Stop Asking To Speak To The Owner

You can follow Ron's advice and get it on the sly. But nearly every company website has that information. And if you are buying a mailing list, it's a "select" that you can usually get.

When you are going after bigger companies and don't know
who the decision maker is, and it's probably not the owner,
then this is what we did to land Puma, and 10 household name brands...

We ask who we should speak to about a very brief
advantage to the company.

They give it out, or very occasionally say "it's me".

So it bypasses having to get a name before you call..

If you try this and it doesn't work,
then what you say is the advantage needs to be looked at again.

Best,
Ewen

That said, go out to local business chamber events and get to know people there

Agreed. And here is why;

Have you ever had a customer start out the call with "how are you?". Neither have I. How about a friend, or supplier that you know? Neither have I.

It's another way of screaming "I'm cold calling, and I don't know how!"

The "Is this a bad time?" is something I say. And you're right...they don't hang up. They ask "What's this about?"

And you're already miles ahead of the vast ocean of bad cold callers.

Ken: are they trained badly? Or are they just ignoring their trainer?

If your joking that is pretty funny.

If your serious ... Shame on you. Your breaking laws
and part of the reason "sales" are associated with "scams"

My 3 cents:

I don't care if they know a name. They have to have a good reason for me to stay on and it better be obvious quite fast.

If you do ask for me by name, you better pronounce it well. If you're not sure, say something like: I'm not sure I'm pronouncing your name right, this is the first time I've come across it.

Then go into the good reason you're calling me.

Lately, I'm getting a bunch of robo calls: have I checked my Google ranking yet? Google requires me to claim...
And live calls that says the same...

Or worse, they say they're from Google.

You don't have to sound polished, you can stumble... once or twice... too much stumbling and I lose interest... a bit of stumbling, I understand...

If I give you a chance to tell me why I should listen to you and decide what you're selling it's not for me, or not at this time, be smart: accept.

In the last year, out of some 100 calls, there's only one guy who did this well... I said, "Sorry, not interested."

He said: "Now or never?"

That stopped me, I said, the next time I might be buying something like that is about 6 months from now.

He said: "Thanks for the info. I'll try again in a few months, then."

And he did, and I'm not ready to buy... But, I got his info, and checked him and his outfit out. When I'm ready, I'll check them again and if nothing's changed with them, I'll try them out.

Short of it:
1. know for a fact that what you sell is something I'd benefit from if I did not have it.
2. Be prepared to tell me why you (I got a lady who was smart enough to drop in. When I asked her why I should use the company she worked for, she said: "We're the best. We'll treat you well." And, since that's what 95 or so out of 100 say, I won't use her.
2b. Since she dropped in, she's standing out... I know her name, I know her company name. She's ahead. Don't know if she's knowledgeable enough to reach to me again with more info... But, unlike people who call or email that I turn down, she's standing out.
3. It helps if you know my name, IF you pronounce it right or know that you might not be.
4. I don't remember being encouraging to one single person who started with anything like "How are you" except the guy who collects for the retired police and firefighters.
5. It's a damn conversation. You can ask me questions if I turn you down, if they take into account what I said.
6. Speaking faster or louder doesn't get you anywhere (I got a lot of people who're selling shares in oil rigs, movies, and large construction projects, or mines who do that).
7. If I ask you to call me next Monday between 10 and 12, don't call me at 9:50 or at 12:05... Only between 10 and 12.

My short of it is long. My excuse: I get a lot of people who call me and don't know basic rules of phone etiquette, let alone selling.

To all of those: your goal should be to have a conversation with me!!!!!!! Not to talk at me.

It's not that cold calling doesn't work. It's that terrible cold calling doesn't work. Direct mail works, in that you'll eventually get a response. But it can get very costly per call...maybe up to a few hundred dollars per inquiry.

And I've tested mailing and then calling. The mailing didn't help at all. I can't imagine (for me anyway) going an hour of cold calling and not get an appointment with a qualified prospect. That time doesn't include putting together the list, and getting the owner's name (I always get the owner's name, and only call small businesses)

Your experience may vary.

It's an extra step, but you could always make a quick call at a time the owner OR marketing person is not likely to be there and ask for their name because you need to know who you should address a letter to. Then call back in a couple of days and ask for them by name.

You know, that may actually work?


Or try;

"I want to speak to the owner. Tell him I'm pregnant"

"May I speak to the owner? I think he's my real father/mother"

Most small business owners work very long hours so ringing after 5 when the gatekeepers have gone home is a good bet. If the owner is the only person left they will answer the phone just in case it's a customer and humans are very much motivated by the trait of loss aversion.

Another ploy is to research your prospect and find out which social media or forums they use and monitor them for activity. If the prospect is still at their business and using social media then they have wound down for the day and checking their posts and replies before they go home.

This is the perfect time to call as they have relaxed and slipped into their real self and suspended their business persona. When you phone start with "Hi is that (prospects name)? By doing this you begin by setting off a "yes set" and gaining compliance momentum.

Your next response is to ask a question which can also be only answered in the affirmative "Hello (prospects first name) it's (your name) from xyz marketing, we're researching potential customers in the area (you're filtering because your product/service is that good) and could you let me know if you use/sell service/product? (which you know full well they do)

The prospect's mind is now on it's way to "yes mode".

Reply "glad I've caught you" (prospect has business gravitas) then proceed into your pitch. Keep it conversational in tone then sign off with something personal about going home after a long day.

Yes, of course they respond differently. My purpose in my posts was to say that business owners (who may also be newlyweds or engaged) are getting bombarded with cold calls. My viewpoint only applies to business owners (who are used to lots of bad cold calls a day), and not people who do not own a business, and are subject to few cold calls.

Also, my experience is only with my own responses, and what happens when I call or get called.

I'm interested in additional profit from more customers. Many business owners are interested in he same thing. But non-business owners are not interested in that.. So the appeals will be different.

I'm a very impatient guy when getting calls. My response may even be unique.
It may not be the best response. Everyone has a different personality. I'm far more transaction oriented than most. Most people are more relationship oriented.

For clarity; Just because someone introduces themselves doesn't mean you know what their intentions are. You HAVE to introduce yourself at first -there's no getting round that - or the prospect will hang up. Perhaps I should have phrased it "why they are calling" instead of "who is calling"

What we are doing in this case is setting a familiarity frame to engage the prospect's curiosity (should they know you?- Do they know you?) as a way of softening the yes set.

You only need three yeses in the first forty five seconds for the set to work.

Humans like the word "yes", we actually get a reward in a part of the brain called the Nucleus Accumbens which mediates access to the part of the limbic brain which deals with decisions.

That is more then a pet peeve, it is a real issue that I see often.

I also see tech illiterate sales reps attempt to use them
because they have heard others use them and
think it makes them sound smart.

All around fail.

The K.I.S.S. method is extremely important when dealing in the tech industry.
... well it is, if you want to make sales.

Well said.