What differentiates a dumb cold call from a Smart Call is, first, what you learn about a prospect and his situation. We can modify the old saying “It’s all about who you know” to “It’s all about WHAT you know, about who you want to know, in order to actually get to know them.”

But it’s not just about information. The power comes in how you use this knowledge, which we will discuss later in the book. In this chapter, we’ll cover intelligence gathering: what you want to learn and where to find it.

What Information Do You Want about Your Prospects?

The intelligence you seek depends on what you sell and why someone would buy. Simpler sales—those that are more transactional and have a shorter sales cycle, such as an ad in the community magazine—are not likely to warrant as much time as a seven-figure sale for consulting services to a Fortune 100 company. However, the same processes and techniques can be used in both situations.

In general, you are looking for factual data as well as situational information. Facts include basic statistics, such as how many locations or employees the company has, their financial results, and, as obvious as this might seem, what the company actually does. However, I’m not shy to repeat what should be obvious since I know most people—including me—regularly need to be reminded of the fundamentals.

It boggles my mind how salespeople can pick up the phone to call a company without even knowing what they sell. For example, my company’s name is Business By Phone Inc. I am regularly prospected by clueless callers who think that we are a phone system reseller, an outsourced call center, or a company much larger than we are, since they pitch me on services appropriate only for companies with more than 50 employees. Dumb.

Beyond acquiring the basic facts, the real jackpot lies within the situational information you uncover. This is anything about the company, industry, or individual that may make them a good prospect for you because of a need, pain, problem, desire, or other circumstance on their part. For example:

• A bank is building two new branch locations.
• A furniture company is being sued because of alleged faulty construction in one of its products.
• A manager at any company has just been promoted to VP.
• A CEO is interviewed by a blog author about trends in his industry and shares some initiatives they are working on this year.
• According to a national study, demand is sizzling for locally grown, farm-to-table organic food items on restaurant menus.
• New state regulations require small service businesses to collect and report sales taxes where they did not before.

Think big picture for a moment about the chains of events that could create needs, pains, problems, and desires for the people and companies involved in those situations. Consequently, there are countless opportunities for all kinds of businesses that help solve those problems or fulfill those desires. Construction companies, law firms, recruiters, anyone who helps increase sales, software developers and installers—the list is endless.

Here are a few other activities that could create an environment in which someone would be eager to hear about an appropriate Possible Value Proposition (PVP):

• Awarding of contracts.
• Expansion or downsizing—geographically, personnel-wise, divisions or subsidiaries, product or service offerings.
• Legal actions initiated, or the target thereof.
• Restructuring.
• Bad—or good—sales or earnings results.
• Initiatives of any type: cost-cutting, pushing for more sales, becoming more customer-focused, streamlining network operations, getting a greater return on investment (ROI) on anything.
• Change of most types: new personnel, products, or product introductions.
• Any other compelling event, such as a new product launch, or deadlines of any type.

Identify and Look for Trigger Events

Craig Elias was a top sales rep for telecommunications company WorldCom. During its collapse, Craig realized that he could either find another company to sell for or do something on his own. He chose the latter. He felt that he could help other sales reps use a model he discovered and fine-tuned while rising to the top at WorldCom.

When analyzing his six- and seven-figure sales, he noticed a trend emerging. Every sale was a result of a trigger event that shifted a prospect from being someone who never would have bought from him previously into someone who was highly likely to buy from him now. These events moved people into what Elias calls the window of dissatisfaction. Elias’s model identifies three categories of trigger events. Determine how they apply to your buyers:

1. Bad Experience: The buyer has an unpleasant experience with people, a product or service, or a provider. For instance, there may have been a product or service change with their existing supplier that creates dissatisfaction.
2. Change or Transition: The buyer has a change or transition in people, places, or priorities. For instance, there may have been a change in the buyer at an account.
3. Awareness: The buyer becomes aware of the need to change for legal, risk-avoidance, or economic reasons. For instance, the person may have a new understanding that buying from someone like you is less risky or cheaper than continuing to buy the existing solution.

These events are the types of information you would like to learn before speaking with your decision maker.

Craig has a useful free tool at his site called a “Won Sales Analysis” that I suggest you download. Instead of focusing on the sales you’ve lost, this application helps you analyze the sales you’ve won to help identify the common trigger events that place buyers in that window of dissatisfaction. Get it at www.WonSalesAnalysis .com. (Also, get a copy of the book he co-authored with Tibor Shanto, SHiFT!: Harness the Trigger Events That Turn Prospects into Customers.)

Trigger events provide tremendous opportunity and should be very apparent as to what they are for you. Don’t overengineer it. We had a major storm here in Arizona during monsoon season, and a large tree in my front yard was uprooted. The next day, a landscaper who was working on my neighbor’s tree knocked on my door and said he could remove mine as well. Trigger event capitalized on, done deal.

Getting Personal

In addition to acquiring information on the company, it’s helpful to be knowledgeable about the people. What information is important to know? Whatever is available. Dig for what you can find out about them personally and in their professional lives. I’m by no means suggesting you mention or use everything you learn; you don’t want to come across as a stalker. A female client told me a sales rep cold-called her and, in his opening, told her that he saw her picture online and liked her smile. Needless to say, she was creeped out. You, of course, need to be judicious and use the information appropriately.

This becomes valuable when you can make a closer connection with your prospect later in a call by asking questions you will probably know the answer to (e.g., “I’m assuming you’re an LSU football fan?”) or making a comment about what you know: “By the way, I always like to be prepared for my calls and did some research. That was a great article you wrote for the Components Insight website.”

In his classic book, Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, author Harvey Mackay explained the tool he required his sales reps to use, called the Mackay 66. It is 66 pieces of information that reps need to collect about their prospects and customers: business background, special interests, their lifestyle, business needs, and the nature of the rep’s relationship with them. You can find the Mackay 66 in your Smart Calling Companion Course, Chapter 3, SmartCallingBook.com.

He Won This Sale

An item in the Wall Street Journal nicely illustrated the power of getting—and using—information about those with whom you will soon be meeting or working. A headhunter interviewing for his own new job came armed with files on 10 people within the firm (from the CEO on down) that he’d ideally like to meet with. When he spoke with his interviewers, they saw his categorized notebook, stuffed with notes and web pages on the individuals. This, of course, impressed them, since he had clearly done his homework, and he was offered a job as a partner at the firm.

Where to Find Your Smart Information

How many attempts, on average, does it take before you actually get someone live on the phone? The numbers vary wildly, but the point is that you are not doing all of that research before each attempt. You do the bulk of it once, you make the attempt, you put the relevant information in your customer relationship management (CRM) system, then you remind yourself of it before your next attempt. If you are worried about wasting time, analyze how you are without any research. That is eye-opening.

So let’s explore where we can find this kind of information.

How to Steal Business When Your Competitor Undergoes Changes

Change is inevitable; it happens every day. Prospects can be particularly vulnerable after their existing vendor merges, is acquired, or undergoes some other type of change. Smart sales reps have processes in place to take advantage of this. They track their prospects’ current vendors, monitor any changes, and sort their database accordingly to place an effective call.

Here’s exactly what to do:

1. Set up a Google News Alert with the names of your top competitors. Based on the key words you enter, you’ll be notified of anything that appears online.
2. Set up a Current Vendor field or group that is searchable in your CRM. On every Smart Call with new prospects, find out which vendor they are buying from. Then, when changes happen, it’s a breeze to identify all the prospects with the relevant competitor’s name in the field and plan strategically timed contacts when appropriate.
3. Call with value. Naturally, you don’t phone these prospects saying, “So I see your vendor was just acquired. I bet things are a mess there! Why don’t you switch to us?” Instead, pique some interest in the opening by hinting at value, and be prepared to ask questions designed to get them to tell you the problems and pains they may be experiencing as a result of the change. For example, “Mike, I called you six months ago, and we discussed how I might be able to help cut some of your component costs. At the time you mentioned you were with AB Vending, and a change at that point didn’t seem too timely. With the recent acquisition of AB, some of my other customers have noticed some changes in the promptness of getting orders delivered. If that is an issue for you, we have some options that might be worth taking a look at.”

To be successful, be clear that the purpose of your call is more than just a check-in and be sure to avoid common opening mistakes (see Chapter 9).

Social Networking—or Social Not-Working?

Another new social networking site probably popped up in the time it took you to read this sentence. Certainly, many of these sites could provide valuable Smart Calling intelligence. Particularly if there are communities devoted entirely to buyers in your industry (similar to the groups on LinkedIn). However, they can also be a tremendous time toilet.

There is no denying the popularity of social media. We all know people who are addicted to it, but not everyone embraces it. That is particularly true for C-suite executives. But keep something in mind: You are not your customer or prospect.

It doesn’t matter how you feel about Tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming, or whatever. If that’s where your customers are, that’s where you can get valuable Smart Calling information.

Again, I’m not going to address your overall social media marketing and communication strategy. That is a much larger discussion that experts discuss online every day (see Chapter 6). What I will discuss here are some of the top social media sites you should consider for Smart Call sales intelligence.