VSA
Strategic Guide to Build Your Business
Volume 8, Issue 2, November 2013
in this issue
:: How to Hire a Strong Cold Calling Team
:: Idea or Project?
"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.

How to Hire a Strong Cold Calling Team

Valerie picture

by Valerie Schlitt,

President of VSA, Inc.  

  

Some companies wonder how to build a staff of great cold callers.  This article will give some tips we've learned over the years, focusing on the hiring process

 

First, when promoting your position, make sure your candidates know you're looking for a "sales" assistant. Most - but not all - candidates will self-select away from your job posting if they have an aversion to sales.

 
 

 

Next, schedule a telephone interview. Listen carefully over the phone, since this is how your future employees will be communicating. Ask yourself, can this candidate represent my company? Do they sound sure of themselves?

 

Next, ask your candidates to send you an email. Review it. Do they write grammatically correctly? Are there errors with capitalization and punctuation? 

 

Use the face to face interview mainly to see if the potential employee is a fit and to answer any questions she or he may have. It's almost impossible to identify someone's capabilities on the phone when you're sitting across a conference room table. 

 

The next assessment is an "on the phone" interview. Schedule about 30 minutes for your candidates to spend on the phones. Ask the potential employees to briefly review a script, and then to get right on the phone.   You should not expect perfection, and make sure they know this, too.

  • Initially listen for any semblance of "caller reluctance." 
  • Also listen to the conversations. Does your candidate sound confidant. Is she able to converse with ease?
  • Next listen for grammar and pronunciation.   Do you have a candidate that can speak correctly to executives?
  • Pay attention to the tone and manner in which the candidate addresses gatekeepers and decision makers. Is she sufficiently polite, but also persuasive?
  • Lastly, can the candidate use the computer? Can she update notes in your CRM system, and schedule a future call-back?

Hire the individual for a trial period of roughly 30 days. During this time, be prepared to do coaching. Most callers become better once they are comfortable with the talking points and the potential questions that prospects will ask them. That's why it's good to give some time before making any decisions. Be prepared to let individuals go if they are not producing sufficiently.

 

It's true that creating a good team takes time and effort. It all begins with the recruitment, selection and hiring process. 

VSA, Inc.
441 Station Avenue
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856-429-5078
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Idea or Project?

Linda Rink Photo

by Linda Rink, President of Rink Consulting

 

Have you ever had a great idea that went nowhere? What happened?

 

A few weeks ago I was at an organization's 2014 planning meeting. One of the attendees proposed an undertaking that he was excited about. While his idea had merit, it was very large in scope and, worse, had not been fleshed out. He put the idea on the table --- and there it sat. No one picked it up, no one backed him. It was dismissed and not added to the 2014 activity plan.

 

The proposer was clearly disappointed, so I called him later and explained that his idea was most likely passed over due to lack of manpower and time. Would he himself be willing to take on the task of investigating its feasibility, costing it out, and so on? Unfortunately, I could tell that he was not prepared to do so. And so the likelihood of the venture ever happening is very small.

 

Almost every company or organization is running leanly these days. Resources are fully committed and allocated to top priority projects. If you want your idea to become a priority project, you must sell it - that is, present it in a way that others can quickly grasp its potential benefits.

 

How to turn an idea into a project:

 

Think of this as preparing a very rough draft of a business plan.

  • Define the idea succinctly.   What is its purpose? Does it solve a particular problem?
     
     
  • List its major benefits - how does it solve the problem? Are there any secondary benefits?
     
     
  • What manpower resources will be required?   To investigate its feasibility versus other alternatives? To implement? 
     
     
  • Who else should be involved? Whose buy-in and/or assistance is required?
     
     
  • How much will it cost? If possible, estimate a ballpark range of the project's costs. If not, then this would be a next step.
     
     
  • Can you document what you've said? Do some research. Get some preliminary facts and figures. Talk to some internal sources. Quote experts and related articles. In other words, demonstrate that you have enough faith in your idea to have spent time doing some research to back it up - and that you are not wasting others' time by presenting it.

Remember:

An idea without details is just an idea, but an idea with convincing details can become a project.  If you want your idea to move forward, be prepared to supply those details yourself in order to sell it.

 

 

Questions? Contact me at [email protected].

RINK Consulting
1420 Locust Street, Suite31N
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-546-5863