Appointment Setting

[Arsh4d]

Good Morning,

A quick questions for all you guys/girls.

I do not have much sales experience, so have decided to outsource some aspects of the sales operation. We sell services within the security sector.

I will be headhunting a few individuals to cold call and set appointments with decision makers.

I would like some tips on:

What is the current market rate for setting appointments
What kind of leads are classed as qualified leads
What would the package need to include to make it attractive to the people i headhunt

And finally does it work?

I would really appreciate any feedback you can offer, as i know there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum.

Thanks in Advance

Ash

 

[Gabbalot]

Ash.

Thats a tough one.

It depends on a few factors.

Is it cold calling or from an exsiting database?

Are you well known in your industry sector?

A qualified lead is usally desion maker - time - date - venue and confirmed by a third party approx 24hrs before.

Have you thought of outsourcing many companies including my own offer pay by result options.

This would cut your staff overhead and give you more flexability.

Dave

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[Arsh4d]

Ash.

Thats a tough one.

It depends on a few factors.

Is it cold calling or from an exsiting database?

Are you well known in your industry sector?

A qualified lead is usally desion maker - time - date - venue and confirmed by a third party approx 24hrs before.

Have you thought of outsourcing many companies including my own offer pay by result options.

This would cut your staff overhead and give you more flexability.

Dave

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Hi Dave,

Thanks for the response,

I wouldn't say we are well known in our industry.
We want to solidify our position in our geographical area first and then branch out. Even though we are not recognised widely we have all the correct accreditation's which the big boys have.

The cold calling would be done by the person/people we appoint.
The reason we want to find an individual rather than a company is because we want to bring them in at some stage and integrate them into our sales team.

We have a database we can share, but essentially we want somebody to be creating leads and following up for us.

Thanks

 

[TotallySport]

are there no better ways than cold calling, cold calling could bring a negative reputation for your business.

Have you looked at other ways of advertising or looked into a company to manage your advertising for you?

 

[Deleted member 138423]

Why don' you outsource the function to a dedicated telesales company who will provide you with pre qualified leads in a highly professional manner?

 

[Arsh4d]

are there no better ways than cold calling, cold calling could bring a negative reputation for your business.

Have you looked at other ways of advertising or looked into a company to manage your advertising for you?

Hi I agree with you.

As we only deal with b2b, cold calling can certainly have a negative impact.

I suppose the only other way would be to have somebody on the ground, door knocking and that can again have a negative impact.

We sell security services, so we have to face the customer to assess their needs and build packages for them.

So somewhere along the line, cold calling becomes essential.

 

[Arsh4d]

Why don' you outsource the function to a dedicated telesales company who will provide you with pre qualified leads in a highly professional manner?

Yes, that is also an option.

With security services being such a specific industry, there are not many companies that we can approach.

Also the reasons we wanted an individual was so that we can train the person with some basic knowledge of our services and then eventually bring them on board once we start growing.

I must add that we are not a start-up, we have been trading for a few years, and also have some good clients on our books.

 

[Gabbalot]

Cold calling can only have a negative impact if done incorrectly.

If done properly it can be the start of a long term relationship.

It can boil down to the script or the person doing the call.
Anyway im going of topic.

Ash.

If your looking for aomeone to come in house.

An actrative basic with on going commision is proberbly the best package to offer.

Ie 5% of monthly revenue for eacb customer they bring on board this will encourage your staff to make lasting relationships not just a quick sell.

Dave

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[Arsh4d]

Cold calling can only have a negative impact if done incorrectly.

If done properly it can be the start of a long term relationship.

It can boil down to the script or the person doing the call.
Anyway im going of topic.

Ash.

If your looking for aomeone to come in house.

An actrative basic with on going commision is proberbly the best package to offer.

Ie 5% of monthly revenue for eacb customer they bring on board this will encourage your staff to make lasting relationships not just a quick sell.

Dave

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Thanks dave,

That is what i am looking for, figures.

5% of revenue generated by them sounds ideal.
Once we have trained them, they could work from home and manage their own time effectively.

would we need to pay them a basic if they were to work from home, or make the commission even more attractive?

 

[Gabbalot]

Ash.

Sounds like a fob off but depends on the candiate.

If your looking for a longterm member of staff someone wanting a career who has a family a basic is a must.

Comission only attracts your young cash hungry proffesionals that tend to move from one project to another.

I am being abit general but thats what Ive found over the years

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[Arsh4d]

Ash.

Sounds like a fob off but depends on the candiate.

If your looking for a longterm member of staff someone wanting a career who has a family a basic is a must.

Comission only attracts your young cash hungry proffesionals that tend to move from one project to another.

I am being abit general but thats what Ive found over the years

Sent from my GT-I9100 using UK Business Forums

ok Dave,

Thanks for the feedback,
I guess both have pros and cons.

The commission you mentioned is a good avenue to look down.
Also a basic in some shape will also entice the potential employee.

One final question,

How long would you persevere with results?
Would they need to hit the ground running, or give them a settling in period?

 

[Gabbalot]

You want them to hit the ground running so set progressive targets.

But do five them a month to settle in first week training and product knowledge. I suggest taking them over every part of the process from first contact to pricing to invoicing.

Then set increasing targets each week and see if they meet or exceed them.

Best way to set targets is to do the job yourself for a day nothing else seeing what results u get then double it so if you book 5 target 10 thats 50 aweek.

Hope that helps.

Dave

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[Arsh4d]

You want them to hit the ground running so set progressive targets.

But do five them a month to settle in first week training and product knowledge. I suggest taking them over every part of the process from first contact to pricing to invoicing.

Then set increasing targets each week and see if they meet or exceed them.

Best way to set targets is to do the job yourself for a day nothing else seeing what results u get then double it so if you book 5 target 10 thats 50 aweek.

Hope that helps.

Dave

Sent from my GT-I9100 using UK Business Forums

Thanks for all the feedback Dave.

 

[TotallySport]

just out of interest what other marketing are you currently doing?

Also for the record I have never and will never by security products or services from cold callers.

Infact security products is one thing I have never been cold called about, which is fairly refreshing.

 

[Arsh4d]

just out of interest what other marketing are you currently doing?

Also for the record I have never and will never by security products or services from cold callers.

Infact security products is one thing I have never been cold called about, which is fairly refreshing.

We are advertised in yell.
Run a blog on our website.
Participate on the social media platforms.
Sending out brochures/mailshots

We do not sell products, we provide services to others businesses.
I can see why you would be happy about not being sold security products.

This is what drove me to ask the question, would telesales work in this sector?
I know it's a niche field and not many security providers do cold calling.

 

[telemax]

We are advertised in yell.
Run a blog on our website.
Participate on the social media platforms.
Sending out brochures/mailshots

We do not sell products, we provide services to others businesses.
I can see why you would be happy about not being sold security products.

This is what drove me to ask the question, would telesales work in this sector?
I know it's a niche field and not many security providers do cold calling.

Whats your ROI on Yell? how much have you spent and how much business have you brought in?

 

[Arsh4d]

Whats your ROI on Yell? how much have you spent and how much business have you brought in?

Our ROI on yell is fantastic.
Maybe we got lucky, but we won business with a client that found us on yell.

We invested in Yell a few years ago, the profits made from that particular client have somewhat paid for Yell for the foreseeable future.

That is not to say that Yell is excellent, but we positioned ourselves well and were in the right place at the right time.

We haven't won much else off yell.

 

[telemax]

Our ROI on yell is fantastic.
Maybe we got lucky, but we won business with a client that found us on yell.

We invested in Yell a few years ago, the profits made from that particular client have somewhat paid for Yell for the foreseeable future.

That is not to say that Yell is excellent, but we positioned ourselves well and were in the right place at the right time.

We haven't won much else off yell.

Ok I'm going to make a wild guess that you spend a few hundred pounds per month with Yell. The key to having a telemarketer or using an external company is sticking at it for a year or so. Sometimes prospects need to be called back many times over the course of months in order to even gain a meeting. My guess is that £300 per month for 2 days per month telemarketing would get you some good clients.

 

[Arsh4d]

Ok I'm going to make a wild guess that you spend a few hundred pounds per month with Yell. The key to having a telemarketer or using an external company is sticking at it for a year or so. Sometimes prospects need to be called back many times over the course of months in order to even gain a meeting. My guess is that £300 per month for 2 days per month telemarketing would get you some good clients.

Did you mean £300 per month for 2 days a week? Or 2 days a month?

We do spend quite a bit with them.
Would you recommend running yell adverts and having somebody do telemarketing?

Or sacrifice yell?

 

just out of interest what other marketing are you currently doing?

Also for the record I have never and will never by security products or services from cold callers.

Infact security products is one thing I have never been cold called about, which is fairly refreshing.

Which is great news for anyone making the calls!

 

one issue you will face

Think about it

If someone rings you and asks about your security are you going to tell them!

Er no alarm, lovely and what time do you leave?

Of course its easy to get round, but you want to avoid that!

 

[Gabbalot]

Outsourcing cost about 120-150 a day depending on the company.

But the results are more measurable as for the last comment about asking a customer about there exsiting security that would of course be delt with within a good script but honestly you wouldnt need to ask just if theyd like security reveiw your sales staff will be able to find out oncw there on site

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[telemax]

Or sacrifice yell?

Well if it ain't working anymore..........