I have just completed a one hour teleseminar with Lead Generation Expert Marguerite Mcleod-Fleming on how to Generate Leads from your LinkedIn contacts.
We covered many topics in the one hour call and mentioned several strategies to help you become successful at cold calling your LinkedIn prospect. LinkedIn provides more potential leads than any individual sales person could possibly need in a lifetime. The challenge faced by almost everyone is how to access these people. What do you do first? What should be your priorities? How do you strategically leverage a great tactical opportunity like LinkedIn?
The key to strategically leveraging the tactical advantage of LinkedIn is to create and follow a structured process. Something that works for you and covers off all the bases. The key to success is creating and following your own process. As anybody who has painted a room knows, putting the paint on the walls is the easiest part. The hardest part is choosing the main colour, selecting trim colours, selecting the paint, buying the equipment, getting the beer, etc. Then the process of preparing the room starts – taping the edges, placing drop cloth, etc. The process goes on and on.
The same goes with a telemarketing program. The actual calls should be the easiest part. All the work is in preparing for the calls and doing the follow-up work.
The value to creating a process is clear. You will get a 2x to 3x minimum return on your investment when you follow a structured program rather than ad-hoc methodology. For example, if you need 100 people to buy to make your target numbers, its better and cheaper to call the correct 1,000, than 3,000 randomly.
The number of calls you make to achieve your goals will be the difference planning makes. The effect is to reduce your frustration and help you enjoy what you are doing.
Following a process means you will be talking to people about things they want to speak about. You won’t be wasting their time and you won’t be wasting yours.
Marguerite has the following a Seven Step Process for Cold-Calling for getting 200%+ better results :
- Set your metrics – Know the ROI. Know the number of hours, know the number of calls needed. The larger the organization and the larger the project, the more important this step is. To generate $1,000,000 in revenue for a $10,000 sale is different than a $1,000,000 in revenue for a $100,000 sale. You need to know the difference. You need to know these and all the other metrics that are key to measuring your success and your effectiveness.
- Find and understand your target market. Identify the details of the Demographics and Psychographics of your target market. Live in their shoes. Understand their problems and their decision making process. Understand them as well as they understand themselves.
- Create the message. Make sure you understand what you are selling, what the value proposition is and why its a great proposition. The message must absolutely relate to the Demographics and Psychographics.
- Create a lead nurturing system. This is where you actually manage early stage leads. You can use the LinkedIn Questions or Answers to supplement your lead nurturing system and to present yourself as an expert.
- Create a customized process that meets your needs. This is a strategic step. It means identifying how a prospect will be qualified and then converted into a sale. What messages do you deliver when and how.
- Implement a tool that matches the process. This can be excel spreadsheets or it can be implementing a full blown CRM system. There are CRM systems for small one to two people companies or systems designed for companies with thousands of representatives spread around the world.
- Execute your calls. This is where you use the power of LinkedIn. Harvey McKay has his McKay 66 questions. These are 66 things he would like to know about the client that have absolutely nothing to do with the sale. This way he can relate to each of his clients as a person and create a trusting and valuable relationship with those people.
The challenge faced by most people is that they don’t know how to every one of the above steps. They know bits and parts of each step and unless you have been living and breathing strategic telemarketing, rarely do people know how to integrate the pieces.
Here is a reference that was give to us that sums up all the other references beautifully.
Hi Zale,Just a quick note to tell you how much I appreciate you and Marguerite taking the time to share the information today.
In fact, they are the concepts I’ve used for all the 30 years I’ve been telemarketing and still use today even with all the new tools and tricks that keep us from reaching the decision maker.
I understand that you and Marguerite come from 2 different schools of thought, and my being both corporate and now entrepreneurial have to balance how I effectuate calls depending on that individual.
With so many with at-home offices, whether entrepreneurial or corporate, a call into the home may be the only way to make contact, again as a professional telemarketer with hopes to also share my experiences, failures and success; it’s almost a gut feeling you have to have when approaching the clients you want to engage.
As for your not receiving many phone calls throughout your experience on Linkedin, that’s common! Most people WON’T call due to fear. I have no problem calling individuals, I’m like Marguerite in that respect, I love the challenge of making contact and first finding out more than I can read in an individuals profile.
My new concern SiS (Sisters In Success) Professional Networking, was founded to share the many techniques I’ve developed over the years, in changing the way those who don’t have a strategic way of approaching prospective clients currently do business.
Thank you again, my time was well spent this afternoon.
This is just a highlight of the full recording which is over an hour long. With the recording comes a 20 page white paper all about setting up a telemarketing program. You can find the full recording at http://www.theresultsource.com/coldcall20linkedin.html
If you can’t click on it – I suggest copy (CTl-C) and pate (CTL-v) into your browser.
Zale
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ZaleTabakman
Keyword Related posts:
