Trouble with getting a hold of store owners

I'm always at my store, but unless you know my name...and you ask for "the owner"....I'm not there. You need to know the owner's name.

Claude summed up one of the biggest problems you will face.

Now related to this is the point that you need to talk to the right person not the owner. The owner man be the right person but will not always be.

So the choice is to do research and be able to ask for the right person or you could simply ask who to talk to. Depending on what you sell and what you sound like on the phone one may work better than the other. But both will work better than just calling up to ask for the owner. Nothing screams salesman like asking for the owner.

Also rather or not the owner is the right person to talk to he still may not be there.
He may run multiple stores or businesses.
He may be semi retired and seldom in the store.
He may be a hands-off owner who lets his management team run the business.
There are a load of reasons he may not actually be there.

So take the time before or during the call to find out who you should speak with. And from that point forward ask to speak with them by name.

Be confident even when you are asking questions. Remember you can be confident and unsure. If you do not speak with authority they will not let you speak to someone in authority.

And finally be real. In this world where everyone promotes scripts and magic bullets it's hard to believe that being real and genuine is best.

If you have any skills at selling you will be better off without a script. Scripts are for closers who don't know how to sell (closing and selling can be two different skills). It gets them into a position where they can close high probability prospects. Once they get a prospect to a certain point they know how to close them.

They actually "work" very few calls. Most calls are designed to qualify out people as fast as possible It is "numbers game" selling. It works but a guy worried after 60 calls IMO is not ready to play the "numbers game". So I don't think now it's the right game for you.

60 dials? Not enough.

It looks like you haven't done much research on calling methods, which you can through this forum.

If a store owner is more than a small business owner (and there is another choice!), they won't be spending much time there. To multiply their efforts--assuming they didn't get into the business to "buy themselves a job"--they need to be somewhere else. That's why they hire a General Manager to run it for them.

What you need to do is find an influential gatekeeper, and ask them when the owner is most likely to be in. Calendar that time and call back then. Some won't give you a time. Some will. But expecting to get put through on your first attempt? Unlikely.

Your other option is to find the key influencer, like that GM, and talk to them first.

One on one contact is effective and works for many, but it is a tough slog, and takes special people with practiced training.

Why not ask yourself, what other people ALREADY have a relationship with your target market(store owners), then partner with those people. Or even what other people/companies are working on having relationships with your market? Warm introductions are much much easier.

Ask yourself, who has relationships with store owners already, that may want to solidify their relationship and grow their business? accountants? lawyers? distributors? vendors? manufacturers? insurance people? bankers? landlords?

Partner with those types of people and do some wholesale deal w/ them, maybe offer them a discounted deal on one of your services, that they can offer their prospects/customers for free(maybe a simple mobile site). Then you walk in warm and expand your service offerings. The people/companies who are working on selling your target market are especially hungry to get their business and might be more receptive to offering a part of your service 'free' to their prospects to get in the door, thus bringing you in on their coattails.

Eat24, a restaurant delivery service just recently partnered with Yelp, and instantly got 1,000 restaurant sign-up requests. How long would it take them to get a hold of 1,000 restaurant decision-makers and sign them up on their own? Using your numbers, calling 60, talking to 2. That's 30,000 calls minimum if you were so good, you closed 100% of them. Take a closing rate of 20% if you are zig ziglar, and that'd be 150,000 calls, 10% closing rate? 300,000 calls. Eat24 said they expect to QUADRUPLE the number of restaurants they service by the end of the year.

It's a way of outsourcing your 'cold calling' part of your sales force or marketing lead gen. No need to only be a cold callin warrior, but consider partnering with complimentary businesses that have a similar target as you.

Warm call. The pro looking mail goes in the garbage.

- Get a white envelope
- Hand write the contact persons name and address
- Place your pitch in the envelope
- Mail it
- It will get opened because it looks like it's from someone they know personally (don't mark personal) Just the name and addy. Woman's handwriting is better.
- Call that person after you know they received the pitch and speak to them about the letter you sent them
- If they have a gatekeeper and they ask tell them you sent Joe Blow a personal letter and you're calling to follow up
- If you can get weird stamps even works better

Think about it. What mail do you keep, what mail do you garbage?

Try calling early in the morning (7 to 8am) and later at night (7 to 8pm).

Also try researching for a business owners name by googling at the very minimum.

60 dials is the minimum amount of activity you should be doing each day.

If it were 600 then maybe you would have a reason to reconsider what you are doing. You have a long while to go before then.

This might be a radical idea to some who thing cold calling
is the be all and end all of everything (what a laugh that is).

Perhaps you could consider using another first approach
so that you get those business owners eager to contact
you first or at least eager to talk to you when you call.

You can do that with well designed direct mail, email,
even by personally dropping something into the store.

You could also work on being introduced to business owners
by someone they know and trust (their accountant for
example or a retired business person with contacts...even
a local elected council or government member).

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

John, In my business which supplies paper receipt rolls to store owners
the phone script goes like this...

"Hi Sally, who should I be talking to there about
getting you people a better deal on [X]?"

Come up with your strong "what you get".

The common reply is the persons name and then I ask...

"When is the best time to catch him in?"

The bigger companies tend to get me transferred straight away.

The real key is having that big advantage you
can offer. Your tone and strength on the call becomes
your pathway to speaking to the decision maker.

This is the most successful method we use to land the
#1 brands in different categories as well as small shops.

Best,
Ewen

There are some great replies to this thread, awesome answers.Like the original poster, I was experiencing the same problem, initially.So I know how he feels. What I found was that phone calling doesn't work ( too easily dismissed) whereas a call in person and by being polite definately does.

From experience, I am UK based, but the principle would apply in most other places I am sure, most business owners are best approached either before 11am, or between 3&5pm in the afternoon.

If you are dealing with Retail fast food outlets, then the period just after they have opened, say 5.30~ 6.30pm should find them approachable. I have been having good sucess with this myself, plus it gives them a chance to 'buy' you

As someone else has rightly put, be open, genuine and honest. It will always go down well and use phrases such as, would it be okay with you, to see you next XXX or is XXX better for you.Your responses will be much improved.

Applied education is the difference

Stuff something heavy and substantial into the envelope.