Every month I receive a variety of questions from salespeople and their managers. These come from a variety of sources - my live seminars, the monthly phone seminars, questions that are sent into my newsletter, and issues that arise in the course of my consulting work. Out of all of these, I select those that I think have the most universal application, and respond to them here.

This continues to be one of the most asked-questions I receive. I wish I could provide you with a magic phrase or set of "secret" words that are guaranteed to get the prospect to return your call and grant you an audience. But it is just not that easy. Influencing new prospects to return your call and to invest their time in the speculative venture of seeing another sales person is not a simple thing. And, clearly, it is growing more difficult.

There is no one strategy, no simple guaranteed set of tactics that will work magic for you. There are, however, some principals and strategies that will increase the likelihood of you getting an appointment with the elusive prospect.

There is a principle that we need to grasp if we're going to be more effective at this most difficult task. The principle is this: There is no short cut, no simple, easy magic answer.

That means that you are going to have to invest serious planning time and serious creative thought in improving your results.

Let's start with this essential first step. Prepare a powerful opening statement. You use this to introduce yourself to a prospect as well as to leave as part of your voice mail message.

This statement should be short and persuasive. It should communicate specifically what benefit your company can bring to the prospect. I like this organization:

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• who you are
• what you do for companies like your prospect's
• the specific benefit for the prospect to see you
• how much time you'll need.

Here's an example: "Hello......., this is Dave Kahle, President of the DaCo Corporation. We are a consulting and training company that focuses on helping B2B companies increase their sales and develop their people. We have some unique resources that can help your salespeople improve their performance. I'll need about 15 minutes to share some of the resources that are applicable to...... companies like yours."

You then ask for the appointment, if you are talking to a live person, or to return the call if your leaving a voice mail message.

Notice, in this example, that we introduced ourselves, focused on a benefit for companies like this one, made it specific to this company, and then indicated how much time that customer would need to invest - all in about 65 words.

Also, note that the benefit is very specific "help your salespeople improve their performance." The more specific the benefit, the more attractive it is. So many times I hear sales people make vague and general promises like "save you money." Your prospects hear these vague promises so often that they mean nothing. Instead of a vague promise, mention some very specific benefit.

If you can save them money, exactly how do you do it? If you reduce their costs, exactly how do you do it? Be as specific as possible. Remember, the more specific, the more attractive.

This is just the first, necessary step in achieving more appointments. There are a number of other strategies that build on this.

The concept of a "pre-call touch."

First, a little perspective. I wish I could provide you with a magic phrase or set of "secret" words that are guaranteed to get the prospect to return your call and grant you an audience. But it is just not that easy. Influencing new prospects to return your call and to invest their time in the speculative venture of seeing another sales person is not a simple thing. And, clearly, it is growing more difficult.

There is no one strategy, no simple guaranteed set of tactics that will work magic for you. There are, however, some principals and strategies that will increase the likelihood of you getting an appointment with the elusive prospect.

There is a principle that we need to grasp if we're going to be more effective at this most difficult task. The principle is this: There is no short cut, no simple, easy magic answer. That means that you are going to have to invest serious planning time and serious creative thought in improving your results.

Here's one option which is used effectively by a number of my clients. I call it an "effective pre-call touch."

What's a pre-call touch? It's a delivery that you make to the person with whom you are trying to gain an appointment. That delivery conditions them to be more receptive to your call.

There are several different kinds of pre-call touches. The first and most effective is a personal introduction. If you know someone who can introduce you personally, face-to-face, to the person you want to talk to, that personal introduction is always the most effective way of meeting a new person. Once you have your list of prospects, look through the names and ask yourself, "Is there anyone I know who might know some of these people?" If so, ask them to introduce you. If they agree, then you will have arranged for a very effective pre-call touch.

Next down the ladder of effectiveness is an introductory phone call. This is where someone you know calls someone who is on the list and suggests to them that they talk to you when you call. They introduce you over the phone and say good things about you. That's another very effective pre-call touch.

Here's a third one, called a pre-heat letter. This is a letter from someone else, to the person who you want to see, introducing you. In other words, instead of you just calling the person out of the cold, you have someone write them a letter. This isn't as hard as it seems. My insurance agent does this with me. Here's how he works his system.

He calls and invites me to lunch once or twice a year. Of course I know that he wants to get some referrals from me.

After I agree to have lunch with him, he sends me a form a few days before the lunch. The form asks very specific questions, all asking who I know who meets certain criteria. My job is to list some names on this form. Then we go to lunch. At lunch we make small talk and catch up on each other's lives. Then somewhere toward the end of the lunch, my insurance agent pulls out his big folder and he says, "Now who do you know who I might see?" He asks me to refer to the form and read off the list of names.

So, I give him two or three names. That, however, is not the end of it. He next asks me about each of those people. He inquires into what I know about them, how old they are, what education they have, do they own their own business, etc. He collects pieces of information about each of those people. Then he says, "You wouldn't mind introducing me to them, would you?"

I say, "No. I guess not."

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He says, "How about if I write a letter from you to them mentioning me and suggesting that if I call them that they should take the call? I will write a letter from you and I'll have my secretary bring it over, all you have to do is sign it. Would that be OK?"

I agree to do that. Sometime in the next couple of days in comes the secretary with two or three letters from me to the people whose names I just gave him, introducing my insurance agent to them. I sign them and she folds them up, slides them into an envelope and off they go. That's a great example of a pre-call touch, a letter from someone else that introduces you and conditions that person to accept your call.

Here's another type of pre-call touch: A series of deliveries that come from you that softens the prospect and makes them more likely to receive your call. You can create a series of letters, or other creative deliveries, and send one, two, three, four, five letters before hand, each emphasizing some aspect of what it is you sell. And by the time your prospect has read those letters or received your deliveries they should be open to talking to you.

I have a great example from a client of mine who created this kind of program. You'll find it to be very creative. Here's how it worked.

This company, an advertising agency, had their list of 100 prospects. All were qualified prospects with whom they wanted appointments. In the first week they sent each of them a small box wrapped in brown paper with no return address on it, and the prospect's address written in a woman's handwriting -- just a hand written address on the brown paper. Each of the one hundred prospects received this box. When they opened the box, they found a lemon inside. Accompanying the lemon was a little slip of paper, like that which you get in fortune cookies. It read, "Don't let it go sour." That was it.

The next week, another box, looking exactly the same, was sent to the prospect. Inside it was a sugar cube and a little slip of paper that read, "Keep it sweet." Nothing else, just the sugar cube.

In week three, the box contained tinsel -- like that which you put on a Christmas tree. The note inside read, "Make it sparkle." That's all.

In week four, the box contained a business card from the salesperson with a note that read, "I'd like to make an appointment with you to discuss creative ways we can increase your business."

That was a very effective pre-call touch - a delivery to the prospect conditioning him/her to accept your call. In this case, the pre-call touch was one hundred percent effective. Everyone who received that mailing agreed to an appointment.

Here's another possibility, a fax or an email to your prospect first, giving the prospect some reason to take your call. Send a fax or email and then follow it up with a call.

Finally, another very effective pre-call touch is a handwritten, not a typed, not a computer generated letter, but a handwritten, personal letter from you to the prospect explaining what you would like to see them about and asking for an appointment.

Notice that all of these examples have some characteristics in common - they are creative deliveries made to the prospect that conditions him/her to be receptive to your call.

Your challenge is to take that definition and, stimulated by the examples I've given you, develop a creative "pre-call touch" of your own. If you'd like to share your ideas with me, please feel free to send me an email describing what you came up with. I may share it with others.

Effective tactics for making the call.

First, a reminder of the perspective from which we should view this problem. It's this - there is no a simple, easy solution. I wish I could provide you with a magic phrase or set of "secret" words that are guaranteed to get the prospect to return your call and grant you an audience. But it is just not that easy. Influencing new prospects to return your call and to invest their time in the speculative venture of seeing another sales person is not a simple thing. And, clearly, it is growing more difficult.

There is a principle that we need to grasp if we're going to be more effective at this most difficult task. The principle is this: There is no short cut, no simple, easy magic answer. There are, however, some principals and strategies that will increase the likelihood of you getting an appointment with the elusive prospect. That means that you are going to have to invest serious planning time and serious creative thought in improving your results.

OK. You've prepared an effective opening statement, and you've sent a creative pre-call touch. Now you are going to make the call, using the opening statement that you have prepared, and making reference to the pre-call touch that you delivered. What are some ways to make the actual phone call more effective?

Time it right. You may have greater success in getting to your prospect by calling at an odd time. Try a few minutes before 8 AM, ditto for lunch, and a few minutes after 5:00 PM. These are all times when the normal switchboard may not be operating, yet the person you want may be at his/her desk.

Practice a conversational voice. Don't sound too smooth or rehearsed. That makes the person listening to your voice mail think that you are just another sales person. I've always found it more effective to sound a bit "real." It is OK to stutter a bit, to hesitate, to use an occasional "ah." All these make you sound like a real person, not an automaton repeating a memorized pitch.

Always leave a message. Imagine that you could buy a 15 second radio commercial that you could beam directly to your prospect. Wouldn't that be a good thing to do? That's what voice mail allows you to do. So, every time you encounter voice mail, deliver your radio commercial.

Show that you understand them. In your voice mail message, leave the name of a company similar to theirs that you have dealt with, or mention a very specific problem that you believe they have, or some individual that you have worked with who they may know.

Another approach is to ask a penetrating question. That's a question that indicates your knowledge of the prospect's business or situation, and points to the need for what you have. Let's say that you're selling food packaging equipment. Your penetrating question could be something like this: "John, in light of the new federal regulations on particulate matter, to what degree does your packaging equipment keep you out of trouble with the government?"

Notice that the question conveyed the impression that you understand his business, and than prompts the prospect to think about the need your product is designed to meet.

All of these things say to the prospect that you are someone apart from the ordinary sales person -- that you understand them. There is little that is more attractive to a person than being understood.

Instead of asking to be called back, leave a message indicating that you will call him/her back at a specific time. So, instead of saying, "Please return my call," you say, " I understand you are not available at the moment. I'll call you at 4:15 this afternoon to pursue this discussion with you."

If you do leave a request for them to call you, make sure that someone is available to take the call and schedule the appointment.

Saying "please return my call," and then going off with your cell phone busy all day is not very smart. When they call, they wind up leaving a voice mail for you. Instead, leave a number where a customer service person is at (or our spouse, etc.), with times and dates when you are available to make the appointment. Don't frustrate them by having to leave a voice mail for you! Next month, I'm going to discuss what to do after you've left several voice mail messages with no return call.

What to do if all of these efforts are unsuccessful.

First, a reminder of the perspective from which we should view this problem. It's this - there is no a simple, easy solution. I wish I could provide you with a magic phrase or set of "secret" words that are guaranteed to get the prospect to return your call and grant you an audience. But it is just not that easy. Influencing new prospects to return your call and to invest their time in the speculative venture of seeing another sales person is not a simple thing. And, clearly, it is growing more difficult.

There is a principle that we need to grasp if we're going to be more effective at this most difficult task. The principle is this: There is no short cut, no simple, easy magic answer. There are, however, some principals and strategies that will increase the likelihood of you getting an appointment with the elusive prospect. That means that you are going to have to invest serious planning time and serious creative thought in improving your results.

OK. You've prepared an effective opening statement, and you've sent a creative pre-call touch. You've made several calls, using the opening statement that you have prepared, and making reference to the pre-call touch that you delivered. You've used some of the tactics that I discussed last month.

But, alas, no return call. What now?

Here are two possibilities.

1. Send them a "why not" fax or email.
   
   This is a document that asks for them to check a line and return it. You offer them a number of responses which provide different reasons why they haven't returned your call. Then, all they need to do is check the one that most accurately applies, and return the fax or email. It helps if your document in light-hearted and humorous in its tone. Here's an example:
   
   "John, you're driving me nuts! I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach you by phone. Since talking to you is important to me, would you take a moment and check one of the lines below that most accurately describes your position, and return this to me? Thanks. Dave Kahle"
   
   
   _____   You're calling the wrong person. Try _________________________ at extension __________.
   
   _____   I'm hard of hearing, and haven't heard any of your voice mail messages. Call me on (date) ___________ at (time)__________ and I'll take the call.
   
   _____   I've been extremely busy. But, if you call me on (date)________. At (time), I'll take the call.
   
   _____   I have absolutely no interest in (saving money) (expanding my business) (saving time), etc. So, don't bother calling again.
   
   _____   I appreciate your tenacity. You really must have something that can benefit me. Call me on (date) ___________ at (time)____________ and we'll talk.
   
   It's amazing how a fax like this can change the climate and result in a breakthrough. Thousands of salespeople have used their own version of the "Why Not?" fax with great success.
   
   Here's another option.
   
   
2. Meet them outside of the confines of the business. This requires some preparation on your part, and is only effective if the potential payback is worth the time. But, if it's a large potential account, then it may be worth the time and effort. You may need to be creative with this one.
   
   a.   Find out where they go, and go there.
   
   For example, your prospect may be a member of an association or group. Find out when that group meets, and arrange to go to the meeting. There, introduce yourself to the person, establish a bit of a face-to-face relationship, and then refer to that event when you call them the next day.
   
   Local and regional trade shows and association meetings are great for this kind of thing. But you may want to extend the idea in a creative fashion. For example, one of my clients sold to attorneys. They are notoriously hard to get to see. So, he made some inquiries, discovered the local tavern that the attorneys liked to frequent on Friday afternoons, and hung around there in order to meet, face to face, his prospects.
   
   b.   Reach them in other out-of-the-normal places.
   
   Again, this requires some creativity on your part. At one point in my sales career, I sold to surgeons. They were almost impossible to see at their offices. However, when they were in the hospital, they had more time and were more amenable to visiting with you. So, I'd find out the surgery schedule of that particular surgeon, arrive in the hospital and have him paged. When he responded to the page, I'd mention that I was in the hospital at the moment, and could he take a few minutes to see me. Almost always the answer was yes.
   
   One of my colleagues even went to this extreme. Before I mention this, let me clearly say that I am not advocating in any way that you do this. Just the opposite. I do not want you to do what my colleague did. I'm only offering it as an example of creatively meeting someone outside of the normal places.
   
   This college of mine needed to see a certain department head in a hospital. This key contact would not take his calls, nor return them. He was locked out of any progress in this major account until he could get a face-to-face meeting with her.
   
   So, he got creative. (Once again, understand that I am not advocating you do this.) He waited in the employee parking lot for the shift change, and noted which car she got into to drive home. Then, the next day, he let the air out of one of the tires. When she came out to drive home at the end of her day, he miraculously appeared to help her change the tire. The next day, she took his call.

Where there is a will, there is a way. If the potential of the account is worth it, become creative in how you will attempt to make that first contact.

Good luck! -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  -  *  - If you have any comments or questions, email them to me. I do, of course, reserve the right to edit.

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