Calling For Dollars

By Larry McGinnis

I was discussing prospecting with a dealer friend of mine and he reminded me that the most productive way (for his group) was to prospect using the phone.  It is difficult to get salespeople to do this somewhat painful task.  But the rewards are tremendous.  Here is the way that he is doing it, and he is very successful.

There are two ways to get a phone list: the poor man’s list, the Yellow Pages, and a purchased phone list.

Using the Yellow Pages.

Sit down, open it up, and start calling. Go for the same information that you go for when you are cold calling person to person. The only difference is that you should call certain business at the most opportune time. For example, you don’t want to call tax accountants during tax season, but should call them in November.

Using a Purchased Phone List.

You can get some pretty fancy lead lists from list companies. You can get lists that give you only new businesses, pointed lists of companies larger than 10,000 employees, lists that include the name of the owner or chief executive. The truth is, you are going to do the qualifying, and you are going to get the proper person that is responsible for purchasing office equipment (not always the owner or president). So it is not necessary to buy an expensive list.

Consistency.

Remember that prospecting only works when it is done on a consistent basis. Keep building your prospect list. Delete prospects that drop off the list, but you must always add new prospects to your list. A little each day gets the job done.

Your contact’s time is valuable and you are about to intrude on his or her day, so you must have a reason to call. Don’t waste your contact’s time.

Here are some effective openings:

“Good afternoon Mr. Johnson. My name is Bill Tops of XYZ Co. and I am wondering if you are familiar with some new technology that will eliminate most of the trouble spots in your office, namely the copier, fax machine and printer. May I send some information on the subject and call you back in a few days for your reaction?”

“Good morning Mr. Johnson. I am Bill Tops of XYZ Co. and I’m introducing a new concept of furnishing copiers for your office for FREE. Everything is included and all you have to pay for is the copies that you make. I know that you are busy, so why don’t I drop some information in the mail and call you back in a few days for your reaction?”

The Direct Approach:

“Good morning Mr. Johnson. I am Bill Tops of XYZ Co. I was wondering, are you currently looking for a new fax, copier or printer? “Do you know anyone that is?”

“Good morning Mr. Johnson. I’m Bill Tops of XYZ Co. I’m wondering, is your copier performing up to standards, or is it constantly breaking down?”

Some of the above approaches are used when we have previous information on the prospect. For example, if the receptionist let it slip that the copier was constantly breaking down, we would use the approach that asks about the performance of the copier.

Any positive response to any of the approach questions will start the sales cycle going. Get the information out to your prospect, keep your notes up-to-date and then, guess what you do next? You pick up the phone and do it all over again.

In Conclusion.

Prospecting is not an art form, it is hard work and we sometimes try to take some short cuts in order to save some time and effort. Most of the short cuts revolve around trying to get more leads by direct mail advertising. Please don’t get me wrong.  I have no argument against direct mail advertising, I think direct mail advertising can be effective if done correctly. I don’t believe in mass mailing, unless you are selling a high-use, low- price item and are willing to sell on price only. Since copiers, faxes and printers don’t fall into this category, you can assume that I don’t believe in mass mailing for office machine dealers.  If you want to build sales and maintain low sales costs, calling for dollars is the way to go. u

Larry McGinnis brings over 30 years of experience in the office machine business. His Company TEC-AID markets a service department management program called ServiceTrak and a sales aid program called SalesPower Plus. He can be reached at (866) 983-2243 or visit at www.tec-aid.com