How to make money real estate

Honk if you Hate Cold Calling

Description:

Seventy percent of all sales cycles last at least 8 months; 68% of customers stop buying because of neglect. It takes 12 “touches” to convert a prospect to a customer. There just aren’t enough hours in a day to propel your pipeline into the stratosphere if you rely on cold-call prospecting only to meet your numbers. v

Content:

In the past 10 years of my sales career, I have not made one cold call. I know that’s blasphemy in the selling world. Yet my client base has grown, I have a large referral network and enough “deal flow” to turn down business that doesn’t suit my picky customer profile requirements.

How did I attain this enviable status as such an independent-minded salesperson? First of all, I’m not so independent; I am quite dependent on the system I use to generate my sales leads. My system just doesn’t happen to depend on cold calling, which I consider to be the worst possible use of my time and the reason so many salespeople hate it.

Sales organizations report that 70% of all sales cycles last at least eight months; 68% of customers stop buying because of neglect; and it takes 12 “touches”--up from seven just a few short years ago--to convert a prospect to a customer. With these stats, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to propel your pipeline into the stratosphere using a prospecting system dependent primarily on cold calling.

If you’re like most salespeople, you typically spend one-third of your time selling (I’m being generous) and two-thirds of your time looking. What would it mean to your take-home pay if you could reverse those fractions? And if you give yourself permission not to cold call anymore, exactly what will you be doing instead?

I’ll tell you. You must have a system that turns contacts into relationships and relationships into results by automating your 12 touches so you cover more ground in a day. To stay on the buyer’s mind, without getting on her nerves in the process, here’s my 90-day, no-fail, no-more-cold-calling solution:

1. Put all your contacts (customers and prospects) into a marketing database to track your touches and manage your sales opportunities. You can’t manage what you can’t track
2. Buy a prospect mailing list, and send out a minimum of 1,000 direct mailings each month
3. Research what’s hot about your service. Use an online keyword search tool to find search words your customers use.
4. Write articles as the subject-matter expert in your field (you are!) for the business and trade press.
5. Post free online press releases
6. Email a “tip of the week” (not a sales pitch) to your list
7. Start a pay-per-click lead generation program on Google or Yahoo
8. Call 5 customers/week and ask for testimonials and referrals
9. Send 1 testimonial to prospects for 5 weeks, and on the sixth letter, ask them to fax you back a convenient appointment time
10. Sponsor a seminar or teleconference with a panel of experts on a topic your customers are dying to know about

Did you honk because you hate cold calling? Then stop! Prospect in a whole new—and more productive—way.

Author: Lori Feldman

About Author:

Lori Feldman is The Database Diva of Aviva. She teaches sales executives and business owners how to profit from contacts they already have using ACT! Software as a sales and marketing tool. The company also offers targeted mailing lists. She is the recipient of the Direct Marketer of the Year award from the DMA of St. Louis and is the founder of the St. Louis ACT! User Group. To get Lori’s free special report, "Make a Million with Your Mailing List," go to www.TheDatabaseDiva.com

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