Every 15 minutes or so, I get another message on Twitter, advertising, the “most powerful sales tool ever” or “tired of buying leads?”, or something of that sort.
It got me thinking today, what are the most essential tools for starting a prospecting campaign? Here is my ‘back of the envelope list’, in no particular order:
1. At the risk of being obvious, you need a phone. You do NOT need a cordless, wireless, all the bells and whistles phone. A simple one will do. A headset is pretty much essential, but I have survived without one for short periods of time.
Now before you say – “I don’t believe in cold calling” remember that you are going to need to set follow up appointments for your networking contacts, and if you’re smart, you will respond to email inquiries from your screaming-hot website with a phone call.
2. You need a computer, with internet access. It doesn’t need a blazing-fast connection, but ‘high speed’ is essential, if for no other reason than that you need to talk on the phone and look things up at the same time.
What software should you be running?
a) You need a database for managing your contacts. You can spend a fortune, or run an Open Office database for free. It all depends on the level of organization you need – which largely depends on how big a pipeline you want to manage at any given time.
b) You need to run a good web browser. By which I mean anything other than Explorer. But maybe I’m biased. You will need this to run Google searches on the companies you are calling, or if you are in the B2C sphere, you will need it to research the census tract profiles (or U.S. equivalent) of the neighborhoods you intend to call. You will also need it to look up any upcoming free networking events, and to manage your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter profiles.
3. You need a script. I’m sorry if you don’t agree, but the simple fact is, that after 30 or 40 calls, you will fall into a pattern of saying the same thing every time anyway – also known as a script. So instead of just stumbling across one (which will be subconsciously designed to minimize rejection) why not write one out in advance, that will be aimed at maximizing results (NOT the same thing). BTW, this is true, even if you are just following up on networking events, or trade show leads. Now that I phrase it that way, you probably need a bunch of scripts – one for each circumstance.
4. You need business cards. DO NOT go and get the free ones online (or do, be my guest, you’ll see what I mean when they arrive), and do not print them yourself. Find a designer who will do a nice one for cheap, and get them printed properly. Mine cost me $156.00 including design (for 500 of them), and I get compliments on them all the time. BTW, my designer’s name is Leigh, and she’s amazing.
5. You need Chutzpa. Ok, that’s not really a tool, but it’s probably the most important part of the whole thing. Three days ago I was coaching a client, who asked why my wife did business with one of his competitors.
“Because he cold called her.” I replied. ‘And he hustles like crazy.”
The unspoken question was “When is the last time you made a cold call?” but we all knew the answer was measured in MONTHS not days, much less hours. So chutzpa is essential.
Have I missed anything? I may have missed one or two obvious ones, but I think my list is pretty complete. Feel free to disagree in the comments.
