Strictly Cold Calling – Success Strategies for Business Development with Kerry Heaps #160

In this episode we meet Kerry Heaps, the publisher and editor of Strictly Marketing Magazine. The magazine covers marketing and sales information to help grow readers business. The magazine covers topics ranging from networking, marketing, sales, cold calling, promotions, public relations, branding and social media. I invited Kerry to visit us today because she’s an expert in cold calling and big fan of the Stephen Schiffman method of using phone calls to generate opportunities. Kerry has a terrific attitude about cold calling and you’re going to love her and her advice on how you can grow your cold calling skills.

What Makes for Success in Cold Calling

Kerry believes there are 5 aspects for cold calling success:
1. Get over the fear and stop putting it off by sending emails or a DM on Twitter. If you’re not on the phone talking to prospects, you don’t really know what they are thinking. Why do people put off cold calling? They don’t want rejection and falsely believe social media is the hot new thing. Don’t fear the phone, it’s your friend.

2. Have a goal in mind. Phone calls and letters make a difference. People answer the phone while they delete emails as spam. Come up with a game plan. You’re not going to close them with one conversation. Instead set up a plan,to get them to sign up, schedule a meeting, attend an event, ” I have some free tickets, would you come?” “I have a free white paper, would you review it if I sent it to you?” . Telemarketing is a huge part of business development. Always have a script.

3. Work only qualified leads. Create a contact list. Work office parks, go door to door and pick up business cards. Attend networking events. Purchased lists can have value, but often they are out of date. Some companies have multiple contacts you’ll need to address. She keeps leads 6 months, even if they are not interested. You may find people job shift all the time. Work smart and recycle leads..

4. Be persistent – Make a 100 phone calls in a day. Stay consistent and be on the phone. Keep your pipeline full with a calendar. Schedule on your calendar like an appointment.
5. Follow up – Often times buyers are not ready to pull the trigger due to schedule, budget, priority etc…. and sales people fail to check in until it’s the end of the fiscal calendar. Have a follow up plan. Tell them you will follow up in 3 months. Send them thank you notes and connect on social media to keep top of mind. She will clip out articles and share. She may call for holiday wishes until the day comes to meet your commitment to follow up.

Follow Up

Remember it takes a lot of time to find qualified leads. Have the patience to keep working them. Every 6 months, follow up. Put them in the “not interested” file.

How To Find Kerry Heaps

Here are some links that go from strictly cold calling to Strictly Marketing!

www.strictlymarketingmagazine.com

www.strictlywomeninmarketing.wildapricot.org

www.appointmentsettingbyknockoutmarketing.com

These are the links that I mentioned on cold calling: