1st sales job and I have to start cold calling tomorrow

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Originally Posted by Trading_Jason

Looking at competitors service offerings, though, it seems like it may be a tough sell....

What about the competitors service offerings makes it a tough sell Jason?

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Originally Posted by Trading_Jason

Having never sold anything, I'm still pretty confident that I can do it. I'm a people person and connect to people pretty easily.

Should I hold off a little before heading out? I mean, I don't want to make a prospect a never-will-close because they can smell my newness. I'd rather wait and not waste the prospect.

Ideas anyone?

Thanks. This site seems really helpful and informative.

Jason

Jason, welcome to the community. I have found this to a very helpful forum to assist me in rising to the needs of my clients with expert advice in sales techniques.

As far as when you are ready to go out and start selling, I would say, go as soon as possible. The Experience will be your best teacher. Be honest ahd try to help your prospects and they will will continue to be prospects or will become customers.

What makes it a tough sell is we offer only a 48 product lease at $100-170/mo. depending on the products leased, and these same products can be purchased online for a couple of hundred dollars each.

Also, I can't seem to get any business where the owner is there. My manager said 3/5 of the businesses will have the owner there. So far I have 0/100.

Should I be doing an online county clerk search for DBAs and see who the person is who registered it, and then go in asking for them by name?

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Originally Posted by Trading_Jason

What makes it a tough sell is we offer only a 48 product lease at $100-170/mo. depending on the products leased, and these same products can be purchased online for a couple of hundred dollars each.

Interesting observation, Jason. Are you convinced that you are offering your customer something of value. If not, you are setting yourself up for failure. You have pointed out why the prospect should NOT buy (or lease) your product from you. Is there any strong reason why he SHOULD buy or lease from you? Does your company include maintenance? Is it important to have local service? I have found that anything I have tried to sell has always been easier when I believe in the product and that I am helping my customer meet his needs and that I do very poorly when I don't believe in what I am doing. There was a thread earlier having to do with Value Proposition. It might help you in answering these questions if you read some of the comments in that thread.

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Also, I can't seem to get any business where the owner is there. My manager said 3/5 of the businesses will have the owner there. So far I have 0/100.

Should I be doing an online county clerk search for DBAs and see who the person is who registered it, and then go in asking for them by name?

One thing you might try is to type a letter introducing yourself and your company to the owner but leave the owner's name blank. When you visit a business and the owner is unavailable, produce your letter and ask the employee you are speaking with for the owner's name so that you can write it on the letter and on the outside of the envelope. You can leave this letter and your business card with the employee to give to the owner. Then, if you return later, you can ask for the owner by name.

I hope this helps, Jason.

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Originally Posted by rlabston

You have pointed out why the prospect should NOT buy (or lease) your product from you. Is there any strong reason why he SHOULD buy or lease from you?

Robert brings up a good point Jason. What is your companies competitive advantage?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trading_Jason

Also, I can't seem to get any business where the owner is there. My manager said 3/5 of the businesses will have the owner there.

Have you gone on cold calls with your manager where the 3/5 rang true? What time of the day are you making your calls?

Thanks for the helpful replies.

On cold calling with my manager - I've never met my manager. I spoke to him for about 10 minutes, they FedEx'd me an information packet, blank contracts and nameless business cards, and all I've ever sent them was the W9 form - not even a resume.

The advantage is supposed to be that our service rates are lower than most competitors.

My research has found them to be about the same, with the high ticket equipment lease killing any advantage.

I suppose there may be some businesses out there in a worse deal than we're offering, but I can't imagine many.

Either way I know I'm not offering what's truly the best service/pricing to potential customers.

Also, we're not supposed to tell them the price of the lease or service rates until after we see their statements from their current provider. If I get their statements I'm suppose to fax them to my manager who then does a quick analysis to tell me approximately how much we'll save them per month. Once I know how much I'l be saving them, then I tell them the price. I have quite a range of flexibility on lease price, and set the price at a level that gives the customer just enough savings to make it worth switching.

So if we can save him $500 a month, I charge the full $170 lease, but if we can only save him say $200 a month, I can go as low as $100 a month - that's the minimum (so $500 of equipment costs at least $4,800 through me).

That's the theory.

I don't like it.

Since my last post I've met a couple of owners in their shops, and while they were polite to me, I felt like they were looking at me like some kind of con man. None of them would let me see their statements. They wanted to know, upfront, what the cost was - period. Some wanted something in writing stating what the cost was. All perfectly reasonable - exactly what I would want if I were on the other side of that counter.

I could do neither.

I quit. I may not have made any money selling yet, but I'm keeping my integrity.

I still believe I have the ability to be a good salesman. I just need the right thing to sell.

Part of my dilemma is that I need to sell whatever I'm selling predominantly during school hours - I'm a single dad.

I'd go for my real estate license if it weren't for the hours. I believe I would be good at that.

I do need some income like yesterday. Not sure what the next step should be.

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Originally Posted by Trading_Jason

Thanks for the helpful replies.

Since my last post I've met a couple of owners in their shops, and while they were polite to me, I felt like they were looking at me like some kind of con man. None of them would let me see their statements. They wanted to know, upfront, what the cost was - period. Some wanted something in writing stating what the cost was. All perfectly reasonable - exactly what I would want if I were on the other side of that counter.

I could do neither.

I quit. I may not have made any money selling yet, but I'm keeping my integrity.

I still believe I have the ability to be a good salesman. I just need the right thing to sell.

You will make a great salesman, Jason. Integrity is one of the best skills you can have. I have found that when I am confident that I am helping the people I am selling my product to, my success is guaranteed.

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Part of my dilemma is that I need to sell whatever I'm selling predominantly during school hours - I'm a single dad.

I'd go for my real estate license if it weren't for the hours. I believe I would be good at that.

I do need some income like yesterday. Not sure what the next step should be

Some real estate companies will hire an assistant and pay a salary while you are working on your real estate license. You can answer the phone, give people information and make appointments. Real Estate is a great profession.

Another idea might be to look around your community and see what is missing. One of the best ways to serve the people in your community is to provide a new product or service that is currently not available. If you can find a need that is not currently being met, you will be both serving your community and will feel confident that you are helping them. That is a winnung combimation.

[quote=Trading_Jason;18733]Thanks for the helpful replies.

Leaving a sales job you're not comfortable with is fine. Unless you are congruent with your product and presentation, your prospect will see right through you anyways. If you're uncomfotable with it, they are double.

Now, once upon a time, I wanted to be a clothes buyer (yea, a guy, a buyer - UgottaPromblemWit' dat?).

Anyways, I found an ad in the paper for trainee buyers, where you would be a "merchandiser" for a short training period, then, if all goes well, you would begin the training program for a buyer.

I called, they said "come on dowwwnnn", so I did. i was young.

They put me in a van with about 8 other guys my age, and a coule of sleazy looking older guys and drove us out to the Houston wilderness of mini-malls, and dropped us off. We were handed a wad of gaudy womens clothes and told to go into the shops and sell what we could. This wasn't B-B sales, it was "look at this pile of ugly shirts, you ladies see anything you like?" well, we were shown the door pretty much instantly. The older guy was completely obnoxious, arguing with the store managers and such. I lasted for about 3 stores, then called my sister form a pay phone to come and get me.

Things are not always as they seem.

Hey Jason,

Maybe you should try selling advertising, as in print, radio and television. The hours are great 8:00am to 5:00pm, weekends and most major holidays off. Also, great income capabilities. Also, there is alot of flexibility in your schedule. I am a single mom and I love it. Good Luck

1st sales job and I have to start cold calling tomorrow

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