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The Internet and
e-mail are two tools that can propel you to new sales and income levels. If
you’re not using them ... well, get with it. Technology and its capability for
marketers is improving every day, and you’ll go the way of the dinosaur if you
don’t keep up. Let’s look at
some ideas now being used successfully by salespeople. Think of how you could
use these as part of your telesales process. Use the Internet
to Collect Information Anne
Lowenthal,
Business Development Director of QSM Associates concurs. "Most people do
not like to receive cold calls, so, that is the initial hurdle we must overcome. I
consider it rude of me as a telesales professional to call a prospect, even a
warm one, without some understanding of their company and their products. I want
to be sure I have an understanding of how my products can help them achieve
their goals, save money, or improve a process. If I am going to take up their
valuable time on the phone I want them to understand that I feel very strongly
that my products and services will benefit them or I wouldn’t be taking up
their time at all. How better to express this than to show them the respect
of having learned about their company before approaching them?" Anne uses the
Internet to look up websites of prospects. She gets her prospect names through
attendance lists at conventions she has attended. If she hasn’t heard of the
company before, she uses the web site to learn all she can about the company to
determine if they are in fact a potential client. She pays attention to: • the company’s mission and/or vision statement to see if her product can help them achieve their ultimate corporate goals. • their history to see what has driven their growth to see if her product can be a factor in future growth. • their press releases to see what is new with the company and learn if there is sale potential based on whatever they feel is press release worthy. "If a company feels something is press release worthy and I can tie my product into some feature of the press release, I have a better chance of making a connection for a sale because typically upper management and the people who hold the purse strings respond well to something that will contribute to the story." • upper or
executive management to see who is ultimately responsible for the area in which
her software is used. If she has difficulty getting through at the user
level, she might have some success getting through at the executive level.
"At the very least they may give me the name of someone at a lower level
whom I can then approach and say "Mr./Ms. Bigwig told me to give you a
call." We all know that
this type of message can help you get in the door when nothing else does.
Gathering Value-Added Information for Customers Ingrid
Engelbracht does telesales and telemarketing in the computer area as a
freelancer for companies. She uses the Internet mostly for gathering
information, collecting web site addresses that can be of interest for her
regular customers. This gives her a good value-added reason for calling them. For example, she
might call to say, "There’s a company offering a new filter package for
your publishing program, and they offer a 30-day evaluation copy on their web
site. Would you like me to give you the address?" "The
organizers of the Document Management Fair next month offer a web page with
short descriptions of all attending companies, including links to their home
pages. This allows you to gather a lot of information in a very short time
without leaving your desk." As Ingrid has
learned, it’s very important to give something valuable to the people she’s
calling to avoid them thinking, "Oh no, it’s her again!" By calling with
this value-added info she gleans from the Web, they get information that helps,
therefore they are willing to give her the information she wants. Find Other Prospect Locations |
