by Tom Crouser
Let’s define cold calling as approaching a suspect/prospect that isn’t expecting you (in person or by phone), “pitching them” and expecting them to buy. You’d think by the number of sales gurus beating up on the ole cold call straw man that someone out there is saying you should do that. I can’t find it in the literature since the 1930s. So balderdash. Get over it. On the other hand, we are supposed to be selling and most of us are Reluctant Selling Owners. So how can we sell while avoiding cold calling? Here are a few.
What is selling? We need to define that first. Well, selling is getting in front of a new customer asking for new business or getting in front of an old customer asking for new business. But it’s always about new business. It’s not about making a delivery and pretending it’s a sales call or delivering a proof or developing a relationship. It’s about moving the ball down the field and that’s ONLY about new business. Sure, you have to do some customer care but that’s not your role in life. Getting new business is.
So how do we get new business without cold calling? There are a number of things that not only the smallest among us should do but the largest as well (amazing to me is how some larger shop owners feel they must somehow have a more complex selling effort and thus fail to do the basics … Vince Lombardi would never compete like that).
Avoid the Cold Call: Reach Out to Your Customers
How many times have we seen it? We haven’t done direct mail in a year. There was a time when everyone rushed to email broadcasts as a way to “save money” and be cool. Well, we’re in the printing business and we should still be mailing to our customer base.
Fact is, direct mail is making a comeback. Yup. Too easy to hit the “delete” key and getting by spam filters is a real drag on delivery (how often do you delete?). So, while we encourage you to do email broadcasting, don’t rely on it as the only way to touch customers. Mail a printed piece just like you want your customers to do. Why? It works. Prospects put a higher value on unique selling propositions when the seller has spent real money getting their message out.
Nevertheless, mail to your customers on a regular basis and ask them to buy from you. Never stop.
Reach Out to Suspects and Prospects
You can find 300 suspects within a few miles of you typically. Sell where you are, not where you’re not. Sure, if you have real prospects outside of your immediate area go ahead and reach out to them. But your greatest advantage is selling to companies nearby not far away, I don’t care how cool your website is.
Use a Fully Functioning Website
That’s where our customers upload files to us, see proofs and more. But it’s clear that websites are more for customer service than they are attracting new customers regardless of how many find you that way. Besides, spending time on a good direct mail piece is better use of your time than figuring out what Meta Tags you should include in your website. But you need a fully functioning website. If you don’t have one, get one.
Don’t Cold Call: Focus on Your Top 25
All customers aren’t created equal. That’s why many big businesses have loyalty programs for their best customers (frequent flyers, hotel upgrades and more).
More specifically, most printers find that 50%-75% of our total business comes from 25 accounts. We first discovered this nearly thirty years ago and have been preaching it ever since.
Your real selling job is to find two or three more significant accounts.
Those come if you target them and make a concerted effort to sell them something.
Unfortunately, we find that some printers haven’t talked to their significant accounts in ages. Remember one printer whose top account had moved and he wasn’t sure where but they kept sending in orders. Hum.
Go to your Top 25 by paying them a courtesy call. Ask three things: “How are you doing?”; “How is our team doing?”; “What else can we do to be of help?” You probably won’t get through all three questions but these are the key points.
Is that so hard?
Okay, those are a few basics. If you’re not doing those, you have a few things you may want to ponder this week.
Tom Crouser
Comments are closed.