Let’s look at a few other important points to follow prior to picking up the phone, and answer some common questions as well.

Don’t Let Sales Statistics Affect Your Calling

Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve seen my share of sales studies that claim to show the average number of calls it takes to set an appointment, to close a sale, how long calls should be, and more. And most of them don’t mean squat to you or me.

Common sense tells you that the guy setting appointments for highly specialized enterprise-level engineering software that is purchased once every 5 to 10 years isn’t going to have the same results as the person prospecting to sell subscriptions to the local business journal. I want to scream in frustration when I see these types of general stats because there really is no average. (I did a two-minute video rant on “The Problem with the Sales Numbers You See.” It’s in your Smart Calling Companion Course, SmartCallingCourse.com, Chapter 6.)

I’m regularly contacted by reps and managers who are seeking my estimate on a metric for some aspect of sales, usually so that they can justify something to their boss. Sometimes I feel like saying, “I don’t know. How long does it take to build a house?” What I actually say is that there is no way I could offer a number or opinion unless I knew almost everything about their business and situation. There are too many variables involved. What you do relates very little to the guy selling a totally different product or service, to a different market, in a different way. And even in situations that might be somewhat similar, you need to factor in the hugest variable of all: the person doing the selling.

Best Times to Call?

Speaking of silly sales stats, you can very easily find studies on the best and worst times to call a buyer. I did a very quick online search and founds lots of results. The following are all from different studies.

Best Times to Call

• Before 8 a.m.
• 8–9 a.m.
• 8–10 a.m.
• 8–11 a.m.
• 10 a.m.
• 12 noon–1 p.m.
• 2–3 p.m.
• 4 p.m.
• 4–5 p.m.
• 4–6 p.m.

Worst Times to Call

• 7–10 a.m.
• Before 8 a.m.
• 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
• 2–3 p.m.
• 4–6 p.m.

Many of these studies claimed to take a scientific approach, tracking 10,000 cold calls over the course of a month. How could there be such disparity?

What the article did not mention: What were these salespeople saying on their calls? If we took a group of reps trained in Smart Calling who are saying and doing the right things consistently—would they have more success on Friday than the other test group on Thursday? Would they have the same results by calling at different times of the day? What bothers me is that there are sales reps and managers who cherry-pick these studies, calling only during the stated “best times,” and using it as a reason to not call at other times.

Based on over 30 years of unscientific experience attending the School of Real World Observation and Calling, my findings are that if you are not calling, you are not uncovering opportunities.

Now, of course, there are certain industry-specific times that might be better—and worse—for calling. Common sense would tell you not to call a restaurant at lunchtime. And the only chance you might have of reaching a building contractor in the office is at 6 a.m. or after dark.

Here are some thoughts from fellow Smart Callers on this topic:

“The best time to call is anytime. You can gather info from screeners and adjust when you call a specific person. A giant pet peeve of mine is prejudging when to call, such as, ‘Oh, it’s too early or too late,’ or ‘He’s probably at lunch.’ In my opinion the big whales are at their desk at 6 a.m. and maybe 10 p.m. Sometimes the only time they sit down is lunch.”

—Tim McClintock

“I set a target of how many calls per hour I want. Once I reach that target I take a breather, grab a coffee, get some fresh air and review my calls and how I might have been better. Then at the top of the hour I start again. Therefore every hour of the workday has some calls placed and as we know, it’s in the numbers and in the activity. No calls equals no results.”

—Janette Wittwer

“I’ve always believed the best time to call someone is anytime because everyone has a different situation. My best time is when I’m feeling on top of the world because everyone is going to say ‘yes.’”

—Ann Mayer

“The best time to call is now.”

—Paul Young

Ritualize Your Phone Time

You might have an interest in Smart Calling for a variety of reasons. Some people might be desperate to generate short-term cash and need to make things happen quickly just to keep the doors open. Maybe you are not in traditional sales, but you are job-hunting and looking for opportunities and interviews. New sales reps might need to shake the bushes to open fresh accounts and build their book of business, with the goal of not needing to rely on prospecting as much in the future. The savvy sales pro realizes that prospecting is the key to continually beating his numbers and income goals each year.

The best method I have seen for anyone in prospecting mode is ritualizing calling. That means making an appointment with yourself to call during set times—and committing to it. For some, it must be every day, between certain hours, no exceptions. For others, it can be one day a week. Some people call it “time blocking,” others call it “power hour.” The label doesn’t matter. Just do it.

Do it regularly, and do nothing else during that time. Make it non-negotiable. Don’t check email. Don’t write proposals. If you can, do most of your pre-call planning in advance. You’ll benefit by being completely in the zone where your energy and momentum build. Success breeds success. Action builds momentum, and it is motivating. Your commitment to success will dictate your rituals, which will produce your results.

When You Are on a Roll, Stay in the Zone

There is an absolute best time to place calls: when you are in your own personal success zone. That’s the magic time when you have a string of very successful calls, your attitude is at a peak, and—almost magically—everything falls in your favor.

I’m a huge baseball fan, and I’ve done the Kansas City Royals Fantasy Camp a couple of times. Hall of Famer George Brett was one of the coaches, and I talked to him about a phrase he had used: that the baseball coming in looked “as big as a beach ball” when he was in the zone.

You probably have your own way to describe that great feeling of being on a roll, when success comes at every turn. So when you’re on a personal hot streak—keep going! Don’t stop to dwell on the success too long. Take advantage of the groove that you’re in and keep plugging away. Success has an uncanny way of piling up when you are in a zone.

End with a Positive

Before hitting the machines at the gym, I always shoot some baskets to warm up. I’ve continued a practice I started back in high school when I played basketball and, later, when I coached my kids’ teams: Always be sure your last shot of the day goes in. It might sound like a little thing, but I find it lets me end on a positive note. More than 30 years ago, when I was an inside sales rep for AT&T Long Lines, cranking out numerous calls daily, I had the same rule: End every day with a call that was a win. It was not necessarily a sale, but it was an accomplishment of an objective. Try it! It helps you end your day on a high note and begin the next day the same way.

Great Days to Call: When Others Don’t

Want to avoid the call clutter? Call when others don’t: around holidays, summer vacations, and long weekends. Many people traditionally write off these times—either by taking official vacation days or by mentally taking off, even though they are physically present. Some prospects may not be in, but how is that any different from reaching voicemail any other day?

Better yet, other buyers are working. And maybe their assistants are out. Perhaps it’s more relaxed in their office and they are more apt to pick up the phone. Maybe they’re in a better mood, since everyone isn’t banging on the door, wanting something.

Be sure to call during the week between Christmas and January 1. There are buyers with money to spend before the end of the year. Maybe there’s money left in the budget or perhaps they need to spend for tax purposes. If they’re presented with an intriguing offer during this time, they just might be more apt to make a buying decision. I personally buy more for business in late December than during any other month, because I need to reduce my tax burden.

I’ve never understood people’s tendency to avoid calling during this particular week. Come January 2, everyone starts calling. And that’s the very day that decision makers are swamped with their own work!

You might not be hitting it hard during these traditional downtimes because you’re assuming that you probably won’t reach many people. But here’s all that you know for sure during that time: If you’re not placing calls, you have no chance of reaching these people and selling to them.

Over the years, I have collected many success stories of reps catching up with that otherwise hard-to-reach decision maker and starting a business relationship during this so-called dead week.

Other Unconventional Times to Call

It’s also possible to reach people at other unexpected times. This section covers some of them.

Best Times for Follow-up Calls

After you have gathered some information from an assistant about the best time to reach the buyer—or have actually spoken with him yourself—set a specified field aside in your CRM that indicates the best times to call this particular client. If you call the same people on a routine basis, knowing when you’re most likely to reach them can save you a lot of time—time that you can then allocate to making more Smart Calls and sales. People are creatures of habit, and you are far more likely to catch a given person at the same time each day. If you haven’t reached certain clients successfully yet, try calling a different time of day on each attempt you make. This will increase your chances of hitting them at the right time.

Combo Prospecting

My primary focus is what to say on prospecting and sales calls. However, the actual call is one part of an overall outreach strategy and process.

Most of us communicate and consume information in a variety of ways. Therefore, most sustained, effective Smart Calling efforts also are complemented by other touches: email, LinkedIn InMail and messages, and good old notes sent through the mail. Video is being used very successfully and some people use texting, Facebook Messenger, and other communication apps.

While I do address a few of these other forms of communication, I could fill an entire companion book just focusing on how to use the options available. Tony Hughes, sales leader and consultant, did just that with Combo Prospecting: The Powerful One-Two Punch That Fills Your Pipeline and Wins Sales.

When the term social selling first arrived on the scene, I was a bit confused. Isn’t all selling social? I’ve come to learn that social selling is using social networks to develop relationships as part of the sales process. It involves direct communication with prospects, buyers, and clients, often in the form of sharing content and listening. While most people associate it with social media platforms, it can take place offline and in person as well. In his book, Tony does the best job that I’ve seen of taking social selling beyond the fluff.

Warming Up a Smart Call

If you, a staff member, or a marketing person can warm up your calls by sending something in advance via the postal service or some other shipping company—something that can acquaint them with you, and perhaps create some interest—then by all means, do so!

What is old, is new again. Something physical is harder to ignore than emails that are mass-deleted. However, don’t get your hopes up that someone will necessarily take an interest in what you sent. So why do it? If it is targeted and relevant, it can have a significant return on investment.

My friend and fellow sales trainer Bill Lee (www.BillLeeOnline .com) suggests putting your prospect on your mailing list long before you make your first call. This requires some work and planning, but if you are serious about making Smart Calling a systematic habit, then it will become a ritual for you. Bill suggests sending things that you feel the prospect might find useful (not self-promotional propaganda), such as:

• News clippings
• Trade journal articles
• Printouts of web pages with interesting info
• Helpful hints pertaining to their business
• Industry research, reports, or white papers specifically relevant for them

And let me add to the list: books. Find general, current, popular business books. Include a brief note about how you thought the prospect might find this interesting and that you will be contacting him soon to discuss some ideas. Sound too expensive? Of course, you wouldn’t send these out by the thousands, but let’s say a book is $20. I bet you’d have a better chance of getting in to see a high-level prospect when you say to the executive assistant, “I’m the guy that sent the book.” When this prospect becomes a client, you’ll make that $20 many times over.

I also recommend sending greeting cards. A very persistent sales pro sent me personalized greeting cards every month for 16 months (that right—16!) while I continually evaded his phone calls. I finally agreed to take some time to listen to the automated system he used to send the personalized cards.

Finally, handwritten notes can still be a great idea. Invest in personalized executive-sized stationery or note cards. Consider leaving your company’s name off and keeping only your name. Write out the address and note by hand. Use a first-class stamp, not a postage meter. Letters like that are almost always guaranteed to get delivered and read.

The best time to send the items is after you have already done some social engineering. This allows you to tailor what you send to the prospect’s interests and then enlist her assistant in helping you get it to the buyer. And when you do call, you still want to follow all of the steps in the Smart Calling system. I plead with you: Do not start out your call with “I sent you a letter. Did you get it?” (We will cover the opening statement in Chapter 9.)

Emailing before a Call

Just like there are dumb cold calls, there are dumb cold emails. And they’re more common than ever.

I think there must be a well-marketed template out there because so many emails follow the same format:

Subject: Getting on your calendar for a quick meeting

Dear (first name),

I’m ___ with ____. We are a (world class/leading/number one/) provider of (product/service/thing.)

We (long boring description of product/service/thing). We …

(more about how good we think we are)

(more about how good we think we are)

(more about how good we think we are)

I would like to get on your calendar for 15 minutes to show you (why we think we are great).

When would be a good time next week for a call?

Sincerely,

(Sales Rep)

Compelling, right?

When this one gets ignored, the follow-up comes a few days later, saying some version of “I sent you an email a few days ago, but did not hear back from you.”

My head hurts.

I received one last week from the owner of a sales training company who was pitching his prospecting training services to me. I replied back to him with my thoughts on his prospecting methodology.

Many people wonder if it’s okay to use email before a Smart Call. If structured well, it can warm up prospects. You should craft it only after you have done your research and social engineering, and then use a variation of your opening statement (see Chapters 9 and 10).

Here’s an email that caught my attention. It started out:

Art, thought you might be interested in hearing about how another sales trainer like you was able to get new customers and maintain them at a high lifetime value …

Then he went on to share a success story, mentioned some of my services and how they were similar, and shared some testimonials. He said he would call me.

That message earned my time because it was personalized, not just in name, but in content. The sender had done his homework and built credibility by using a testimonial with an example of someone like me. Very nice.

Here’s another example:

Hi Bob, I saw your post in the Facilities Management group on LinkedIn. I understand that you are now in the process of considering an addition to your manufacturing facility and are looking for the latest energy efficiency options. We compiled a resource list of just that, which another company in your industry used to reduce utility expenses by 30%. Here’s the link to it. If you have questions please let me know.

The key is personalizing the email and subject line using Smart information and not using the document to sell.

I have also created a unique way of using email for prospecting. It involves sending an informational item of likely interest (e.g., article, report, research, video, etc.) along with a well-crafted message, but not asking for anything. Then, the Smart Call is placed. You can find my 50-minute webinar detailing this process, with messaging examples, in your Smart Calling Companion Course in Chapter 6, SmartCallingBook.com.

Multimedia Messages

Video is everywhere, and I’ve seen it effectively used in a variety of ways to get through to a buyer.

Jason Bay, co-founder of Blissful Prospecting, teaches this process, and sent me an email with a personalized video. It contained a screenshot from the video, with Jason holding a whiteboard that had “Hi Art” written on it. The email was as follows:

Subject: Hi Art, looking for podcast guests?

Hey Art,

Instead of sending a plain old email, I made a 30-ish second personalized video for you here.

(video image)

Would love an opportunity to be a guest on your podcast—no surprise there—and talk about how to build a predictable sales pipeline.

Here are a few recent podcasts I’ve been interviewed on:

(He listed several, the topics, and links to the shows)

I was thinking something similar for your podcast where we do a deep dive and give a ton of value to your audience. Interested in discussing further?

Jason Bay

In the video, Jason came across as very likeable and genuine. He mentioned a recent episode of the podcast with another guest and commented on some specifics from it. He also mentioned his email prospecting process that lots of clients were having success with and asked if I’d be interested in talking about it as a possible topic for a show. He did not pitch how great he was, but rather, got me curious and simply asked if I was open to discussing it. Smart.

Now, I did not reply to his first message. I typically don’t to most cold outreach of any type, since I want to see if and how someone follows up. Jason did with a couple more emails that contained value, and I finally replied, asking for him to expand further on his idea. We arranged a call, and he not only got on the show (Episode 84, TheArtofSales.com), but he also did a webinar for my Inner Circle Coaching group on his REPLY Method, which essentially mirrors the Smart Calling process. To see a brief video from Jason, and get a free one-page breakdown of the REPLY Method, go to BlissfulProspecting.com/Art.

Email, when done the Smart way, works. And when you can combine it with video, it works even better in most cases.

Video is something that is continually evolving—both in technology and methodology—so I have a section in your Smart Calling Companion Course in Chapter 6 that I’ll keep updated.

How about Sending Unusual Items Prior to the Call?

Emails and voicemails are easy to delete, but when something shows up in a box or a puffy envelope at our home or office, it gets our attention.

I received a FedEx box from Google. Of course I ripped it open right away. It was a notebook computer case, along with a note saying they would like to give me the Chromebook computer that went in the case. All I had to do was book a meeting with one of their G-Suite sales execs to review their offerings.

Now, I was thinking that the all-knowing Google must surely know something about me that I didn’t, since I didn’t consider myself a huge prospect for their offerings. (I already was paying them a small amount monthly for some email and storage services.)

Being curious (and interested in a free Chromebook), I booked the meeting, spoke with the rep, and together we concluded, as I suspected, that I was not a prospect. As promised, she had the computer delivered. There must be a huge return with their strategy.

I could give you lots of examples of how to do this, but one guy has already specialized in it. Stu Heinecke even coined a term for it: contact marketing. Stu also is a Wall Street Journal cartoonist, and he has gotten response rates of 100% for himself and his clients with his unconventional, attention-getting campaigns. For example, to get the attention of—and a meeting with—a high-level prospect, Stu will create an 18″ × 24″ cartoon, personalize the caption with the prospect’s name, mount it on sturdy cardboard, and overnight it. He first lets the prospect’s assistant know it is coming. It works every time.

In his books How to Get a Meeting with Anyone and Get the Meeting, he shares hundreds of ideas on how you can send something simple, or engage in a multi-step campaign to grab attention and create interest. I am confident you will find something that resonates with you. But you don’t need to overcomplicate it. For example, I’ve heard of salespeople sending packages of coffee and a mug, with a note saying, “I’d like to have a cup of coffee with you to discuss some ideas about …”

Angie Medina said that to really differentiate herself, she sends a crumpled-up catalog or brochure in an envelope and attaches a note saying, “Don’t throw this away again!”

At a marketing seminar I once attended, one of the participants shared the method he has used to seize the attention of high-level decision makers. I thought that I had heard most of the odd objects sent to decision makers, but this one beat them all. This salesperson purchases cheap, $20 disposable cell phones (the kind you can get at Walmart). He then sends them to his highly targeted top-level decision makers, along with a note that says, “I believe we can help you increase your profits. I will call you at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday the 16th. Please listen for my call.” Then he calls the cell number! He claims that it is so unusual that it works almost every time.

Get Direct Numbers

There’s no arguing that having a prospect’s direct number will get you through more often than having to navigate via an automated system, or an assistant. Plus it saves you time.

The question, then, is how to get direct numbers.

In Chapter 3, we talked about sales intelligence resources. Many premium services provide direct dial phone numbers—yet another reason to invest in them.

As part of your social engineering (Chapter 4), you can and should ask for direct numbers. Do not be shy about it; you’re not being diabolical. Very confidently say, “And what is her direct number?”