bensurdi.com

Cold Calling 101

bensurdi — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:48:32 +0000

Cold calling, all though a very old art form, is still a modern day tactic that is very affective when building your business. The trick is… how to cold call and successfully earn a client out of your efforts.

In the past, cold calling has been said to be a numbers game…which, to some degree it is a numbers game. But- I don’t 100% agree with that. You see, i believe that to make succesfull sales calls you must RESEARCH your prospects deeply. By doing research on your prospect you gear yourself with very personal information about your prospect that can be used as a tool to get an appointment.

One large commercial account that I landed began with me going on google and doing a lot of research. I do this for a few reasons.

1. To determine weather this potential client is a good fit for my companies services

2. To then use the specific pieces of knowledge that I’ve gathered in my sales presentation to lead them to booking the appointment
By doing my research, I know exactly who to ask for when I make the phone call. This assists you in getting past the good old ” gate keeper”. When you pick up the phone to call your prospect, the gate keeper will always ask ” what does this concern “. I am going to share with you some of the things I say when making sales calls.

How to start off your cold call:

Gatekeeper: Hello thank you for calling ABC company, this is Ashley, how can i help you?

Me: ” Hi Ashley how are you doing today? … Great.. I need to speak with John is he still around”?

Gatekeeper: Umm, can I tell him who is calling?

Me: Of course Ashely, this is Benjamin Surdi with NW Green Clean, we specialize in working with (mention their industry) and the reason for my call to John was to discuss (Name a competitor of theirs).

Gatekeeper: Ok.. let me see if he is available

Me : Thanks Ashley….

Now when Ashely puts me on hold she is going to buzz the director or the person I am looking to speak with and say something like this…” Hey John, there is some guy named Ben Surdi with NW Green Clean… The specialize in working with Day Care centers and want to speak to you about Kids World…”

Now John is going to wonder why I am calling to discuss his competition with him…

Do you think John is going to answer my phone call?

Stay tuned for more on COLD CALLING

What do you want to do before you die…?

bensurdi — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:14:04 +0000

My new favorite show… has the title… “The Buried Life”. It’s on MTV. The show is about a group of 4 guys who make a list of things that they want to do before they die, but, for every single thing they cross off on their list, they also help someone else do something that they want to do before THEY die. Really good concept. Got me thinking about making a list… If YOU were to make a list of things to do before YOU die… What would it look like.

Ok… So here’s what I want to do. I want to get as many people as I can to put things that they would want to do before they die… Comment below with a few things you would put on your list!

I’ll go first!

Before I die, I want to:

1. Throw the first pitch of a major league baseball game.

Google releases new app for iphone

bensurdi — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:39:35 +0000

Google launched a new Google Voice mobile web app for iPhone OS 3.0 and higher and Palm Web OS devices, harnessing the power of HTML5, a new web technology that makes it possible to run faster, richer web-based applications right in the browser. What’s in it for you? Well… if you have an account with google voice, it means you can make FREE calls to your friends, FREE SMS texting to your friends, and discounted prices on international calling plans! It’s pretty cool!

You download the link, save it to your phone and wa-la! You can make phone calls without using your cell phone minutes as long as you have a google voice account. Don’t have a Google Voice account? Request an invite

Property Managers Equal $$$ For You

bensurdi — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:56:18 +0000

When I began to approach the idea of focusing on property management companies I never new the profit potential that was available. You may even be thinking the exact things that I was! I always thought that property managers were always looking for the cheapest companies they could get their hands on and quality of work never was important. Don’t get me wrong… you can definitely build a great company working strictly for apartment communities on very small profit margins… BUT you have to clean A LOT of apartments to be pulling in a good chunk of change every month! But what if we change our thinking…What about the companies who manage higher end clientele, higher end homes, and require a different caliber of company to provide service?
BINGO!

How 1 Phone Call Made Me $42,000

bensurdi — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:42:37 +0000

It’s easy to get sidetracked when you are an owner operator. You have to do your own marketing, bookkeeping, sales, cleaning of carpets, the list is quite long! Being that we are such busy people, we often times can forget to do the things that make us the most money…

Cold Vs. Hot

Cold calling is something that most people run from. Let’s be honest for a minute… cold calling SUCKS! You pick up your phone, you start calling businesses and every person you talk to says ” can you send some literature”? Which basically means, “I want you to waste your time and money sending your material to me, and when I get it, I will throw it directly into my garbage can”! We don’t want to “send literature”- it wastes your time and there time… But if you’re not sending literature… then what are you doing to earn their business?

Hot calling is a term that I use when you are calling someone that is the decision maker. This person is not the “gatekeeper”. The person you need to speak with is the person who calls the shots, that signs the checks so to speak. If you can’t get this person on the phone than you’re wasting your time. So, I am going to share with you exactly how I handled landing a commercial contract that earned me an additional $42,000 annually, and how you can do the same exact thing in your area.