____________________________________________________________________________________

The Clueless Search Engine Optimization Caller

This guy’s approach apparently was to call as many people as he can and give them the same pitch, without knowing anything about the companies or people he called, or their existing degree of sophistication regarding their web marketing.

While his opening statement contained an adequate benefit—front page exposure on major search engines resulting in a tremendous amount of traffic—he had no idea what we did, how we did it, and he had never even visited our site.  Which seems odd, given that he is selling something that will enhance websites.

As you heard, he did not get very far with me on this call, even defending his stance that it doesn’t really matter to him what a company does, since to him, "A website, is a website, is a website."

Perhaps, but he misses a very important point: As a buyer, I want to know that the salesperson and company I am entrusting my money with understands my business and what I’m looking to do.

This guy certainly isn’t the only one out there placing calls and not being prepared to do so. Which is mind-boggling to me. Today, using Smart Calling, we have so many tools available to us that easily and quickly allows us to gather some intelligence before our calls.

The Smart Calling process is that when you are prospecting, the more you know about the company, industry, and individual you are calling, the greater your chance of making a connection, touching on something that is an issue in their world, and customizing your questions so that you can uncover needs that are unique to them, perceived, or otherwise.

And, this shows the prospect that you are different from every other caller who is just smilin-n-dialin, giving everyone the same pitch, like our friend on the recording.

This guy was working from a list of the American Teleservices Association, of which I formerly was a member. (He used the term, Platinum ATA member). Obviously he made the fatal assumption that I was a call center.

Very quickly it was apparent he did no research on me or my company, and therefore caused me to shut down instantly. Perhaps you have had this abrupt prospect at the other end of the phone. Maybe even you caused it. No fun, right?

By performing a small task, taking a tiny amount of effort and time, he could have avoided calling me and wasting his time. He could have gone to my website, and also asked the person answering the phone here what we do.

Maybe if he did that and was adventurous, and still thought there might be some hidden potential he could have simply changed his opening to, “I understand you are a training company specializing in business-to-business calling. If you do consulting with any consumer companies, our service might be of some value to you and them…let me explain what we offer…”

And oh, one other mistake, in the opening he asked for a 15-minute appointment, BEFORE asking any questions! What if had agreed? Then he would have had to take the time, next time, to find out I was not a prospect. Sales Point: Do NOT ask for an appointment or sale in the opening.

To his credit, he did have some positive characteristics, and did some things well on the call.

-If he had the right audience on the phone–a company that actually used the Do Not Call list file—his opening contained a pretty good interest-creating results statement.

-his voice sounded natural and conversational, even when I was short with my answers, and obviously through some unexpected hatchets at him.

-in response to my cryptic one-word answers, he continued questioning, as opposed to diving off the phone.

-as a last resort, when he realized he was going nowhere with me, he resorted to what I call a Secondary Objective. He said he was looking for affiliates to help market his service. As I mentioned, I do not personally get involved with companies that do consumer calling, so I was not a fit there.

This shows that in sales, even if you do some things right, the one wrong thing can keep you floundering way below your potential. And beat down your morale in the process.