Cold Calling for Cowards

dwayne if you do not cold call anymore because you do commercial lines, how do you generate clients?


I actually started cold-calling again today. But it is for a niche market that I am interested in writing and have a great product for it now that I didn't have.

The first year I got into commercial insurance I did cold calling almost exclusively. I called to get X-dates and decision makers names and if I did that I considered the call a success. Every once in a while I would speak to someone who needed to see me right away in the process. I purchased a list of businesses, created an excel file of our agencies current clients and purged them from the list and started calling with a dialer. I don't remember the exact number but I had somewhere between 800-100 x dates to work my second year. I currently have about 1500 x dates in my follow up system and I get referrals as well as client from BNI now. It was nice to have people actually start calling me.

The market I am calling now I am simply trying to get the decision makers name and title so I can market to the right person. If I get a name I HAVE SUCCEEDED in my mind.

I think people feel like failures because they look for that instant gratification and a sale when they dial. If you call trying to obtain info to make a sale, and you consider a call a success when you get the info, you will stumble upon instant sales in the process.

Oh yeah, once you get the info you need and you are going to send further information, use a plain white envelope with handwritten addresses. They are far less likely to throw it away compared to if it is your agency letterhead.
 
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I think people feel like failures because they look for that instant gratification and a sale when they dial. If you call trying to obtain info to make a sale, and you consider a call a success when you get the info, you will stumble upon instant sales in the process.

With the exception of a few markets like final expense this is a delayed gratification business and we can only hope to still be in the business when the gratification part rolls around.
 
With the exception of a few markets like final expense this is a delayed gratification business and we can only hope to still be in the business when the gratification part rolls around.

That is why a person that is completely broke get's knocked out of the game s early. A lot of peoples success is dependent on the current situation. Some can tough out a few months, some can't. I've had my share of lucky breaks in this business.
 
vadwayne, Im suprised your posting on here...

I thought you would be glued to the TV watching the O's..

They are on fire, if Buck don't win manger of the year, it will be a crime....

of course the yankees are gonna win the east:yes:
 
vadwayne, Im suprised your posting on here...

I thought you would be glued to the TV watching the O's..

They are on fire, if Buck don't win manger of the year, it will be a crime....

of course the yankees are gonna win the east:yes:

O's? Yankees? Must be some tiddly-winks players. It's football time now!
 
vadwayne, Im suprised your posting on here...

I thought you would be glued to the TV watching the O's..

They are on fire, if Buck don't win manger of the year, it will be a crime....

of course the yankees are gonna win the east:yes:

Yeah, the west coast games are killing me. I tried to watch last night and simply couldn't stay awake.LOL
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O's? Yankees? Must be some tiddly-winks players. It's football time now!

Yep, tiddly wink player I am. Good call!
 
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LOTS of good stuff here. We all know sales is a numbers game... the more you play golf the better you get (hopefully) and the more you call the more leads the more sales. AND... the better you get on the phone. Cold-calling for many companies is a permanent solution due to cost and if done right. Let's face it... many people can't afford to buy an unlimited amount of real-time leads or do several mailings a week at $450 a pop. I want to stress the “if done right” part.

I've worked with many telemarketers and have seen time and time again agents skipping the basics of telemarketing that with simple easy changers can yield better results quicker, such as:

-Calling at the correct time for consumers and businesses i.e. early evenings, Saturday mornings and late mornings approaching lunch time.
-How you say it is just as important as what you say i.e. don't sound like a “telemarketer” and speaking in an even monotone voice.
-Try different scripts and most importantly track your ROI on scripts.
-Using an inexpensive dialer gives you the “numbers” and takes out all of the demotivating tasks associated with hand-dialing.

And I certainly have talked myself out of making calls many times, but if you're one of those people that no matter what you do can't bring yourself to dial yourself... hire someone. But you have to set them up for success as well. Here's what I like to do when I would hire a telemarketer:

-Phone interview to evaluate their English, necessary computer skills, relevant job experience and describe the job requirements.
-In-person Interview evaluating their computer skills, showing them a dialer if you use one, “role play” just like high school with your scripts. I always ask what other things motivate them to provide additional incentives later i.e. working from home, gift cards, pay structure, etc.
-Provide them a grace period then require X per hour with tiered incentive bonuses to keep them motivated and NOT dialing for dollars. You may kiss a few frogs before you find your prince i.e. a telemarketer worth keeping.
-Training, training and more training by providing scripts, follow-up training, calling tips on how to speak, tracking options for scripts/leads/appts, etc.

In regards to scripts, there's not really a need to reinvent the will like final expense scripts. Some companies have sales gurus spend countless hours crafting scripts and you can see a lot of these scripts on the TV, radio, print, etc. The goal, in my opinion, is to start with a decent script then over time hone it into a finely tuned machine (that you will have to change over time) and create a repeatable sales process that works for “you.”
… my two cents.
 
I am curious when is he best day of the week and time of the day that you all have found to be more successful? When I mean successful, talking to the decision maker.
 
I am curious when is he best day of the week and time of the day that you all have found to be more successful? When I mean successful, talking to the decision maker.

That question is flawed on it's premise. There really is no "best time" to call the decision maker. Each business runs differently and each decision maker has their own schedule which is likely busy all the time.

On business to business calling you want to get the person answering the phone to help you by turning the gatekeeper into your tour guide. The best time to call on b2b is Monday through Thursday 10am to 12, 1pm to 4pm. Fridays are tough because even if you get ahold of someone they have the entire weekend to forget.

Does that help?
 
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