This document provides information and tips for improving cold calling success. It discusses how cold calling can be a necessary evil and frustrating but works if done correctly. It recommends having an elevator speech, calling the right people, and anticipating objections. Other tips include keeping a positive attitude, following a dialing framework and plan, using the right equipment like dialers, and ensuring calls are made at the optimal time and day. Reasons dialers make sense are that they increase efficiency, sales rep morale, and performance monitoring while decreasing frustrations. The document also discusses strategies like focusing on high value prospects, referral marketing from existing customers, and consistency in efforts.
Leverage Leads and the System to Produce Optimal Results
1.
2. 2
• Dead
• Last resort
• Frustrating
• Necessary evil
Cold Calling is…
3. 3
• Have an elevator speech
• Calling the right people
• Anticipate objections
• Keep your attitude in check
• When you call and keep calling
Cold Calling Works
7. 7
• Cole Information
• Published in 1947
• Blue Book
• Criss-cross directory of addresses
and phone numbers
• Invaluable information for:
• Telemarketing
• Debt collection
• Law enforcement
• Today, web-based lead generation for small
business.
Then & Now
9. 9
Cold Calling Success
• Number’s Game
• First 10-seconds count!
• Focus on “local” in your introduction
• Use your best inflection and tone
• You’re calling to advise and consult, not
sell
• Time & day matter
10. 10
• Top problems for sales reps
• Making contact with leads
• Using the right equipment
• Time management
• Following up
Why Dialers Make Sense
11. 11
• Top problems for sales managers
• Hiring the right people
• Motivating
• Performance monitoring
• Better software
• Managing data
• Finding good leads
Why Dialers Make Sense
12. 12
• Increase efficiency
• Increases sales rep morale
• Decrease frustrations and repetitive task
• Tacking, reporting and accountability
• Benefits outweigh the cost
Why Dialers Make Sense
13. 13
Timing is Critical
•Timing:
•The ability to deliver an offer when the
consumer is likely to be most interested.
•Relevant:
•Respond to the customer’s unique needs,
desires, preferences, attitudes, etc.
•Personalized:
•Tailor it to your ideal customer.
14. • Settled in their home.
• Never really had the opportunity to research
insurance when they purchased their home.
• Reach out to 60-90 days in advance of expiring
homeowner policy leads.
• Successful agents:
• Drop postcards, personal notes or make a simple
phone call.
14
First-Year Renewals
15. • Neighbor search is the best way to grow book
of business.
• Consider your 10 best customers:
• Now ask yourself:
• Where do they live?
• What’s their home worth?
• How long have they lived there?
15
Referral Marketing
16.
17. • Auto + house + Life + Toys = Umbrella.
• It’s a win-win. The homeowner saves money
and you increase your commission.
• Time investment pays off.
– Customer appreciates the consultation, compassionate,
relationship-style approach.
17
Focus on High Value Prospects
18. 18
• Key performance indicators
• Pay Structure That Awards
• Motivate and Reward
• Bonus by Hitting Sales Goals
Assemble Gladiators
19. 19
• Sales post call analysis
• Home work
• Testing
• Role playing
• Coaching
Training
22. 22
• Easy to use
• Your team likes using it
• Works with current phone
• Can upload spreadsheets
• Dial 100+ leads an hour
• Administrative & rep features
• TCPA compliant
Dialer Best Practices
23. 23
• Customized dashboard
• Add notes or disposition
• Follow up features
• Organize and prioritize
Sales Rep
Features
24. 24
• Manage sales reps account
• Real time reporting
• Call Statistics
• Manage, filer and reload campaigns
• Customize dispositions
• Call recordings
Administrative Features
27. 27
Calling Schedule Game Plan
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
9:15-10:00 a.m. List cancellations List cancellations Home Home Home
10:00-10:45 a.m. Win backs Win backs Renters Renters Renters
10:45-11:30 a.m. X-Dates X-Dates Auto Auto Auto
1:15-2:00 p.m. Renewals review Renewals review Life insurance Life insurance Life insurance
2:00-2:45 p.m. X-Dates X-Dates X-Dates
2:45-3:30 p.m. Aged Leads Aged Leads Aged leads
3:30-4:15 p.m. X-Date win backs X-Date win backs X-Date win backs
Benefit
• Save your book when fresh
• Set follow-up renewal.
coverage protection/cross
selling.
• Allows for prospecting later in
the week.
Estimate
• Call 700-800
contacts called.
• No answer:
leave message.
• Two drip
marketing future
emails.
Benefit
• Generate policies
• Call cross sell list during the
day with call, voicemail and
email to follow later in
weekend.
Estimate
• Call 1,100 contacts
called.
• No answer: leave
message.
• Three drip
marketing future
emails.
• 2,000 emails sent.
LUNCH BREAK
29. 29
Your Agent’s Big
Advantage• You know:
• The local market area
• The customer’s preference
• Their product
• You have the power:
• Adjust marketing.
• Track and measure.
• What’s working? What’s
not?
31. 31
• Free GXP 2140 4 Line VOIP Phone
• Comment in the Dashboard if you are interested in DYL & want to be
included in the raffle
• Discount Rates: 50% off 2 months
• $75/mo per user instead of $150/mo
• Promo Code Mention: DYLCOLE14
• Get customized Calling Schedule Game Plan for your company
Visit: DYL.com
Email james@dyl.com
Call: 626-408-2662
(888)-310-4474 x205
DYL Offers & Giveaway
Editor's Notes
Good morning everyone,
Today’s small business marketing 101 webinar is called 5 secrets to email marketing success with Debra Ellis.
Thanks for joining us.
Lora Slide:
Depending on who you talk to, cold calling is:
Dead
A waste of time or a last ditch resort
Frustrating with tons of hang ups, disconnects and rude people
Necessary evil
Lora Slide:
Andrea Sittig-Rolf is the author of "The Seven Keys to Effective Business-to-Business Appointment Setting“.
She says when done right, it’s an effective lead generation technique for simply getting the appointment. And her approach is pretty simple:
Have the right script. –that involves who you are, what you do & provide—in other words, have an elevator speech and aks for the appointment. Keep in mind, you’re not communicating substantive info about your offering, you’re just wining the right to talk more about your offering to the prospect at an agreed upon date.
Research who you’re going to talk to. Look for prospects who have a similar profile to those who’ve bought from you in the past. –when possible leverage that intel and use it to your advantage.
Anticipate objections. Each time one of them materializes, you'll need to handle them appropriately... and then ask for the appointment. Most objections are common to all sales situations, so you should have little or no trouble listing them out. The trick here is to practice handling objections until the response is automatic. Note: the most important part of handling the objection is asking for the appointment.Get positive and get calling. Attitude is everything. If your offering has value to the customer, you're doing the prospect a favor by giving him or her the opportunity to meet with you. Therefore, have confidence in your ability to provide value. That confidence not only helps you communicate more effectively, it provides the motivation that will drive you to actually sit down and start making the cold calls.Handle the objections. Once you've got the contact on the line, execute the script. Don't read it! Put it into your own words, with enthusiasm. In almost every case, you will get at least one, and probably more, objections. Since you've anticipated these objections, you should respond to them as necessary and then ask for the appointment again. If you receive more than 3 objections, it's fair to assume that the prospect is not going to meet with you, so thank the prospect and politely end the call.Repeat the process on a daily basis. if you're determined to excel, commit to an hour a day attempting to achieve two appointments. If it takes fifteen minutes to get the two appointments, then you can quit early. Practice this regularly and, according to Andrea, you'll very quickly have a calendar full of qualified prospects.
Lora Introduction
First job at 15 was working for Cincinnati Enquire outbound call center
Learned about automation and dialers
2 years in a row placed top 5 in sales out of 187 sales reps
Became director at age 17 and developed scripts/pitches, referral techniques
Graduated Ohio State University 2008
- Worked for Go Big Network and InsuranceAgents.com learning technology and internet leads 2008-2009
Started DYL in 2009 with 3 other partners in basement
Helped build DYL into full marketing platform within 4 years
Head of Business Development:
Build out call center applications for small-large companies
Train and Support sales managers
Create new product lines for DYL such as (SMS, Email Call Opens) coming soon
Today’s session:
We’re going to provide a dialing framework for both current customers and prospects that you can incorporate into your agency.
Cold calling is tough! If you’re not prepared or have the right script/rebuttal in place, every call will end up in a hang up. So how can you become a top producer rather than dreading picking up the phone and dialing?
During this Small Business Marketing 101 webcast, James Angel with DYL.com joins us to break down the building blocks to successful telemarketing. You’ll walk away with:
•A telemarketing script framework
•Rebuttals and follow-up techniques
•How to close the sale
And that’s not all! One lucky attendee will come away with a $50 Amazon gift card.
$50 Amazon GC,
Before we get started, a little background about our company.
Lora Slide
Lora Slide:
Cold calling is tough…it’s a number’s game, more people you call, more likely you’ll be successful.
You have 10 seconds to get your message across—so make those precious moments count! How?
Time of day you and day you make your calls matter.
if it’s too early, no one will be there, too late? Everyone’s eating dinner
James Slide
inside inc polled sales reps and managers on their top 20 obstacles/frustrations at the job.
The first problem is a no brainer I would classify as an excuse more so than a problem. Early in my career working in 3 different call centers this was my go to response if someone asked. My companies sales manager ask this daily when our sales reps have 0 on the board and the knee jerk repose has something to do with getting a hold of leads.
The 3 additional problems at the top of the list circle around tools & organization.
Make sure you listen and get feedback from your own workforce on their obstacles and frustrations. If time management is the factor. First understand their processes and develop or equip them with a solution.
Hard to use programs, prospect tracking via Microsoft office, taking notes on paper doesn’t cut it. Do some research and find out how to work smarter not harder. Example- Using Google Chrome. Cuts waiting time by 21% if you work with programs online.
Sales Managers spend most of their time on this and it really takes trial and error to get it right. Most of the time you will never hire the right person. The key is identifying if that person has passion, listens and can be developed into the right person to add value to your company.
Developing a raw prospect into a sales beast includes performance monitoring, coaching, motivation and trust. If you have no way of tracking or monitoring employees first 60 days you spend 10x more time trying to find that rare diamond in the rough right person.
James Slide
inside inc polled sales reps and managers on their top 20 obstacles/frustrations at the job.
The first problem is a no brainer I would classify as an excuse more so than a problem. Early in my career working in 3 different call centers this was my go to response if someone asked. My companies sales manager ask this daily when our sales reps have 0 on the board and the knee jerk repose has something to do with getting a hold of leads.
The 3 additional problems at the top of the list circle around tools & organization.
Make sure you listen and get feedback from your own workforce on their obstacles and frustrations. If time management is the factor. First understand their processes and develop or equip them with a solution.
Hard to use programs, prospect tracking via Microsoft office, taking notes on paper doesn’t cut it. Do some research and find out how to work smarter not harder. Example- Using Google Chrome. Cuts waiting time by 21% if you work with programs online.
Sales Managers spend most of their time on this and it really takes trial and error to get it right. Most of the time you will never hire the right person. The key is identifying if that person has passion, listens and can be developed into the right person to add value to your company.
Developing a raw prospect into a sales beast includes performance monitoring, coaching, motivation and trust. If you have no way of tracking or monitoring employees first 60 days you spend 10x more time trying to find that rare diamond in the rough right person.
James Slide
Agent morale is a very important issue in a call center, whether inbound, outbound, sales or customer service. Despite popular thought, dialers generally improve agent morale. This is because they help reps become more successful, whether the objective is closing sales or closing out customer support tickets. Most sales reps are paid commission; the auto dialer simply makes it possible to earn more commission. Furthermore, the dialer strips away mundane, repetitive tasks such as dialing phone numbers, manually dispositioning calls and listening to endless ringing tones. Most reps would not move back to a non-dialer environment once they have worked with one.
Dialers typically cost around $150-$400/mo where a an additional sales rep can cost up to 2-3 thousand. Dialers reduce non-productive time by 100 percent and increase dialing productivity by as much as 300%.
Dialer technology gives the supervisors the means to quickly retrain the agent team using live call coaching, call recording and scripting. The ability to react quickly to potential problems or areas of inefficiency is an advantage in terms of tuning a company’s competitive edge.
An auto dialer provides Real-time visibility displaying statistics such as number of calls, average call time, number of sales, time taken in dispositioning
This visibility is also important when looking at the quality of data. Good quality data can be expensive and if the quality starts to deteriorate it is important to have the evidence so that the respective supplier can be challenged.
We enjoy working with Cole for this particular reason. Many of our clients that subscribe to Cole have successful contact rates compared to other list providers that cost 5 times as much.
Lora what is your recipe for success to get great contact rates?
Let’s take a moment and talk about why timing is critical in the sales process:
Timing is ability to deliver an offer when the consumer is likely to be most interested
in this case it’s before they renew their policy, not after
Newer Homeowners are more likely to switch carriers –as opposed to people who’ve been with their agent for years.
In addition:
The offer needs to be relevant
It needs to be personalized
With first year renewals, they’ll the perfect type of homeowner to reach out to.
Why? They’re settled and now have the opportunity to research their insurance when they purchased their home. In other words, they’re thinking about what’s best for their needs, shopping around & are willing to switch carriers—you can tailor your message directly to that individual.
We suggest talking them before they renew 60-90 days in advance
Leverage existing relationships through referral marketing.
It’s organic in nature. Cole products can help make you more proactive. Therefore, more successful.
With many of our products, you can builld your target market around your brick & mortar just by using Google Maps technology
This is accurate, reliable information that’s easy to use.
Plus, it’s updated monthly, be ensure the most accurate information.
All you have to have is a starting point address.
Now let’s talk about our second way to increase new policy production by focusing on high value prospects.
Instead of just selling an auto policy, now you can sell an umbrella policy—adding in home & life…and toys—let’s face it, these high net worth folks have money & thus more room to play.
You need to measure key performances indicators also knows as (KPIs) to develop a solid pay structure.
KPIS can be how many calls per hour gets connections over 5 minutes to pitch/quote. Or how many quotes does it take to make a sale.
Once you know your internal KPIS build a progressive pay structure
Start off with low commission and low hourly
New sale rep should have to hit a sales goal before getting a base salary
This will weed out the weak links without paying a lot out of your pocket
Once they hit major milestone reward them; Example 25 Sales, Steak Dinner and Paid Day Fff.
(My office you get to wear a rick flair authentic robe with a golden belt. Also you get added to the inbound sales queue, and the execs take that rep out for a 2 hour lunch at their choice)
This helps your company build respect and confidence with them. In return your reps will work harder to please and add value to a company they believe in, rather than just collecting a paycheck
Have Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Bonus that progress in the amount of sales
Average Sales a Day is 2
Hit 3 Sales One Day-$35
Average Sales Week is 10
Hit 13 get $150
Average Sales Month is 40
Hit 58 get $500
Developing, Coaching, Educating, and Motivating is key to build the best.
Sales manager should review kpis, reports, monitor calls, review 5-10 calls a week on how the sales rep can improve their pitch. Always have meeting on Thursday or Friday to build a better plan for next week.
Listen to 5-15 call recordings and coach them on how they can improve
Have them submit 10-15 calls a week to the sales manager to review and go over
After each call connection write down 2 tips on how they could of improved their sales pitch.
Have them listen to season sales calls and get ideas of different styles of closing deals
Role Playing
Tech them how to identify the type of person they are trying to sell too
Lora Slide
Lora Slide
Fresh Lists
•The U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address says roughly eight percent of mail is undeliverable due incorrect addresses. Other studies have revealed prospect contact information can decay by as much as two percent each month.
•This means if you are using a list you generated six months ago, it’s likely that list has 12 bad contacts for every 100 names on the list.
•That’s why DYL always recommends companies generate a new list for each marketing effort. DYL routinely updates our prospect lists and encourage our customers to generate a new list for each marketing initiative to avoid inaccurate information.
Automation
Use an auto dialer with VoIP when making phone calls. Auto Dialers are an excellent way to stay on task and stay within your allotted cold calling schedule because the dialer automatically makes the call. We recommend live operators so that your firm will come across as more professional and personable. Plus, in the event that a prospect is prepared to receive a quote, your live representative will be able to quickly gather the necessary details and provide the necessary information and close the deal right then.
Scripting & Practice
•Never memorize your entire script. A memorized script will come across as inauthentic. A better tactic is to regularly read over your script several times for details and understanding without concerning yourself with memorizing every word choice in the script.
•Role-playing & Rehearsal. Also regularly role-play various scenarios and scripts with a co-worker. In doing this, you’re able to hear your voice, prepare for the unexpected and provide rebuttals in real time with someone who can provide objective feedback.
•Schedule Cold Calls. Dedicate an hour each week minimum for cold calling and be sure to block this time off in your calendar. It should be the same time/day week. Prepare yourself for the calls with music, quotes, or a video that inspires you and pumps you up.
•Acknowledge. You will get negative reactions. That’s simply part of cold calling. Don’t take it personally. Rather, keep to your schedule and script knowing your next call could be an appointment and or even a sale.
Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
•Start Small. Begin by making 50 calls a day. Evaluate the following: script, calling day, & calling time. Work to improve these metrics before you add more calls.
1.Are you calling at a time that works for your firm logistically?
2.Are your prospects around when you call them?
3.Is there a better time of day which works for either your firm or which seems to serve the needs of your customers better?
4.Are there any tweaks you can make to your scripts that will improve them?
5.Are there any unexpected responses that your scripts do not handle?
•Now Add Calls. Get your formula down pat and then add more calls. You should be able to step up your call volume with automation up to around 250 calls per day per operator. So step up your call volume as you are able. Perhaps after 50 calls per day you move the goals to 60 per day per operator. Then reevaluate once again. Then after more fine-tuning you can up the capacity to 125 per day. Rinse. Repeat.
•Upsell. Also, be sure to talk to the prospects most likely to be interested in speaking to you based on the insurance products you sell, e.g., average home price range, types of vehicles you generally don’t insure (highly expensive sports cars), etc.
Time Your Calls Just Right
•Most homeowners are not interested in talking about insurance unless it saves them money, they can switch agents/carriers easily, and they can avoid penalties. A standard practice is to buy homeowner insurance to coincide with the mortgage, so the sale date will be both the effective and expiration date.
•In addition consider:
oMajor life event e.g., birthday, marriage, new baby, retirement, etc.
oRecent storm damage
oNeighbor’s positive claim resolution
Get Past the Gatekeeper
•Know with whom you are speaking. Most decision makers are not the first person that will answer the phone.
•Ask if you are speaking with the decision maker. If not, be polite so as not to offend the person who answered your call. Offend that person and you will never get past them.
•Acknowledge the importance of the decision maker’s time. It may feel like your time has no value but that isn’t the point. You must demonstrate understanding and be empathetic.
•Ask to either speak to the decision maker or ask for an appointment with that person.
Customized Dashboard:
View leads assigned to them only
Prospects in their follow up stages
Pause and Un-pause
Their own email templates and signatures
Call answer call hold, call transfer, hang-up disposition and leave auto voicemail
Follow Up Features
Automated Call Backs
Schedule automatic follow-up calls to reach more leads
If a lead does not answer on the first call, it is important to try that lead again. Create a strong Call Back Sequence for new leads to ensure you convert prospects. For example, automatically call back leads you haven’t reached yet: 30 minutes later, 60 minutes later, or your custom setting. DYL allows you to make up to 7 additional follow up calls for every lead until you reach them.
Appointments
Never be late for an appointment again
With DYL you can easily schedule an appointment for that lead and the service will automatically call you back at that time prompting you to follow up with your appointment. You’ll never have to worry about missing an appointment! Schedule appointments directly on the lead page. See the appointments set by your staff members.
Organize and prioritize leads-Hotlist- Sales Pipelines
The Hotlist provides a convenient list of the prospects who are interested in your product and are moving forward in your sales pipeline. It is a list of high-priority contacts that you want to follow up with frequently. You can easily add and remove leads from your Hotlist.
Give Presenter Role James Show System- Show DYL Systems In Action
Manage agent accounts
Manage, filter and reload your sales or customer campaigns
View agent activity reports
Monitor running calls
Monitor skills, running calls statistics
Real Time Monitoring
Outbound and dial progress
Historical Reports call Logs Hour, Daily, Weeklly, Monthly Call Breakdowns
Listen to call recordings
Dispositions
Customizable dispositions help classify your leads within the sales process. Help inform one another at the office of a lead’s progress to becoming a new sale. Updating dispositions will keep agents current and updated for future follow ups.
Folders
This option is a way to sort or organize your leads. It helps group leads into a list & maintain organization. This option is similar to the folders you have to organize your personal emails or files on your computer. It also makes it easier to organize those that are due for a renewal in, such as XDates, and create folders leads that are being cross sold for different services.
Reports
DYL gives you a place to store all of your leads and view reports on your progress. Unlike other lead managers, DYL enables you to compare lead vendors, get detailed reports on contacts and conversions as well as keep track of staff member activity.
Call Recording
Available for qualifying states. Be able to listen to all your calls made from our system. Have them available for training as well as quality assurance purposes. Recordings will never be deleted and stays on your account records.
Objections you might hear from your inside sales team
It’s taking too much time to set up and is taking too much time to get used to.
I just want to make dials. This objection is simply a case of “I’m too scared of change.” Once beginning to use the dialer, your team will see that they are now able to make 150+ dials per day versus 50. Soon after, they will see their opportunity numbers increase drastically. If you reassure them that it will be worth their time in the long run and reiterate the benefits, you’ll see they are pretty receptive.
Training and Setup should only take 20-35 minutes. If it is taking longer for your team to learn than they will hate it and most likely not use it to its full nature. Getting an easy to use dialer is key.
2. I don’t want to be recorded or monitored. With the dialer our organization chose to implement, we have the ability to listen to conversations, which helps tremendously for training purposes. Once reps understand the value of the training component, they realize the benefit it provides for not only their personal learning, but also the help it can provide to other reps on the team that may be struggling on certain product knowledge, or even their basic teleprospecting skills.
It can be difficult to move a team into an automated environment. It is therefore useful that auto dialers can be slowly changed over time from manual ‘click-to-dial’ mode to predictive mode so that change is not as abrupt
Equipment:
Headset for phone
Dialer software
When it comes to telemarketing you should have dialing plan/roadmap for the next week or two.
This involves creating different campaigns such as Win Backs, Cross Sell, Renewals, X dates, Surveys, Customer Service, Older Leads, and Referrals.
Brief each sales rep on expectations and their dialing schedule
It involves building a call center & coming up with the right script
Training-coaching-rewarding = gladiators
Supervisor or Sales Manager should run reports, call kpis and decide what direction the company should move towards
While implementing the dialing plan create great environment, such as contest, dials per day, quickest one call close, and have wall of shame where if the sales reps don’t get a certain amount of sales that day they go on their until the next day.
Another trigger is that hometown pride.
You’re local you need to emphasize that.
You know the area, the people and can relate to the same issues that your customers are dealing with.
James A
Calibri, 44-28-32 fonts size
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