information (i.e. jewelry store
sales) available from sources like AdMall
5th Contact: Top 12 Tips about Search Optimization and how to improve it
on your own (work with your digital sales manager to create)
6th Contact: Co-op advertising report – how to find advertising support
from your manufacturers
7th Contact: Calendar of local events for seasonal/promotional planning
Re-do of an Introductory Call
Salesperson: Hi, I’m Marty with the Daily News and I help businesses with creative,
cost-effective marketing ideas. I wanted to introduce myself and see if you are open to ideas?
Prospect: No, I am not interested in advertising right now.
Salesperson: Oh, I totally understand. Most of my clients have specific times of the
year that we develop ideas to generate effective campaigns. Could I set a time that works better for you to learn more about how I can help you?
Prospect: No, thanks. I’m not interested.
Salesperson: : Of course. As a professional marketer working for the #1 medium in
town, I enjoy meeting business owners and sharing best practices. Would you mind if I keep in contact from time to time and share best practices?
Prospect: Sure, that sounds ok.
Salesperson: Great! Just so I don’t waste my time or yours, what types of things are
important to you when you do consider marketing choices?
Prospect: Oh, I don’t know. I want it to fit my budget. Seems like you are expensive.
Salesperson: (DON’T SELL - THIS IS VERY TEMPTING): Thanks for sharing that. You
know, advertising that doesn’t work is expensive. Let me keep that in mind and when I see something I think will be valuable for you, I will drop in again. Is that ok?
Prospect: Sure, that would be fine. Do you have a card?
Post-call Curbside Coaching
• Strong Power Statement
• Defused the negative feedback and asked for a relevant needs assessment
• Defused a 2nd objection and kept the door open
• Gained a positive exchange by asking to keep in contact for future interactions
• Established the sales person’s time is valuable, too
• Qualified what is important to the customer in order to stay in contact and keeping the lead alive
• Avoided selling product and instead, walked away with a clear next deliverable (finding something relevant for the prospect)
80%
of Sales
are made
after the 7
th
call
yet
90%
of Salespeople
Stick to your plan!
1st Contact: Introductory Cold Call with a Power Statement
2nd Contact: Written Thank You Card with a one-sheet testimonial
3rd Contact: Follow up with Basic Marketing Tips about the Thin Market
Concept (NAA Plansbook)
4th Contact: Follow up with Key Seasonal information (i.e. jewelry store
sales) available from sources like AdMall
5th Contact: Top 12 Tips about Search Optimization and how to improve it
on your own (work with your digital sales manager to create)
6th Contact: Co-op advertising report – how to find advertising support
from your manufacturers
7th Contact: Calendar of local events for seasonal/promotional planning
What you can do
right now
1. Stop Cold Calling and Start
Sales Campaigning
2. Develop Power Statements for
the Introductory Call
3. Develop a list of qualified
prospects that merit a sales campaign
4. Map 7 contacts matched with
the natural stages of a prospect’s buying journey
5. Incorporate simple,
educa=onal content with the 7 contacts
6. Success = geWng more needs
assessments
7. Track contacts and share best
CONTACT
marty@inboundstar.com
417-‐771-‐7350
Learn More:
White Papers:Turn your Adver-se with Us page into your Top Performing Sales Pro
hFp://www.inboundstar.com/turn-‐your-‐adver=se-‐with-‐us-‐page-‐into-‐your-‐top-‐performing-‐sales-‐pro
8 Best Adver-se with Us Pages and Why They are So Darn Good:
hFp://www.inboundstar.com/8-‐best-‐adver=se-‐with-‐us-‐pages-‐media-‐sites-‐are-‐using-‐to-‐generate-‐local-‐leads
Website: www.inboundstar.com
Blog: hFp://www.inboundstar.com/blog
Newspaper Adver-sing Ideas:
hFp://www.inboundstar.com/blog/inbound-‐marke=ng-‐strategies-‐that-‐drive-‐newspaper-‐adver=sing-‐ideas
Inbound Explained in 1 Minute:
hFp://www.inboundstar.com/blog/how-‐inbound-‐marke=ng-‐in-‐springfield-‐works-‐explained-‐in-‐1-‐minute
LinkedIn for InboundStar: hFps://www.linkedin.com/company/inboundstar
LinkedIn for Marty Goodnight: hFps://www.linkedin.com/in/martygoodnight
Google+: hFps://plus.google.com/+Inboundstar/posts
TwiKer: @inboundstar
Facebook: hFps://www.facebook.com/pages/InboundStar/1543050619244095
Email: marty@inboundstar.com
Phone/text: 417-‐771-‐7350