Sunday, 20 of May of 2012

Tag » cold-calling

 

The First Sale Is The Appointment…

Setting the appointment  for any direct sales associate  should be the number one priority.  As stated in this NETWORKED BLOG  “If you don’t have anybody to tell your story too…Then nothing else matters!” 

One of the common mistakes I make and many seasoned associates will make whether it’s Retail, Direct Sales or MLM is forgetting the whole point of why your talking to this “Suspect”.  All you need to do is set the appointment. When it comes to a sales process where you have to develop your clients outside of building a list or having them walk through the door the first step has to be the appointment.

Let’s help define this a little more by breaking down what a prospect is from what a suspect may be. A “Suspect” is somebody you feel may be interested in yor information and you are going to approach them, call them , market to them to see if they respond in a positive manner.  A “Prospect” is somebody we have engaged and we now know they do not have our service or product (and this is key)  ..and are willing to listen to that information.  So a “Prospect” by definition is somebody you have already set an appointment with,  have presented too and or has told you they are interested and want more information. The “suspect” is the person we are engaging for the first time to set that appointment. 

Many, many people entering and even those already working in the field of marketing and sales get all “keyed up” over prospecting and setting that appointment.  I know I have tripped up many times including  just yesterday where I have let the possibility of a sale come before the importance of setting the appointment.  Once we grasp the idea of what we are doing everyday while chatting with friends, going to the store, making the calls and dealing with existing clients the appointments should come to you almost naturally. This is a mind set however…You have to go into the day with a goal of “I’m going to set X amount of appointments today. Yes, this includes the easy ones that call you directly wanting time with you or those that walk into your office or store front. They can just as easily walk out!  Engage them – Ask the open ended questions – Close the Appointment.  ” Sure, I can help you with that Bob. Let’s go over her and look into it”  Bazinga!  You just set an appointment!

When making those phone calls through the day keep your focus on why your making the call…is it to sell them something over the phone?  YES! Sell the appointment!!  Use a Script to keep things on track. Have a calendar ready with available time slots set aside. Give them an option to meet with you Thursday @ 3:00 or Friday @ 11:00.    – The phone will be a lot easier to manage when you focus on the one product “The Appointment” instead of worry about the “NO” you may get and never get the chance to present the actual product or service. Remember they are just a suspect at this point and your calling or engaging in conversation to see if they may be a prospect… Nothing more, nothing less.

Learn to Earn!

Jeff Beeman


 

How to prospect for more appointments in 2012…

OK  readers today, tomorrow and into the future, here we go.  I’ve let this Blog run it’s course of  static information this past year and am seeing the direct result of that which would be …very low SEO , readership and income.  So what changes can we make to increase those areas of concern?

One step will be a possible change of Word Press Theme but what I really want to do is engage readers and hopefully start some back and forth dialogue.  I’m hoping to add daily content on my own personal prospecting efforts and with that in mind you (the reader)  are invited to comment, make suggestions or ask for advise in the comment section of the pages.

So here we go – Middle of the week between Christmas and New Years. Where are our prospecting efforts at this time?  A few of us may be “Closed for Business” getting some much needed vacation time while others are looking to plan a new strategy or like myself  clean up the rough edges of  projects already in place.  For those that are still out in the field are you finding that setting the appointment for this week is still tough to do with prospects off enjoying family time? Are you actually contacting more people but being put off with the “Call Me Next  Week” Objection? Personally I have been able to contat more people however setting a firm appointment is the issue. Yes they would like to hear more about te information I have but …no urgency to make a commitment.

Plan of action for the day is to allow the appointment to be set into next week however I want the prospect to understand this is a busy week for me also.  I am taking my valuable time to bring you this important information  Mr. Prospect so the end f the conversation could go something like this

… “I will call you again on Monday for our Tuesday appointment and confirm I still have a time slot for you on my schedule Mr. or Ms. Prospect. Should that time slot be filled what would be a good alternative time? “

Now this may seem a little envasive for some direct sales associates however in my field of work I have sporadic walk in clients that need to be taken care of immediately. If I  have a questionable appointment with a “Cold Cold” prospect over somebody walking in asking for my services I can not say “Sorry, please excuse me as I have to run an appointment.  Please come back in a couple hours.”  Who would? Right??

So my thought for today as we work through this week of  – Yes we can get in touch with more people but they because they are on there down time they do not want to schedule anything solid  – is that we make sure we convey our time is important as well.  I will do anything I can to help you Mr. Prospect however somebody else with an immediate need is going to get my attention first.

Learn to Earn!

Jeff Beeman

 

 

 


 

Use Rx Cards to build passive income…

Using Discount Cards!

This is kinda cool…911 Gas Card has a simple pay plan, simple product line and is low budget to join and operate. Great place for the opportunity seeker who just does not have a lot of resources, capital or is really just getting started. $45 one time start up with a $6 annual fee for the web site service. Besides maybe some business cards or online marketing services like Aweber for $19 a month no additional fees, no auto-ship or inventory to worry about.

Now the really cool part – They also offer a Prescription discount card program. You buy the cards for $40 (1000 cards I believe) hand them out for FREE and when somebody uses the card at the pharmacy you get a $1 kick back. With benefits continuing to shrink in corporate America or if you in business for your self and do not have insurance this is a real nice perk! Passive income? Hand out these cards and maybe 100 people use them in a month – That’s $100 back to you and a $60 profit. Next month or 3 months when ever people re-order their scripts…another $100 – ? back to you and so on and so on.

Now you can only get the prescription cards buy joining 911 Gas Card for the one time fee of $45 and your Gas Card business info is also printed on the back of the card. With that in mind even if your not all that interested in getting FREE Gas somebody using the script card might be and before long you could also be receiving $45 Gas Cards as a passive income as well!

Learn to Earn!
Jeff Beeman


 

3 Simple Steps to Building Wealth

Building wealth – it’s a topic that sparks heated debate, promotes quirky “get rich quick” schemes and drives people to pursue transactions they might otherwise never consider.

 ”Three Simple Steps To Building Wealth” may seem like a misleading title, but it isn’t. While these steps are simple to understand, they’re not easy to follow.  

The Steps
Basically, building wealth boils down to this: To accumulate wealth over time, you need to do three things:

  1. You need to make it. This means that before you can begin to save or invest, you need to have a long-term source of income that’s sufficient enough to have some left over after you’ve covered your necessities.
  2. You need to save it. Once you have an income that’s enough to cover your basics, you need to develop a proactive savings plan. 
  3. You need to invest it. Once you’ve set aside a monthly savings goal, you need to invest it prudently.
Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/three_steps.asp#ixzz1Yhh0tSYZ

 

Target Market Prospecting

Brought to you by Life Insurance Selling.com

We must focus. It is so easy to get distracted by the opportunity of the moment. If you make an inquiry into a product or any other advertised process or technique, the inquiry is followed by an avalanche of emails on the latest opportunity in the insurance industry.

Not too long ago, webinars for prospecting were the rage. It seemed as though every marketing organization in the country was telling us that if we just convinced a prospect to look at a webinar online, they would call us and buy something. Well, that didn’t turn out so well. Nobody called. Insurance agents wasted time and money driving to a dead-end street, only to turn around disappointed, disillusioned and even discouraged.

Whatever has worked will work. No doubt our world is always changing. With change comes opportunity, but human nature doesn’t change. One’s needs remain the same. Agents must focus. What is a good target market for you? How will your practice be defined? If you are trying to keep it simple, then target a specific demographic for a specific purpose.

 Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you want to sell to seniors ages 60-70. Once you have decided on your market demographic, what will you need to know about them? When selling products as a transaction, it’s not necessary to learn much about how your prospect thinks. You just present the merits of the product and let the prospect decide if it’s for them.

When selling financial products, it has become far more complex. A product must now be suitable, and the advertising must be compliant. You are required to know more about your prospect.

So why not go all the way? Find out about everything that could affect the retirement of 60- to 70-year-olds. Stay on top of changes to their lives … What is affecting cost of living? What affects quality of life? What are the latest headlines on federal policy, gas prices, foreign exchange, taxes, health care, Medicare, Medicaid, vehicle options, food, etc.?

All of these things affect peoples’ decisions about money. When you are prospecting, all of this updated knowledge puts you in a position to be of help.

You have defined your market and your product line, but you must discover how to get a favorable appointment. The quality of your lead will be determined by the amount of time or money or both that you are willing to spend. The more you pre-qualify the prospect, the more expensive it gets. If you just want general demographics, that’s far less expensive than interested, specific prospects. A general mailing list costs much less than a tightly defined list, for instance.

Anyway, this is a complex subject that can be understood with research. So, where do you look? Targeted prospecting that is affordable and profitable is achievable. You just need to look until you find it. Don’t give up.


 
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