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I Get Cold Called: Tales from a Marketing Manager
Posted by Matt Bertuzzi on Mon, Aug 04, 2008 @ 02:01 PM
I changed careers recently. I went from being a Product Manager for a technology company to a Marketing Manager for a professional services company. One of the immediate "benefits" of my new role was a massive increase in the number of cold calls I receive. Seriously, we are talking a 5x increase. As you would expect, some salespeople I hear from are good, some poor and some rage inducing. I thought I might share how to effectively get my attention when you cold call.
Please Don't: - Say "following up" within the first 10 words in your VM. Your message will be deleted with extreme prejudice. If I wanted to talk to you, I would be "following up" with you.
- Say "calling regarding your interest in the CompanyName whitepaper, webinar, etc." Believe it or not I don't remember the company name of everything I research. I remember what I was searching for. Reference the subject matter of interest to me and then you have my interest.
- Call with your ID blocked. I will never pick up the phone. I mean you know who I am, return the favor.
- Call me repeatedly without leaving a message. I have caller ID, it tells me you phoned me 4 times this AM. When the Red Cross does this, it drives me crazy. And I really like them.
- Leave me a voicemail and then email me immediately. I know you think it is "great, persistent follow-up". I used to do it when I was in Inside Sales and let me tell you, from the other side of the coin, it is annoying.
Please Do: - Spend a few minutes reviewing my website. This is gold. I appreciate that you have a basic understanding of what I do.
- LinkedIn me. Strong play! Yes I used to work with Tom. He is a customer of yours? Small world!
- Send succinct emails. Translation: short & direct. I've read War & Peace. Trust me, you're no Tolstoy.
- Ask me what prompted my interest. When I do take your call and give you permission to start a conversation, ask me why. Don't assume you know my job, needs and challenges. Maybe you have the perfect solution, maybe not. You can't fix what you don't know is broken.
Thanks for listening. Let me know your thoughts on effective cold calling. UPDATE: Check out Trish's post on cold calling: Cold Calling - How To Make It Work
COMMENTS
Matt these are great suggestions for anyone who uses the phone to prospect. Well done! I spend many hours coaching inside sales reps and the two most important pieces of advice I give them are; Before you leave your message, write it down and ask yourself these two questions 1. Is the message all about you or is there something in it for your prospect? 2. Why would they want to return your call? Secondly have a prospecting not a stalking plan. Write out 3 meaningful voice messages and one email message and be sure your email has a strong call to action. Make your 4 attempts to connect with your prospect within 10 – 15 business days. This will create urgency and curiosity around your messaging.
Trafty, That is a great point. I frequently get a single (and very forgettable) voicemail from a salesperson. I do take note, however, when I receive multiple contacts and they reference that they have been trying to reach me. I would 4 attempts definitely remember 4 calls over a couple of week period.
Awesome. If more "almost talented" sales professionals understood these, it would not be so difficult for those that do. My greatest sadness is that companies that manage these salespeople don't understand it is their responsibility, like raising kids, to make sure a clear set of operating protocols are in place for the inside sales team. I wish you had trackbacks enabled, I would point sales folks to this artcle through my own blog.
Voicemails are annoying, aren't they? I actually find that e-mails are more effective because the prospect have the time to reaquaint themselves with our material. Voicemails are made to be ignored. Cheers, Nathan
@michael Thanks for the comment. Feel free to post any links in the comments. @nathan I tend to delete both vm & em. I will say I get far more sales email than voicemail. It really depends on what I am doing the moment I receive it. If I am clearing out my inbox, email stands no chance. BUT email make it much easier to respond to the sales person with a status/interest update.
I enjoyed reading the list of things that set you off with cold callers. They do seem to run in packs, so it is refreshing when one comes across as unique and genuine. I decided to add my own list of ten pet peeves from cold calling on my blog at http://esilverbullet.com/blog/?p=195. Cheers.
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