Stop Asking To Speak To The Owner

by 61 replies
85
I own a retail store. I'm the guy you guys call every day. So.....

It happened again, a few minutes ago.

Ring...ring...

"Hello, may I speak to the owner or manager?"

Me; "No". And I hung up.

If you don't know my name, don't call me.

Do you know who asks to speak to the owner? Solicitors who I don't want to talk to. Nobody else. Usually, I just hang up without saying a word. And you know what? You have already killed any chance of my listening to you.

In my retail store, we get dozens of calls a day.

About half of them have two things in common;

There is a 3 second delay, which means you are using an auto dialer...and we hang up. Or...

You ask to speak to the owner or manager...in which case..we hang up.

Want to talk to me? Ask for me by name. Do you know who knows my name? Friends, suppliers, people I like. At the very least, you'll have ten seconds to screw the call up. And if you aren't incompetent...I may buy something.

Do you know who just asks a question, without asking for the manager or owner? Customers. I am conditioned to take that call, and answer that question. And so is the owner of every other business. Maybe you should read that again.

I still cold call occasionally. And I always know the owner's name. And they nearly always take my call. (assuming they are there)

By asking for the owner...you are screaming at me..
"I'm a cold caller that knows nothing but the name of your business...and I don't know how to do this".

Ask for me by name, and then tell me what you can do for me. And you know what? I may buy. Because if you own a business...buying stuff is half of what you do..

Class dismissed.
#offline marketing #owner #speak #stop
  • Great post Claude ... Question what is the best way to get the name of the biz owners.
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
  • This is such an important point. Many people will think "Geez, how do I find the first names of the business owner? Is there a database or do I pay someone to look at the website when they are scraping leads of random businesses?"

    If those thoughts are going through your mind, I have just diagnosed one of your biggest problems in sales.

    Pay attention to what Claude says. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. If your goal is to sell to businesses, you simply must be out there getting to know your market. Networking, community, fundraising events are all great places to get to know people. These places are just teeming with your potential market. Most business people attend at least a few events of some type per year.

    To make a living from your social capital, you must build it up first. Sure, get on the phone to get a few clients. It is much, much more effective if you have actually met the person and pre-qualified them during a short talk at an event. You could be meeting 15-20 strong new leads per week. And once you get going, you will be invited to and introduced to many more groups.

    "Let me speak to the owner" is not a way to make friends. Getting out there and shaking hands is.
    • [ 4 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • 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
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • That said, go out to local business chamber events and get to know people there
  • #truth.

    I can tell you a couple of stories about how important getting a name was to me back in the day. Eighteen years ago I was hitting the phones and pounding the pavement doing sales... the Internet wasn't what it is today, few businesses had websites, most of the states didn't have their division of corporations online yet, and there weren't sites like LinkedIn or Facebook where you could look up who the owner of a business was and know everything you need to know to start a conversation. We had to be creative then.

    The one I used the most would probably get you arrested today.

    "Hey, this is Joe with [the phone company], this is just a courtesy call to let you know we'll be working on the pole in your area and your phone service may be down for a few minutes this afternoon. The cut-over is at 3pm and service should be back on by 3:02pm. Can you verify the name on the account so I can mark down in my system that you've been notified?"

    They always said the name. Then I'd repeat it back, and say "Thanks, is [he/she] the owner of the business?" Usually it was yes. The rest of the time it was "No, that's [the owners name]". Even if they only gave me a first name, that's all I needed.

    The next day I'd call back and ask for the owner by name.

    Oh, one other trick, when I was doing the door to door thing and selling more expensive items to larger companies, I would head over during business hours and check to see if there were any reserved spaces. If they had names on them, the best spot was always the person in charge. If there were no reserved or marked spaces and I couldn't get the front desk girl to give up the names, if it was a deal I really wanted a few times I wrote down the license plates of the most expensive cars in the parking lot and paid the $25 to look them up at the tag office. If it wasn't the person on top, it was usually one of the executives.
    • [ 6 ] Thanks
  • Priceless and so true as well! HAHA

  • Priceless and so true as well! HAHA

  • Agreed. And it's not hard to find the owner's name for SMBs. Many times I find the owner's name on their website. If not there, then Manta.com or the local Chamber of Commerce site will have it.
  • Whatever :rolleyes:

    I said "Hi Claude" ... and you almost hung up on me
    and you were expecting my call

    Having the proper name does help. No doubt about it.
    I agree with you with what your saying ... Mostly ... well sorta ... almost.

    You and I and people of our ilk have our own set of rules
    and things we look for when we answer the phone.

    Like a spidey sense, half the time we know it's a sales call before we
    answer the phone.

    So we cant honestly use our experiences in a situation like this
    and attach it to the masses.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Also, as soon as you cold call someone and say, "how you doin today?" you're dead. As soon as I hear someone I don't know start with that, the first thing I think is how the hell am I going to get off this call.

    I've always instructed my callers to say,

    "Hello ________ , did I catch you a bad time?"

    Answer is usually, "Yes, I'm busy."

    "I understand, when is a good time to call back?"

    "Well, what is this about?"

    Then, you're in. A much better way to start off.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • 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?
      • [1] reply
  • "How many can I put ya' down for? A lot? Please say a lot. I need this..." -'Ol Gil (The Simpsons)
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Yeah that "How are you doing today" is so lame , even though I understand thats how so many were taught to start a conversation.

    It annoys me because if they have something good for me I would just prefer they let me know about it as soon as possible. No need to pretend to care how I am doing right now cuz if you got something that will help me Im doing great otherwise Im kinda ticked off that you are playing games.

    For fun sometimes, when a salesperson calls with this opening I like to say something like
    "Well my hemorrhoids are flaring up and Im coughing up blood"
    in a total deadpan way just to see how they react.
  • I was joking but realize that too many might think I was being serious...
    • [1] reply
    • 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"
  • How do you know they aren't customers? I feel like I'm missing something here.
  • Very well put. I have been speaking to a few people I know who run their own businesses in Thailand. They all told me the same thing; the amount of cold calls they get and the same generic emails everyday is just tiring and pisses them off, so unless you know their name, they will just tell you to "f" off! (not my words).

    Pretty hard to stand out from the crowd when everyone is trying to sell something, but by knowing someone's name and changing your mentality to actually "helping" that person, you'll stand a much better chance of arranging a meeting or perhaps getting some work.

    At the end of the day, we're all in business to make money, and if you're into SEO like me, forget about building links (no business owner cares about your super-duper PR links), and let your client know that you can generate more business for them.
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Nice job.. I want that too..
  • This thread tells me that business owners are cold called on ALOT, and have have heard it all. It also seems to imply that cold calling is an uphill and difficult task and that most are unsuccessful at even getting a business owner to have a conversation.

    My question is this...

    what about a simple, non-hypey direct mail letter (or sequence of letters) that addresses your problem with a solution....??

    (The letter is hand addressed, and addresses you by name in the letter.)

    Would that get your attention and prompt you to take an action? (i.e. call the guy back) Do you get much direct mail like that?
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
  • How much do you and Ken pay someone to say "I'm sorry Mr. Riffle, I don't know when he will be back today."?




    --------------

    Getting the name right is a very good point. My last name consists of
    two very easy words and all my life people get it wrong. They
    always add an extra letter or syllable or two. While it only riffles me a
    little tiny bit, it did make me considerate about getting peoples' names right.

    Over the years I have noticed how much people appreciate the effort - actually
    the rare effort - to get their name correct. It's the only name they have and it is
    rude when the service person or sales person has a "whatever" attitude about
    somebody's name.

    It's led to conversations about their family history and name meaning and so on.
    It's goes especially well when you get the pronunciation and spelling right the first time.

    Dan Beizgrowerer

    (Sorry, long day here.)
  • The easiest way to get the decision maker's name is using the who.is registry and looking at the 'Registrant Contact' field. (WHOIS Search, Domain Name, Website, and IP Tools - Who.is)

    9/10 that is the business owner's name.

    If the owner isn't in (which is often the case), move on as fast as possible.

    The less dead time you minimise waiting for the dial tone, dealing with gatekeepers, voicemails and disconnected numbers, the more productive 'selling' conversations you'll have by default. In a two or four hour calling session that compounds to be a significant time saving. It's also why I recommend that you NEVER dial manually. Why waste time? Time is SO precious. Aside from your skill in qualifying and selling, it is the only limiting factor to your income in sales. Use a 4 line predictive dialler or at the minimum use the Callfire autodialler.

    Easiest way to move on?

    'Okay then I'll call back later thank you bye *click*' (note the lack of commas. that's how you say it)

    Don't leave a message, don't answer their questions, just move on to the next dial. The longer the gatekeeper has you on the line the more opportunity she has to pigeon hole you and tell you that she doesn't think there's a fit and you shouldn't call back because the owner wouldn't be interested. She won't remember you when you call her back if you quickly excuse yourself like this either.
    • [ 5 ] Thanks
  • Thanks Claude for this your perspective - It is a nice little insight for those of us who cold call.
  • This makes me want to call your store and ask for the owner...

    ...soon.

    Edit: Great seeing you again, sir. (and Aaron and Tom and Jason)
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Or the other one that I would recommend is asking for someone responsible for marketing. We found out through many trials that the owner/manager may oversee the operation but they don't necessarily always handle the marketing aspect for their business.
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
  • Good post Claude. We live in a world where people have tons of channels to get what they're looking for (and where vendors should be).

    Still with that, some vendors they try to force things over and over.
  • This would work:

    "Hello. May I speak to that devilishly charming and handsome owner or manager?"
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • 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"
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Great thread! I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
      • [1] reply
  • If someone calls and does not answer when I say hello I hang up right away. It is a dead sign it is someone trying to sell me something.
  • Yes, it sounds like you're writing about a segment. A small segment. A very small segment.

    In fact, you wrote about how you'd respond. A segment of one.

    Regardless, isn't that newlywed who happens to be a small business owner, still the same small business owner getting pitched?
    Put another way: You'd hang up regardless if you were now a newlywed or divorced or married.
    It's about the person, not their relationship status.

    Which is why you could write about what you, the person, does.
    Whereas another person, another business owner, may respond differently. And they do, don't they?

    Then a fence is only as good as its weakest link.

    Besides which that whole "yes momentum" is a crock. Saying 45 yesses in 45 seconds doesn't condition the recipient to more easily say yes to the close.

    The reason it's been observed that successful sales calls have a pattern of small yesses is because they were agreeable to buying.

    You've just changed the scenario from what you presented it as previously. Previously you had the caller identifying themselves and the purpose of the call so the business owner could reasonably conclude this wasn't going to be a potential customer asking questions:

    My new rule for myself this year is that I don't respond further to posts where the story changes or new facts are later introduced which changes everything, because it makes any previous thought and effort in replying a waste of time.
    • [2] replies
    • 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.
      • [1] reply
  • Hey Claude - just wanted to pop in and say that I bought and read your Selling Local Advertising book and I appreciated what it taught me. I'm a new salesperson selling 12x9 postcard ad spots right now, so I need all the education I can get. Thanks for sharing.


    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • My biggest peeve as a business owner was tech people calling me to sell me tech stuff and using acronyms for everything to sound smart.

    ERP, CRM, SAAS, MRP, CMS, etc.... they try and sell me technology vs. benefits of technology.

    I usually responded with GTFO.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Every ERP website I've seen does not even explain what ERP means.
  • It's so simple to find a business owner's name nowadays, anyone who's asking for the "owner" is just lazy and in-effective.

    LinkedIn,
    Google +,
    Local Chamber of Commerce
    Secretary of state website
    Or if all else fails - Googling "who owns______"
    • [1] reply
  • Banned
    *misconfigured dialers.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Hey Claude,

    Solid advise.

    We haven't started cold calling just yet, but we have an objective to be able to create a base website design on our own servers that we will then present to business owners as an introduction.

    I knew from experiences with other business owners they hated when someone asked for the manager. Having an actual name changes everything, especially when you say it politely and don't act too macho.

    Justin Lewis
  • It's been a while since I cold called.

    And I hated any subterfuge ("Hi, how are you?", "Can I have 2 minutes of your time?" "Would you be interested in increasing your number of new clients?" blah...blah..blah...).

    So I had a brainwave and just started asking...

    "Would you like to buy some advertising?"

    Sometimes I turbo charged it and said...

    "Would you like to buy some very cost effective advertising?"

    And yes, with both questions I got a lots of F*** off's.

    But a surprising number of "Tell me more..."

    And when that happened 8 out of 10 bought.


    Steve


    P.S. The only snag was I was actually selling washing machines - only joking.

    Another interesting thing happened with my infamous questions.

    I should have, but didn't always know the name of the business owner.

    But when I asked my questions, if it wasn't the owner who answered the person who did would normally say -

    "No I can't buy any advertising, you need to speak to (name of owner)" and if they were available they would normally put me through.
  • Great thread! thanks guys and girls for all the great stuff
  • This is some great info guys. I'm not a professional cold caller (if there is such a title) but with these tips I'm definitely more prepared.
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