Art
Siegel

Using A Mailing To Warm Your Telephone Cold Calls

Telephone cold calling can be frustrating, yet it remains a very effective way to build new prospect relationships. The key is to make these calls less "cold." You can increase your cold calling success rate by Using A Mailing To Warm Your Cold Calls. 

For the rest of us, cold calling is a necessary fact of life for finding enough prospects to sustain our sales goals. I don't recall ever meeting a salesperson who really enjoys cold calling, but I have met a few who swear by cold calling as one of their most effective ways to build a customer base. And many of those who benefit from cold calling have learned the importance of paving the way before the call with an effective mailing campaign as part of their three-step cold call sale:

1. Conduct a mailing to prospects.
2. Follow up with telephone calls to schedule appointments.
3. Meet face to face to present and close.

Conducting A Mailing

The simplest mailing consists of just a brochure. However, the most effective mailing, resulting in the most appointments, takes more work. The best mailing consists of these three components:

1. A business envelope with the person's name (not just "owner" or "president") and address individually typed or handwritten
   
   
2. A tailored letter, which is based upon some of the unique information you have about this prospect
   
   
3. Your smallest brochure

Designing the pre-call letter
The ideal letter is one that feels personalized with as little effort as possible. A personal letter has the greatest likelihood of getting through the decision maker's assistant and actually being read by the intended recipient. Below is an example of a personal letter designed to get a prospect's attention and interest in Movietime, a movie-theater advertising service. It is basically a form letter. All that changes from one person to the next are the date, name, address, the first paragraph (which references what the company was advertising) and the names of theaters near the prospect's business in the second paragraph.

__________________________________________________

February 9, 2000

Mr. John Perez
Acme Automotive
345 Westchester Street
Miami, FL 33147

Dear Mr. Perez:

While reading the Miami Herald, my eyes were drawn to the advertisement for your "Tire Tune-up." Clearly you've given a great deal of thought to your customers' needs, and you've designed an ad that should attract a lot of attention.

That is why I thought you would be interested in knowing about Movietime. Movietime is an entertainment slide program that runs during intermissions in Cobb movie theaters throughout Florida. Two of our theaters are located near you: Palm Bay 10 and Palms 8. Patrons arrive at the theater early to get a good seat, relax and eat popcorn. While they wait for the movie to begin, they are entertained by the Movietime slide program. Using bright, clear images that fill the huge theater screen, Movietime tickles their interest with the latest in movie-related trivia, interesting information and quizzes.

Interspersed with the entertainment are advertising slides for local merchants. The entire 80-slide program runs for 13 minutes. During that time, each advertiser's slide appears for 10 seconds every four minutes. This repetition of your advertisement, combined with the fact that there are slides for only 12 advertisers per theater, results in maximum recognition and recall. And we guarantee exclusivity, so none of your competitors will appear in the theaters you select.

Based upon the quality and thought you have put into your advertising, I think you might find Movietime a valuable service. Movietime will deliver you local patrons with high discretionary income -- exactly the kinds of people you want to attract to your business.

When you have a moment, please give me a call to set up a brief meeting. I'll show you some examples of the slide programs and discuss the impact Movietime has had on the sales and profits of other businesses similar to yours.

Sincerely yours,

Phil Jensen

__________________________________________________

Following Up After The Mailing

A few of the people who receive your letter will call you. Most, however, will take no action, even though they are good prospects. That is why it is necessary for you to place follow-up calls to set up appointments.

When you begin a telephone sales call, it is important to remember that the prospect is not as prepared for this conversation as you are. Before you called, the decision maker was doing something -- talking to someone, reading, working with a customer or paying a bill. His mind is still involved in that activity. Thus, your call is an interruption. In the first 60 seconds of the call, you need to get the customer's mind away from whatever he was doing before you called and generate enough interest in your call so he will want to stay on the line.

Below are some techniques you can use to turn many of these follow-up calls into appointments:

• Identify yourself and the name of your company. Never say, "How are you today?" to a stranger. Only salespeople ever say this to people they don't know, so it alerts the prospect that your sole purpose is to sell.
  
  
• Go slowly with your introduction, breaking it into separate sentences. Remember, the prospect is still concentrating on something else. Give her a chance to hear you and understand what you are saying.
  
  
• Tell the prospect why you are calling -- to follow up on the mailing you sent.
  
  
• Inject pauses. Give the prospect an opportunity to speak if he wants to.
  
  
• Don't ask the prospect whether she has read the information or whether she has any questions about it. Because she may not have read it, or has read it but does not remember much, you will only embarrass her with such questions.
  
  
• Refresh the prospect's memory by presenting a brief overview of your company. Personalize this as much as possible by mentioning information you have about his company.
  
  
• As soon as the prospect expresses interest by starting to ask detailed questions, begin to sell the appointment. In order to answer the prospect's questions, you need to know more about her business.
  
  
• Ask for the appointment by giving the prospect a choice between two days. The prospect will likely pick one or come up with a date and time of his own. Do not ask, "When is a good time for you?" Most business owners are too busy to have a "good" time.
  
  
• Throughout the conversation, always listen to the prospect without interruption. The more she says to you, the more she becomes involved in considering the purchase.

Meeting Face To Face

Once you have an appointment with your prospect, don't drop the ball. See if there is anything else you can learn about his business before you meet together. Prepare for the appointment with those examples you mentioned in your mailing. Focus on how your offer can meet this prospect's needs. Then when you meet him, present and close, you will have turned this cold call into a new relationship with a customer.

SeaBird Associates Inc
3011 NE 7th Drive
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-750-9233
E-mail: Art Siegel

About Art Siegel