Lead lists – Make the most of them.
Many businesses make use of lead lists to try and prospect for more business. In many instances, sales executives are simply given a list of names and contact numbers and instructed to call them.
So they do.
The BIG problem here is that once they get through they cannot offer any real value to that lead nor have a specific objective to achieve with that call – other than making the call.
Not only are those agents wasting their prospect’s time and irritating them with a pointless engagment, they are damaging the company credibility by having NOTHING OF VALUE TO OFFER!
If you are doing this in your business. STOP IT. NOW.
Working in the retail motor sector as a specialist engagement consultant, I see this day and day out.
The sales executive has a list of leads of people that have had some contact with the dealership in same shape or form over the past 2 years.
They are then instructed to call this person and offer them a new car, service or warranty.
There is no info on this person other than their name and contact number – while the CRM system DOES have more information on the prospect – eg what car they bought or were interested in , if there was a quote generated and for what amount or the nature of the engagement ( possibly service, parts etc).
But this info isn’t given to the sales executive, instead they basically have to reach out in the DARK and HOPE LIKE HELL that something they say sticks!
Is this really a sanctioned strategy?
Do they really think that the person on the other end of the phone is going to go,” OMG! Thank you so much for calling me! YES ! YES ! I’m coming in to buy a car RIGHT NOW!!”
Reality check.
PEOPLE ARE BUSY. They don’t have time for bullshit calls and time wasting and this type of strategy without purpose or value is a monumental waste of time and resources.
If you want to engage prospects properly from a lead list you MUST have the following in place BEFORE YOU CALL:
1) Relevant information on the prospect so you can engage them with something of specific value to THEM.
2) A clearly defined call objective ie,” WHAT DO I WANT THIS PERSON TO DO AS A RESULT OF MY CALL.”
Without these two key principles, the practice of calling prospects ‘to follow up’ (or something equally as inane) is the definition of insanity and borderline stupidity.
Not only that, but this type of interaction SERIOUSLY damages the credibility of the business and that prospect will probably NEVER do business with you again.
Ever.
Proper engagement delivers real & specific value.
If you have a lead list and you truly want to make the most of it, make sure you have solid information about the person you are going to call and offer them real value that is relevant to them.
Secondly have a clearly defined objective – the result that the call should achieve with that specific person.
While I realise that many businesses use the ‘shotgun’ approach – ie call 100 people in a day to get 10 sales, this is massively ineffective as a high quality strategy would deliver a far higher conversion rate as well as customer retention.
So, if you are tired of sending out lead lists or making those calls yourself and you KNOW there has to be a better way to do it, get in touch with us for a customised telesales engagment strategy that will give you more conversions, more happy customers and eliminate the ‘call fear’ on lead prospecting.