LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
In
my office, I have a fabulous collection of framed autograph pictures of
movie stars like Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Farah Fawcett, Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Barrymore and even talk show host Jerry
Springer (Mr. Cold Call was a former employee of the show during the
early 1990's). Those who enter my office for the first time, both
business contacts and friends, say, "WOW! How did you get those
pictures!" You should see their eyes and how they light up like a light
bulb. I’ll tell you one thing; it’s a great ice-breaker! Keep reading.
Then
I thought to myself, "What a great idea!" Are you asking yourself, what
is he talking about?" Then it hit me, why not contact sales prospects
who have been either pictured or quoted in an online or offline medium.
A few more detailed examples include the following:
People On The Move Sections
Industry Leaders profiled on a website or in a newspaper or magazine
Names mentioned in advertisements
Awards found in press releases
Management listed on company websites
Why
contact these people? This approach helps to reduce and remove your
prospect’s level of resistance. It helps to make the dreaded task of
cold calling actually FUN and something to look forward to each day!
You will find that utilizing this approach helps to change your
prospects attitude in a more favorable way. I mean people buy from
people they like and people love to buy. Also, why wouldn’t these
people take your call? I mean, who doesn’t like to being recognized? We
all want our 15 minutes of fame right? This philosophy ties into Andy
Warhol’s most famous words, "In the future everybody will be famous for
15 minutes!" So, I’m proposing that anyone in sales seriously consider
using this technique. So let me guess, you are really excited now
right? What now? How do you get started? Keep reading.
Great
sources to find these leads include your local newspaper, a local or
national magazine or even your local business journal! Be creative in
your search, use www.google.com or www.yahoo.com to locate specific
opportunities to find additional leads. You will never have any problem
finding these types of leads and you will never run out of places to
look. That’s another reason why I love this approach, the opportunities
are endless!
One
of most strategic places to begin your search is to visit
www.prnewswire.com. What exactly is this site and why use it? PR
Newswire is a press release service that companies use to distribute
their news to large media outlets. What’s great about this site is that
you can search over 50 industries, search by state, search over 40
subjects and even search by keyword. Since, breaking news may affect
your industry, especially in the areas of prospecting for new business,
you find important leads such as:
Personnel Announcements (if there is a promotion, maybe they are expanding the department
New Contracts
Acquisition, mergers and takeovers
New products and services
Real Estate Transactions
Awards
Joint Ventures
All
of these areas mentioned above are opportunities for you to contact
these companies to see if they may need your products and/or services.
It’s an opportunity to be a creative thinker, it’s an opportunity to
use a creative approach to win a sales prospect, it’s an opportunity to
standout amongst a crowded room of sellers. Welcome to my world. The
question that you may now be asking, "How do you open the call using my
technique?" Keep reading.
Let’s
say for example you do a search, and you come across a press release on
a new product that will be introduced on a national scale in the next
few months. The prospect that you may be calling may already be working
with your competition, however, you don’t know that for sure right? In
business, you are either proactive or reactive; my advice is it's
better to be proactive. It’s easy to say someone else has called on
them, but I can guarantee you that you no one has approached them in
this way! Thus, when you use my approach your prospect will remember
you so that when you do call back they won’t forget how creative you
were in contacting them. This will give you a strategic advantage in
case they are not happy with their current vendor.
When
you contact this prospect try saying the following, "Yes, I’d like to
speak to the movie star (use their name here)?" Your prospect will most
likely laugh and say something like, "Movie star, ha-ha, that’s me!" My
name is ………and I work for (list your company here) and we specialize in
…………..and I saw your name mentioned in a press release issued the other
day. Your prospect will say something like, "Yeah, we issued that the
other day." You then say, "I actually didn’t think you would take my
call?" They then respond, "Why is that?" You then say, "I thought you
would be out signing autographs!" Your prospect will find this very
funny and then you continue to go on (while they are laughing) with
your sales pitch. Here you can state the reason for your call and that
you have some creative ideas that you wanted to run past them that
would help to compliment their existing marketing program (just one
example).
This
technique works great either on live call or just as effectve on
voicemail. In many instances, I have found that when you leave a
voicemail message, they end up playing your message for their entire
office. What a compliment! Keep in mind that your sales prospect gets
tons of voicemails, why not be a little different right? Okay, so you
want an example voicemail now? You can’t wait right? Let’s take the
same example above and try saying the following on a voicemail, "Movie
star (list their name), I didn’t expect you to take my call, you’re
probably out signing autographs. This is ………calling from (list your
company) and I saw your name mentioned in an article about your new
product that will be introduced in the next few months. When you get
back from your autograph sessions can you call me back at (list your
phone number) I wanted to run a few ideas by you that your competition
is not doing and that you could be doing to increase market share of
this product. I’ll be expecting your call today, thank you!"
I
have never received a negative response using this technique. Every
sales prospect loves it and they always tell me how creative I am. What
they are really saying is that I want to do business with you! One more
thing, have I said how much I LOVE USING THIS TECHNIQUE! Have I made it
clear how much MY PROSPECTS LOVE TAKING MY CALL! Why? BECAUSE IT'S SO
DIFFERENT! Being different is a necessary element that will separate
you from others who contact the same prospects. If you are looking for
a way to STAND-OUT in a crowded marketplace then I strongly encourage
you to this innovative approach to cold calling and sales prospecting!
Copyright 2008 Mr. Cold Call Inc. - All rights reserved.
Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call
Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling” and "115 Common Sales Objections, 156 Clever And Savvy Responses."
According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11
winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of
Success!)." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market
yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect’s
curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding
out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then
sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips at www.mrcoldcall.com
