General advice on selling required

[Lynn Normington]

Glenn we may all be millionaires, we just don’t let on 😀 I would think your approach depends on what you are trying to sell, sometimes cold calling works, some times just a flyer or a polite phone call. not much help sorry 🙄

Lynn

[Glenn Sharp]

Anything at all appreciated Lynn 😀

Never done any of this kind of thing before so not sure of the do’s and don’ts..

Obviously between me and my boss we will come up with some kind of strategy but I just don’t want to look like a complete numpty on Monday when we have our meeting

I suppose at the end of the day my question boils down to is cold calling acceptable or does it upset or annoy some prospective customers enough to turn you away even if they have a need for certain signage

[John Cooper]

You have to have a particular kind of resilience to endure the rejections cold calling often produces. Personally, I hate it and I don’t like people cold calling on me.

I guess it works for some and depends what you’re selling.

[Graeme Harrold]

Prepare your self with an exit strategy……… If the cold calling works then keep talking, if not have something (flyer, newsletter etc) that is easily handed over that will make them think and remember you. Either way leave your mark in a polite way…………

[Phill Fenton]

When I first started my business I found the quickest way to contact a lot of people was by telephone.

I bought a contact list of businesses in my area from my local business advisory service (In Scotland this is called Small Business Gateway). This list provided me with telephone numbers and addresses. Alternatively you can obtain a copy of your local chamber of commerce members directory.

I started off by working through the list and phoning various companies asking to speak to the business owner or general manager (in many cases the owners name appeared on my contact list so I was able to ask for them by name). In many cases it is hard to get through to the main contact (receptionists are trained to filter calls) – in these cases I would speak to the receptionist instead.

I began by explaining that I had started a sign making business and asked if this was something they would ever have a use for. In most cases the answer was yes and I would follow this up with a letter and leaflet. Often I would strike lucky and would be told they had a van to be signed or some other signage requirement and this would lead to me quoting for some work.

Someone once told me that it was numbers games. Tell enough people and you will get the work – That advice is certainly true.

Spend an hour on the phone every day and I guarantee you will obtain a few genuine leads to follow up. Best to phone first or last thing in the day as this is the best time to get to speak to the business owner.

Phoning allows you to speak to a lot more people than going around knocking on doors.

[Graeme Harrold]

The only point Id add to the cold calling by phone is TPS. If a company is registered you could (slim chance) be fined for not checking that they had opted out of accepting cold calling. 😥

[Glenn Sharp]

thanks very much for the feedback everybody

I’ve looked at the TPS website and can’t seem to find out how you check who’s registered…….there does seem to be a few companies offering a service for about a tenner a month………….anybody used one of them ??

[Roger Weichert]

Hi Glenn,

I’m sort of in the same boat .. as far as trying to drum up work … except that in my case I’m trying to build my own business.

I have written a sales letter .. and have printed my own flyer … and am about to do the cold calling thing .. but as Graeme suggested

quote :

Prepare your self with an exit strategy……… If the cold calling works then keep talking, if not have something (flyer, newsletter etc)

In fact I have a small front page which explains why I am just dropping off the info … and not taking up too much of their time .. because I don’t like people doing that to me either.

If they start asking questions, I will be prepared to hang around and answer them .. otherwise I’ll just deliver the package and leave.

I’m in the process of putting the packs together right now .. with the first 20 or so to be delivered tomorrow (if I can pluck up the courage)

I’ll let you know how I get on … 🙂

If you like, I can email you the sales letter … and you can see what you think. I have no idea how well it will work .. if at all .. but I’ve spent months (on and off) preparing it .. so it wont be from lack of work.

The flyer is about 150mm high by 780 wide .. and is set up to educate people about large format printing and the sort of things it can be used for. Obviously your market will be different … but it may give you something to start with.

The flyer is a big file .. (50Mb +) so I’d probably need to send that via some sort of file upload site perhaps.

Send me an email if you’d like to see either.

Regards, Roger

mod-edit please read board rules

[David Rogers]

Personally, telephone cold-calling is an absolute no-no and INCREDIBLY annoying for the recipient (I get 2 or 3 a day) – so much so (that being the polite soul I am) that if in the room, my boss has been in the background (loudly) advising me to tell them to _ off!

And it’s marginally illegal if for anything other than to ask for the name of the person you can send a letter to with their consent. (All that data protection malarkey).

I take calls from EXISTING SUPPLIERS more readily – and more often than not reward them with ‘something’ for their efforts. SO, concentrate on your older customers that have gone a bit quiet on you.

Flyers do work IF hand delivered by YOU – expect a 2-5% return on PERSONALLY TARGETED, flyer in the hand with a smile & a 30 second explanation…this drops to well under 0.5% if you mass-mail or blanket cover all the area. I find this MORE effective than cold calling for a chat…time is money…and most business owners would rather cut off their ears than listen to somebody do an uninvited sales pitch.

Emailing from a list is a total non-starter…shamefully I did this years ago to EVERY contact in my ‘outlook’ – got…NOTHING except possibly being classified as ‘JUNK’ from then on in.

Some companies are printing 5000 double sided glossy A5’s for £80…don’t just print them yourself on an inkjet with copy-paper…your first impression may be your only one.

Dave

[Glenn Sharp]

Again….thanks very much for the feedback…..I’m taking everything onboard

Richard, I’ve sent you an email…thanks for the offer

[Phill Fenton]

You could also consider joining your local chamber of commerce and going along to some of their networking events.

[John Cooper]

Or The Masons