The telephone is, has been and will continue to be...

March 12^th, 2019

Many outside salespeople when faced with telephone prospecting will say, "But I’m better in person." Of course you are better in person, that is why you were hired to be an outside sales representative.

But in sales, time is money and you can cover far more ground and quality, obtain more opportunities, and set more appointments in a 1-hour targeted phone block than an entire day of driving around in your territory randomly knocking on doors.

In an 8-hour period you could approach up to 20 people, or even only 10 (10% reached), including travel time and parking. That number goes down even further if it is hot, if it’s raining, if it’s snowing or if it’s freezing out. In comparison, you can approach almost the same number of people in just 1 hour on the phone (with a list of targeted prospects).

Think about it! If the phone did not work, why are so many teleprospecting companies springing up across the globe and thriving? Companies are spending tens of thousands of dollars on outsourcers who use the phone to prospect because it is one of the most viable ways to keep the pool of opportunities filled!

What about digital prospecting, for example via social media and e-mail? This can represent an effective marketing strategy, if well developed and combined with the telephone, which has a higher contact rate. To be continued in next week's blog....

Why B2B phone prospection?

By Manon Verreau, Rafale development agent

Source: BLOUNT, J. (2015). Fanatical Prospecting. Hoboken : Wiley.