Returned calls/e-mails - should I ever expect them?

[iaynm]

Hi everyone. I have recently started doing some more thorough marketing for my business. Normally I take the following steps:

1. Visit the business and ask who I should contact with regards to [our type of service] (e.g. "the kitchen" or "the mail room" or "HR dept." and so on). I take their contact details, leave a card, and go on my way.

2. (or skip to step 4.) Send an initial e-mail, inviting them to get in touch if they would like more info. I give some details in the email but not everything.

3. Phone them a week or so later, and agree that I'll deliver some material for them to look at, with more info about what we do. At this point I bring up some specific ways we could help that prospect.

4. Deliver the info.

5. Follow up that with another phone call, aiming to arrange a meeting.

6. I've never got to this stage yet


OK so that's probably fairly standard stuff, and I know it doesn't give much detail about how I'm actually presenting myself, but my question is basically "do they ever call back?"

Should one ever expect them to get back to you, or is that just unheard of? I don't like bothering people and I admit it's a difficult part of the marketing. In every other part of my life, I correctly interpret silence and avoidance as a sign for me to please leave them alone... but here we have to ignore that, don't we.

Even when they say explicitly that they will reply to the email or phone call, they never do of course.


I'm not complaining about that, but I am basically just wondering if this is what I should expect? Being new to it yet, I am not sure if that's just how it is and I shouldn't be concerned, or if perhaps my marketing is falling short and people are trying to cut contact?

Thanks!

 

[lexdezignsltd]

HI there without knowing what you are trying to sell offer its hard to say, from my point of view i have come to learn by emailing people that if you what you are saying appeals to them and its a good product at a good price then they will reply. I have to say i have even had people politely say no, im not the best at spelling a grammar so when i am sending emails to look for work i have someone proof read the email and sometimes rewrite it before i send and this did make a huge difference to people replying.

Good luck anyway

 

[ThePublisher]

I never ever expect a call back, even from my existing customers who I know will buy from me. If they aren't in, experience has told me (apart from 1 customer!) not to leave a message for them as you then don't know how long to give them on the offchance they may call, and you don't know whether you dare call them again.

If they're not in, I rarely leave a message, I just call back another time until I get them.

 

[lexdezignsltd]

I never ever expect a call back, even from my existing customers who I know will buy from me. If they aren't in, experience has told me (apart from 1 customer!) not to leave a message for them as you then don't know how long to give them on the offchance they may call, and you don't know whether you dare call them again.

If they're not in, I rarely leave a message, I just call back another time until I get them.

what do you sell?

 

[ThePublisher]

Magazine advertising

 

[telemax]

Are you saying that you've never got to the arranging a meeting stage yet?

As for call backs or email backs I do get them quite often but If I can't reach someone by phone I leave a message with the recpepionist or on the prospect's voicemail and send them an email referring to the message. I find more often than not this gets me a response,

Jonathan

 

[iaynm]

Are you saying that you've never got to the arranging a meeting stage yet?

Correct. All of my customers so far (about 5) have come to me, unprompted. They found me through google searches, essentially.

No one I have approached first has become a customer.


Hmm, the same could be said about me and women :|.
Except they don't find me on google.

 

[otrcomputing]

Correct. All of my customers so far (about 5) have come to me, unprompted. They found me through google searches, essentially.

No one I have approached first has become a customer.


Hmm, the same could be said about me and women :|.
Except they don't find me on google.

We're the same - everyone has found us through search or word of mouth. We've tried cold calling recently to sell to a specific market sector but 40 odd calls down the line we're yet to get to the stage where someone gives us more than 40-50 seconds before hanging up without listening.
We're putting it down to a complete lack of cold-calling skills and are thinking of visiting businesses in person rather than cold calling, but can't decide whether that will piss them off more than calling... thing is we know if they listened then it'd appeal to at least some of them, it's just getting them to listen that's tricky.

How many people have you tried your method with so far? Have you been adopting your correspondence to see if you get different responses?

 

[iaynm]

We're the same - everyone has found us through search or word of mouth. We've tried cold calling recently to sell to a specific market sector but 40 odd calls down the line we're yet to get to the stage where someone gives us more than 40-50 seconds before hanging up without listening.
We're putting it down to a complete lack of cold-calling skills and are thinking of visiting businesses in person rather than cold calling, but can't decide whether that will piss them off more than calling... thing is we know if they listened then it'd appeal to at least some of them, it's just getting them to listen that's tricky.

How many people have you tried your method with so far? Have you been adopting your correspondence to see if you get different responses?

Yea cold calling's no good, I expect. I've never called someone completely cold, always start more gently, I think. Even if it was just speaking to a receptionist to get the person's name, then it's something you can mention at the start of the phone conversation and it sounds like you're a real person, a local person, who is actually there and has already visited.

Cold-visiting would get you nowhere - I think generally people prefer the least intrusive methods first, e.g. e-mail > phone call > personal visit.

Do you deal with local customers, or is it nation-wide stuff?

As to my numbers, well to be honest not enough to be moaning credibly, probably not even 20 businesses yet, but each takes quite a while and they're hand-picked.
We supply a service, which normally the company will already use (from someone else) and we are cheaper, faster, greener, more handsome, etc., etc. so the only conceivable reason they would have not to use us is loyalty to their existing supplier and not wanting the fuss of changing over.

Some people we approach do not currently use a service like ours, but the set-ups we suggest are something where 100% of the cost would be passed to the customer anyway.
Think of a printing firm who decides to employ local couriers through whom to offer their customers same-day delivery of their finished products. No cost to the printers, in fact some good added-value.
That's the kind of thing I mean.

How is it with you - are you try to displace existing services, sell them a one-off, or what?

 

[otrcomputing]

Yea cold calling's no good, I expect. I've never called someone completely cold, always start more gently, I think. Even if it was just speaking to a receptionist to get the person's name, then it's something you can mention at the start of the phone conversation and it sounds like you're a real person, a local person, who is actually there and has already visited.

Cold-visiting would get you nowhere - I think generally people prefer the least intrusive methods first, e.g. e-mail > phone call > personal visit.

Do you deal with local customers, or is it nation-wide stuff?

As to my numbers, well to be honest not enough to be moaning credibly, probably not even 20 businesses yet, but each takes quite a while and they're hand-picked.
We supply a service, which normally the company will already use (from someone else) and we are cheaper, faster, greener, more handsome, etc., etc. so the only conceivable reason they would have not to use us is loyalty to their existing supplier and not wanting the fuss of changing over.

Some people we approach do not currently use a service like ours, but the set-ups we suggest are something where 100% of the cost would be passed to the customer anyway.
Think of a printing firm who decides to employ local couriers through whom to offer their customers same-day delivery of their finished products. No cost to the printers, in fact some good added-value.
That's the kind of thing I mean.

How is it with you - are you try to displace existing services, sell them a one-off, or what?

Ah right, if you can get some info off a receptionist first might help - the business area we're targeting is Barber Shops and Hairdressers though, mostly local ones, as such they don't have email addresses nor receptionists.

With regards to your "we're cheaper, faster etc" it makes me want to bang my head on a wall. We're the same, however people have mixed reactions to that sort of information, namely:
- How can you be cheaper AND better?
- There must be hidden costs, cos you can't be so cheap...
Or...
- Hrm, you're too cheap, you're probably not professional enough.

The majority, thankfully, will go along with it and not be so suspicious and just be pleased they've found someone who charges more reasonable rates than others but all of these customers are ones who found us. I suspect if you're approaching potential customers and telling them you are cheaper and better than an existing supplier then you will be treated with caution immediately, people hate the idea of being sucked in then fleeced.

 

[otrcomputing]

How is it with you - are you try to displace existing services, sell them a one-off, or what?

Forgot to answer: we're trying to sell them something they don't have... using a working example we've done for our local barber shop. So it's obviously hard as it's a cost they don't currently incur, even though we can show our local made it's money back within 2 months and it's all profit since then.

 

[iaynm]

Ah right, if you can get some info off a receptionist first might help - the business area we're targeting is Barber Shops and Hairdressers though, mostly local ones, as such they don't have email addresses nor receptionists.

Hmm, with small organisations like that then you could always drop by at a quiet time, quickly introduce yourself and hand over an envelope with your info in, THEN call to follow it up a week or so later. You'll likely meet the manager by chance when you go in, surely - or some kind of decision-maker at least.

With regards to your "we're cheaper, faster etc" it makes me want to bang my head on a wall. We're the same, however people have mixed reactions to that sort of information, namely:
- How can you be cheaper AND better?
- There must be hidden costs, cos you can't be so cheap...
Or...
- Hrm, you're too cheap, you're probably not professional enough.

The majority, thankfully, will go along with it and not be so suspicious and just be pleased they've found someone who charges more reasonable rates than others but all of these customers are ones who found us. I suspect if you're approaching potential customers and telling them you are cheaper and better than an existing supplier then you will be treated with caution immediately, people hate the idea of being sucked in then fleeced.

Yea I'm not quite so brash to potential customers - I just lay it out to them, tell them what we do and how we do it, and how much it costs. It's all pretty transparant, I should think.

 

[iaynm]

Forgot to answer: we're trying to sell them something they don't have... using a working example we've done for our local barber shop. So it's obviously hard as it's a cost they don't currently incur, even though we can show our local made it's money back within 2 months and it's all profit since then.

Well that's always trickier, I'm sure. Perhaps they can't identify well enough with the case study company? That could be something to work on. Really put them in the place of the case study, as though it's them.

 

[telemax]

We're the same - everyone has found us through search or word of mouth. We've tried cold calling recently to sell to a specific market sector but 40 odd calls down the line we're yet to get to the stage where someone gives us more than 40-50 seconds before hanging up without listening.
We're putting it down to a complete lack of cold-calling skills and are thinking of visiting businesses in person rather than cold calling, but can't decide whether that will piss them off more than calling... thing is we know if they listened then it'd appeal to at least some of them, it's just getting them to listen that's tricky.

How many people have you tried your method with so far? Have you been adopting your correspondence to see if you get different responses?

40 calls and your already thinking of giving up? 100 calls per day for 3 months continuously, in addition to knocking on local businesses doors every week for the same amount of time. Thats what it takes to build a customer base from scratch.

 

[ThePublisher]

40 calls and your already thinking of giving up? 100 calls per day for 3 months continuously, in addition to knocking on local businesses doors every week for the same amount of time. Thats what it takes to build a customer base from scratch.

I agree. I made 800 calls over my first 2 months of business, in addition to walking the streets and visiting people, to secure 50+ advertisers. All outside of my comfort zone, but necessary to get the business started. Darned hard work, wouldn't want to have to do it again!

 

[otrcomputing]

Bloody hell 800 calls? I'm not sure I can take 799 rejections before a sale

You guys have both mentioned knocking on doors - does this not piss people off? Or is it that you just can't worry about pissing people off... ?

I'm new to active marketing so am not sure what's deemed acceptable and what is not. All our current customers (about 300 this year) have come to us, rather than us going to them.

 

[ThePublisher]

Bloody hell 800 calls? I'm not sure I can take 799 rejections before a sale

You guys have both mentioned knocking on doors - does this not piss people off? Or is it that you just can't worry about pissing people off... ?

I'm new to active marketing so am not sure what's deemed acceptable and what is not. All our current customers (about 300 this year) have come to us, rather than us going to them.

You make a joke about a 800-1 ratio of rejections to sales, but actually you do have to look at it like that. If you can force yourself to making X number of calls and that will result in Y number of sales, after a while you know that every no just leaves you another call nearer your next yes.

The 'doors' I was knocking on were businesses, not householders, mainly retailers, and are therefore used to people visiting their premises. Some were interested in what I had to say, some not, however very few people were really rude. And to be honest, a bit of rudeness didn't kill me! Somebody once said to me 'I don't bleed if somebody says no'. Try not to take it personally, it might not be no forever, it might just be no at the moment.

Being polite, thanking them for their time even if they aren't interested today will see you through most situations.

You have to put yourself outside your comfort zone and take some 'risks'. If selling was easy, everybody would be doing it,

 

[telemax]

Bloody hell 800 calls? I'm not sure I can take 799 rejections before a sale

You guys have both mentioned knocking on doors - does this not piss people off? Or is it that you just can't worry about pissing people off... ?

I'm new to active marketing so am not sure what's deemed acceptable and what is not. All our current customers (about 300 this year) have come to us, rather than us going to them.

As for knocking on doors, I find that the majority of people actually appreciate it. Personal contact is something that is becoming rarer, people hide behind emails and voicemails. Showing your face can be a positive. Of course you will get the occasional person who gets pissed off but it's par for the course.

It's also in your approach, don't try and sell anything, just be friendly and explain what you do. They will tell you if they are interested,

Jonathan

 

[otrcomputing]

Looks like I should probably just puff my chest out and give it a go then

 

[telemax]

What business are you in?

 

[otrcomputing]

IT Support for Small businesses in the local area (SW London), however this sales push is specifically aimed at doing websites for barber shops / hairdressers after a successful one for our local - who has said the amount of people coming in saying they found them on the web since the site went up has been brilliant.

 

[telemax]

IT Support for Small businesses in the local area (SW London), however this sales push is specifically aimed at doing websites for barber shops / hairdressers after a successful one for our local - who has said the amount of people coming in saying they found them on the web since the site went up has been brilliant.

I have a client in IT support, who pays me to knock on local doors, it really does work, combined with a few follow up calls and emails. Five days worth of door knocking has led to 5 figures worth of qoutes. Therefore I do recommend it.

As for web sites, pick up the phone and get dialling as I also have a client who sells Web sites and there is a lot of interest out there,

Good luck

Jonathan

 

[victormarketinguk]

Hi everyone. I have recently started doing some more thorough marketing for my business. Normally I take the following steps:

1. Visit the business and ask who I should contact with regards to [our type of service] (e.g. "the kitchen" or "the mail room" or "HR dept." and so on). I take their contact details, leave a card, and go on my way.

2. (or skip to step 4.) Send an initial e-mail, inviting them to get in touch if they would like more info. I give some details in the email but not everything.

3. Phone them a week or so later, and agree that I'll deliver some material for them to look at, with more info about what we do. At this point I bring up some specific ways we could help that prospect.

4. Deliver the info.

5. Follow up that with another phone call, aiming to arrange a meeting.

6. I've never got to this stage yet


OK so that's probably fairly standard stuff, and I know it doesn't give much detail about how I'm actually presenting myself, but my question is basically "do they ever call back?"

Should one ever expect them to get back to you, or is that just unheard of? I don't like bothering people and I admit it's a difficult part of the marketing. In every other part of my life, I correctly interpret silence and avoidance as a sign for me to please leave them alone... but here we have to ignore that, don't we.

Even when they say explicitly that they will reply to the email or phone call, they never do of course.


I'm not complaining about that, but I am basically just wondering if this is what I should expect? Being new to it yet, I am not sure if that's just how it is and I shouldn't be concerned, or if perhaps my marketing is falling short and people are trying to cut contact?

Thanks!

They always call back, if, and only if, the product or service is of their interest.

Do not expect cal backs, emails, etc. Press further to the next one.

Well, that is if your business is B2B, if not, if it is B2C than you need to go back to your Business Marketing Plan and review it.
Look to all the Marketing plan and check new ways of aproaching them.

Victor

 

[ThePublisher]

If you don't follow up on your initial contacts, believing they will contact you only if they are interested, you are leaving money on the table for your competitor who is a bit more persistant than you.

People are busy, life comes along and gets in the way, we don't always follow up on things we intended to do, bits of paper get lost.

I have many customers who wouldn't be customers if I'd left it to them to contact me if they were interested. Indeed, I wouldn't have a business at all if I left it up to them!