Article 101

IF YOU THINK YOU ARE JUST SETTING APPOINTMENTS - YOU ARE NOT
THINKING HARD ENOUGH: 8 ways your efforts turn into even more accounts with virtually no additional effort or expense

Your appointment setting efforts can be leveraged to generate many more leads, appointments and accounts with virtually no additional effort or expense. Same smiling. Same dialing. Many more qualified opportunities and new accounts.

Let's make sure you get maximum value for your efforts by reviewing eight methods your efforts can be leveraged for maximum results.

Let's set the common scene. You launch your appointment setting process with 10 newly identified decision-makers every day. 10 a day. 50 a week. 200 a month. 1,000 in 5 short months. Let's assume you had to call 1,500 companies to identify those decision-makers. 500 were eliminated as either not accessible or not buying your product or service.

During the course of your call process you will be dialing each of those companies 8 - 20 times. During the course of those calls you are asking questions of gatekeepers and picking up helpful recon info as to products/services used, who makes the decisions, what volume they purchase, the next vendor review date and more.

As you make these calls you are sending uniquely designed faxes out and leaving strangely formatted voicemails.

Here are the less obvious ways those efforts can be used to generate new accounts for you.

1. The fax you send out contains a powerful self-standing offer with response device. You have given your suspect a reason to "raise their hand" out of the crowd even if they don't speak to you.

2. The fax you send out contains a self-standing opt-in form to your Plan B Email list that promises benefits of value to your suspects. Again, without speaking to you your suspect is identified and in your pipeline.

3. The fax you send out directs traffic to a unique landing page at your website specifically designed with a targeted valuable offer that motivates your suspect to leave their name and identify himself or herself to you as someone who has a need.

NOTE: Spoke at a sales meeting in California last week where the use of fax was dismissed by a few as "nobody, absolutely nobody" ever looks at a fax and "everybody" throws them away without a glance. BIG CLUE: If you are sending offers to a targeted audience and "nobody" is responding... the problem is you. Shame on you for not being able to come up with something valuable and powerful enough in the right format so that even a small percentage of your audience will act upon it. BOTTOM LINE: Pretty consistently those faxes will generate 2 - 6 or more inquiries or opt-ins that otherwise would not have been obtained. If you are setting 10 appointments per 100 companies targeted that means you increased results 20% - 60% with virtually no additional effort. Happens all the time.

4. You identify the 20% of your targets that generate disproportionate results. We all know the 80/20 rule. 80% of our business comes from 20% of our efforts. Well, when you call and identify the top 20% of your opportunities, you can target that high potential worth group with special campaigns that would not otherwise be cost-effective.

5. You can launch targeted campaigns to niches which are more responsive as they are more targeted. Example: In the course of your calling you identify 300 suspects that use service X, 400 that use Y and 250 that use Z. You can now launch targeted campaigns to them with better results. Something that may not have been practical before the call campaign.

6. You identify those whom you should never spend another nickel or minute on. The flip side of identifying the larger opportunities is that you also identify the smaller opportunities. You can decide where to draw the line and not spend money or time where you are less likely to get results that justify the effort.

7. Make your direct marketing more responsive and cost-effective. After calling you can be sure that 100% of your targets are qualified. Great way to test a direct marketing campaign. If it doesn't work on a list that you have called and know the business potential of, it won't work on a less qualified list. Great way to avoid squandering marketing resources.

8. Launch special campaigns timed to the renewal of vendor contracts. Hmmmmm... during the course of your calls you ask when contracts are reviewed. You make note of the date in your contact manager. Example: You identify 25 companies who review vendors in April. You decide in February to launch a targeted campaign to those companies. You set up one process with master documents and launch your pre-programmed access campaign. You do this every month and continually tweak your process and master documents for greater success. Because you are working with groups you are much more effective and efficient.

If you have a group calling for your company imagine the business that can be gained without virtually no additional effort or expense. If you haven't been leveraging your efforts in these ways... how much has it cost you? Start now!

You see, there are many benefits that can be gained by calling other than just setting a quick appointment.

Best wishes for finding new accounts,
Scott Channell

Copyright 2004-2009 Scott Channell

Article 26	8 Little Known Leverage Strategies
	by Scott Channell