Mistake #10 – Calling the same day and / or time of day over and over again, or calling the same person over and over again the same day.
Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is “…doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”
One of the basic tenets behind The Appointment Making Formula™ is having a plan (we call them Best Practices) and then employing technology (we use a specialized tool—the Science of the Art, Science and Best Practice of Appointment Making), called PROSPECTING from Contact Science. it works as a front end to CRMs) to enable the efficient application of the Best Practices and track what you do so that you can leverage what works and change what doesn’t.
Every industry and target group has windows that are better than others for contacting them. The challenge is to figure out what works best for them and for you. I’ve heard sales professionals tell me they make 100 dials a day! As the old saying goes however, ‘the devil is in the detail’.
Activity, or working hard, alone will not dictate success. It is not until we take a look at the individual elements of a calling plan that we are able to begin to improve our performance. Are we calling only 10 different people 10 times each day? Are we always calling between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM? Are we always calling on a Monday?
In order to improve our performance, we must monitor what we do, measure what we do and then manage (change) what we do when necessary.
If you call the same target multiple times per day and don’t leave voicemails, you might also want to think about this for a second. In this world of Caller ID, do you really think your target doesn’t know you’re a cold caller when your number shows up on their Caller ID multiple times during the day? Remember, more and more people are now using voicemail to screen so they are looking at their Caller ID when the phone rings.
The moral of the story? Think about what you do and why you do it. Then monitor the activity, measure your results, and manage accordingly.
If you’d like more information on the topic of how to set more appointments, drop us a line or give us a call. Or, if you’re simply interested in why no team of sales professionals has ever failed to at least double the number of Initial Appointments they were setting after going through one of our programs, give us a call or drop us a line. We love talking appointment making!
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called Coldcalling101™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations—the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 817 224-9900 or at bcaponi@caponipg.com. You can also find answers to many of your challenges in our books: Contrary to Popular Belief, Cold Calling DOES Work! Volume I: Effectiveness, The Art of Appointment Making and Volume II: Efficiency, the Science of Appointment Making.
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