Ever read a study that says the “best time” to contact a prospect is a particular day and time?
Missives that tell you not to call, send emails or post to social media early or late in the week. Or another that contradicts the first entirely?
Maybe you think your buyers aren’t around on Friday afternoons as they’re all thinking about the weekend and upcoming drinks? Or it’s school holidays and they won’t be around.
The list goes on. And frankly following conventional wisdom is potentially costing you sales. Big time.
And the corollary can be you make excuses for not taking action. “It’s not the right time. They won’t be there. They won’t be interested…”
A lesson I learned early in my sales career is there is no “ideal time to call”. However you can stack the deck in your favour.
The simple rule is the higher the person is in the organisation, the more likely they are to be at their desk early, during lunchtime and late.
So try calling them at 8am, during lunchtime and after 5pm. If they’re a business owner, they’re likely to be there. If a senior executive, their “gatekeeper” may well not have started, gone to lunch or gone home and you get straight through.
The same holds true for all those social media posts every business is encouraged to do.
Generalised metrics will say, “Only post at this time…” for maximum engagement. But how do you know if that’s right for your audience?
As a marketer your only goal is to get the right message into the right hands and the right time.
And you have no idea when this will be.
The following list from Paul Castain encapsulates this…
EVERYDAY…
- A new business is born that requires your product or service.
- A business wants to grow and they need your help.
- A sales rep goes M.I.A. leaving an orphaned account for the taking.
- A business moves into your area finding it easier to deal with a local company.
- A new buyer joins the company looking to make a name for themselves. That old buyer who used to tell you “No!” may have left.
- A vendor drops the ball creating an opening for you.
- A vendor gets complacent creating opportunity for you.
- A rep fails to offer an idea that you have that could impact your prospect’s business.
- A buyer just doesn’t like their rep.
- A buyer feels like they have to continually “babysit” their vendor.
- A buyer is managing too many vendor relationships and needs a “one source solution”.
- A buyer hates the buying process with their vendor.
- A buyer wants to deal with someone who isn’t just about the commission check.
- A buyer feels like they are over paying for what they are getting.
- A rep misses a deadline.
- A rep fails to communicate properly giving you an opening.
- A company needs the benefits of your offering to help them streamline their process.
- A company needs to get better market share . . . your idea can help.
- A company needs happier customers, employees and shareholders . . . you’ve got the cure!
- A buyer wishes they could find a vendor that would “get it right the first time”.
- A referral from an existing account is there for the taking . . . you need only to ask for it!
- A “low ball” company can’t sustain quality.
- A sales rep gets caught in a lie to a customer losing credibility.
- A vendor implements some stupid, non-customer friendly policy.
- A vendor raises their price making the buyer re-evaluate the situation
- A Buyer needs your awesome idea to make them look like a rock star!
- A buyer gets FED UP!
Your job is to find these people!
Now, there are two ways you can do this. The efficient way or the hard way.
The hard way is picking a bunch of people and relentlessly calling. Hoping you’ll get through and when you do, immediately getting their attention and interest so you can progress the conversation. And for those who say “not now”, keeping in touch, regularly ringing them and generally coming across as a pest.
The efficient way is to set up a lead generation and nurturing system which attracts and qualifies your prospects in or out. Prospects engage with you due to value you provide them long before a sale is made.
Then when you do call you get a warm reception and move the sale forward almost seamlessly.
It’s a process we’ve successfully used for years ourselves. It’s one we teach and implement for our clients. If you’d like us to do the same for you, cutting down your sales cycle time and effort while bringing in high value clients, call Rashid on 0414-913-334.
Remember you can have results or excuses, not both.
