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Strategic Guidance to Build Your Business
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Volume 34, Issue 4, March 2008
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"The Business Builder" is brought
to you by VSA, Inc. in collaboration with Rink
Consulting. VSA, Inc., founded by Valerie Schlitt,
builds and implements B2B prospecting programs for
businesses and professional service firms. VSA has
a
team of professional telephone callers who open
doors to new business opportunities for VSA clients.
Linda Rink, president of Rink Consulting, specializes
in
B2B and consumer marketing and research. Both
Wharton MBA graduates, Valerie and Linda often
team together to help clients identify and reach new
customers. In this newsletter, they share some of
their business development insights.
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Q & A Forum: Real Tele-Prospecting Concerns from Real Clients
by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.
When VSA starts a tele-prospecting program, our
clients ask many questions. Several of these
questions are universal and we are therefore devoting
this issue of the Business Builder to their answers.
The answers apply to any company, whether you are
using an outsourced cold calling firm, or whether you
are tele-prospecting in-house.
Q: Is it strange or uncomfortable for one person to
perform the initial telephone prospecting and then
have another person attend the subsequent sales
appointment?
A: Both our clients and VSA callers have told us that
transitioning from the cold call by one person to the
sales appointment with another is not at all
uncomfortable.
By the time VSA has qualified the prospect and the
prospect has asked enough questions, both the VSA
caller and the prospect realize that the time is right for
the prospect to talk to an "expert." At that point,
prospects are eager to get questions answered.
Sometimes prospects will ask our callers if we plan to
attend the meeting, too. This indicates we've done a
good job establishing credibility and a connection for
our client, something all calling operations should
strive to do. But, we have
never found that starting a prospecting telephone call
with one person has stopped any interested company
from easily moving to a meeting with a
knowledgeable sales person.
Q: Is it better to set phone appointments or face to
face appointments?
A: Clearly, a face to face appointment is much better,
if sales people have the time and ability to travel to
prospects' locations. Here are two reasons why:
- It's significantly easier to build personal rapport in
a face to face setting. This rapport helps close
sales.
- Prospects are more likely to "forget" about a
telephone appointment. That is why we recommend a
confirmation call in advance of the telephone
appointment, sending an email with "material to be
referenced during the call," and if possible getting a
cell phone number in the event the prospect has been
called away.
However, many companies have prospects
nationwide and just cannot travel everywhere.
Telephone sales appointments are commonplace
today. Phone meetings are essential for sales people
who cover large territories. Most importantly, they work
and generate business. In fact, we encourage
telephone appointments when they are needed.
Q: How much should you "push" for an
appointment?
A: VSA believes the prospect should want the
appointment, and it is our job as tele-prospectors to
encourage and persuade. We do not believe the
caller should push a prospect into an appointment.
We have two main reasons for this belief:
- If we push for appointments, our own clients will
likely meet with people who have no interest in seeing
them, no interest in their product or service and
potentially not even show up. This is a waste of our
clients' time.
- Typically, the target market for many companies'
products or services is finite, and the company will
want to come back to these same prospects again in
the future. The more respectful we can be as callers,
the better the chances are of leaving the door open for
a future appointment. The callers' job is to establish
credibility, identify potential current prospects and
generate future interest. Certainly it is not to alienate
future prospects while doing so.
We in no way want to imply that callers should not try
everything possible to open doors to sales
opportunities. Probing, asking questions, engaging in
conversation, relationship building: these all are ways
to continue the selling process and encourage
prospects to "want" a sales meeting.
Q: Should we leave a call-back number?
A: VSA believes in leaving a call-back number. We
believe doing so allows us to sound less like sales
people. We sound more like a fellow professional
starting a business conversation.
And, we
believe with 70 - 95% of our calls being answered by
voicemail, some percentage of those the callers don't
reach may want to return our clients' call.
Tips: For highly generic products or services, we do
not recommend leaving call-back numbers. If we are
calling for a service or product that few on our calling
list are likely to need, we do not leave a call-back
number.
There's so much more--
The above is a small sampling of the questions we
receive every day, as we talk to companies who want
to implement tele-prospecting campaigns. Whether
you're making calls internally, using an outsourced
vendor or are considering venturing into tele-
prospecting for the first time, there are many issues to
consider. If you or anyone from your company has
questions, we offer our assistance.
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VSA, Inc.
441 Station Avenue
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856-429-5078
[email protected]
www.vsaprospecting.com
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How to Write a Request for Proposals and Get the Results You Want!
by Linda Rink, President of RINK Consulting
Whether you work for a large company or own your
own business, at some point you have probably
asked suppliers to submit a proposal for outsourced
work. If so, you most likely gave them a written
document outlining your needs: a Request for
Proposals, or RFP.
Were the proposals you received what you had in
mind? Or were there misunderstandings,
missing information, a sky-high fee? If you were less
than happy with the responses, rest assured, you're
not alone.
But don't blame your suppliers. Those of us
on the receiving end of RFP's have our own war
stories to share about unreasonable expectations,
impossible deadlines, and unclear language.
Problems arise when you and your supplier have
different perceptions of the scope of work and how it
should be handled. The ideal RFP is one that
makes it easy for both parties to understand the
project and come to an agreement.
Here are some guidelines for writing RFP's
that maximize your chances of receiving proposals
that meet your expectations:
- Explain why you need to have the work
done. What will the results be used for? By
whom? In my opinion, this is the single most
important part of the RFP. Yet it is often given
short
shrift, or omitted entirely. A capable supplier
produces
his best work when he understands the context of the
assignment and works with you as a
partner.
- Use clear, simple language. Do not
assume your suppliers have any knowledge of your
project; the RFP should be self-explanatory. And
leave out industry jargon.
- State who you (the issuer of the RFP) are,
and what your role will be vis-�-vis the supplier.
- What kind of expertise are you looking for?
Any specific technical skills? Industry
background? Similar assignments handled?
- Are you flexible regarding the type of
methodology?
Either be very specific, or ask for the vendor's
recommended methodology. But don't do both and
make your vendors waste time costing out options
that won't be used. And never steal a
supplier's
ideas and then not award the work to them - that's
just plain unethical.
- Be as explicit as you can about the
deliverables. Are you looking for a report? If so,
approximately how many pages? Or do you prefer a
PowerPoint presentation? Do you expect tables and
graphs?
- Give the time frame for doing the Project.
If there are important dates or deadlines looming - like
a Board of Directors presentation - include them. That
way the contractor can pace the work.
- Budget parameters. This is tricky,
because you may not want to tip your hand. But if your
budget absolutely cannot exceed a certain amount,
you might as well say so. What is the point of
receiving a $100,000 proposal if all you can afford is
$20,000?
- State if there are any licenses, certifications,
insurance policies, etc. that you require the
vendor to have.
- Will there be follow-up assignments? Will
they also be put out to bid, or will the winning supplier
automatically get to do them? This can be a very nice
carrot to dangle!
- What format should the proposal be in
(e.g., an electronic Word document)? Should vendors
attach background Bio's, client lists or references,
examples of similar projects?
- On what criteria will the proposals be judged?
If it's strictly price, say so. If you are looking for
creativity or fresh insight, it's important to say that as
well. Also, who will be the decision-makers in
selecting the winning proposal?
- Give your suppliers sufficient time for
preparing proposals. It is unfair and unwise to
assume they will work over the weekend or a holiday
to meet your deadline.
- Make yourself available by phone or
e-mail, in case of questions.
These guidelines may seem obvious, but I have been
the recipient of RFP's from large organizations which
have been unclear and/or onerous indeed - and for
no apparent reason.
So when you write an RFP, put yourself in the shoes of
the suppliers receiving it. The easier you make it for
them, the better the proposals you will receive.
Next time: Tips on writing a winning proposal!
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RINK Consulting
1420 Locust Street, Suite 31N
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-546-5863
[email protected]
www.lindarink.com
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