In many companies, sales reps *should* make hundreds or thousands of cold calls every month to set appointments and/or generate leads. But busy reps usually prefer to work on closing their existing pipeline. Prospecting often slips on the priority list; as a result, the sales pipeline isn’t always filled with new prospects.
If cold-calling activity has slipped in your company, or if you want to try it for the first time, here are 6 stops to get you on track.
1. Specialize! If cold calling is an effective way to introduce your company to new prospects, don’t ignore it. Instead of forcing a sales team to devote time to prospecting, many companies use an in-house or outsourced telemarketing group to make a high volume of calls, find decision makers and qualify leads for the field sales group.
When telemarketers handle prospecting, salespeople can spend 100% of their time selling and closing. Your company can produce more revenue in the same amount of time; your reps earn more commission, they’re doing what they love, and they’re more satisfied with their jobs.
2. Estimate your call volume. Your call volume drives your headcount, software needs, phone system and the office space you’ll need. If you're thinking about outsourcing, it's the first question any vendor will ask.
First, figure out how many calls you need to make and over what period.
Length of campaign: Do you just need to call a certain number of leaders or is it an ongoing program?
What time zones are you calling? If you're calling nationwide, you have more available hours in the day to place calls.
Are there certain days of the week, month or year that are most important?
Second, estimate how many calls you can complete in an hour -- then you'll have a basic estimate on the number of calls and hours you'll need. Remember that it's tough to get decision makers on the phone. A good rep may only have a handful of quality conversations each hour. Everything else is usually a callback.
Here's a basic back-of-the-napkin hours estimate: Let's say you have a thousand business leads to call and a rep can have four quality conversations per hour. The rep can probably only reach 80-90% of the list cost-effectively. (1000 x .90)/4 = 225 hours of calling to call this list. Now if you have one rep working 25 hours per week at 80% capacity (or 20 true work hours), it will take approximately 11.25 weeks (225/25) to complete the round of calls.
3. Budget for everything! Don't forget the incidentals -- these costs can sneak up on you. And if your budget is skyrocketing, you're going to have a tough time generating a positive ROI. Your budget may include • Headcount • Headsets / phones • Workstations • Extra phone lines (installation & monthly fees) + long distance charges • Software licenses • Bonuses and incentives • Management 4. Develop good scripts and keep fine-tuning. Reps need to capture attention, build value, and close; a good script will help them do it consistently.
Make your scripts conversational, simple, and focused on the end goal.
It helps to make and listen to calls as you’re developing and refining your script. What looks good on paper may not work on the phone.
Get feedback from your team as well.
5. Regular coaching and quality assurance is crucial. Engage your reps, role-play and guide them through calls. Listen to calls regularly, evaluate your reps and coach them to improve their performance. And you should be willing to get on the phone and show them how it's done.
6. Make it fun! Telemarketing is a tough job and turnover is a big issue. It's up to you to keep the energy high -- and if reps are bored or unhappy, it comes through in their voice and results.
Keep spirits up with contests, events, and other incentives.
Make their space comfortable and interesting – tiny cubes, old chairs and windowless rooms don’t put a smile in anyone’s voice.
7. Report your results Define the reports you’ll need before you launch. Your system may not be able to provide all of the data, but you can probably find an alternate solution.
Use reports to consistently evaluate progress and improve your campaigns.
In telemarketing it’s all about execution. Manage your team effectively and devote enough resources to ensure that they're a success!
Do you need a tool to help you determine whether to build a campaign in-house or with an agency? Contact us and we'll send you one.
To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 Use Examples to Encourage
|
| |
 It's well established that good leaders praise their employees, but there are different ways to go about it. As a manager, one thing you can do is to point out to the whole team how well an employee does a certain t...
|
|
Guerrilla Telemarketing
|
| |
 Telemarketing works wonders, but only if you do it right. Guerrillas know exactly how to do it right, and when you read this, you will, too.
|
|
Sales Leads -- Quantity or Quality?
|
| |
Sales leads come in two categories: High quality and not so high quality. The higher the quality, the more certain it is that the sales lead will result directly in a closed sale.
Key question: Should you be goi...
|
|
Use outbound telemarketing to generate leads: Business cold calling does work
|
| |
Create a lead generation team to generate more leads and make your sales reps more effective.
|
|
Creative Uses of Telemarketing for Entrepreneurs
|
| |
The Telephone is the most powerful business tool you have. The question is whether you are using it to its maximum potential? It is a quick, easy and economical way to get results. Other than cold calling to increa...
|
|
|
John Brennan
(Visit John's Website)
John Brennan Ed.D.
Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal
Development, LLC, a training and
development firm. Interpersonal
Development has provided sales training
and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps
from over 100 companies.
A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan
received his doctorate from the University
of Rochester. His dissertation researched
the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling
Technology in training people in
interpersonal skills. While he has spent
most of his career designing or delivering
training, he was also a Vice-President of
Sales of a training and development
franchise with operations in 25 markets.
Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered
sales training in North America, Asia,
Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He
has been a guest speaker at numerous
national and regional professional
conferences.
When Microsoft wanted Best Practices
articles on sales for their web site, they
called Dr. Brennan. The results are at office.microsoft.com/e
n-us/FX011387391033.aspx
His firm’s clients have included Volvo,
The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman
Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the
Economist Group and countless small
businesses.
|
|
 |
|
John Brennan's
Complete
List Of
Sales
Articles
|
|
If you enjoyed this article, get John Brennan's Complete List of Sales Articles For FREE!
|
|
|
|
