Selling Is All About Gaining Access - If You Can't Get In The Door You Don't Stand A Chance

The Process of Mining for High Quality Leads

Reaching The Person Who Makes the Decision 

• Selling success is all about the ability to meet the right person at the right time and get their full attention. In business-to-business sales, the best opportunity, and often the only chance of reaching the most important individual who makes the decision about your product or service is on the phone. No other tool has the reach and response rate as marketing on the phone.

 A Face to Face Meeting Is An Enormous Advantage

• In spite of digital devices such as, voice-mail, e-mail, conference calling, and video conferencing, there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting. It is the human element that generates the rapport, and develops the trust and personal relationships that businesses thrive on. Conversational style, intonations, mannerisms, gestures, common interests and a hand-shake are irreplaceable when it comes to closing a deal. Face-to-face contact gives you the highest probability of success.

Overcoming The Hurdles 

• Making an initial contact and gaining access is an enormous challenge. Time is an executive's most valuable asset. Traveling is one of his most time-consuming activities and when he's back in the office he's consumed with meetings and paperwork. Also, his secretary serves as his gatekeeper, and screens all his calls. So, in spite of these barriers, what's the best way to reach a decision-maker for a 15 second conversation that can lead to a meeting with you? On The Phone!... it is the fastest, most direct and least costly option to reach him!

The Challenge 

• The success of an appointment-setting program ultimately depends on the training, skill and experience of the person doing the calling. It takes endurance, perseverance and discipline to keep going after hundreds of calls to finally reach the prospect who is ready to say "yes" to an appointment.


• What is said in the first 15 seconds of the conversation determines if you are given the opportunity to talk further... and what you say... or what you ask, in the nest three minutes, dictates if you've generated enough interest to schedule an appointment. It's the ability to develop instant rapport and quickly adapt to the pattern and style of whom ever you are speaking with... a conversational rhythm that engages the prospect and develops an interest in the value of your product or service.

The Search For Companies With Your Criteria 

• If you're not calling into your targeted markets you're wasting your time. If the right people are not listening there's no point in talking. Narrowing the search from a list of thousands of businesses to those that meet your criteria is essential to save time and money. The criteria you set should be based on one or more of the following factors: the industry type, the location, the sales volume, the number of employees, the executive function and the age of the business. They should be tested before embarking on a full-scale calling program.

The Essential Follow-Up 

• Since most of the time spent calling on the phone is an attempt to locate prospects that are unavailable. It is essential that detailed information be recorded. In business to business marketing you can expect to reach only about 10 prospects for every 100 calls (10%) on your first attempt. Therefore, record keeping is a very important ingredient in the process of follow-up. Some of the data required are dates, times, web sites, cell numbers, email addresses, references and secretary contacts.

Consider engaging a reputable appointment-setting service who have the skilled professionals and are located in the United States. By outsourcing the appointment-setting function it will save you valuable time.

" Spend more time with qualified prospects and less time trying to find them."