What if you earned £410 for every cold call?
18 May 2009
If you have to make cold calls, but don’t really love making them, you really should be using a Results Monitor – RM for short. These are built into some of the most sophisticated CRM systems but, in most cases, are not as comprehensive and effective as a paper based system or a spreadsheet. It won’t take you long to set one up and the benefits are extraordinary.
The purpose of an RM is to track your results at each stage of the telephone call; to show you areas where you may need to coach yourself or get coached on the particular skill needed for that part of the process; to monitor how you are improving and most importantly – to know the results you are getting. For example:
Let’s suppose that you have been tracking the results of your cold calling for twenty hours. From the RM system, you have worked out the following statistics:
It took 2 dials to get an answer from anyone to the call you make (a contact)
It took 4 dials to get through to a Decision Maker’s PA or Secretary
It took 3 conversations with a PA or Secretary to get put through to a Decision Maker
It took 5 conversations with a Decision Maker to get an appointment to see one of them
Your stats from your meeting records show the average meeting (whether you sell at all of them or not) generates an initial sale to the value of £2400 and a further £22,200 over the lifetime of an ‘average’ customer.
So working that backwards, it takes 60 cold telephone calls to earn £24,600 which equates to £410 per cold call.
Of course your statistics will be different for a number of reasons and your sales process may be rather different. You’ll be working out your own statistics in the future, but let’s suppose those were your statistics. If you don’t like cold calling and sometimes think it’s a waste of time, does it shed a rather different light on the picture when you work out that you have earned £410 per cold call? And to put it in a totally different perspective…
Suppose I were to pay you £410 every time you picked up the telephone and dialed a number. What time would you get into the office in the morning and start cold calling? How often would you take a break? How often would you wander off for a conversation with a colleague? How late would you stay into the evening? And……has the penny dropped?
In my latest book titled – ‘Cold Calling, Tele-Sales & Appointment Setting – How To Become World Class’ is an example of a RM spreadsheet. It might work for you as it is, or you may need to re-design it for your particular purpose. The book has had rave reviews from those who read it pre-launch. More info in the Productsd Sevtion on this website.