Many Sales Managers and or Directors, have this
strange idea that the potential clients a sales-person visits, the better. In Industrial Marketing, which comprises of high or medium
value systems selling, “cold-calling prospects” is definitely not a good idea.
Now folks, let me tell you a story. You know
how your Maa used to say ‘don’t do that-it invites the evil eye”. and…
if you asked why? The answer was invariably
“.. That-does-not-concern-you" or “because –I-said-so”? My mother said that my gran had said 'spinach should not be eaten at night'.Now, I had a nice think on this one and I think I deduced the reason. Indian spinach has some green bugs, which in the night,
are difficult to see and separate.A 100 years back everything was done by kerosene-lamp-illumination.
Probably, an important man found a few bugs in his spinach at night. So, what did he do? The man of the house contemplated the question and said " Bingo! I'll just put this rule “no-spinach-at-night" and I won't tell them the reason too”. So most probably, that's the way it happened, with all old sayings too.
Probably, an important man found a few bugs in his spinach at night. So, what did he do? The man of the house contemplated the question and said " Bingo! I'll just put this rule “no-spinach-at-night" and I won't tell them the reason too”. So most probably, that's the way it happened, with all old sayings too.
Now, maybe you can appreciate the reason for
the anecdote. Cold Calling in sales is something like the spinach and insect at
night case. Decision makers in
Industrial Plants have no time to entertain sales-people on fishing
expeditions. Cold calling was never very popular with customers but it had to
be done. This was the situation earlier as without cold calls; there was no way
to collect authentic market information. Now as you are aware, information is
power. The person with the greater power wins.
Hence, the earlier Gurus of sales boasted of
their cold calling prowess. Sales book even had chapters on how to get past the
ogre which was always the tough secretary of the decision maker, chewing nails. What these guru’s don’t realize that times
have changed. (Irrespective of how many copies of Spencer Johnson’s Who
took my cheese? they may own-they don’t understand change) So, they continue
to send new sales people into the market …” a sales person and working in the
office…” No! that will never do. These people have sever affliction of what I
call “ the spinach syndrome”.
In Industrial Sales & Marketing of Capital Equipment, the
internet has unseated the cold-call from its “ throne of indispensability" . Cold calling now can be retired off and allowed to stay on for a few years more as an adviser. Information
is power. Having information gives you an immense advantage over your
competitors. This is all the more true in industrial marketing, where
competition is limited but of the best quality and the value of a small order
is not less than $25,000
But then comes the million dollar question, how can information be collected then. From the internet of course...this is evolution, you can't stop it so you do the next big thing, you join it. There are many people who will disagree but aren't there always?
How
can one collect information from the web? Company web sites hardly give out
that kind of information. It is here
that a little bit of creative thinking helps. I have listed out a few types of
web-sites below where all information, industrial marketing managers require
are available.
(1)B2B
trading portals and Business Directories: These give out all the information
and all you have to do is to know where the information is. (An example is
http://www.processregister.com which has a section on projects. You are given
the location, the value and the promoter. The website even has the projects
classified sector wise. What else do you need?'
(2)Job
Portals: These give out information in the form of “Project Managers required for…”
or “We require for our new project…”
(3)Stock
Market sites: Watch out for the analysis given in these sites. All new projects
from the plan level may be found here.
(4)Websites
of Consultants: Consultants often give out details of new consulting jobs they
are working on.If you think that you will get full details of a project from
tapping into the above or similar resources, you will be disappointed. What you
will get is “leads”. Taking these leads, do some research. With practice, you
will soon become adept and fast in the research. Industrial selling initiated
by researching the web, is called SBR (Selling by Research).
Teach
your sales people to research encourage them to do so and I can guarantee you
that you will never be short of leads. In many companies, employees are not
allowed to browse the net. This is a prime example of the spinach Syndrome. Here, the onus lies on the marketing manager to
convince the management that this should not be applicable to the Sales &
Marketing Department.
The
next time your salesperson visits a potential customer, insist that he or she he knows what the
prospect requires. Ask the prospect for a presentation permission. Ask them to tell the prospect how your products can help them save money. During the presentation, practice relationship selling. Show and prove that you know your product. Now, compare this to the competitor’s sales rep that pesters the customer with
questions. No prizes for guessing who is more likely to be favored by the
prospect for the order! Monetize your sales pitch. Don't say my equipment has 90% efficiency- say "with my equipment your energy costs will come down 20%, which means a savng of $10,000 p.a. (just a figure I plucked from the air)
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Love
Bilbo
