MSupp # of Cold Calls

[Yoda]

I never waste my time keeping track of how many people I have called. I never would use an auto dialer either. A real phone pro knows that it is not about how many people you called or how fast you dialed. The game is about what you did with the people you did get a hold of. When you start seeing how many people you can call and how fast you can call them you are getting off on the wrong track and most surely burning leads. Slow down and relax and pitch all the canned presentations aside and just talk and listen to people. Dont be a control freak! You dont have to control the conversation if you are confident and laid back. People do not want to be controlled and they are not stupid and they will sense when you are trying to control them. Let them take the conversation where ever they want to take it. Who cares what they want to talk about as long as they are going to buy your insurance in the end? Make a friend first then make the sale. These are novel thoughts to the wanna be experts we see hanging out in this forum and not to sound conceited but when it come to telemarketing I am quite sure I know what Im talking about!

 

[AtlantaLife&Health]

I never waste my time keeping track of how many people I have called. I never would use an auto dialer either. A real phone pro knows that it is not about how many people you called or how fast you dialed. The game is about what you did with the people you did get a hold of. When you start seeing how many people you can call and how fast you can call them you are getting off on the wrong track and most surely burning leads. Slow down and relax and pitch all the canned presentations aside and just talk and listen to people. Dont be a control freak! You dont have to control the conversation if you are confident and laid back. People do not want to be controlled and they are not stupid and they will sense when you are trying to control them. Let them take the conversation where ever they want to take it. Who cares what they want to talk about as long as they are going to buy your insurance in the end? Make a friend first then make the sale. These are novel thoughts to the wanna be experts we see hanging out in this forum and not to sound conceited but when it come to telemarketing I am quite sure I know what Im talking about!

I have to totally disagree with you Yoda. You need to maintain control of the call at all time. No one is speaking about being a control freak and speaking loudly and talking over your prospect. When I hit the phone, I have one goal and one goal only. I want to find out what they have so I can show them that I have something better for them, period! You can not just get on the phone and let them take the conversation wherever the prospect wants to take it. I don't use a dialer right now but I see where VaDwayne is coming from. If you "give good phone", you should want to give good phone often. It takes time to dial, wait for the phone to ring 10 times and then go to voicemail. Then you might get X amount more like that then finally get a live person. Time is money. My conversations are all going to go the same way, basically. So I will not be burning through prospects. Each call deserves a quality conversation. If a dialer can connect me with X amount of prospects per hour, the faster I'll get around to finding that interested person and hopping in the car to go see them. You could dial for two hours and only reach a handful of people. It's about efficiency in my opinion. Like I said, right now I don't use a dialer. I may in the future though. To each his own. This business is not about making friends over the phone. They are not stupid. They know you are an agent and they know you do not care about how their day is going! They know why you are calling. So let's not insult their intelligence and try to come off like a friend and beat around the bush. No disrespect Yoda, but I can't agree with you on this one. Don't worry, you are far from sounding conceited my friend.

 

[Yoda]

"This business is not about making friends over the phone."
===============================================

It could be.....it should be.......it would be if you would let it. Sell yourself first and then selling the insurance will become much easier. And another thing, theres no letting the phone ring 10 times in telemarketing! Dont let the phone ring more then 4 or 5 times and never leave a message and always do the brunt of your calling in the evenings between 4pm and 8pm.

 

[5pill]

I hand dialed about 50-60 numbers last wednesday and Thursday. My heart really wasn't in to calling, with all the cold weather, rain, mud, etc. Wasn't working real hard. Lots of breaks, meals, naps, forum, facebook, wife on my knee, etc.. I only got one good conversation.,

But it took 2 days to call that many numbers, for me.

Took off Friday to lick wounds. No sale last week!

Ummmm...(Seems like I should ask a question right here).


But, anyway, I will be back on callfire Monday morn. I could have called those same 50 numbers in 20 minutes.

I'll probably have a question Monday.

 

[AtlantaLife&Health]

I hand dialed about 50-60 numbers last wednesday and Thursday. My heart really wasn't in to calling, with all the cold weather, rain, mud, etc. Wasn't working real hard. Lots of breaks, meals, naps, forum, facebook, wife on my knee, etc.. I only got one good conversation.,

But it took 2 days to call that many numbers, for me.

Took off Friday to lick wounds. No sale last week!

Ummmm...(Seems like I should ask a question right here).


But, anyway, I will be back on callfire Monday morn. I could have called those same 50 numbers in 20 minutes.

I'll probably have a question Monday.

My point exactly. You can skip all the distractions, and all the ringing, and voicemails if you use a dialer. But you better know what you're doing first before you amplify your bad habits.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Frank,
While I agree with a lot of what you say, the number of dials is important. A dialer lets you be more efficient. If you have someone who can give good phone as you say, then they can only twist the rotary phone so many times in a day. If they give good phone and the dialer does the work they may be able to actually spend more time giving good phone rather than putting their finger in the hole or listening to answering machines. I totally agree with you in the fact that you MUST take control of the phone call. I think you need a mixture of "good phone" and proper and efficient procedures that allow you to maximize your time...and sticking your finger in the hole or dialing up sarah the operator is not the way. Go for the dialer and learn good phone!

I don't disagree with anything you have said. I also don't recall posting in this thread saying that there is no value in using a dialer. I have said in other threads that I personally don't use one. I have also posted that I don't think a new agent should either until they know what they are doing.

I believe a dialer can be a great asset to an agent once the agent learns to give good phone. Until then, I think a dialer can be a hindrance to a new agent. Learning how to use the phone is a well practiced, learned art. It takes time. A brand new agent isn't learning anything by making the same mistake over and over again and doing it as fast as possible.

While a new agent is in the learning stage they need to take time between calls to evaluate what just transpired after each call. They are going to make mistakes, without taking time to identify those mistakes the agent will keep making them over and over again.

When I train an agent to give good phone my goal is to shorting the learning curve as much as possible for them. Why waste months burning up phone numbers making mistakes when, in a matter of a few weeks, the agent can develop a smooth, conversational telephone presentation.

At that them a dialer can be of great value to them.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

... I can't imagine attempting to advise someone on improving their dialing performance without knowing exactly:

How much time did you spend on the phone?
How many dials are you making?
How many people did you actually talk to?
How many flat out told you no or don't call again?
How many luke warm?
How many sales/appointments?

Some people are "numbers people" most are not. You may be one who takes the time to record all of the above information on a daily basis. I only say that because you used the word "exactly" as opposed to "have an idea of".

Most agents are not going to know or remember exact numbers, especially over several weeks. The only numbers they may know are how many calls especially if they are using a dialer, stacking leads or checking off names on a list. Most of the rest of the information is going to be a guess.

I can learn much more from an agent and how to help him improve his skills simply by the agent telling me what he is saying. I don't need to know answers to the questions shown below, once we discuss his phone techniques I can probably guess and come pretty close to the percentage of each he is getting.

How many flat out told you no or don't call again?
How many luke warm?
How many sales/appointments?

If the proper technique is there, positive results will follow.

 

[VaDwayne]

lol well said

Again, no time for fools. Have an awesome weekend.

 

[theinsuranceman]

I never waste my time keeping track of how many people I have called. I never would use an auto dialer either. A real phone pro knows that it is not about how many people you called or how fast you dialed. The game is about what you did with the people you did get a hold of. When you start seeing how many people you can call and how fast you can call them you are getting off on the wrong track and most surely burning leads. Slow down and relax and pitch all the canned presentations aside and just talk and listen to people. Dont be a control freak! You dont have to control the conversation if you are confident and laid back. People do not want to be controlled and they are not stupid and they will sense when you are trying to control them. Let them take the conversation where ever they want to take it. Who cares what they want to talk about as long as they are going to buy your insurance in the end? Make a friend first then make the sale. These are novel thoughts to the wanna be experts we see hanging out in this forum and not to sound conceited but when it come to telemarketing I am quite sure I know what Im talking about!

Yoda..I agree with you, except the part about using a dialer.

 

[5pill]

Whether you can give good phone or not, you need to talk to somebody! You can't make any money holding a a phone to your ear listening to AM's, continual ringing, bad #'s, etc. Its not about speed. Its about getting some one to say Hello!

The machine might have to dial 15 #'s before I get that.
And thats where the FAST PART comes into play.


The sooner that happens, the better chance you have of becoming a "smooth talking silver haired devil".

And thats what you need to do as many times a day as possible. "Cause they're gonna hang up on you; tell you they have appointments everyday this week; they've got to go out of town; or they're just flat out NOT INTERESTED!

And then slam the phone in your ear.


They really don't care what color your hair is.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Whether you can give good phone or not, you need to talk to somebody! You can't make any money holding a a phone to your ear listening to AM's, continual ringing, bad #'s, etc. Its not about speed. Its about getting some one to say Hello!

The machine might have to dial 15 #'s before I get that.
And thats where the FAST PART comes into play.


The sooner that happens, the better chance you have of becoming a "smooth talking silver haired devil".

And thats what you need to do as many times a day as possible. "Cause they're gonna hang up on you; tell you they have appointments everyday this week; they've got to go out of town; or they're just flat out NOT INTERESTED!

And then slam the phone in your ear.


They really don't care what color your hair is.

You are spot on. That is what most agent number one complaint is. Everyone they talk to is "not interested".

The key to being able to talk to them is to not let them say "not interested". They only say that because the agent permits them to say it.

The agent is not maintaining control of the conversation usually by pausing at the wrong places or asking questions the agent doesn't know the answer to like "how are you doing today". The first twelve to eighteen seconds of the phone call are the most critical. If an agent knows how to get past those first few seconds the odds of engaging them in conversation increase dramatically.

Nothing is sold during a phone call, not even selling the appointment. And yes, appointments do have to be sold just like policies have to be sold. The initial phone call is the single most important part of the sales process. Unless the agent can generate enough interest in those first few seconds to get the prospect to listen to him it is highly unlikely that an appointment and sale will take place.

You posted above, " My heart really wasn't in to calling, with all the cold weather, rain, mud, etc." I understand that extremely well. However, the best time to call and get the most people picking up the phone is when the weather is such that you don't feel like going out or doing anything either.

A favorite saying of rural people is "make hay while the sun shines", in telemarketing one makes the most hay when the weather is at it's worse.