At VSA we know that cold calling can be the advantage employed by the most competitive firms for identifying qualified sales opportunities from the most challenging target market. Cold calling isn’t cheap, but often it’s the only way to convert the hardest to reach decision makers into prospects. Here are some innovative ways companies are using the telephone cost-effectively.
Marketing Services for Mortgage Companies
Faced with a daunting task and expense of targeting 4 or 5 individuals at a slew of mortgage companies nationwide this company has figured out a cost-effective plan.
First, the company develops lists of potential decision makers at a few hundred mortgage companies, along with email addresses and telephone numbers. This is a big investment, and the marketing company must make it pay off. So, the company implements a series of 6 – 8 emails to each person on the list, attracting a large number of interested prospects.
But, there are still many companies who don’t respond, and since the size of the list is comparatively small, the company uses the telephone to fully penetrate the balance of the records. What happens? Cold callers get through to companies who haven’t responded to the emails – but who have a need. They set telephone appointments.
Callers also learn that some names on the list are no longer employed at the mortgage companies. They find replacements. Often, the callers set sales appointments with the new decision makers. The company targets its cold calling budget only to decision makers who don’t respond. This two-step appointment setting program uses the budget wisely and produces cost-effective prospects and clients.
Discount Parts Manufacturer
This manufacturer wants to identify purchasing executives who need very specific parts. For the past several years, the marketing budget has been cut, but sales goals have stayed stable or increased. How can these goals be achieved on a smaller budget?
The firm creates a list of purchasing managers who need its parts, along with direct dial telephone numbers. This firm’s VP of Sales then creates a pre-recorded phone message announcing its discounted pricing. About 500 purchasing managers receive the pre-recorded message, during off-hours, exactly 3 times. Interested purchasing managers respond immediately. But a number of firms do not respond.
So, the firm uses live cold callers on the balance of the list. Why live callers? Because the callers are actually successful at setting appointments with a large number of those leads, and in the process find people who have left the company, other departments where decision are made, and an array of mistakes on the list. The discount parts manufacturer uses its budget in a cost-effective two-step approach, where the telephone is used to reach firms who are hardest to reach.
Medical Hardware
This firm can earn a huge profit on each new client, and is willing to make a sizable investment to do so. This is good because reaching a decision maker by phone is almost more difficult than finding a needle in a large haystack. Emails, mailers and pre-recorded calls do not work for this upscale market. The only vehicle that works is the telephone.
This firm implements an approach that targets physicians at their clinics, hospitals, private practices and wherever else they work. Callers continuously navigate the organizations to reach decision makers and key influencers. This frequently this means calling multiple people within the same physician practice. Often it means making 10 – 30 calls for each physician, across 4 – 5 different locations and telephone numbers.
As expensive as it is, this prospecting strategy also works. This firm, too, has wisely allocated its marketing budget, investing in the only method that will reach hard to get decision makers–the telephone. Bottom line: the telephone works when other tools don’t!