Cold Calling
- Thread starter Bucey
- Start date
juniorc82
Supportive Member
we send out materials and follow them up with a call . works much better plus easier to bypass gate keepers.
Steve Toburen
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- Oct 23, 2006
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- Name
- Steve Toburen
rstrick said:
Good question, Ryan. I set aside one morning a week for sales calls. In our company we called it Steve's "Dedicated Sales Morning". (DSM) I usually went out on Tuesday morning. The day before I would develop my "list". I would pick a different business sector each week. One week real estate agents, one week doctor's offices, one week retail clothing stores, etc. Then I would map 20 of these new contacts (today I would use MapQuest) geographically to cut drive time.
So on Tuesday I would wake up, realize it was my DSM and suck it up (Like many carpet cleaners I really don't care for sales but keeping my family fed was always a powerful motivator to get my butt out the door), I'd put on a dress shirt and tie and load my pockets up with business cards. I would eat a good breakfast and by 9:00 be knocking on my first door. I would not stop for ANYTHING (this is where most of these systems break down- carpet cleaners allow themselves to get "distracted"- urgent job, new toys at the gun dealer, a quick romantic visit by to see the missus, etc.) until I had visited ALL of my 20 new DSM contacts.
If you do this, Ryan, here is what will happen. First, since you are talking to basically the same type of account you will get in the groove. Second, 80% of these people are going to blow you off. (In sales, they call this "rejection" and it crushes the average carpet cleaner so he gets discouraged after three or four sales calls and wanders off in search of distractions and "busy work".) You, on the other hand, welcome this 80% because of the 20 new visits 4 or 5 will say, "Give me a price".
You will pull out your Commercial Carpet Analysis Form (free no-spam download here: http://www.strategiesforsuccess.com/sec ... /paperwork ) and say, "Great. Let me ask you just a few maintenance questions ..."
Remember that one essential tool of sales is ROI. (Return on Investment.) The longer you can keep your prospect intelligently occupied answering "Valid Business Questions" the more likely they will want to get a return on this "invested time". The way they get their return is hire you! (Plus the longer you spend with them the more you can impress them with your sparking personality and learned professionalism.)
If you want to offer a free demo great. Demos work IF your prospect is there at the time of the demo. Be sure to offer your prospect several pricing options depending on frequency and be sure to have a simple, "easy out" contract available for them to sign. Then start filling out your Job Profile form after you get to yes. (You can download this form for free from the above web site.)
So lets pull this together. Dress up, visit 20 pre-selected and pre-mapped businesses every week in just one morning. What is going to happen? 15 are going to tell you they already have someone/ aren't interested/ ya-da,ya-da. Fine, give 'em a card and KEEP MOVING. 4 or 5 are going to ask you to give them a price or at least tell you to come back or call someone. You fill out the CCA form with these folks, offer them a demo, etc and 1 or 2 will sign a long term contract with you.
1 or 2 jobs per week doesn't sound like very much, Ryan. But IF you have the fire in the belly to stay with this weekly DSM program for one year I guarantee you will have signed up fifty long term regular carpet maintenance accounts plus also have done a lot of one time jobs. Isn't this better than hanging out on the internet all day? Oh wait, that's where I am ...
Steve "Island Boy" Toburen
www.StrategiesForSuccess.com
PS I know the above "DSM" sales program isn't quick, easy or flashy, Ryan. However, it is highly effective (over time) and super cheap. But it needs serious commitment and a lot of guts. You can get going with what I've described above. Or for the complete description of how the DSM program worked in my company just go here:
http://www.strategiesforsuccess.com/sec ... al-reports
and then click on "How to Sell Commercial Work" for the free download. If you implement any of this I'd like to know how it works for you and/or the improvements you made in the program. That way I can add them in to my stuff and shamelessly take the credit for myself.
Re: your question on "return" we liked non-chain restaurants. (I know this isn't a popular answer here.) Why did we like them? Simple. Restaurants are where the dirt is AND the health inspectors! We did 50 to 60 restaurants every month with a dedicated commercial crew.
BTW, Ryan, this is another key to success in commercial work. As soon as possible get enough contract work to put together a regular route, even if it is only one night per week, and HIRE a couple of guys to run it. For most carpet cleaners their highest and best use is not pushing a scrub wand around at 2 AM. You can't be effective on your DSM if you are whacked from working all night before.
