I haven’t updated my blog in a long time and I can only blame myself for that. There used to be a time when I was always blogging about something. I swear I was so bored that I would blog about minor scratches I had suffered coz I had nothing else to write about. There have been considerable changes in my routine as I started working again last week. I was sorta working before that but then a job which pays only 200 a month is sort of a shitty job. I never used to go on time nor did i finish any of my tasks mainly due to the fact that the guy who ran the place was so stressed out he could never function. He was sort of my cosmic twin (though I am more good looking).
Anyway I have had to deal with a lot of issues with my room mate (though this time it’s my fault and not his), with the Realtor who lets out the property to us (even though he is now my best friend and I do all his errands for him coz I am such a good door mat), some of my so called friends (who stabbed me in the back), asshole house mates who don’t clean and make life hell for others with their laid back attitude, etc (the list can keep going on and on). I dont want to elaborate on what happened between me and the room mate but let’s just say that I am glad I am working towards resolving that issue. In order to make some extra money I took up a number of assignments (quite unethical but a man’s gotta do something to survive). I also helped my friend paint his house, clean it, etc etc. I thought I was gonna collapse because we worked really late hours. In the end it all worked out because we did a really good job.
I am currently working as a sales advisor at an energy brokerage. It’s a really tough job as I have to cold call business customers randomly and pitch electricity and gas tarriffs over the phone. It takes a lot of will power to do the job as only 5 or 6 of the 200 people I call every day are interested. However not all of them want to sign up on the same day as they have to either consult their partners, check the market rate or they might not have their sort code and account details on them. A lot of people are rude over the phone but then I dont care as it’s not personal. They are sick and tired of all the sales calls. I would be sick and tired of sales calls if I got four or five a day.The trick is to gather data while making phone calls. It takes a lot of positive attitude to get the name of the business owner and his timings at the shop. 50 percent of the people I call are always away on long holidays, while the rest of them are either busy, sick in the hospital, while there have been instances when you need to callback a customer two minutes after you just hung up and you find out he had to rush to the casualty ward. I loathe making phone calls but then I genuinely care for people who are being overcharged by their electricity supplier. It makes me feel good inside when I can come up with a proper tariff for them as it helps reduce their bill. It pisses me off when I have to deal with assholes who have to pay around 14 to 15p per unit for their electricity and yet they cant be bothered to change their supplier.
I am so tired right now I can’t even concentrate on what I am writing. I hope I can write something more entertaining next time. Ciao for now.
Hello,
I like your blog I’ll be reading your posts.
Nobody likes having their day interupted by a sales pitch. The telephone is the slowest and most expensive way of getting a sales message delivered. Timing works against you as you spend 99% of your time with people that don’t want it.
Spending time with prospects that don’t want it is not a good use of time.
If you have a good offer and it saves people money then people will want to buy it but it’s about finding those people. You need to get your sales message out there and 200 people a day using forced communication will continue to get limited results.
If you sent a good sales letter by fax to 100k uk businesses – not a flyer or salesy looking document but a proper fax with a short letter and asked people to check out a 45 second video on your blog on #1 secret most business are missing for immediate cost savings (curiousity factor) you would get a ton of traffic to your blog.
Then leave a clif hanger on the first video – on how they can make this saving in 40 seconds if they opt in with email address for video 2 (you then have a list to remarket to for people that don’t sign up right away).
Peoples sales radar is low on a blog and video gives you the opportunity to create a bond with your audience/group. People buy from people they know like and trust. People that take sales calls have a high resistance to sales people. You need a side door approach and to sell without appearting to sell. Get propects focused on the value and create desire for that value and it will work.
This is really rough and ready but for a few hours work and maybe £200-£300 you would get around 2-6% of the people signing up on the first run. probably that again by remarketing the list. say it was 2% that’s 2000 sign ups (or 3 or 4 years making 200 calls a day).
I do this for businesses and never fail – it’s simple cheap and 100+ times more effective. Sales managers don’t like it because they don’t understand it and are stuck in the dark ages telling you it’s about harder work longer hours – no it’s about leverage and revenue and what works best – and moving with the times.
If I can help in anyway drop me a line. Otherwise nice blogging with you : )
Dan
P.S. having people chase you to sign up is a great feeling!
By: dan on July 26, 2009
at 1:29 pm