How To Get Through The Receptionist

Decision makers are never going to be easy to get hold of 100% of the time. And you have the receptionists/gatekeepers at the other end of the line preventing you from speaking to the decision maker. We can use some incentive approaches to make our odds of getting the message through a little more attractive, but we can never expect the impediment to vanish entirely. They are there, and if we can’t adjust to them, sales may not be the job for us.

Instead you use manipulative tactics to get through them, make your introduction warm and friendly, and realize that they are actually there to help you. Doing so, you will leave the pressure for you to try to get through them, instead simply ask for their help.

Top Three Techniques to Eliminate Screening:

1. Use Please

2. Give your full name and company name

3. Use instructional statements

"Hi! Good morning, could you please connect me with __________ please?”

Remember, it’s a receptionist's job to screen you out. So when they ask “Can I tell him who’s calling?”

You respond with “Please tell him Andrew Borda with the ABC Company is holding please.”

Just giving your name or company name invites further screening.

Receptionist: “Can I tell him what this is about?”

Andrew Borda: “Yes, please tell him it’s about (the problem your prospect is having or your solution). I’ll hold while you put me through.”

Always end with an instructional statement like "I’ll hold while you put me through"

Tax Collector's Office + Lead Generation = Sales

.

.

I helped increase sales of my clients by utilizing the Tax Collector's Office new business filings information. This is one of my sources for lead generation that is proven to turn into a nice profit. Majority of the leads I provide mness.y clients converted into sales because they can reach decision makers while still in the early stages of buying the supplies and services necessary to launch, promote, or run a new busi

The Tax Collector issues local business tax receipts for every business in the US. Public access to information about businesses is required by law. Fees apply to information and subscription requests, but there are also providing it at no cost. You may access information about businesses in a hard copy or online.

I have paid subscriptions for this kind of service and I receive daily reports of file activity. I can provide you with more information and/or samples of new business filings in your target market area. I can also provide you with a targeted list of existing businesses.

Email + Telemarketing to Your Advantage

1. Create a subject line that gets open because majority of the people automatically delete email messages from those they don’t know.

2. Create a custom message by including your prospect's services and/or what business category your prospect is.
3. You can get more yeses to your cold email by making it easy for your prospects to say no to you; asking specific questions that uncover your prospects true motivations and what their needs are.
4. In your industry, someone else getting phone appointments and building relationships while you are waiting for recipients to response to your email campaign - you are putting your business in a significant disadvantage. You need to utilize both email marketing + telemarketing to your advantage.

Subject: Phone appointment for Diana Jones

Diana Jones
XYZ Medical Process Improvements
123 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 14
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.xyz-medical.com

Hi Diana,

My name is Andrew Borda and I am sending this email in hopes to set a phone appointment to know more about your independent advisory company. I am just curious if would you be open to chat about generating the clients you’re looking to accomplish?

ABC Web Marketing in San Francisco provides solutions for generating clients to companies in the Health Care and Social Assistance Industry. Some companies include EFG Memorial Hospital, Mountain View Hospital, and Evo Chiropractic.

Brenda, the solutions we provide may or may not be for you; may I set a phone appointment to discuss this in a little more detail?

Thanks,

Andrew Borda
Account Manager
ABC Web Marketing
814 Shellane Ave., Suite 5
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.abcwebmarketing.com

415-333-8888

Hi Diana,

Thank you for responding to my email.

It would be helpful if beforehand we know what your current situation is or what your concerns are.  So I need to ask the following questions.

1. What motivated you to be more than happy to speak and accept my invitation to phone appointment?
2. If you get everything you want from online marketing, what would that be?
3. What is most important to you when choosing a company for this?

ABC Web Marketing has been in business since 2003 and has over 40 years of combined web development, programming and online marketing experience. What this means to you is - we are here to honor our commitments to you.  You can check our credentials at the California Secretary of State's website through this hyperlink Viewing Business Entity - ABC Web Marketing.

The objective for the phone appointment is to find out if there is a fit between what you're company is looking to accomplish and what our company has to offer.  How about tomorrow at 10am?

Kind regards,

Andrew Borda
Account Manager
ABC Web Marketing
814 Shellane Ave., Suite 5
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.abcwebmarketing.com

415-333-8883

"I was attracted to the language you used in your initial contact with me. My first impression was that you were giving me the option to help make the "fit" decision between my company's mission and the services your company has to offer. It had a collaborative effect. My services include mediation, so I'm always willing to discuss topics and options. Your email was a refreshing approach. I tend to bristle at the "hard sell" approach to human communication. Unfortunately my 3pm slot has been filled tomorrow but my morning is now open. Please let me know if that works"

My Career in Telemarketing

When I first got a job as a call center agent, I was 27 years old. We were given a month to train before we were brought to the production area. We had to practice our English and grammar skills, master our script and rebuttals, and know our product in that period of time. By the second week, some of the trainees already wanted out. Somehow, the adjustment of reporting to the office at 2:00 a.m. for training felt awkward. I didn't like the idea of quitting. I continued the training and after 8 months I got promoted to a team leader.

Personal change takes time, and the impulse to quit or change direction should not always be an immediate option. Coincidentally, I have seen this parallel relationship to people who work in call centers, but the sole difference lies in the level of commitment. A huge number of agents tend to resign from the company after six or seven short months. If ever they stayed beyond that, the drive to continue working begins to wear thin. Without a doubt, there are valid reasons why this occurs; some are affected by the physical strain, while some agents simply get bored.

There are no shortcuts to success and I believe that. You just expand the confidence that's already inside you, because this will ultimately reflect on how you perform in the workplace, should you decide to choose the career of a telemarketer or a call center agent.

There can never be a perfect job in terms of doing things at your pace, unless it's your own business. Then again, running your own business is twice as hard as being an employee. So I think working for a call center will give us our fair share of pressure, and will also require us to put in the effort. Now it's up to us to sustain that effort and continually understand how our long term goals are connected to it.

If you are a salesperson or a business owner, then finding new business is an essential part of your job. And deep down you probably know that finding new business involves getting on the phone and calling complete strangers. If you are not making unsolicited calls to potential prospects in your target market and your competitors are, then you will put yourself at a significant disadvantage. Cold calling does work, because it is the only form of marketing that guarantees you some sort of response from the individuals in your target market.

Some people are phone shy, they feel that calling is boring, they hate the phone, they can't take rejection. Cold calling is not for everybody - there are a few - that is where and why I exist.

Telemarketing Call Log

I think that the most neglected lesson of all in sales is the importance of keeping track of one’s personal statistics.  Many salespeople are ignoring their own numbers.  

You know that in order for you to make X sales, you have to set XX appointments.
 

In order to set XX appointments, you have to talk to XXX prospects and ask each one for an appointment.

In order to get XXX completed calls, you have to make XXX calls to begin with.

The point I’m making is that by understanding your ratio and monitoring it with an ongoing method, you can be much more successful.