Big Day at the Sales and Sales Management Blog
as We Celebrate Our 500th Post
And that post is Joanne Black’s “There No Such Thing as a Warm Call” continuing our Referrals/Word of Mouth Marketing week
Tomorrow Dr. Martin Russell discusses “Marketing Is What You Do When Your Product Is No Good”
and finally, on Friday I up with “Your Connections are Your Key to Your Success”
Stay tuned in next week as a great list of experts—Jeb Blount, Nigel Edelshain, Cindy King and Ardath Albee give great guidance on “Prospecting and Social Media”
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There’s No Such Thing as a Warm Sales Call
By Joanne S. Black
A sales call is either cold or HOT. Fortunately, there is a way to make nothing but hot calls, with a fantastic rate of return. The secret is referrals.
If you’re like most salespeople—when you receive a qualified referral, you convert a sales prospect to a paying client well more than 50 percent of the time. In fact, more like 70 or 90 percent of the time. In addition:
• You’re pre-sold
• You have credibility
• You shorten your sales process, and
• You ace out the competition
Not only are referred clients more profitable, but also they are the first to refer you to others. Make referral selling your sales prospecting strategy, and you will dramatically increase your sales, your revenue, and your profits.
The Definition of a Referral: An Introduction
The only way to make HOT calls is when you receive a personal introduction. The prospect knows who you are and is expecting your call. This is the definition of a qualified referral—and the only definition.
There are many things written about different types of referrals—it’s one kind of referral if you have a name, another if you have a reference, another if you’ve been introduced. No. There’s only one kind of referral—and it requires that you have a personal introduction.
Salespeople often delude themselves into thinking they are making “warm sales calls” when in fact, they’re actually making cold calls.
Consider the following situations:
• You call someone because you got their name came from a colleague or friend. Cold!
• You call someone and then follow up with a letter. Cold!
• The person’s name came from a specific list. Still cold!
Cold Calling is Bad Math
These are all cold calls—the person doesn’t know you and is not expecting your call. Even though you think you’ve been able to avoid sounding like a telemarketer, this type of call is still cold. And cold calling is a numbers game. If we make 100 calls, we’ll talk to about 20 people, schedule 10 appointments, and if we’re lucky, close one new deal. That’s a 1 percent return on our time.
Whether it’s direct mail, making a phone call, or unsolicited email, this is spam. Why bother with a sales system that gets such dismal results? Your time is worth more.
Every salesperson and sales executive will agree that referrals are the best business—nothing else comes close. Yet, when I ask this same group if they have a targeted sales strategy to build their business through referrals—with a written referral plan, weekly referral goals, and a way to track and measure referral results… silence. On one hand, referral business is unsurpassed; and on the other, salespeople do not have a consistent referral-sales strategy. It’s common sense, but not common practice.
Five Tips to Make the Shift from Cold to HOT
1. Make a list of everyone you know—current clients, past clients, peers, neighbors, service providers, friends, past co-workers, volunteer groups, etc. You should have at least 100 names. Prioritize the list so that the people that you know the best are at the top of your list.
2. Set a goal and decide how many people you will contact each week. Arrange in-person meetings whenever possible (face time matters).
3. Tell your referral sources that you are building your business through referrals and would like their help. Describe your ideal client and ask for one or two people who meet your description.
4. When your referral source makes a suggestion, find out as much as you can about the prospect and his company.
5. Then ask your referral source to make the introduction. The introduction could be by phone, in person, or by e-mail.
Start thinking about how you spend your time and the type of payoff you want. Get that treasured introduction. Get HOT! Get referrals!
Joanne Black is a leading authority on referral selling and the founder of No More Cold Calling. She is the author of No More Cold Calling™, The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust from Warner Business Books. For more information, visit www.NoMoreColdCalling.com. Phone: 415-461-8763 | joanne@nomorecoldcalling.com
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