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Cold calling? Even the phrase ‘cold calling’ strikes the fear of dread into many a sane person, macho recruiters included.
Contrary to popular belief. Cold calling isn’t dead and unlikely to be so anytime soon.
As I am amusingly reminded by Sharon at every marketing presentation I make apparently I love to utter this important phrase; “at some point, somebody has to pick up the phone!”
Do we still need to prospect on the phone?
You wouldn’t think so if you spend any time at all surfing on Google. The holy grail is that cold calling no longer works at all #nottrue. I have the proof to back that statement up too.
What does annoy me at the moment is the way everyone jumps on the internet marketing push button bandwagon!
Of course, social media is incredible, yes inbound lead generation is where we all want to be heading. However, some time-tested strategies still work amazingly well, and telephone selling is one of them.
The data on phone prospecting
From my own experience of being involved with sales over a lifetime. For every 100 dials, you make on a good day you will probably get into a conversation with anywhere between 10-5 potential new clients (let’s set the intention here), depending on your skill level, confidence and market sector.
From those calls, you will either take a number to the next stage or close them on the call.
Similar data for the Buyers Cycle, isn’t it? Remember only 3% of our ‘prospects’ are ready to buy now. The rest aren’t yet at that stage. Their pain isn’t intense enough, or they have bigger priorities or are gathering data on what they want.
What is the secret Denise?
Glad you asked! The secret is turning a cold call into warm and recognising which is which.
Here is where ‘modern online marketing helps.’
Let’s use recruitment as an example. As an illustration, let’s pretend we are looking for a new admin team member.
First start I am going to research online. [ Hint: Remember you are being checked out all the time. Ae your potential candidates and clients seeing what you want them to?]
I might do a keyword research or hop onto LinkedIn or ask a friend for a referral. I reach their website, and there are a number of interesting posts on recruiting an admin team member.
Now one of our challenges ( real by the way) [ hint this is the content you need to be writing about for your sector] is recruiting in a rural location.
I start reading their content and shares on LinkedIn. I sign up for their emails, and then they share a new report with me.
Happy days the recruiter in question has a free report right up my street called;
“How to hire exceptional talent in a rural area; even if you have had disasters before.”
I download the report, and it’s useful.
Here is the secret.
This recruiter has positioned themselves to me as an authority in their sector. A few days later they give me a call.
What do you think my reaction is?
It’s positive.
Why?
They have given me value first. They understood my problem. Therefore, I am open to having a conversation.
Have I said yes straight away? No… and who do you think will be in the mix when I make my decision? Exactly. It’s human nature, isn’t it?
Do you see how old school and new school work together?
Are you using this strategy to make your cold calls…warm?
Surprisingly not many recruitment companies do.
They might have an eBook or white paper available or hidden somewhere on their site. They then expect people to download it and then get in touch spontaneously.
Remember that is likely to be 3% only who are ready to buy immediately.
I’m not arrogant, and I know a few lightbulbs will have gone on around the Globe with this one.
[I sign up for reports newsletters etc. from recruitment companies every day and in 7 years not one has called or emailed me!]
As soon as the next 5 minutes you could jump into your email provider and get to work contacting warm leads.
Important
To accelerate your marketing at speed, you need to know your starting point and be clear on what good marketing looks like.
That is why we have designed a complimentary Marketing Audit Checklist that you can download here.
