B2B sales - no success from cold calling

[TimE]

Hi everyone,

I am hoping someone can help me out with some advise here......please!:|

I have recently joined a company who offer consultancy based service to the food industry. My role is to help win new customers and help the business grow. Not easy in the current climate especially when our work is based around our clients invetsing in new plant / facilites!

I have compiled a database of about 400 companies to contact, and sent out our brochure to about 100. many of the people I have contacted have a 'group' function so these 100 relate to most of the 400 companies (hope I am making sense here?!

Anyway, I'm having little success as no-one like to be cold called - including myself!!!

My company are small and at present un-willing to spend money on a new website / brochure / trade show all of which I have suggested. I am getting concerned about what to do next. Are there any cheap sales tactics I can use to raise market awareness of the company?

Tim

 

I think the telemarketing is probably done the wrong way, if you go in to sell then its going to fail. build a relationship, build a pipeline, don't expect them to have an immediate need so ask how they work and when is the most appropriate time to call when a need is required to fill. That way not every call is a failed call, its a prospect (short,medium, and long term ). Use the data to its limit by doing this rather than having a list of no interest.Speak to them not at them.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I have compiled a database of about 400 companies to contact, and sent out our brochure to about 100.

What went out with the brochure? Brochures rarely do a good job of selling.

My company are small and at present un-willing to spend money on a new website / brochure / trade show all of which I have suggested.

So, how are they planning to grow?

You've joined as what? A marketing manager? A telemarketer?

Why did they choose you over other candidates? What strategy did you suggest to them when they interviewed you? What resources have they given you? Do they have any marketing that works?

Steve

 

[TimE]

Thanks Michael for your reply,

My tactic to date has been to get hold of names in the position I wish to contact (generally the chief engineer), send them a brochure (which is a bit out of date!), then call back in a few days.

On the call I ask if they recieved the brochure and if our services are of interest. I try to establish.
1) if they have any work. if not is there anything planned.
2) if they outsource or manage in-house

If they would / do outsource I try to get an appointment.

I suppose my concerns are that we have a small niche market which I have nearly saturated already. While I have a few prospects in the pipeline it is a long sell......

Tim

 

[Call Tracker]

Your best bet is to pre-qualify your list of prospects in terms of:

what they are using currently

when they would look at changing their current product

If they would like a quick ten minutes with you to give them a health check on their current processes/products

Once you have gathered this information you can mail them, email them and keep in contact. Your main brief would be to make sure your list is worth calling so pre-qualify it first.

 

[MH1]

My tactic to date has been to get hold of names in the position I wish to contact (generally the chief engineer), send them a brochure (which is a bit out of date!), then call back in a few days.

I would question whether the chief engineer is the correct contact, I used to sell very high ticket items over 20 years ago and generally approached the MD first, and allowed him to direct me too the correct contact, very often the accountant.

I'm sure the chief engineer would be asked for an opinion, but will he dictate policy?

Surely you need to be approaching companies on a cost cutting/efficiency basis, ie invest in this plant and see 20% savings or increased productivity with a 2 year pay back and 10 year life cycle type message.

 

[TimE]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply - can you call my boss please!!!

The brochure I am having to send out is quite out of date, at my interview I was promised a new brochure and web site. I wanted to have a site with functionality to send email newsletters from. I have also suggested some PR which also fell on deaf ears!!

The company have grown in the past by word of mouth and have never marketed themselves properly before. I think when I asked for £10k for a web site / exhibition stand and some better printed literature the boss started to get cold feet!!

I came to the company with some good contacts who I am in talks with but its a slow burn in what we offer particularly at the moment when companies are short of cash. Maybe the boss thought they'd all be desperate to buy from him when I was on-board, unfortuneatley it doesn't work like that though!

 

Your best bet is to pre-qualify your list of prospects in terms of:

what they are using currently

when they would look at changing their current product

If they would like a quick ten minutes with you to give them a health check on their current processes/products

Once you have gathered this information you can mail them, email them and keep in contact. Your main brief would be to make sure your list is worth calling so pre-qualify it first.

This is something we can do if your company is willing to pay for it, at the end of the day if you pay peanuts for your marketing and sales activity your gonan get monkey's.

I would be peeved if i was you that you are being asked to do the impossible with no money. If the list is only 400 i am not suprised that you are not getting much, you need to broaden your market.

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply - can you call my boss please!!!

The brochure I am having to send out is quite out of date, at my interview I was promised a new brochure and web site. I wanted to have a site with functionality to send email newsletters from. I have also suggested some PR which also fell on deaf ears!!

Then remind him of this, if he is not willing to make good on his promises look for another job.

The company have grown in the past by word of mouth and have never marketed themselves properly before. I think when I asked for £10k for a web site / exhibition stand and some better printed literature the boss started to get cold feet!!

Word of mouth cannot last for ever, especially now. He needs to learn its time to get his hands dirty.

I came to the company with some good contacts who I am in talks with but its a slow burn in what we offer particularly at the moment when companies are short of cash. Maybe the boss thought they'd all be desperate to buy from him when I was on-board, unfortuneatley it doesn't work like that though!

If you didnt make a promise that these would come onboard it is not your fault and should not be held against you. Tell your boss to spend money or nothing will happen and you will consider moving on. That or stay and get sacked when things dont turn out the way he wants, all for free mind you!!!

 

[telemax]

Hi everyone,

I am hoping someone can help me out with some advise here......please!:|

I have recently joined a company who offer consultancy based service to the food industry. My role is to help win new customers and help the business grow. Not easy in the current climate especially when our work is based around our clients invetsing in new plant / facilites!

I have compiled a database of about 400 companies to contact, and sent out our brochure to about 100. many of the people I have contacted have a 'group' function so these 100 relate to most of the 400 companies (hope I am making sense here?!

Anyway, I'm having little success as no-one like to be cold called - including myself!!!

My company are small and at present un-willing to spend money on a new website / brochure / trade show all of which I have suggested. I am getting concerned about what to do next. Are there any cheap sales tactics I can use to raise market awareness of the company?

Tim

Hi Tim

Cold calling takes time, most people give up after a few days. Make 100 sales calls per day for 3 months. If still there are no results only then can you say Cold calling doesn't work

I hope this helps

Jonathan

 

[KM Trainer]

Sounds like you are not being given enough resources to succeed at this! You may need some trainining or support if you have not done cold calling before. You also need a targeted databasewith more than 400 records as this is just too small a
sample. If its any consolation even the best telemarketers can make loads of calls exspecially on a new campaign before making any 'in roads' so its about consistant activity, gather as much market insight as you can for e.g would a colleague be interested? when are they looking to renew? or have more budget? gradually your list will start to 'warm up'. What ever you decide All the best.

 

[iArtist]

consultancy service to the food industry?

Can you be a tad more specific?

Meanwhile have you considered joining food industry related forums and networking there?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=food+industry+forum+uk&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

If there isn't a specific one have you considered starting one?

You can start a forum free

You can advertise your services on it as much as you wish.

You could then write a short press release to appear in whatever trade mag they read about the new forum

and go from there.

Leah


ps. A very long while agao I had some card kits to sell. So I created a card making group online and recruited members from eBay who I found bidding on other kits. The group was free so my messages to invite them to join weren't breaking any rules I'm aware of (don't quote me on that though) and within a few short months I had a very healthy membership and group.

I then got a craft retailer to offer all my members 10% discount on his products in exchange for promoting his business exclusively on my card group.

There are no end of things you can do when you run the group that relates to a product you want to sell.

 

[TimE]

Hi Everyone,

thanks for your replies, I really appreciate the honest and impartial advise on this forum.

I am going to restate my position to the company that while I will obviously continue with my endevours I need some financial back up, even if this is just in the form of an email newsletter linking into to our current website (which needs updating!). I need to get our name out into the market place though. can anyone recommend a html newletter company?

thank again.

 

[BusinessIdeas]

The best way of cold calling is to approach the customer in the spirit of asking for their help. Be truthful about what you are trying to do "Could you help me please, I am trying to open new accounts for my company who supply widgets" etc.