WHAT NOT TO DO

The last time the economy headed south, many companies headed to the phones with questionable strategies, poorly crafted calls, and awful results. Here are several examples.

Strategies mismatched to the circumstances. Customer retention almost always is easier, quicker, and less costly than new customer acquisition. But instead of striving to develop present accounts to cushion the downturn, many companies went trolling (i.e., cold calling) for new leads. Rented and purchased calling lists became very popular but simply could not deliver short-term results. Also, with many companies dialing the same lists, prospects were deluged with calls and stopped accepting most of them.

Assigning freshmen and JV callers to varsity business. Quite a few companies outsourced cold calling to service bureaus. In turn, some of the bureaus staffed-up with phone freshmen and junior varsity temporaries. Not good. Real prospects don't want to talk with freshmen or the JV. Real prospects … those who can authorize "yes" despite budget constraints … want to talk with the varsity, your own or your service bureau's.

Trying to short-circuit the business decision process. Business decisions take time. And because of the economy, even after "yes" many purchases are delayed or canceled. Ignoring those realities, some marketers nevertheless pressured prospects and customers not only to make decisions, but to do so immediately! The result: arrogant, inappropriate lines like: "Sure we're in a slump, Mr. Brown. But you're a business owner who can't afford not to have this database now." Click.

Hoping that with enough calls, opportunities would appear and business would materialize. The story: lots of identical high-intensity calls to multiple lists, sometimes even to present customers whose account history was unknown to or ignored by the caller. The results: it didn't work. The side effect: caller boredom, fatigue, and turnover.

Really dumb opening lines. You can only generate leads and business if you can have conversations. Anything that delays a powerful and compelling "reason for the call" decreases the likelihood of conversations. Yet one company's call opening included this yawner: "We provide products and services that help our customers maximize efficiencies and make it easier to conduct business with their customers, vendors, or partners." Click.

Fudging the lead qualification factors. When such behaviors failed to produce enough genuine opportunities, some marketers passed the "leads" into the sales channels anyway. They paid for that no-no directly and indirectly for quite some time.  

WHAT TO DO

Not every organization fell into those malpractices. Some did phone very well and not only sustained their business, but grew! Here is how they did it last time, and how the successful ones will do it now:

A Dallas electronic test equipment company totally overhauled their former "flood the market with catalogs and then cold-call" business model. We re-examined their various databases and came up with 40,000 names with whom the company had communicated through the years. It seemed wise to re-engage them before seeking any new lists. The calls went like this:

"The reason for my call, Mr\Ms Prospect, is to reintroduce ourselves, determine whether you still use test equipment, and frankly, see how willing you and your company would be to consider us and our new offerings." 

Prospects who responded favorably (many did) could get a catalog by agreeing to look at it, talk it over with their colleagues and managers, and then speak again with my client's reps. The follow-up calls were splendid! The results: despite the economy, it was the Texas company's best year ever!

A New Jersey computer products firm was suffering diminishing returns from rented lists, especially after the economy soured. When we perused the lists, it was clear that they were based solely on static, descriptive data such as demographics … SIC code, how many employees, how many computers, and so on. There was nothing on which to build a lead generation conversation.

The company changed list sources and ordered behavioral lists instead. Behavioral lists are based on business actions that companies are taking: expand, move, acquire, divest, and so on. Sure, such lists cost more. But the verbs gave the callers relevant business events to ask about and prospects to talk about. And they certainly did talk! And buy, too! The company's revenues and profits rose despite the general technology malaise.

A Nevada dental products company stopped cold-calling entirely! The traditional business model in their marketplace involves in-person visits and lots of product samples. So while it is possible to cold-call dentists, the first thing they typically say is, "Send me a sample." The samples went out but relatively few orders came in.  

So the company beefed-up its trade show participation. Dentists can actually put the firm's products to the test at the booth. Many of them purchase! New customer acquisition costs went down 28%. Subsequent phone calls to the dentists have been received much more positively and profitably.  

This article originally appeared in Michael A. Brown's Business To Business By Phone^® Newsletter Special Edition: Survive and Thrive in a Recession.  Reprinted with permission. © 2008, Michael A. Brown

Michael A. Brown helps business marketers conduct profitable, distinctive Business To Business By Phone^® via consulting and training. Clients include a "who's who" of successful business marketers, from startups to the Fortune 100.

Contact Michael in Austin, Texas, 800 373-3966.

www.michaelabrown.net.

E-mail is [email protected]