Everyday businesses all over the country are plagued by unsolicited sales calls. We are all extremely busy and resent these interruptions to our working days. Hanging up on them or asking staff to put them off will only temporarily remove the problem.
We are advised to register with TPS and MPS (telephone and mail preference services), but I have a more productive solution: use their ideas and sell back to them.
I think I am one of the few people that actually enjoy receiving sales calls. I am also pleased to say that I do not fit into that lonely group in our society that relish the opportunity for some human interaction that reminds them they are still part of this world.
I appreciate the creativity that some companies use to reach the decision maker. If a company has done its research then its product could be of use and you could do a lot worse then switching to a proactive and creative supplier. The best suppliers work with their customers, share ideas and networking opportunities. I work with all our partners and suppliers in this way.
Look at the mail shots and listen to their call scripts, there are often some important lessons perhaps you could use in your own marketing.
Finally I recommend selling back to them. Honesty I have achieved some fantastic leads for Duport by promoting our services back to the company trying to sell to us. For example when I receive a call to advertise with them I suggest we pay them a, very good, referral fee for sending business to us. That way they have to prove that their sales strategies actually work. Alternatively I insist that they give me a free trial before I buy. The best companies will not shy away from this.
If a company has targeted us to sell a product and I genuinely believe it is good I will offer them the opportunity to promote it our customers. The telesales staff are taken aback when I ask for the details of their directors/ marketing managers!
You may be thinking that “I do not have a service that I can market back to a water cooler company”. Let me suggest that you offer to try their product if they agree to try yours. This obviously rarely works but it will prevent those pesky companies coming back to the crazy guy!
A call is only truly annoying if the product or service is not useful to you or if the approach has been badly managed.
I apologise if the title is misleading but I am a firm believer in taking a positive approach to all situations. You get rid of annoying sales calls by viewing them as opportunities! Cheesy but true!
I think some sales approaches are really valuable. Quite often the company that is “cold calling” will have done quite a bit of research into who you are, and how their service will be of benefit to you (useful lesson there to anybody who uses cold calling to promote their own business).
The problem is that, like a swimming pool, most of the noise seems to come from the shallow end.
Comment by Thomas — April 26, 2010 @ 1:47 pm
I find the behaviour in the UK regarding sales calls quite interesting.
If business is about creating a customer and cold sales calls are part of that process then it is a legitimate part of the business process. If all businesses depend on selling a product (or service(which is also a product!)) then surely we should be a little more receptive to people trying to conduct business as we would expect to be treated when trying to sell our product.
If everyone refuses to be sold to then how does business get done?
If we only purchase what we know of then we avoid having something that could be unique and that contributes to our differentiation!!
Comment by Graham — April 26, 2010 @ 5:33 pm