Unusual Product Cold Call Help

Thanks, will give those a go this afternoon. -C&AMarketing

Quick Question:

Since we are not known for cold calling, or any kind of sales practices at all in the area would leaving a message like this generally be effective if it came down to it?

Hello, this message is for "John Smith". This is Andy from C&A in Charleston. If you could, please give me a call back at xxx.xxx.xxxx at your earliest convenience. Thank You - Click

My train of thought was that it might sound important enough given our name and presence in other areas in the region. Most people don't associate us with business services so I assume they would think we had other information for them, more than just a sales call.

Also, if I'm in the right frame of mind, then them calling me opens a whole new field for sales since they called me, correct? -C&AMarketing

Well I have got to find something else for our product other than cold calling. I'm getting shut down left and right. They have started asking about the pricing on the phone, which is high if you just hear the number but when it gets broken down it isn't nearly as high per the value you get. And yet the price hits, and boom its done. And the thing is I try to elaborate before giving the price and they get irritated but I don't have any time after it to clarify the situation so if they ask it seems to be a deal breaker. -C&AMarketing

Andy... don't get discouraged!! Cold calling is not easy!! How long have you been doing cold calls for this company?

If it's not working go back to the drawing board change something and try again. A lot of this is trial and error.

Your sale is a tough one in a recession. There are some companies who just HATE spending any money on their employees. You need to find companies who VALUE their employees enough to do anything for them. It is through brainstorming and creativity that you can figure out a nice bunch of companies who would meet this description.

Do you have any mechanisms that would give you any warm leads?
Do you get leads from any other source like your website? How about direct mail? -Andrea

Question for ya... if you offer psychology services and it is the employees whom you see... would this not be covered under their health insurance?

When you do get asked how much... what price range are you giving? What is your answer? Let's work on that. -Andrea

We get some warm leads but the problem is getting referrals from current customers is hard with the confidentiality issue and people not wanting to broadcast coming here.

I had lunch with my boss and we spoke about trying to market a virgin product in an untouched market. It is something people will inevitably run into but it is a solution that has not been made available prior so we are in a hard spot trying to relate it to them in means of needs because of that. There is nothing to compare it to so we have no competition, which is good for business but bad for product knowledge.

Secondly we do not accept insurance. Partly because a lot of the individuals we see don't have health insurance. Also because what we offer is an overall business service that covers many different aspects we are private pay. But and this is the big but. We are able to avoid the referral time as well as lengthy delays in initial appointments because of this. We do not have to wait for insurance approvals. Also since we do not prescribe any medication we just felt it wasn't necessary.

And up to this point a majority of our work has been legal, doing competency to stand trial and sentencing recommendations. This was something that came about by sheer luck and took off with those who utilized it but with its unique concept and variable needs/abilities, insurance just wasn't a viable option.

And the price range is from 750 to 2500 for individual services and then we have them packaged together ranging up to 7500 for one year, 11000 for one year with the ability to roll over to an additional year if unused and then 20000 for one year with the ability to roll it over into two additional years.

We had to do that method of pricing so that we could sell to the state and county levels as well because they wanted to utilize the service but couldn't sign a contract with us for more than one year but could sign one for one year with the ability to roll over any unused time or services. -C&AMarketing

So what does a company with 50 employees get for $2,000? -Andrea

Hi C&A If you are getting price questions on the first call then you are giving out way too much information.
You need to asking THEM questions as I outlined in an earlier post. -helisell

The 2500 is either the lifguide intervention or a risk assessment. If the two are needed in unison it is 5000 of course but many times they can be done separately. Lifeguide is the intense, situation based intervention to correct actions or problems that have become a concern or issue (in a nutshell).

The assessments are to determine if they can in fact perform their tasks safely and effectively and if so at what capacity (100%, with some adjustments, etc) as well as if they fall under a protected class by the ADA and then if that is the case what accommodations are legally required to avoid litigation later down the line from an improper dismissal or unfair treatment based on a condition or disability (as seen by the ADA) -C&AMarketing

Thats the part that blew my mind. I was fact finding and getting them involved with questions that I thought should guarantee a good spark. But they gravitated right towards the price each time. -C&AMarketing

I have to say, and I don't know how many experienced people here will agree, but if they are asking price questions then they are displaying some level of interest.

If they are just blowing you out then they wouldn't bother asking.

So you need something to help you when they ask prices.

When they ask again just say (whilst laughing)

...... well that's the best part . . . .we have programs that you could spend $10,000 on but I wouldn't suggest something like that for a company like yours.......in fact you could get a quite basic but extremely useful package starting at around $xyz.....and for that you'd be getting peace of mind knowing that (xyz) and also you'd be getting a much deeper understanding of (abc) and most people find that they save way more than that the very first time they get a problem.

Do you think it would be worth spending a few minutes of your time to take a closer look?

I'm near you on Thursday afternoon or would Friday morning suit you better?

Also C&A it might be worth asking at this stage..is this normally your area of responsibilty? (translates to are you the decision maker)

Good luck -helisell

Thanks. I have a big push coming up with the Hospital Association. There is a new big of legislation that changes the way hospitals have to handle certain situations so we are sending out information to them as a warmer but also as an in for us so we can contact them. If we can land the state hospital association we will have more work than we know what to do with, and this legislation made it a little more necessary to have a program in place to handle issues that will arise. -C&AMarketing

Well I think we have found our solution. We are going to do some revamping of our tactics and we feel that these will work greatly.

1) I am going to coordinate breakfast/lunch seminars for local businesses management teams and HR departments to come and hear tips on improving employee productivity, being aware of issues that may arise and what situations require specific reactions to correct. (Just as a sample)

2) We are going to use an online survey to all of the businesses in our area and make an offer stating if you choose to participate in this it will help us to serve our community better. But we will also share any results we find with you, in a confidential nature, to help you manage your business better as well as offer you a discount on certain products and services if you utilize them within the first 90 days. We will also throw in an incentive for additional survey involvement.

We feel this will result in a push/pull type information gathering. We will be able to put questions and topics in front of them that will get and keep them involved. And at the same time it will make them become aware of their needs without us having to bang a hard sale into their head.

In my mind anyone participating in these events shows at least some form of awareness of a need. So that would lead to an easier followup to a now warmed up lead. The big advantage is they are relatively low cost items. We can send the survey out to every business in the state if we wanted and keep the costs minimal and we have space to hold a seminar / conference so our only cost would be time and refreshments.

Let me know what you all think, I'm really excited about the gains we could see form these. -C&AMarketing

I think that you should be excited about these developments. I think anytime you try something new that has positive potential, you have opportunity.

Much Aloha,

Tom :cool: -rattus58