Good Wednesday morning everyone. One of the best ways to still prospect when the weather is bad,
rain, snow etc. is to go to a local office or medical building. I still remember how scared I was the first time I entered an office building to make cold calls. When I walked into the first office I think that the receptionist had noticed a sign on my forehead that said, “Hi, I’m here to sell you something.”
I felt as if I was interrupting her day and then I began thoughts about what I was doing here. Should I just go home? Maybe this is not for me? After about my tenth office visit I became very frustrated and decided that my time was better spent making cold calls on the telephone.
When I got back to my desk I began to visualize what had happened to me that day. What could I have done differently? Maybe I’m not cut out for door to door cold calling? I don’t mind getting rejected over the phone, but getting rejected in person was too much for me to handle—it brought me down! Because it’s difficult for me to give up, I began to do some brainstorming so that I could determine what I could do differently the next time around. What did I come up with to improve the effectiveness of my door to door cold calling?
Below is a list of new ideas that I came up with and what you can easily implement when cold calling in office buildings.
- As soon as you enter an office it’s important that you greet the receptionist with eye contact and a nice big smile.
- Be positive and enthusiastic because your positive attitude and enthusiasm are contagious!
- Both men and women should be dressed in a suit. And the reason for dressing this way is because how you dress affects your attitude and how others may positively or negatively perceive you. Especially in a professional setting like a doctors office.
- Prepare a flyer that offers a special limited-time promotion and make sure that your flyer is easy on the eyes.
- Keep your opening lines (Your introduction, the reason for your visit and how you can help them) short and to the point.
- Offer examples of how other customers in their industry have benefited from using your payments services.
- If you prefer not to visit each office to introduce yourself or hand out flyers then I would find the main business directory in the building and write down every tenant in the building (If you are smart you could use the camera on your phone and take a picture of the business directory).
- Use Discover Signage materials or thermal paper*or handing out candy (Be prepared and bring sugar-free candy as well) along with your special promotional flyer. Who doesn’t like freebies and candy?
- Bring your tablet or notepad with you to take notes or write notes on the back of the business cards that you collect from each office. Always try to get am email address.
- Make sure that you follow up that day or the next day with each prospect that you had visited.
- If someone tells you to leave immediately always respond with something positive. Try to avoid any negative energy because it can get you down. In response to a negative request I would just smile and say, “Please excuse my persistence.”
- Try to create flyers that are tailored to certain industries, “I am with (Your company) and we have a customized program for (Name of your prospect’s industry)………….”
- When you get back to your office make sure that you follow up with each prospect and log every single call that you make into a good CRM like Clientvine.
- Be persistent: Call your prospect, till they tell you that they are not interested, tell you to not call them back—basically call them till you get some sort of outcome. Your best outcome will obviously be a sale!
- Now if an office door says, “NO SOLICITATION,” do you enter the office? This is a judgment call on your behalf, but in my experience I can’t even remember the last time someone told me to leave (Such negative requests are more often heard over the telephone than cold calling in person).
Selling in office and medical building can be stressful at first, but just like anything else, the more you do it the easier it gets.
What are some ways you close deals when the weather is bad? Let me know at the email below.
Payment Lynx Daily 