Introducing our 78th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.
Our 79th guest is Adam Graham, Managing Director at Gray Matters and Founder of BD Matters. Owen and Adam discuss the topic of diagnosing the root cause of sales inefficiency and offer practical solutions to address it.
Including: – Most common factors behind sales underperformance – The ideal mindset and culture of a leadership team – Common mistakes vs quick wins of positioning and branding – Pros and cons of being niche and the internal challenges that brings – Getting buy-in from your sales team – Go-to-market strategy: what’s working and what’s not in 2023
They discuss: – How to qualify leads efficiently – How to find the right niche for any product or service – How to identify when buyers don’t fit your target
Your phone is your biggest tool as a B2B sales professional. But most people don’t use it correctly.
Because they: – start with a stiff intro – don’t highlight pain points – try to sell the product
Instead of: – getting right into why they should listen to you – framing the “pitch” around painfully accurate pain points – selling a longer call or demo
Interested in learning how to book meetings with cold calls? Watch the video or continue reading for our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards’, top tips for filling your calendar.*
questions with “no” answers, this adds negativity into the call
“how are you” → doesn’t add value for you or the prospect.
generic language (ex. industry leader) → instead say “We help {{industryType}} solve {{specific problems}}.
undervalued time asks → don’t only ask for 15-30 seconds, instead ask if they can help you out (example below).
assumptive asks → don’t ask to setup a meeting right away, ask to start a conversation.
don’t use a high pitched voice or have fake high energy, just be yourself
Add:
a permission to go into questions (ex: But I don’t know enough about your situation to even know if this will make sense for you. Would it be okay if I ask you a few questions…”
questions that are easy to ask before getting into the harder ones
“what’s in it for me” straight in the start
a natural call ask “what i’d recommend is to set up a call to help you…”
specifics about who you’re talking to “ex: I speak to a lot of CTOs that…”
a bit of cheekiness that makes you human “ex: Is this the worst time ever?”
How to prepare for a successful call
Practice how things sound before making calls so you can be confident when people pick up
Find a time to make your calls that fits when you have high energy + when your prospects will be available
How to find leads:
data suppliers
tools like Sales Nav
industry specific data bases
How to research for cold calls:
use the research you’ve already done based on your email + LinkedIn outreach
google the company while you’re calling them up
use relevancy (ex: find the main pain points for a specific group of people like CTOs of manufacturing companies) → use job descriptions for this
Tips to help you meet your goals
The best SDRs Owen has worked with spend about half the day on the phone. Owen’s goal is to get 1-2 good conversations per hour.
How to bring your lead’s guard down:
be extremely honest
making the conversation permission based
add your personality, be human
If you get a gatekeeper saying someone isn’t in the office any more, ask for the cell phone number.
Add a cold call in at the beginning and at end of the sequence
→ Can be after a LinkedIn step and first email to give initial context
Examples for each section of the call
Opener to ask for their time
→“Look I know you weren’t expecting my call, can you help me out for a moment?”
→ “I’ll be honest with you, this is a sales call. But I’m hoping to have a few moments to tell you why I chose to call you today”
Pitch that answers “what’s in it for me”
→ “We work with (target audience here) to help them achieve (target audience’s goals)
→ “We work with (target audience here) who are typically battling with challenges such as (target audience’s challenges)
When saying who you work with, the more specific the better. If you can bucket calls based on specific roles this is the best, ex. Heads of People for SMBs, CTOs for manufacturing companies, Heads of Sales in bootstrapped startups, etc.)
When mentioning goals and challenges, use jobs ads to find what people in this specific role need to handle. These tasks are their main challenges.
Transition to discovery questions
→ “Now, I don’t know enough about your situation to know if something like this would make sense for you, so would it be okay if I asked you a couple of quick questions?”
Close (book the meeting)
→ “{{Name}}, I genuinely think we can help you with [some of the learnings you have from their answers]. I’m going to suggest we book a time to go into more detail on this.
Can I suggest we book 30 minutes for next Wednesday or Thursday? Are mornings or afternoons usually better for you?”
Wrap-up (summary + next steps)
→ “Right, that’s great {{Name}}. So just to summarize, we’re going to speak again next Friday, November 25th at 2pm and together we’ll go over some ways to help you {{solve problem}}. Myself and (Senior Name) will be in the conversation from our side. Is there anyone else you’d like me to invite from yours?”
No problem. So I’ll send you a confirmation email and calendar invite now. Is there anything else you need from me between now and then? That’s great. Then I’ll say thank you for your time and look forward to our conversation next Friday.”
How to handle objections – diffuse, statement, question
→ “That’s absolutely fine, no problem at all. Most of the people I speak to tell me the same thing, I hear it almost every day. {{firstName}} tell me out of interest, (discovery question)”
When someone says “Can you just send me an email?” you have two choices:
accept they aren’t interested and move on
call them out on the BS and go back into the conversation
→ example from Blissful prospecting: “firstName, can I ask you an awkward question? I’ve done a lot of these cold calls and generally when someone says this it’s really just their way of telling me they aren’t interested in my lame cold call. Am I completely off base with that?”
Owen’s cold call script
“Hi {{FirstName}} it’s Owen calling from Air Marketing, you and I haven’t spoken before but I’m just hoping you can help me out for a moment.
We help ambitious SaaS companies who’s SDRs are struggling to build enough pipeline and hit target. (depending on the current problems your leads are facing)
Obviously I don’t know enough about your situation to know if this would be a fit for you, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?
Looking for more more content to increase meetings booked rate?
We are often contacted by companies who reach out to us because they have (rightly) heard that direct telemarketing delivers very tangible ROI or they see us advertising that our average client receives £18 for every £1 invested.
But often telemarketing is viewed in isolation, companies engage with the pilot campaign to test the water and see how it delivers without taking into account the opportunity that lies in the bigger picture.
We know that telemarketing is an extremely effective channel for many companies, but we also know that combining telemarketing activity with other forms of marketing or looking at the campaign as a longer-term investment such as a 6 month or year long tactic to support other business objectives, can deliver even better results.
The set up of a telemarketing campaign can bring up a lot of questions such as:
Have you researched your product/service? Do you know how well it will be received by the market? Do you know your competitors? Will it deliver what we say it will?
How are we supporting this telemarketing campaign? Do we have a branded email that can be sent afterwards? Do you have a website that echoes the message we are giving? Have you created anything such as a brochure or flyers we can share with prospects?
Have you considered your own sales pitch? Is your sales pitch and our telemarketing pitch aligned? Are we both on brand? Will your sales pitch see conversions?
Is your data right for use? Do you need to purchase new data? What else can that data be used for?
As a Business Development Partner, it is not our ethos to deliver merely a ‘project’ within constraints that are agreed. Instead, we want to help you look at the bigger picture, understand what the strategy for your telemarketing or marketing in general is, consider all the angles that could be taken to best engage with your target market and really help you generate the right leads for your business.
The visibility and involvement that is available when working with Air, allows you to ensure that telemarketing is firmly set in the bigger picture. Feedback on data allows you to update your CRM systems and instigate actions if needed. Being able to come in and train the team allows you to shape what the tone of voice for your business, the sales techniques and known objections. And being able to monitor calls in live time means you are always on top of what is happening, planning for appointments, understanding objections and client feedback etc.
So, if you’re looking for a partner to work alongside you, guide you and deliver for you, speak to the team here at Air for more information on how we can help improve your business development. Call us on 0345 241 3038 or email us at contact@air-marketing.co.uk.
When executed correctly, B2B telemarketing can be one of the most effective methods of speaking with your target audience and building your pipeline. As with all business development techniques it is vital to do the right research upfront and put a clear strategy into place before commencing. Telemarketing is also well suited to working alongside the other business development activity that you already have running such as email marketing, direct mail or social media marketing.
We’ve refined our telemarketing strategy over the years but have seen plenty of mistakes in that time also. Here are the 5 mistakes to avoid when conducting your telemarketing campaigns:
Inadequate preparation
You may think that telemarketing is all about being on the phone, making as many calls as possible and crossing your fingers a little. This simply isn’t the right approach to take.
Taking the time to prepare before a call, thoroughly understanding your company, the USP’s of the product/service you are selling, and the decision maker you want to talk to. This preparation may seem like its wasting your time or putting you behind – but this will make your call much more professional and efficient.
Having no freedom from the script
Nobody wants to be in a role where they are just reading from a script like a robot – and no prospect wants to have a conversation with someone who is defined by a script and lacking personality.
A script helps you cover some key aspects, but diallers should have the freedom to move the conversation wherever it requires. Not only will this give more enjoyment to the team making the calls, but it will also allow a much better personalised, intelligent and consultative conversation with the prospect.
Boring them with talk!
We’ve all had these sales calls – where instead of listening to what the caller is saying we are counting how long they’ve been talking without taking a breath, just wondering if they might pass out from exhaustion!
What does this achieve? Absolutely nothing. You cannot sell to someone if you haven’t identified their needs and whether your product/service may satisfy those needs. And how are you going to find out these needs? By asking questions and allowing the prospect to steer the conversation.
Unable to handle objections
Not every prospect is going to need your product/service or want to buy from you. So, when objections to your sales pitch do arise you need to be prepared for them.
This is all about training, ensuring you understand what objections you may receive and how you can best overcome this. The biggest mistakes to avoid are mumbling, changing the subject or continuing your sales piece talking over them.
Failure to close
You have called that prospect for a reason – you want to arrange a telephone appointment, a meeting or a sign up. So as the call is going well, you need to be able to recognise when to ask for the sale and close the deal.
Training and experience will teach you when to close this sale. But failure to identify this means a missed opportunity and time wasted on both sides.
If you’re looking for telemarketing guidance or sales training, Air can help you with this. We often run sales training workshops not only for our internal staff but also for clients and local business owners. Get in touch to find out more.
So, let’s start at the beginning, what is direct marketing?
Direct marketing is the opposite of inbound marketing. You may generate inbound interest and enquiries from having a website or publishing an advert, but you are not necessarily in control of who sees this and then enquires. Whereas direct marketing is exactly that – direct.
Direct marketing is aimed at a list of prospects who you wish to engage with and then you actively reach out to them either by phone, email or post. These prospects may be the business you really wish to work with, a focus on a certain industry sector, or a geographical area.
Why use direct marketing?
Direct marketing is a great method to use when targeting a specific prospect base. Allowing you to completely tailor your message and method of contact to what would suit those prospects. In a world with so much ‘noise’ and messages being shown to you every day, it’s proven that tailored relevant messaging is much more successful for converting than blanket messaging.
Direct marketing can also be a great medium to test campaigns to smaller amounts of recipients, allowing you to test and analyse this before rolling them out business wide.
How does telemarketing fit into direct marketing?
Telemarketing is one of the most personable methods of direct marketing, you really can’t beat picking up the phone and starting a conversation with your prospect. Not only does this open up the opportunity for you to convey your product/service benefits and measure their reaction, this method also allows the prospect to ask any questions there and then meaning you are adding value whilst giving your sales pitch. The other benefit of this method is the ability to spot when the lead is warm enough to convert – allowing you to complete the sales cycle.
Other methods such as email and direct mail certainly have their benefits. Email is a very cost effective method of reaching out to your prospects and warming them to your brand and service/products. Direct mail had become unfavourable as it was seen as ‘junk’ coming through the letterbox. However, this wave is now changing and we now receive more emails than letters, so to stand out direct mail is becoming more popular – it’s now a novelty for something to come through the letterbox at work.
As with most sales and marketing techniques, in order to be effective it’s advisable to come at it from a number of angles. Therefore, use a mixture of methods to reach your prospects. Warming your prospects using intelligent targeted email marketing or direct mail can be followed by picking up the phone to talk in more depth, answer questions and guide the prospect through the funnel.
We help business across the UK and the world with direct marketing techniques to help them reach the prospects they need to help their business grow. To find out more get in touch today.
After a very successful financial year here at Air, we chose to treat our team to a well-deserved lunch and the afternoon off on Friday, which was made even better by the sun shining!
We achieved 357% growth in revenue in our 2nd year of trading, and we are looking to keep this level of momentum going to propel growth even further this year.
During the team lunch we celebrated 3 people who Team Air felt went above and beyond in the last quarter of financial year 2017. Voted by Team Air, we were pleased to celebrate Hannah Shearman, Richard Street and Ashley Heyworth, each receiving £100 in John Lewis/Waitrose gift cards as a thank you for their contributions.
A big thank you to Team Air for your continued commitment, results and drive. We simply couldn’t have done this without you. And a big thank you to all our clients and partners for working with us and trusting us with your brands.
We are delighted to be shortlisted for three categories of the Express and Echo Business Awards.
Featuring in the categories of:
Best New Start-up Business
Business Growth of the Year 26+ employees
Owen Richards, our MD, is up for Entrepreneur of the Year
2017 has been a fantastic year for us, having achieved a 357% growth in revenue compared to the first year of trading and increasing the staff base from 11 team members to now nearly 40. This simply couldn’t be achieved without the hard work of the whole team and the vision of Owen, our Managing Director, leading the business.
Winning an award to recognise this hard work, would mean the world to Team Air – so everyone’s keeping their fingers firmly crossed.
It can sometimes feel like we never leave our workplace! A popular saying amongst colleagues is ‘we spend more time together than we spend with our families’ – and when you come to think of it, this is fairly true. Which is why the culture of a workplace and the personalities that you work with make a huge difference to how motivated you are, how much you enjoy going to work and how long you may stay with the company.
According to Gallup people who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs and people who simply have good friends in the workplace are more likely to be satisfied.
Your workplace presents a perfect opportunity for you to meet a whole diverse range of individuals who you may have never had the opportunity to meet otherwise. Different genders, ages, ethnic backgrounds, cultural preferences, beliefs – bring us together. Its obvious that you are never going to get along with everyone but creating a workplace of inclusion and team mentality that acts as a support network builds a bond between people.
Creating a good healthy working relationship between colleagues can be achieved through nurturing the right internal culture. This is by no means an easy task but comes with many benefits including the building of bonds between individuals.
Simple things like sharing company lunches together, we have Pizza Friday on the first Friday of the month, or socialising outside of work, we have quarterly work socials – opens an opportunity to informally get to know those you’re working with. Having an interview process that includes different members of the team meeting the new candidate provides an opportunity to see if they are the right candidate for our culture and will they fit in. Understanding the direction of the company and how you are involved gives a great sense of ‘togetherness’, we do team meetings every Friday as a de-brief for the week whilst enjoying a beer!
Connections happen with those you sit near, the people working on your campaigns, the people you go to lunch with or even those you bump into when making tea. #TeamAir prioritise our culture. We welcome like-minded individuals who love our team mentality and we are proud of our diverse workforce who have bonded to become a work family.
An office full of sales people – some people thrive in this environment, others would rather be anywhere else! It is a challenging environment and not for the faint hearted, with some big personalities and lots of diversity. But the biggest challenge and one of the most important factors for success is motivation for the whole team.
No matter what job you hold, you want to feel motivated and engaged. This is not easy to achieve in our industry, nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, ‘Ooh I can’t wait to jump on the phones and do some telemarketing today’. So, instilling motivation, providing the right incentivisation and a great culture means people enjoy their work and look forward to coming in day after day.
How does Air do this differently?
Motivation is key to ensuring sales people hit weekly, monthly and annual targets. We know that our team of Business Development Executives who are calling on client campaigns are our service, without them we simply wouldn’t be successful at what we do – so we have to look after them. From our experience it takes more than just commission to keep a happy workforce.
Of course, commission is important to most sales people. Being motivated by money and the opportunity of earning more means that we have a healthy commission structure in place. But this is based on results and client retention not purely speed of dialling and quantity of appointment made. Giving our whole team more motivation to work hard on retaining client accounts and delivering.
But on top of commission, we understand that internal culture makes a huge difference to motivation in a sales environment. Internal incentives tailored to help individuals meet client KPI’s and individual targets prove very effective for us. Team socials, rewards, identifying when people do the right things and the freedom of not micromanaging, all make our sales environment stand out from the crowd.
Our Aim – Motivation
As Head of Performance (Account Director), my role is to identify and understand an individual’s motivators, what is it that makes them tick? This can be a whole range of things, some people are purely financially motivated, whereas others are looking to progress their career by gaining more responsibility and further opportunity to do this – and of course those that are in between.
Working alongside colleagues in the leadership team we nurture a very special culture here at Air, where the team are performing at an optimum level and maintaining momentum, clients and crucially motivation to deliver and succeed.
Our workforce understands how important they are to Air and we respect their importance – so together we work to grow the company, our client base and team members careers by keeping people motivated and excited to be part of #TeamAir every day. Can’t believe it, why not come and see it for yourself!
Opinion piece by Marco Alfano-Rogers, Head of Performance (Account Director), Air Marketing Group
