Sales Tip Of The Week - SalesTrainingCamp.com

Many salespeople tell me they’re intimidated by (a) calling on larger companies, and (b) going to the top on the first call. Cold calling on Fortune 500 companies last week, here’s some information I gathered that you might file away to overcome your reluctance. The following is from just one morning’s calls.

1. A practice I learned years ago from my friend who was the executive assistant (EA) to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company in Manhattan still works. In Fortune 500 companies anyone with a “C” in their title as well as presidents, executive vice presidents, and senior vice presidents don’t take cold calls.

However, their assistants do. Their assistants also know everyone who reports to their boss. These gatekeepers hold the keys to unlock the doors where you want to enter. And every EA is nice and a pleasure to work with. That’s one of the reasons they’re at that position. Without exception, each gatekeeper I talked with was more than happy to not only give me the contact’s name for who makes decisions about my services (usually VP’s and director’s), but connected me directly to their extension.

2. Rarely do the people on the other side of the glass ceiling sign your contracts or get involved with what you sell. But they can certainly refer you down to those who do. And when you tell your referred lead you were sent from above they always listen, are never rude, and allow you to start a relationship with them. And that’s one purpose of the cold call: to start relationships.

3. Getting names and phone numbers is as easy as saying Google and going to the company’s website. And the executives’ names on the site are accurate 99% of the time. In my situation, I want to go to the highest ranking vice president in sales (usually the executive vice president). EVP’s have executive assistants, not voicemail, to take their calls. Being upfront with the EA, I state my purpose and he or she tells me that it is, indeed, the EVP I need to speak with, or perhaps the VP of another division.

On one such call, I was referred to the VP of Corporate Events for a Fortune 500 company based just outside Philadelphia. The EA connected me to the VP, I talked with her, she’s interested in my training, and asked for my press kit and follow-up. “And,” she said before hanging-up, “thanks for thinking of us and making the call. I look forward to the press kit and your follow-up call.”

4. Sometimes the names of the EVP’s or SVP’s you want aren’t on the company’s website. Don’t fret. Go up the chain. Calling a Fortune 500 company based in Dallas I called the president’s office. I explained to the EA that “I’m sure the president is not the one who I should be talking with about my keynote programs at your regional and national sales meetings, but hopefully, you can point me in the right direction.” Certainly, she replied. She connected me to the VP decision-maker, and the VP requested the press kit and follow-up call.

5. A friend of mine who works at another Texas Fortune 500 company that has thousands of salespeople worldwide did some investigating for me. Found out they have five vice presidents of sales and each can make independent decisions about trainers and speakers. Using his internal company directory, he secured the direct numbers of each of the VP’s.

I immediately called each VP. On the first call, the VP answered the phone herself. “Definitely,” she said. “Send me the press kit and follow-up.” On the following four calls, the EA for each VP answered. I stated my case and added that VP (and gave her name), had requested my press kit. “Could I send one to your VP too?” Please do, they all replied.

Will each call lead to a sale? Of course not. But each contact was a cold call that achieved its purpose. I got my foot in the door, started a relationship with people I’ve never met – the people who make the decisions and sign the contract – and set up two more contacts: sending the press kit and making the follow-up call.

How long did each call take? Less than one minute. I dare you to come up with better leads with people from across the country with whom you have never met.

And get this. Not a single person, decision-maker or EA, was ever rude or ever felt put out by me contacting them first.
Lesson? The bigger the company, the more important the person, the nicer they and their assistants are.

It’s your call. Make it.

About The Author:

© 2008 Jerry Hocutt. Get affordable ($25!) sales training at www.SalesWebinarsOnDemand.com. Webinars include Straight Talk If You’re New to Sales: Good Advice I Wish I Had Earlier in My Career and the Cold Calling for Cowards® trilogy.

Jerry Hocutt, author and presenter of the successful Cold Calling For Cowards® series, is now scheduling his speaking events for 2008. If you would like to schedule him for a keynote or break out speaker, please give Eric a call at 509.665.6479

Tradeshow selling is different than any other type of selling. In fact, lots of excellent salespeople don’t perform well on the tradeshow floor because it’s such a different beast.

Generally speaking, the tradeshow floor is a busy, chaotic place. People are scrambling from one booth to another; they’re on a tight schedule or trying to fit in a lot of visits in a short period of time.

Smaller local or regional tradeshows may not have the urgency or chaos of the national b-2-b tradeshows, but they still offer unique challenges.

Often a visitor to your booth is looking for specific information, or to see a brand new product. Could be she’s stopped by spontaneously because something in your message caught her eye.

A salesperson will often feel out of sorts in a tradeshow booth because of the fluid nature; he’s not in control of the situation like he may be in a sales meeting or presentation.

Successful selling in a tradeshow environment often comes easy to promotional and marketing people who are used to dealing with quick-changing scenery and fast-moving people.

First, qualify your visitor. Ask a question, such as ‘do you have pre-school kids?’ if you’re selling software games for that target. Or ‘do you own a home close by?’ if you’re selling a landscaping service. If you’ve successfully qualified your prospect, move on to the next step. If you’ve disqualified them, politely disengage and move on to the next person.

This first step should take just a few seconds. Unfortunately, many typical salespeople will make the mistake of continuing to engage the visitor in a conversation that may last several minutes – which is really a waste of time for both of you.

After you’ve qualified them, peel the onion a bit more: ‘do your kids like to play computer games?’ ‘Have you ever had a professional landscaper work on your property?’

You’ve succeeded in qualifying them deeper. So now, you can move quickly to the action step. For something as simple as a piece of software such as a kids learning game, you may show them the product, or have them play with a demo. In the case of the landscaper, the action step may mean offering them a piece of literature and taking their name and contact information, promising to follow up in a few days.

Certainly there are times when it’s convenient to visit with a show attendee for five or ten minutes, but in the heat of the show when hundreds or thousands of visitors are looking to see what’s available it’s a disservice to your visitors and your company.

1. Qualify (or disqualify) your visitor
2. Dig Deeper
3. Action: move to sale, demo, collect contact info
4. Follow up!

As for following up on your leads, statistics show that almost 80% of tradeshow leads are NEVER followed up on. Just by getting back in touch with your visitor puts you ahead of almost 4 out of 5 of your competitors.

With a planned approach, even a veteran salesman can learn a few new tricks and become a good tradeshow salesman!

Tim Patterson is VP of Sales and Marketing for Interpretive Exhibits in Salem, Oregon. In his 5+ years in his position Tim has worked with numerous clients such as Kettle Foods, Nancy’s Yogurt, Marquis Spas, Natracare, Bi-O-Kleen and more. Tim also hosts IE’s tradeshow-related podcast at www.interpexhibits.com/podcast. Contact: 503.371.9411 or t-patterson@interpexhibits.com.