5 Simple Tips for Easy Cold Calling
Cold Calling is one of the vital aspects of Sales that helps in creation of the building blocks of the ‘Sales Pipeline’. Cold Calling has stood the test of time as the sales rep creates the first brand impression and also it is the first and foremost step towards an appointment or a demonstration of your product and services.
Here are 5 tips that have been practiced over the years for cold calling prospects without prior contact:
- The Opening Pitch
This part of the call includes a greeting to the prospect and also just an introduction about the sales rep.
The most important aspect is letting the prospect know why is he receiving a call out of the blue and what is the primary objective of the call (simple as to set an appointment or demonstration).
- Research about your Prospect before the Call
It is always important to target the call to the right audience. Using market research to focus on the target market and finding out as much as you possibly can about the company or individual you’re going to call in advance. This gives you the huge advantage of being able to talk about their business and their needs when you call them. Another reason why this proves vital is to ensure if the prospect is responsible for making buying decisions or not.
- Ask Questions
Another most important aspect of the call would be to understand if the prospect has already been with any of your competitors offering similar services. This step usually helps you to further qualify the lead in the sales funnel. For example, let’s say a sales rep asks a prospect if they have used a similar service in the past or are they using any currently? The answer to the question could mean two things:
- If the prospect has used a similar service or product in the past, then it would only require fewer efforts from the sales rep to educate the prospect about the product.
- If the prospect says that they are currently using a service and are bound by a contract with another two years- then, this would simply mean that the lead is disqualified.
- Ask for an appointment at a specific time during your cold call
This step is the crux of the call where sales reps need to be precise and confident.
To fix an appointment, it is a practice to recommend a day and time to understand if the prospect is available. For example a sales rep should Say, “Would Wednesday at 11 a.m. be a good time to meet?” instead of saying, “Can I meet with you to discuss this next week?” You want to get your prospect to commit to a meeting during this first call, rather than leaving it vague and leading to a second call to set up a meeting – which may never happen if you can’t get through to the prospect again.
- Follow ups & embracing rejections
Follow ups are an important aspect of the sales cycle where the prospect is uncertain or needs time to think over the decision or when the prospect has to confer with the partner. It is always good to check for day and time to follow up in these cases. Follow up is a process of lead nurturing which involves patience and resilience.
The final aspect of cold calling is embracing and handling rejections. Persistence is an essential attribute for cold calling. A sales person should always set his set sight on immediate learning and not on immediate sales. Cold calling can’t be mastered overnight, so setting a goal to learn something in every conversation with a prospect, good or bad: always helps.
Creativity is not a priority in Advertising
Do you know what’s worse than having a Creativity Block? Using Creativity for no reason. And today, we will be talking about what it actually means in a true advertising sense.
But before that, let’s understand why we even need to put in creativity in content? Your answer might be to send an impactful message, to stand out with your brand or possibly be considered quirky enough, eh?
Well, what if we say these factors along with Creativity are not necessarily required in advertising. Yes, you read it right.
“Creativity is not a priority in Advertising. Period.”
And the answer is really straight forward. The application of advertising is to fetch responses, it’s that simple. Advertising is done to boost sales, maximise conversions and facilitate business development. Fetching applauds for a quirky and creative ad does not bring in money, but response and inquiries certainly puts you in the money hunt.
Moreover, the simpler the ad gets, the easier and quicker the audience feels to respond. Don’t make the ads highly creative, brainy or complex such that it causes an individual to understand it in the first place, then connect with his/her daily life and then maybe if he/she is patient enough still, to take an action. Your sales prospect is getting delayed you see and even worse if they miss out on understanding! You just missed an eyeball or impression.
Creativity plays a vital role when it comes to branding games, building a business network or using it on your social media feed. It helps the audience to get an impression about your brand, recollect it on a pattern the next time they come across you or hold a significant attribute about your brand in their brains. But when we talk about ads, the whole game changes drastically. Hell, we at Tezla seldom require a creative designer for ads, most of the time we do it ourselves.
We’re assuming you’re now a bit confused since we’re bringing in ground breaking truth that could change your brand advertising drastically. So to make it easier for you, here are 5 tips for making highly effective ads. You’re welcome:
- Keep it simple, short and easy to understand
- Use more visuals than words. Let them see more than read it
- Use an easy call to action for generating more inquiries/prospects
- Show them the value they actually want to see in your brand
- Make them visualise themselves in the ad once they see it
These 5 tips are just a tiny drop in the ocean. There’s so much more about advertising that agencies, businesses and brands know seldom about. But yeah, in a nutshell, creativity is not a really big deal in advertising. Don’t believe us still? Read the quote below and the name of the person who wrote it. You’re Welcome!
“If you want people to buy your product, you must explain it as briefly and simply as possible: what you sell, and how buying your product will improve their lives. People don’t have that much time to stop and read, so if you think you should surprise them with your words and creativity, you can do it, but never at the expense of making the sale.”
-David Ogilvy
That’s not Digital Marketing
Ever come across these wall flyers, stickers or ads that say,
“Digital Marketing at XX Rs”
And if the price interests you, sorry to say, you are just another victim of the Digital Marketing Misinterpretation Scam.
Being in the industry for almost 6 years and working with 100+ clients both nationally and overseas, we must warn you that Digital Marketing does not come with a price tag but totally depends on the scope of work.
For instance, imagine there were two Cafes say A and B. Café A is just about 2 weeks away from opening doors to customers while Café B is already 2 years old. Do you think the pricing for handling their Digital Marketing would be the same? Absolutely NO. Here’s why:
Café A requires a Reveal type branding method to tell the audience what they are and what they would offer to them. It would include executing teaser campaigns, running daily updates about their brand and essentially educating them about themselves. On the contrary, Café B has been present for 2 years in the market and needs no introduction. All it needs is educating the customer of what is easily available in their space, what they have been probably missing out on plus what all they can expect in the future. It’s that Simple you know. Why does the pricing need to be a fixed package since it involves a completely different scope of work module? Makes sense, right?
Pricing in the Digital Marketing Industry is completely based on the quantum of work and depends on factors such as:
– Age of the Brand
– Presence required across different platforms
– Target Audience
– Scope of Work Involved
– Duration of Marketing involved
– Brand Language and Etiquettes to be portrayed, etc
Another aspect similar to this issue that grabs our attention is the misinterpretation of Digital Marketing. We have met brands in the market that have shared feedback about what they perceived digital marketing to be. Some of them are shocking
“We believe making our Website with our products, services and about us is Digital Marketing”
“Our agency told us putting up a new post every day on our social media feed and growing followers is digital marketing.”
“Inviting bloggers/Influencers to put up a post or give our brand a shout out is digital marketing.”
And the misinterpretations keep going on and on.
So, now you might wonder what is Digital Marketing and what it signifies?
Well, to give you an answer in short, it is a customised solution for your brand that strictly promotes brand presence, fosters digital growth periodically and increases revenue or sale conversions by the effective use of ADVERTISING.
Yes, you read it right. Websites and Social Media Platforms are just serving as a platform for your brand, it’s the advertising that needs to be done right using the features of Digital Media. Moreover, the plan of actions and strategies will essentially vary from time to time since every brand is different in its own sense, style and operations.
So the next time, anyone tells you, “Digital Marketing in 5000 Rs/month”, stay alert or even better show them this blog to enlighten them.
Also, to know more about the different types of Digital Marketing Strategies or Services, click here.
How Does Blogging Work?
You might have come across A LOT of people creating content! Yes, it’s the Digital Age, the Digital Revolution was bound to happen!
As you go around and meet new people, you also come across ‘Bloggers’ who take a lot of pride in calling themselves that! Ever experienced it? Yeah…I did too!
But I never quite understood what their job was and why they took so much Pride in calling themselves Bloggers? After a bit of curiosity, research and meetings with a few Bloggers, I finally understood what it meant to actually be a Blogger. And today, I am going to share with you all what I found out about being a Blogger, What they do and What makes this term and profession so much more interesting.
But first, let’s get a few terms and definitions straight for easy understanding:
Who is a Blogger after all?
According to the Dictionary, a Blogger is “a person who regularly writes material for a blog”
So now the question arises, What is a Blog?
According to the Google Dictionary again, a Blog is “a regularly updated website or web page, typically run by an individual or a small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.”
- Is it a Chef giving cooking tips and delicious recipes regularly?
- Or a Fashion student teaching people how to style better for any event?
- Is it a Filmmaker giving intriguing details and behind the scenes of a film?
- Or a Mother giving out details on how to do the ‘job’ of parenting better?
Honestly speaking, it’s all of the above and much more than this. In fact, It’s beyond our imaginations. Nearly everything that exists in the world, tangible or not, has been covered by people who write blogs and have interests in those subjects. Blogs are not just limited to writing. You can even post pictures, videos and photos of anything and everything you want.
So what does a Blogger actually do?
A Blogger is a person who probably does all of the above and has a sense of knowledge on a particular genre or topic, be it travel, lifestyle, fashion, food, etc. Their work basically involves regularly writing articles and publishing it as a Blog such that it provides information, experience or promotion on a Webpage, thereby influencing a person, audience or a community.
But What Makes Blogging So Interesting?
There are a lot of factors that makes Blogging Interesting but what really fascinated me are these few but very very Important factors like:
The Need to Express
Human beings are born with a special need to Express and Voice their Opinions. It’s in our DNA. Before the digital age, people had very few opportunities to be heard. If you had your book published or a column in the newspaper, you were considered lucky to have your voice heard by the masses. But today, where the whole world lies in our phones, it’s easier to have an online platform and write about subjects that interests you.
You have a lot of other platforms like WordPress or Blogspot that can help you with an appealing domain name and customizable themes that can go with your subject, all at a tap of a button.
Freedom of Speech
Blogging offers a platform that gives you the freedom to express anything you like, feel, or want. A Blogger with a blog is in full control of what they write and publish, without any censorship interfering with their subject of matter.
Blogger needs no degree or qualification
Yeah. You read it right. You really don’t require a degree or any formal qualification to start a Blog. All you require is an interest and an opinion to voice things out. So cool, right?
You Have a Platform of your Own
Bloggers don’t just write for the sake of publishing, but they aim at building a digital community. If you are consistent and evolve over time, you can attract a lot of audience and even start monetizing out of it, thus creating your own platform to perform.
You leave a Legacy behind
Anything that you publish on your blog, doesn’t just disappear overtime. It stays forever.
It even means that after you’re gone, your blogs won’t just disappear in the air.
So how does a Blogger actually make Money ?
There are a lot of bloggers who make loads of money and take blogging as a full time profession these days. It truly depends on a few important factors. If you have a certain amount of readers and visitors on your webpage or Blog, you can monetize it. Another way a blogger can monetize his or her post is by Ad Networks, Direct Advertisements, Native Advertising, Paid reviews/Sponsored posts, Sell Digital products (eBooks or applications), Offer Online consulting and a lot more.
Other Factors to be kept in mind that determine the amount you earn is, the subject you choose to write about, how much traffic you generate for your blog and any Digital Marketing Techniques you use.
In a nutshell, Blogging is a millennial profession where people end up sharing or promoting their lifestyle, experiences, fashion, food, etc such that it facilitates them to work with brands, businesses and earn revenue likewise.
Well, I never thought I’d ever write a blog, but here I am. And It’s a fun process blended with a lot of creative learning.
So, If you want to start blogging, now is the good time. You’ll definitely learn as you grow and even create a whole like minded community of yours.
Starting a blog is comparatively easy so don’t think twice and start out right now. Trust me, you will do it!
To know more about Blogging in detail, feel free to message us here.
