How To Find Better Contact Info For Those In The Cold Call Trenches
When I first stepped into the cold calling world years ago there were few tools at our disposal to find my target prospect. Very rarely did we have an actual name to work with to at least get a foot in the door, which generally meant you were forced to have to ask for a department. As a result, the average assistant/gate keeper could see you coming from a mile away and soon you found yourself getting routed to a vendor-line voicemail. Guess what? Those folks rarely, if ever, call you back. While we did what we could to avoid getting kicked around an organization, essentially it was persistence that got us in front of the people we wanted to talk to. It certainly wasn’t an exact science back in those days.
Things are slightly different nowadays with a wide variety of resources available to us. With options from Jigsaw, Netprospex, Hoovers, Linkedin and even Google, we really are at a decided advantage.
One of the biggest things we focus on during the first week of training with our business development reps is resourcefulness. It starts with a finding a good title. With what is available to us these days, you really should have no issue tracking down a name/title who you believe will assist getting you closer to the “right” person within your target account. We’ve found that ideally you should start your prospecting effort with 3 names - manager level on up should do. This will greatly increase the chances of finding your decision maker sooner. Our research has shown that it takes 4x longer if you don’t begin by your prospecting effort with at least one name.
This week I wanted to highlight a great blog I came across from Don Perkins of Mindmulch.net. In his entry from May 4th: Google Tips: How to Find People on the Internet, he focuses on the benefits of using Google to find your target titles. One nice tidbit I was unaware of was leveraging Google to find better contact info from Linkedin.
Don said it best: "They have truly revolutionized the world of search.. and research. Sky’s the limit!" With all the resources available to us now a days, there is no excuse for waving the white flag when cold calling. Thanks for the inspirational tips Don!