What’s the best time to make sales calls?

There are people out there who say that cold calling is dead. That the process of picking up the phone, getting past the gatekeepers and having a discussion with a decision maker is as old hat as rotary dial phones or audio cassettes.

They’re wrong.

Sort of.

The new world of social media, personal branding and online marketing does open doors that traditionally would have only been opened through a sales call or a sales meeting however the final step in the sales process is still done, in the vast majority of cases, either verbally or in person.

Whilst you might be able to make a decision maker aware of your presence in the market place and even aware of your products through social media the requirement still exists, particularly for those of us selling a consultative service, to contact them either verbally or in person and have a full two way conversation where their situation and goals are understood and our matching solutions presented.

So the calls might not be ‘cold’ in the traditional sense because the decision maker might have an awareness of your company but an unannounced sales call is still required to fully develop, and ultimately close, the deal.

On a separate note I prefer to talk about ‘business development calls’ rather than ‘cold calls’ as it creates a different feeling for the people making the calls (i.e. less scary) and also it describes them more accurately. It’s a call to develop business and has a high status as a consequence. You might say this is simply word play but anything that makes it easier and more likely that a person will make the calls sounds good to me.

This then leaves a new sales person or recruitment consultant with the question not of

“Should I make cold calls in this modern age?” but rather

“When do I make my business development calls?”

The answer lies in the traditional sales best practise which is that you call your clients when they are most likely to be in the office and able to answer the phone.

The traditional approach is therefore 9-noon and 2-5pm.

The world has moved on since the likes of Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar advocating such advice and a more realistic time frame in today’s world is going to be 9.30am-noon and 2-4.30pm.

That’s because there are more things to do in business (emails, web work etc.) and consequently people’s time is more precious.

And think about the reality of a typical morning for the professionals that you are trying to reach. They are busy working their way through the overnight emails with the hope that they can get those finished and onto real work before the morning gets too old. If you throw in a sales call at 9am to their schedule I don’t think you’re going to be welcome.

And this isn’t my opinion based on casual speculation this is my opinion based on the observed reactions of decision makers across different industries and countries over the last few years as I have listened and observed consultants of all types making business development calls.

The early morning sales call is less well received now than it used to be. Similarly at the end of the day decision makers are trying to again slay their personal email hydra’s so they can leave with as clear an inbox as possible as well as being up-to-date with their other requirements.

Calling after 4.30pm is not welcome, runs the risk of looking desperate and is not to be recommended.

Now with all of this I’m assuming that we are talking about those regular, consistent sales calls that you make every day to develop your business.* The other ones, i.e. those hot leads or requested calls can certainly fall outside of the times I’ve indicated. Exceptions aside for your regular day to day business development calls you are well advised to limit your efforts to 9.30 – noon and 2 – 4.30pm.

That means that we sales people have lost about an hour out of the sales day. And so in turn we need to maximise the time we do have through making pre-researched, consistent and targeted calls.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

* PS If you are in recruitment and you are not making regular daily sales calls then you really should! 

I’m sorry are you the organ grinder or the monkey?

Lessons from the Wolf Pack is an ongoing series of recruitment advice articles taken from, or inspired by, situations and events observed during our phone coaching sessions with recruitment consultants making real, live calls to win business and find candidates. This is advice directly from the recruitment front lines!

Lessons from the Wolf Pack #9

I’m sorry are you the organ grinder or the monkey?

Have you had the experience of reception putting you through to someone and when the other person answers they don’t say who they are?

Naturally the first step is to ask them if they are the person you were trying to reach. Sometimes, although not often, senior decision makers will be abrupt on the phone when they don’t know you and not introduce themselves properly although it is reasonably uncommon for them to do that.

What is more likely  when you are speaking to someone who didn’t introduce themselves is that they are another gatekeeper and someone that reception has put you through to so that your call can be further screened.

So ask if they are the person you originally wanted and if they say they aren’t them and still don’t provide a name then I do one of two things. Either I simply ask to speak with the original person or I ask for the name of the person I’ve come through to. I always word that the same way, which is:

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who I’ve come through to?”

They will in almost all cases give me their name in response to that question; make sure your tone is slightly confused or quizzical.

And my next question is always:

“And what’s your title FIRST NAME” 

(I always use their first name when asking)

You see my rule is that apart from asking them a question here or there I won’t have a conversation with someone when I don’t know who and what they are. First of all I don’t think that’s professional or polite and secondly I can’t tailor what I’m going to say unless I know the title of the individual.

Now if the title doesn’t give me enough information to assume that they are responsible for the thing that I want to talk about then I’ll ask

“What are you responsible for?”

Again I’m not willing to talk, and by extension try to sell, to someone whose areas of responsibility and power are unknown to me. That would be nonsense.

By adopting a slightly confused tone you should get answers to all three questions and thus be in a position to either hold a proper conversation with them or ask them to put you through to a more relevant contact.

Should you hit further resistance and they start demanding to know who you are then give them your name and title (business consultant is better than recruitment consultant at this point) and again ask them who they are. Explain you’ve come through blind and didn’t expect to speak with them, nor did you ask to speak with them so … who are they and what do they do!

If you’re getting bogged down or the person is totally closed off then I’d end the call and make a further call to the company at a different time.

After all if the other person doesn’t give you the common courtesy of their name and title then you aren’t going to be forming a great business relation with them anyway.

And to paint the full picture for you if we go back to the beginning of the conversation when I’ve asked for the original person and if the unknown individual brushes off the request and wants to know what the reason for the call is then I will ask them who they are in exactly the same way as I listed above.

I hold to my rule that I will not have a conversation unless I know to whom I’m speaking and I don’t think you should either.

More Recruitment Advice Next Week

That’s all the Lessons from the Wolf Pack this week – tune in next Wednesday for more advice from the recruitment front lines. Or view the archives for more recruitment, sales or other advice.

And remember if you’re looking for recruitment training or recruitment coaching for yourself or your team give Edenchanges a ring or drop us an email today.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

PS No monkeys were harmed during the creation of this article although one was hastily photo-edited onto the picture of an organ

 

Motivational Monday #60 The Secret of How to Change

Motivational Monday #60 The Secret of How to Change

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

Socrates

Personal development is a continual process that challenges us to consider what we are doing now, look at where we want to go, and identify how we can bridge that gap.

One powerful personal development technique is to focus on your destination and whether you call that a goal, your objective or target, doesn’t matter. What matters is that you focus your energy on that Improved-Better-You.

If you look backwards at the person you don’t want to be then your mind is going to be playing around with those weaker notions, whether that’s smoking, drinking, eating or being rude to people!

Whatever personality trait you are looking to move on from needs to be left in the past. Find something to replace it. A positive action that you can do at the time and place when you would have done your previous weaker act. 

Say for example you have a problem with snack food eating. Identify when you eat your snack food. Find the general time and place and then zoom in to understand exactly when it is. If you, like many people, snack whilst watching television then the next time you are sitting down to watch something get some fruit out and put it within arm’s reach. 

Snack on that, and focus on it. If you have been living on a high sugar snack diet then plain fruit is going to have an unusual taste for you and almost certainly it’s going to seem less satisfying than your previous snacks. But focus on the fruit, on the experience of it. As you are eating it, (or maybe after the show is finished!), think about how you could improve the experience. Ask yourself some questions, for example:

Is there a different type of fruit you could try? Did it clash with the drink you were having? Would it have been better to have the fruit at a different time? (Do I need to eat whilst watching television?)

Do you see what you would be doing in that example? You would be putting time, effort and mental energy into incorporating a positive experience in your life. You would be looking forward not backwards which means that instead of fighting with yourself saying things like,

‘I don’t eat sugary snacks … I don’t eat sugary snacks …’ (and making yourself think of them)

You are saying to yourself

‘This is what I do now, how can I make it better and enjoy it more?’

That’s just one example of how you can apply what Socrates was talking about. Consider thinking forwards as the mental equivalent of physically leaning forwards. It will generate a momentum that will propel you forward and help you make changes that will improve your life.

So what about you? What have you successfully changed in your life by looking forward or do you disagree and think that Socrates and I are wrong?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

Photo credit – Robert Eede; used with thanks.

LinkedIn’s New Status Update Feature Explained and Explored

LinkedIn’s New Status Update Feature Explained and Explored

The latest feature from LinkedIn is being rolled out at the moment. If you haven’t got it already then it should just be a matter of days before your LinkedIn system changes.

This new feature is very similar to Facebook in that when you type the name of a contact or company LinkedIn offers to link to that person’s profile or the company’s LinkedIn page.

The following screen shots show you what happens. 

Screenshot One

When your profile gets the new feature this will appear.

Screenshot Two

As you type your status update the system prompts you with likely matches.

Screenshot Three

Names that you select will be highlighted with a shading as you type you update.

Screenshot Four

When you post your update the names will be highlighted as a click able link. If a link is clicked on you will be taken to the person’s profile or the company’s LinkedIn page.

If you don’t want to make the name a link then simply don’t click on the suggestion when it comes up. You have to actively select for the link to occur which I’m pleased to say means we all get to stay in control of our own status updates!

Be aware of this Addition Feature

Feature Limitations

So that’s the new feature explained but the bigger topic perhaps is how to use this new feature to your best advantage.

I’m still thinking about this myself to be honest so the following are just my initial ideas. What I’d love is to hear how you might use this feature … please do add your thoughts in the comments section.

Use it to help people make connections with your clients or suppliers

So I posted the above status update which refers to a training session I delivered at the Larson Group. Now they are what I’d describe as a ‘progressive recruitment company’ i.e. they treat their staff well, invest in them and manage them like adults. They also have big expansion plans and have just moved to brand new offices in the centre of Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

I know they are actively looking for new consultants, both experienced and newbies to the recruitment industry so I thought I’d be helpful and mention this in a status update. Because of this new feature people can quickly and easily click through to the relevant profiles.

So that’s one way you can use it.

Pro’s – your clients or providers will no doubt appreciate the shout out so you gain some brownie points also it might help others for whom the update is relevant and you get to mention that you are working with a particular company which shows your network you are busy

Con’s – all your competitors now know at least one of your clients so it’s best only to do it when you are happy that you have a really rock solid relationship with the company. A lot of recruiters read these articles and I wouldn’t recommend recruiters mention their clients by name in their status updates. Whilst it would help candidates look up who the role is with it would also potentially lead to the candidates applying directly or rival recruiters following up, what to them, will be a tasty lead.

Suggestion – Do if you can but use with caution.

Use it to highlight your colleagues and company

If you posted something like

“My experienced colleague Frank Smith at ACME Supplies Ltd is attending the NEC Conference on Digital Widgets today. He’s interested in talking to any Widget manufacture who needs a supplier of X”

Then you would promote to your network where Frank was, as well as them having a quick click link to his profile.

Pro’s – get’s your colleague and company name out there in front of your network

Con’s – if your network is not directly in the same market as Frank then it’s potentially a pointless advert which if done too often might lower your reputation

Suggestion – pick colleagues whose work your network might be interested in and always mention the company name in the status update to maximise the impact

Summary

Over to you now – what other uses can you think of for this feature? Comment below!

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

PS The official LinkedIn blog about this feature can be found here

Motivational Monday #59 Begin Again More Intelligently

Definitely not a car from 2013 or a Model T – which is the point really.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again. This time, more intelligently.

Henry Ford

So have you made any mistakes lately? Said, or done the wrong thing or possibly not said or done the right thing? Whether its failure through action or inaction it can be disheartening.

Well here’s a question for you …

Did you know that both Henry Ford and Lord Alan Sugar went bankrupt twice? Did you know that Eddison struggled, Churchill was ignored in his early career and that in all the histories of the great leaders, entrepreneurs and  significant people of every type there are a litany of failures prior to their eventual success?

Now you might be thinking ‘yeah that’s okay for those guys, I’m not them, and no you’re not; your you and I bet that your big mistakes for you are proportionally the same as their big mistakes were for them.

It wasn’t that they had some magic get out of jail free card when they messed up. They were just like you. They had to pick up the pieces, sometimes walk away for a while and then come back later to carry on. 

We look at their situation at the ends of their careers and we see success and results; and sadly as we lift them higher and idolise them more we too often put ourselves down. We see them as different to us and when we make a mistake we too often take that as proof of our failing inadequacies  and an inability to be great.

Yet that’s not the case. Making mistakes are the marker points on the path to greatness. Without our mistakes we wouldn’t sharpen our processes, train harder, or adjust our thinking. We’d simply sail on as if we were gods and immortals when we really very much are not.

History teaches us that nothing reigns supreme forever. The world doesn’t work that way. There is no business, empire or nation that has always been the dominant power and always will be. Empires rise and fall and rise again and that’s how it should be. As new ideas, technologies and cultures emerge things change. What was cutting edge and unique once becomes common place and then obsolete. Which is why I type this on a tablet rather than a typewriter. 

Our mistakes and slips are there to help us reposition ourselves. To take on board new information and data and realise that the path we were on or the actions we were taking don’t work as well as they could. We should take that feedback, learn from it and move forward with confidence. 

No one will be number one for ever but you can stay in the top percentage through adapting and growing. Welcome your mistakes as signs of what needs to be changed. 

So what about you? What have been your biggest mistakes that you learnt something constructive from?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

Photo credit – Robert Eede; used with thanks.

Lessons from the Wolf Pack #8 How Many Calls to Make When Marketing a Candidate Out

Lessons from the Wolf Pack is an ongoing series of recruitment advice articles taken from, or inspired by, situations and events observed during our phone coaching sessions with recruitment consultants making real, live calls to win business and find candidates. This is advice directly from the recruitment front lines!

Lessons from the Wolf Pack #8

How Many Calls to Make When Marketing a Candidate Out

Marketing out a candidate is a very effective recruitment activity that can be done in virtually all industry sectors and at all salary levels.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this its the process of identifying and fully interviewing a good candidate and then making direct calls to companies that might be able to create, or might have, a role for them.

Often the list of companies you are calling comes from the candidate but a lot of the time it’s to your established client and prospective client database. As well as possibly placing the candidate it’s a powerful business development tool as you are calling for a much more specific reason than simply – ‘do you have any vacancies I can help you with?’

Also by making calls on behalf of a good (or even better) candidate you are showing your market place that you work with quality individuals.

One of the questions I get asked a lot is how many calls do you make on behalf of the candidate before you call it quits. And here’s my answer …

When marketing a candidate out given that you can’t dedicate all your time to one candidate, no matter how good, I would recommend that you make two calls to reach every decision maker at companies who might be interested in your candidate and then send an email to everyone you failed to speak with introducing the individual.

If the candidate is a star candidate then you can make a further call to follow up the email but the baseline of activity is two calls and one email for every target company and then moving on to other candidates and other vacancies.

Marketing Candidate Process

Process for each target decision maker:

Key: C = Call E = Email Brackets = optional additional action

CCE(C) – this is the classic method where you phone first – it has the advantage that you can gather email addresses on the first two attempts to reach the decision maker which makes it easier to email at the end.

ECC – a popular variation – your calls are following up an email that you have sent. Naturally this requires that you already have the email addresses. I don’t agree with calling up purely to get the email addresses. If you are going to call the company then you might as well make an attempt to reach the decision maker.

There is no data as to which of the above methods is most effective. I feel that they have an equal chance of success whilst you are in the early stages of building a client base and your presence in an industry. Once established the second method is probably better as you are emailing decision makers who hopefully are at least aware of you even if they have never used you before.

Making Additional Calls

Additional calls can be made to companies you are particularly interested in doing business with. For example it might be that you have twenty target companies in total but three of those are of a size that particularly interest you.

Make your two calls and email to every company but continue to ring the three that are of particular interest by putting them into your sales system. At some point you have to stop but you make more efforts to reach them because they are a key target for you.

In Summary

Marketing out candidates is a great service to be able to offer your candidates and a great way of developing your own client base. If you’re not marketing out at least two candidates a week then you might want to give this classic recruitment process a try!

More Recruitment Advice Next Week

That’s all the Lessons from the Wolf Pack this week – tune in next Wednesday for more advice from the recruitment front lines. Or view the archives for more recruitment, sales or other advice.

And remember if you’re looking for recruitment training or recruitment coaching for yourself or your team give Edenchanges a ring or drop us an email today.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com

 

Motivational Monday #58 Look into your heart

Motivational Monday #58 Look into your heart

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

Carl Jung

There is an exercise I do with delegates on my management training courses which involves them splitting into pairs and working with their partner to identify how they both feel about certain types of people and it culminates with the delegates identifying two specific types of people – those they most hate in the world and those they most love.

The exercise is designed to highlight people’s inherent prejudices and illustrate the challenges of managing a team of individuals in an even handed manner.

What happens is that they start out discussing different characteristics and it’s all very logical and thoughtful and then it gets more emotional. Words come up that evoke stronger and stronger feelings until the delegates hit the jackpot and the type of people they really hate or love become clear because they react instinctively and strongly to the word that describes those people.

It’s a gut reaction to something, often on an unconscious level and comes from deep within them.

Having run this exercise many times it would seem that to arrive at that depth of understanding delegates always have to go on a mental journey using the initial words as steps towards the ultimate revelation.

And I think that’s what the quote is all about this week. It’s easy for other people to tell you what is important, what to aim for or how to be but those external answers only match what the other person thinks would be right for you.

You will get a much better answer of who or what to be by honestly, and deeply, looking into yourself. Exercise and fitness are good examples of this. It’s fair to say that most of us know that if we exercised more we would be healthier and fitter and indeed many of us will have dabbled with gym programs.

But very few of us will have stuck to them.

I suspect that often this is because it was other people who suggested we lose a few pounds or got fitter. That’s only going to work for a short time. You need to have a reason that is personal to you if you want your motivation to last in the face of the rigours of a fitness or diet regime.

Another person’s vision for you will always be a dream, a make believe acting role that they think suits you and that might be a long way from the role you truly want to play.

If you are serious about changing your life then you need to look deep inside yourself and move down through your initial thoughts until you find the emotional, burning core of your being which will then give you the true answers you seek.

I’d be fascinated to know when you’ve taken that emotional journey and reached a much stronger answer than the one you first thought of.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Stephen Hart

Development Specialist, Edenchanges.com