What's the best time...
Discussion
No idea. Check your target audience carefully. We have a disclaimer on all our websites stating that we are corporate TPS members and will report any cold callers. I am sure your product / service is excellent but we get far to many other tw*ts ringing us up asking if we want x y or z, which is met by a very clear response.
simpo two said:
... to ring corporate folk and to sell them my services? Day of week, morning or afternoon?
I don't enjoy doing it but I need to do some. Unfortunately my most proactive time is about 10pm - not much use!
I don't enjoy doing it but I need to do some. Unfortunately my most proactive time is about 10pm - not much use!
Hi mate! There's no good or bad time to call......but, I've been successful in the past by ringing round after 6.00pm on a Friday. I even had a chat with someone at 8.30pm on a Friday before which lead to a meeting. They are likely to be the only one in and so answer the phone, are probably appreciative of the diversion and there's a sort of kindred spirit between you - the fact that you are both at work when you really should be somewhere else.
BTW - got something coming up I need to talk to you about so will PM you.
I have found the best way is a good old fashioned letter, not an email is usually viewed as spam, phonecalls can arrive just a the wrong moment. Even a brochure in the post is usually met with "whats this sh*t" Make the letter as personal as possible and always take the time to sign each one, it works for us. Best of luck.
Looking at it from the other perspective (as the owner of a business I am targetted by people trying to sell me stuff I don't want), I object to the intrusion into my productive time from cold callers - especially the ones that get through the filters by infering it's a personal call or such like.
What get's my personal attention fastest are letters that have been adressed in hand writing. Doh, I wish I hadn't said that now
What get's my personal attention fastest are letters that have been adressed in hand writing. Doh, I wish I hadn't said that now
TDIPLC said:
Looking at it from the other perspective (as the owner of a business I am targetted by people trying to sell me stuff I don't want), I object to the intrusion into my productive time from cold callers - especially the ones that get through the filters by infering it's a personal call or such like.
What get's my personal attention fastest are letters that have been adressed in hand writing. Doh, I wish I hadn't said that now
What get's my personal attention fastest are letters that have been adressed in hand writing. Doh, I wish I hadn't said that now
I nearly put that but thought it was irrelevant. We hand write all our envelopes, personally when I get a handwritten envelope I think its a cheque from a small client and always open it first. There is something about a handwritten envelope that makes it interesting.
we just send a newsletter regularly 2 or 3 a year with short articles hopefully of interest with a small amount of blurb nothing too engrossing
as for the more personal touch i am afraid i don't have time to personally sign 1500 of them
detest cold calling
have tried the "call after several days following the letter" but nerves got the better of me so i just stopped
also find being on a fairly exclusive trade association list and a number of other "vetted" lists helps
word of mouth is one of the best
Any reasonable time is fine. Your going to get a lot of rejections out of your hundred or so dials a day but persistance is key. Be honest as to the reason your calling and always polite. There is NO substitute to calling prospects by telephone. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply kidding themselves. No succsessful sales person in B2B sales hasn't at one time in their life, cold called. Supporting material before the event is usefull but not essential. If you have a product or service that you genuinly believe can help someone (which I assume is the case) then you have no reason to fear calling them. Most of our best suppliers started their relationship with us by telephone. One last thing, always get your data TPS checked. Not all that many businesses register for TPS but there are fines and if they've registered its for a reason. It will most likely be very small organisations that represent poor prospects anyway.
griffgrog said:
Any reasonable time is fine. Your going to get a lot of rejections out of your hundred or so dials a day but persistance is key. Be honest as to the reason your calling and always polite. There is NO substitute to calling prospects by telephone. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply kidding themselves. No succsessful sales person in B2B sales hasn't at one time in their life, cold called. Supporting material before the event is usefull but not essential. If you have a product or service that you genuinly believe can help someone (which I assume is the case) then you have no reason to fear calling them. Most of our best suppliers started their relationship with us by telephone. One last thing, always get your data TPS checked. Not all that many businesses register for TPS but there are fines and if they've registered its for a reason. It will most likely be very small organisations that represent poor prospects anyway.
Mmmmm don't agree, We registered with TPS to stop upto 100 annoying phonecalls a week. If I want a new photocopier, computer, franking machine, software etc etc I will go and look for one. I sure as hell won't buy one from somebody on the phone.
If we get coldcall email we trash it.
If we get coldcall phonecalls we use to say , "sorry not interested" now we just cut to the chase and tell them to "f*ck off" and report them, not very professional but neither is cold calling.
If we get a letter we toss it to one side, and then in a quiet moment read it, if it is of genuine interest we usually buy the product.
Edited by jamesuk28 on Sunday 21st January 20:21
Edited by jamesuk28 on Monday 22 January 12:10
griffgrog said:
Any reasonable time is fine. Your going to get a lot of rejections out of your hundred or so dials a day but persistance is key. Be honest as to the reason your calling and always polite. There is NO substitute to calling prospects by telephone. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply kidding themselves. No succsessful sales person in B2B sales hasn't at one time in their life, cold called. Supporting material before the event is usefull but not essential. If you have a product or service that you genuinly believe can help someone (which I assume is the case) then you have no reason to fear calling them. Most of our best suppliers started their relationship with us by telephone. One last thing, always get your data TPS checked. Not all that many businesses register for TPS but there are fines and if they've registered its for a reason. It will most likely be very small organisations that represent poor prospects anyway.
I know it's annoying receiving the cold calls (I have to do a lot of that at the moment), but my ideal scenario is a short outline of the proposition, then a follow-up call a week later. It is annoying as hell to receive the call, but then I've built some 70-odd multi-million pound prospects on the back of doing this since moving jobs in July. If I hadn't then I would have no prospects at all as I moved industries, and the new company's database was diabolical.
Typically when I am prospecting, I work roughly between around 10.00-16.00 for making the calls. I like to let people get to work, settled, first coffee of the day done. Equally don't drag too late into the day. Monday's are usually worse, I find things improve through the week, with Friday's usually being the day to hit the better prospects as they'll often chat for longer and in more depth.
That said, I'm trying to set up a small consultancy to move to working for myself over the course of the next year, and my initial thoughts in terms of marketing are based around succint letters to the target audience, possibly a brief A5 flyer to warm things up in advance. Once up and running I am aiming to remain fairly exclusive and will expect a lot of opportunities to come from word of mouth. I do hope that I will not need to rely heavily on teleprospecting.
Difficult to say without knowing who you are targeting. But, depending on who you are trying to target, persistance really is the key.
If you need to talk to the decision maker at a firm, then you may find all day long a secretary will just say 'he/she is not interested - but you could phone at 6pm and find the MD picks the phone up as other staff gone home! - I have had this happen!
Knowing the name of who you need to speak to is also going to be a big help in getting the correct person on the phone. e.g. If Mr Smith is responsible for purchasing, by phoning up confidently asking for Mr Smith, you are more likely to get hold of them than by saying 'can i speak to the person responsible for purchasing'.
If you have no luck getting past the receptionist, try and get the decision makers name - then next time you call ask for that person with confidence. Experience has shown that this will improve your chances of getting through.
Often your toughest job is getting past the receptionist - as already mentioned, offices get loads of these calls every day (I must get at least 2/3 a day) and so my staff are well trained in knowing when to tell people to f off!
Would generally avoid 1st thing monday though! usually lots going on.
If you need to talk to the decision maker at a firm, then you may find all day long a secretary will just say 'he/she is not interested - but you could phone at 6pm and find the MD picks the phone up as other staff gone home! - I have had this happen!
Knowing the name of who you need to speak to is also going to be a big help in getting the correct person on the phone. e.g. If Mr Smith is responsible for purchasing, by phoning up confidently asking for Mr Smith, you are more likely to get hold of them than by saying 'can i speak to the person responsible for purchasing'.
If you have no luck getting past the receptionist, try and get the decision makers name - then next time you call ask for that person with confidence. Experience has shown that this will improve your chances of getting through.
Often your toughest job is getting past the receptionist - as already mentioned, offices get loads of these calls every day (I must get at least 2/3 a day) and so my staff are well trained in knowing when to tell people to f off!
Would generally avoid 1st thing monday though! usually lots going on.
Edited by timja on Monday 22 January 00:11
Our telesales chap got me an hour with the e-commerce director of hsbc last week, we are seeing two equally high profile people this week.
We buy lists, write them a nice, not very selly letter then follow it up with phone calls. Our chap is very persistant and very good at it. We do not do a hard sell.
The first meeting is usually just an informal chat which hopefully reveals something of interest which we follow up over time.
The key to this is being organised, knowing when to call people back, not giving up (but then knowing when to give up).
A bit of luck helps
D
We buy lists, write them a nice, not very selly letter then follow it up with phone calls. Our chap is very persistant and very good at it. We do not do a hard sell.
The first meeting is usually just an informal chat which hopefully reveals something of interest which we follow up over time.
The key to this is being organised, knowing when to call people back, not giving up (but then knowing when to give up).
A bit of luck helps
D
timja said:
If you have no luck getting past the receptionist, try and get the decision makers name - then next time you call ask for that person with confidence. Experience has shown that this will improve your chances of getting through.
Often your toughest job is getting past the receptionist - as already mentioned, offices get loads of these calls every day (I must get at least 2/3 a day) and so my staff are well trained in knowing when to tell people to f off!
Edited by timja on Monday 22 January 00:11
Although a nuiscance, when you know how to deal with reception/secretaries and the like, they can become your biggest ally. I'm chasing down an opportunity for the back end of the year with the largest leisure company in the UK, and having spoken to the Head of Procurement's secretary time and again we had a nice chat about Xmas, she then reeled off his mobile number and told me to pester him until he picks up! (I won't do that, but if I kept working that tact with her, I bet I'd get his credit card details! - Seth Godin - Permission Marketing)
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