marketreach NAMA introductory call 2012

1. The Art of the Introductory
Call: How to Get Appointments
with Top Prospects
Presented to Attendees of
CTW
by Amanda Puppo , CEO, MarketReach Inc.
All Rights Reserved
November 2012
MarketReach, Inc.
168 Franklin Corner Rd., Bldg. 1
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
www.MarketReach.biz
609-448-6364
Amanda@MarketReach.biz

2. Who is MarketReach?
• A NJ marketing company that specializes
in lead generation & appointment setting.
• In business 12 years… it began out of
Amanda’s apartment.
• Contributors to Vending Times.
• Have been marketing for OCS, vending
for many years, and Micro-Market
Operators most recently.

3. The MarketReach Team

4. STRATEGY IN YOUR
INTRO CALL- THE LIST
The OCS Operator
• Has little time to cold call.
• Is juggling sales, operations, customer
management.
• Needs to be strategic on Introductory calls.

5. YOUR PROSPECTING LIST
How to get a List
• Build one in-house
- Through trade shows, networking
events, Manta, & other online research.
• Purchase a list
-Through a List Broker or
MarketReach – narrow by staff size,
industry and zip code.

6. STRATEGY IN YOUR
INTRO CALL- THE LIST
Working a Top Prospect List
• Within the larger excel prospecting list, create a
“Top 50 A prospect” list. These are to be worked
with the rest of the prospects but more care &
money is put forth through a multi-channel
marketing approach towards this “hot 50”.
How?

7. STRATEGY IN YOUR
INTRO CALL- THE LIST
A Multi-Channel marketing approach
• Research the company & decision maker.
• Ask good fact-finding questions through phone
calls to screeners & colleagues of the DM.
• Follow through with consistent marketing
techniques (phone, direct mail, tchotchkes, holiday
cards, articles of interest).

8. PERSISTENCE
• Law of Large numbers
then you’ll find
If You Make people who are at
Enough the right place,
Calls... right time and
ready to switch!
• Ratios
– IT’S A NUMBERS GAME. The more
dials, the greater the success.

9. INTRO CALL CONCEPTS
TO STICK WITH
• Gain rapport with all those you come
in contact with.
• Ask engaging questions to converse.
• Get proficient at presenting benefit
statements.
• Practice acute listening skills.
• Record detailed notes of your conversation.

10. ASK QUESTIONS EARLY ON
Let’s turn cold calls into warm
calls by asking the right
questions to non-decision
makers!

11. ASK QUESTIONS EARLY ON
What questions can we ask
Receptionists & Colleagues (of
the Decision Maker) to be
more ‘in-the-know’ once the
decision maker comes to the
phone?

12. ASK QUESTIONS EARLY ON
• Staff Size
• Decision maker names &
Titles
• Current OCS/ Vending
situation

13. ASK QUESTIONS EARLY ON
Having trouble getting information?
“Before you transfer me…”

14. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #1
Deliver Your Opener
If possible, abbreviate your company name if its got
coffee in the name. Screeners will be tempted to
screen you out, let’s not make it easy for them!
Find out the decision maker name on 1st dial so that
you simply ask for the name with no other
explanation! (i.e. “Jim Jones please.”)

15. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #2
To DM, follow your opener with…
• Qualifying the Prospect as to their decision
making ability.
“You make decisions regarding the break
room services, right?”
(delete the word “handles” from your vocab!)

16. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #3
Ask open ended, Dialogue-Provoking
Questions to engage the prospect.
• Tell me about your Coffee set-up:
– Do you have a one-cup system or pots or
something else?
– Is the coffee free to the employees or is it
company-paid?

17. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Let’s come up with some more
Examples…
Engaging (fact-finding) Questions…

18. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
ENGAGING QUESTIONS; UNCOVER PAIN POINTS!
•What is it that you like about your current
provider?
•In considering ways to improve your service,
with regard to the service or selection or
anything else on your mind, what would you
like to see done a little better?

19. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Let’s tackle
Benefits vs. Features!

20. BENEFITS vs. FEATURES
• Benefit: WII-FM (What’s In It
For Me)
• Feature: Characteristics of the
service-- how it works

21. WHAT DO YOUR
CUSTOMERS WANT?
 Reduced Costs
 Happy Employees
 Save Time
 Less Aggravation- Easy to use
 Peace of Mind
 To Be the Hero!

22. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #4
Make Powerful Benefit / Feature Statements…
• FEATURE: “We can provide you with either a
one-cup system or a coffee bar where you’d
have the option among a number of leading
brands including; x, y and z coffee.”
• BENEFIT {IF ONE CUP}: “saves money because
of no waste, no mess or cleanup, no burnt
coffee, and our clients find the choices very
refreshing.”

23. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #5
• STRENGTHEN FEATURES/ BENEFITS
IN CLOSE SET-UP:
We’re so sure that you’ll love it, we’re
offering not only a free trial so you can see
for yourself how great it is {NO RISK}, but
also there’s no monthly rental {LESS
COST}, 3 boxes of free coffee {‘FREE’-
MUSIC TO THE EARS} and the equipment
is state of the art with an LCD screen
{INNOVATIVE}.

24. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #6
Ask for the appointment: Present
compelling benefits, and ask terrific
fact-finding questions, but always be in
command of your presentation, and
always direct the presentation toward
a close!

25. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Closing Techniques
• Do you have a calendar in front of
you?
• The Alternative Choice close
• Fit the meeting around YOUR
schedule!
– After asking, let there be SILENCE!

26. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #7
• Gather information to prepare you
for the in-person sales call.
– What questions, if answered, will
prepare you best for the in-person
presentation?

27. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Gather information Questions may
include confirming:
– DM name, title, email, address
– Staff size, current vendor, coffee
system
– “can you have your last few invoices
handy so we can compare apples to
apples?”

28. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Don’t forget to---
Re-qualify the prospect’s decision-making
ability!!!
Who else besides yourself would make a
decision on a Coffee & Vending service
change?

29. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
STEP #8 (last step)
• RECONFIRM appointment and
re-state time/date of
appointment and your contact
info.

30. ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
RESTATE/ RECONFIRM
…Ok, so we’re all set for <day> at <time>, my
company is XYZ Services, my name is ___,
and I’m going to give you my phone number
in case anything comes up, ready for that?
Pause… it’s 333-4444. So you got all that in
your calendar? Great see you then!

31. MORE ELEMENTS OF AN
INTRODUCTORY CALL
Be aware of your tone & vocal variety
and
• Have a positive attitude and be
Interesting
Interested
Friendly
Professional!

32. HOW OFTEN SHOULD I
FOLLOW-UP?
• If it were you on the receiving
end of the call, how would you
want it to play out?
• Get permission and a date for
follow up! What is a good way to
ask that question?

33. DEALING WITH
VOICE MAIL… LIMIT IT!
• Most prospects won’t call you back!
• If you leave a message, be sure to
include benefit statements or
information you found out “along the
way” to the decision-maker.

34. WRAP UP…
THE FIRST COUPLE DIALS…
• Collect names & titles of decision
makers.
•Try to get extensions and pre-
qualification questions answered.
•Do this on the FIRST call.
•This will warm up your call to the DM!

35. WRAP UP
•Make the necessary dials- Speak with
enough people and you’ll get lots of
appointments. But develop your Top 50 to
target!
•Constantly perfect your presentation by
finding new ways to ask great questions and
benefit statements!
•Always be Closing!

36. Don’t leave the Prospect hanging
after a great presentation!
“So you’ll actually be getting more for the money
with a better selection and more prompt
service! So do you think this Thursday, or next
Monday, would be the best time to meet with
me?”
The best way to end a rebuttal is with
either another Probing Question or a
Closing Question!

37. MarketReach Services
• Appointment Setting
• Trade Show/ Direct mail follow up
• List Acquisition
• Surveys with a Lead Gen edge to
Lost/Inactive accounts
• Customized Intro Call Training & Script
development

38. Questions?
We’re just a phone call away!
609-448-6364
or email:
Amanda@MarketReach.biz
No Time to make cold calls yourself?
Limited on staff resources?
Let the professionals handle it!
Sign up for a 75 hour pilot this month and
receive a free list ($200 value!)