You Can't Cram for Teleprospecting
We’ve all heard the saying “Cold calling is a numbers game.” Although I must admit that an aspect of successful prospecting relies on a sheer volume of calls, it is equally important to provide your team with solid training and support to allow for the appropriate balance. The two must work hand-in-hand otherwise you’ll be cleaning up after unfocused reps making blind dials. Not fun.
For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume you’re dealing with a team of talented and experienced reps. Their calling activity is there and you’ve imparted as much wisdom as you possibly can from a training perspective….yet you’re not seeing the results you were hoping for. What’s next?
The most common reason for inconsistency with a solid team typically points to their call management throughout the day/week. It always makes sense to have a call goal in mind, but you shouldn’t expect to see a positive result from cramming those dials into one day during the week or one hour during day. How strategic can you be pushing out 40 dials in an hour?
I came across a great video blog from Don Perkins and MindMulch.net that I felt illustrates this well. In the blog, they draw a great analogy between working out and prospecting. Bottom line is, it isn’t something you can make up. Just because you put in a 5 hour work out on Friday, doesn’t make up for the fact that you didn’t do anything else throughout the week. Whereas, if you did a 1 hour workout 5 days a week you will invariably see a better result.
You can’t cram fitness just like you can’t cram cold calling. If you take time off, you can’t make it up quickly in one day/session.
Teleprospectors will occasionally get a little lucky stumbling on a solid sales opportunity without excessive effort. Problem is we assume that we can repeat that luck. It’s about a methodical well thought out approach every day to each and every dial you make.