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57 Days of Selling "Day 12"

 

Geesh not sure where to start this, since today was almost a mirror image of yesterday.

Thursday mornings are set aside for a net new call block.  We'll start around 9AM, break about 10:30 and then finish up with a 10 minute chat at Noon time.

I can't tell you who impressed I was with a few of the rookies, they were coming in with 65 calls, 71 calls and one rookie topped off with 84 calls!!  That's impressive! 

Many had three net new appointments and there was one rep that led the pack with four.  When it was my turn to report the calls, I was kind of embarrassed because I only made 10 calls, however I was able to schedule 3 net new appointments.

We all know that making net new calls is arguably one of the most daunting tasks that we have.  I've been making these types of calls for thirty-six years, however the task of net new calls seems to be getting tougher with each passing year.  The defenses are up with the gate keeper, called ID, and voice mail.

I found one company that was building a new facility a few miles from the office, I checked out their web site,  and found the phone number for the corporate office.  In a few minutes I was dialing in, and I was copier blocked with voice mail.  In a few seconds I was given options, press #1 for Sales, press #2 for Corporate Parties, Press #3 Support and that was it! 

Ok, I then selected 0 to get to the operator, I was then greeted with a recording that you can't leave a message here. Feeling pretty frustrated at this point, I figured let's select #2 for Corporate Parties, surely I will get through to someone.  I press #2, received another recorded greeting, stating that all reps were busy and please hold.  Thirty seconds later the line disconnected!  Come on, I thought, this can't be this tough can it?  Thus, I repeated the same call pattern again and I received the exact same result!!  Arrgghh!

I then went back to their web page, went to the contact page, and filled in my information for sending them a message through their system.  Within ten minutes I had an email response that my ticket was logged, 20 minutes later I had another email response.  That response stated that "if you are a vendor, we will consider your services and or products and we'll decide if we will call contact you." Those may not be the exact words, but you get my drift.

An hour passes and I get another email from their system, asking me to rate their level of customer service. Let me tell you, I ripped them up in the response section.  My last thought after responding was, how can a company get away with this, how can they not be reachable, how can they succeed in the long term. 

What I can tell you, is that I'm seeing more and more of this lately. I called a software company later and there was no way to get through to anyone unless you had an extension, but how the heck can I select an extension when you don't offer up a directory.  Fortunately about two weeks ago  I was able to connect with the CEO through LinkedIn. He and I are now first level contacts, thus I hopped on LinkedIn and sent him an in-mail.  I'll be checking my LinkedIn right after I finish up this blog.

The rest of the day was filled with many more appointment calls, follow up calls and by 4:30PM I was drained. 

Tomorrow, I'll be on the road all day, I have three appointments and I've also scheduled 12 stop ins.  The stop ins are those suspects that I have not been able to reach in recent months. 

When the going gets tough, the tough need to get going.

Amount Sold Today = 0

Total Revenue to Date = $2K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $146K

-=Good Selling=-

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Comments (2)

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I concur 100% with your call findings! The extension thing is laughable—that is such poor service for new folks trying to do business with them. I get that situation more often than not. How do these people get new business when no one can reach them.



I also run into the same thing when trying to reach new businesses with buildings under construction. Their blooming unreachable!



JeffR Sue at Copy-Fax, Richmond

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