First, explore the possibility of other marketing methods, including advertising, public service, referral generation, press release distribution, networking and trade shows, and cold calling in person. Of course, this should go hand in hand with your current telemarketing efforts. After all, you don’t build a house using only one type of wood! You use 2x4s, 2x6s, and plywood and even then the job is only partly done!
Second, make sure your sales people are scheduling their cold calling. If your sales people are feeling too much pressure about making calls, consider this option: rather than rewarding them for each successful appointment from a call (which can cause too much pressure), instead reward them for the number of cold calls they make. One great example is a cash bonus of $1 per cold call in which they actually talk to a person, with an additional cash bonus if they make an appointment. (Create a list of items that have to be covered to count it as a call – like an introduction, asking for the appointment twice, etc.) and listen in to random calls to make sure it’s getting done. Even someone who is afraid of cold calling and feels the pressure will love to see themselves earning dollar after dollar as a bonus that they have complete control over! It’s a great way to motivate your staff to start calling.
Want to be more successful? Expand your sales techniques and empower your staff to make cold calls a daily priority. And always, always, always be asking the question: “How do we get our people to make more sales?”
