To wrap up this book, I’ll share some additional brief tips you can use in your Smart Calling.

Send an Email to Find the Buyer

If you don’t know the decision maker’s name and are having trouble getting cooperation from screeners, then consider using electronic methods. Browse the company’s site and look for the “Contact Us” information. Send an email to the address indicated or to one of the departments that might be more appropriate. Say something like “I was at your site and could not locate the address and name of your Director of Finance. Could you please reply with that information so I can contact them directly?”

Easy Way to Find More Buyers

Here’s an idea for getting referrals: If you run across a start-up company while prospecting, ask your contact for someone to talk to at their previous employer. Often, start-ups are spawned from larger companies that are in similar businesses and buying like items.

Use a Calling Card

Here’s a suggestion from Patrick Killam on getting to decision makers:

I was reading a column in your newsletter about ways to get through to your party when they notice your number from caller ID and are avoiding your call. A great way that I work around this is that I buy a calling card (can be picked up at any local store). When you go through a calling card there are many different ways it can appear on someone’s caller ID. It can say “Unknown Caller.” It could be a number from out of state that goes through another phone network, etc. But, bottom line, I’ve had much success with this system. It’s quick, easy, and you can do it from the convenience of your office at a minimal expense ($.03 a minute).

Draw a Decision-Making Organizational Chart

Knowing who else in an organization will influence the purchase helps you to formulate and implement your optimum sales approach. You can simply ask for this information: “Tell me, is there anyone else who will be involved in the final purchase decision?” When you find this out, it is helpful to create and update your own organizational chart of the prospect’s company after each call. Fill in little tidbits of info about each person in his or her box. Then refer to the chart before each call so that you can put yourself in the prospect’s environment, comprehend who else needs to be sold, and realize what needs to take place before you can win the deal.

Follow Your Buyers

While listening to some recorded phone calls for a training session at Deluxe Business Systems, I heard a rep named Matt Davis reach a customer who said they were closing the company soon. After expressing his regrets, Matt said, “Where are you going to go?” Great question! That’s a smart way of following a buyer and setting the stage to open an account with the customer’s new company.

Be Ready When You Are on Hold

When a customer or prospect puts your call on hold, don’t lean over to the person next to you and get in a conversation. You risk losing your train of thought and focus for this call. Plus, it detracts from the intimacy of the call if the customer comes back online and hears you mid-sentence with someone else.

Get Referrals from within Their Company

If you have a customer within a company that has multiple locations—or many departments at one location—you probably haven’t even scratched the surface of potential business. The hard part is over: getting the company as a customer. Now that you’re in the door, ferret out other opportunities. Ask your customer, “Who else within your company also uses [does] _____? Who could also take advantage of something similar to what we’re doing together?” Prompt them a bit: “How about other departments or locations?” Even if they come up empty, you can ask them, “If I can find other buyers on my own, would it be a problem if I mention your name as a reference?”

Give Information on Your Voicemail Greeting

I have to chuckle every time I hear a voicemail greeting that says, “I’m unable to come to the phone right now.” Avoid that. It says nothing. Give some information. Provide something more positive, such as “I’m in meetings until 12 noon on Thursday and will return calls then. In the meantime, you can hit extension 25 and speak with Tom Smith.” Tell them where you are and when they can expect to hear from you.

Smart Calling Fellow Alumni

When you are looking for a commonality to make a connection with a prospect, how about flipping the process and start looking where you know you’ll already have something in common: college alumni.

Most of us have a special bond with our school and this gives us an advantage over a stranger off the street.

What’s interesting about this is that there were likely thousands of others at your school that you saw every day and never spoke with, but if you saw someone in an airport in another city with a t-shirt from your school you might be likely to say something to them, right?

Include a Compliment in the Referral Opening

When calling a referral, include some personal information from the person who referred you. Preferably a compliment. This starts the call on a real positive. A sales rep did this on a call to me, and I found myself in a more receptive frame of mind, and I realized why afterward.

For example, “Hi Dan, I’m Kelly Stevens with Info Supply. Bob Russell at Muffler Industries suggested I give you a call. He said some great things about you, particularly how you have …”

Let It Ring Longer to Make More Contacts

This is so simple and it should be obvious, but in over 30 years, I hadn’t really thought of it.

In a recent survey of outbound sales calls (actually, he was running a test, not a survey), Mark Smith, VP of Sales at Womply, tracked 1,000 calls that were made by reps who were told not to hang up until the phone had rung at least eight times. Here are the results:

• On those calls, the reps’ contact rate increased by 59.3%.
• Their decision maker contact rate increased by 30.9%.

These are some significant increases from something so simple. More voicemail systems than you might expect allow for eight rings.

There are some underlying implications here as well. While some reps avoid placing calls, others hang up early so they don’t have to speak with someone. Let it ring to make more contacts.

Does That Sound Familiar?

A sales rep used a technique with me that got me thinking, and into a conversation. Although he didn’t accomplish his objective, I see how it could be useful when used correctly. The technique in the opening is that, after saying your name you say, “Does that sound familiar?”

I replied, “No. Why would it be familiar?” He stammered and couldn’t explain why. The call ended quickly. This didn’t work with me the way he had delivered it, but I can see how this might work when you use it in a Smart Calling approach.

If, before getting your prospect on the phone, you send an email to tease your Possible Value Proposition (PVP) and leave a voicemail with a similar message, your name could actually be familiar, especially if your messages were good. If they say, “Why would that sound familiar?” (my reply), you could continue with, “I left a couple of messages about how we specialize in …” and then continue with your opening.

The reason to even consider using this is the pattern interrupt aspect of it. It could cause someone to break out of their “This is a salesperson” frame of mind. A possible other benefit is that they actually do remember your previous messages.

Don’t Create Interruptions

While I was talking casually to a sales rep, he complained, “I just don’t have enough time to get everything done. I have a hard time hitting my prospecting call numbers.” During our brief conversation (less than five minutes), his computer alarm chimed twice to announce new email messages. He excused himself both times and whirled around in his chair to check the message. I asked, “Do you do that all day long?” His expression turned into a wince—one of those “Yeah, I know” looks we get when confronted with something we know we shouldn’t be doing.

I know; it’s difficult if you’re in the email habit, but here are some ideas.

1. Stay off-line completely. Check email at set intervals, say, twice a day.
2. If you can’t do that, for gosh sakes, do turn off the alarm, or the text or graphic pop-up that alerts you to new messages. This job is hard enough without inviting more interruptions.

Take Notes on What They Say and Mean

Sales rep Larry Feil shared a suggestion about taking notes while on calls. It’s one thing to record what people say, but that’s usually only part of the story. You should also note what they really mean. Larry suggests drawing a line down your paper, heading the left side with “What They Said” and the right with something like “How They Said It” or “What They Meant.”

For example, in the left column you might write, “Says they will hold off for a month due to budget constraints.” In the right column, you might say, “Sounds very tentative in speech. Very squeamish on this issue, even though he is sold on product. Sounds like there’s something else here, but he’s not comfortable discussing.”

It Takes PAP to Be Successful

My friend and fellow sales trainer, Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” says that to be successful in prospecting you need PAP, which stands for persistence, attitude, and process.

Smart Caller and Inner Circle Coaching member Jay Stein recounts a story that speaks to the importance of persistence. Jay sells data to marketers and their agencies. He told me how he made an initial call to a prospect based on information in a press release. He was able to get to the head of an agency and had a decent first call. But then he was unable to get the prospect back on the phone, despite leaving a voicemail every six weeks, with an email in between. This went on for a year and half.

When he reached the prospect again, the agency wouldn’t commit to doing business. Jay had somewhat written off the prospect, but not totally, knowing they still could use his services.

He continued to persist, albeit lightly, leaving occasional voicemails and email messages with some value.

And then, one year later, two and a half years after the initial contact, the prospect sent Jay an email saying he might have an opportunity for him. They spoke. The opportunity resulted in $136,000 worth of new business. (Jay works on straight commission.)