Do this only if you’re willing to try it, experiment and are committed to believe that the world has changed and customers are in control.
Here’s the blueprint.
- Know your customer, who would benefit from your product or service, the more you niche the better
- Get a list of potential customers, names, numbers, emails. Use your own company’s database or buy one. Don’t assume though that your list is uniquely yours, many other companies will also be targeting them unless your targeted customer is a Martian.
- Be sure of the customer’s potential problems, challenges, pains that your product or service solves.
- Produce some form of information product that shows them how to solve their problems or challenges. Give away as much as you are brave enough to do. The 7 ways to solve this…how to meet this problem…5 methods to plug the gap in…Create video, white papers, podcasts – whatever you think your customers will consume.
- Contact them, phone or email. Say that all you want to do is send them the report/video.
- Sit back and wait for them to make contact.
The psychology is that the report will show them how they can solve their problems, some will do it themselves and some will put it off. Some though, will make contact because they neither have the time or the real expertise to do it themselves.
You’ll be able to get through to hundreds more people compared with cold calling for an appointment for a rep to visit, you’ll alienate no one, keep the attrition rate of your telephone salespeople down to virtually nil, keep everyone happy – and ultimately sell more of your product or service.
Cold calling just doesn’t work anymore with customers who are in control of everything they buy. It’s like using a electric typewriter in the world of word processing or insisting that video tapes are more superior to Sky Plus.
I challenge you to try it, maybe with a small team to start with. Measure the results. You’ll be amazed.
Welcome to the second decade of the 21st Century.
