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Welcome to this week's
NeverColdCall.com Mailbag
by #1 Bestselling Author
Frank Rumbauskas
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***Success Story***
Frank,
Thank you for putting together your program. I have been
self-employed for a little over a decade and have recently started
an insurance agency. The training programs designed by these
companies certainly set people up for failure. Your book was
refreshing, as it accurately describes what it takes to get business
in the door and keep it coming. I am sure that my fellow insurance
and financial services professionals could benefit from your
material. No more chasing one new client at a time. Since I got your
book one month ago I have implemented marketing plans to sell life
(I did 15 VUL policies this month) and homeowners (I did 35 this
month) without cold calling. From these new clients, half of them
let me write their auto business. I literally get qualified people
calling me who want my services. Next week I have four appointments
with commercial property managers, at my office, who want me to
handle their insurance.
I read in a discussion group that one trainer thinks call reluctance
is a mental disorder. The only disorder you have is the belief that
calling people at random is an effective use of anyone's time. My
guess is that this person wants to keep people failing by cold
calling so the training revenues can continue.
Learn to distinguish between marketing, cold calling, and selling.
True sales professionals realize that the only way to succeed is to
spend time with qualified prospects who want what you have at a time
they can say yes. Cold calling is a waste of time, and selling puts
money in your pocket.
Jeff McElroy
JD McElroy Advisors
Houston, Texas
My comments:
Jeff,
Thanks for such a powerful letter. It really makes so many good
points, and is nearly identical to so many letters we've received
from other insurance agents. Because you've touched on so many great
points, my reply will be lengthy, so bear with me here.
First of all, I've heard this same insane theory and made mention of
it in my last newsletter. The idea that cold call reluctance is the
result of a variety of mental disorders that can be treated is
downright insulting and a slap in the face to the millions of good,
hardworking salespeople in this world.
This sounds like the typical dictator sales manager who orders sales
reps to document cold calls by bringing business cards back to the
office. If you dare refute the effectiveness of the hallowed
tradition of cold calling, you will be removed!
(Oh, by the way, I was ecstatic today upon hearing the news that one
of my old managers was fired for non-performance. This person
happens to be the "king of funnel management" I talk about in my
book! Hmm, think there's a connection between obsessing over funnel
management and getting fired for non-performance? I think so.)
My favorite part of this person's "call reluctance = mental
disorder" theory is the part about how any salesperson who pays
attention to looking good and dressing well has the most extreme
form of this disorder.
Come on.
We all know that prospects judge you, in part, by your appearance.
If everything else is equal, a well-dressed salesperson will win a
sale over a poorly-dressed salesperson.
Really now. I mean, come on. Seriously. A salesperson who takes the
time to look and dress professionally has mental issues, while a
salesperson who shows up looking like a slob is somehow
better? Just when I think I've seen it all, seen every last bit of
nonsense and silliness when it comes to sales training, something
better comes along. Okay, I'll admit it, it entertains me! I mean,
the fact that a so-called professional sales trainer is running
seminars touting the idea that anyone who doesn't like to cold call
has a mental disorder, and that any sales rep who dresses well has
the most extreme form of this disorder, is funnier than an episode
of The Simpsons!
My all-time favorite author is Napoleon Hill, and no one, even this
idiotic so- called trainer, can refute the fact that Dr. Hill was
one of, if not THE best, all-time authors of success-related
materials. With that in mind, please read the following excerpt from
my favorite all-time book of his, The Law of Success:
"I have met many salesmen in my time. During the past
ten years I have personally trained and directed the
efforts of more than 3,000 salespeople, both men and
women, and I have observed that, without a single
exception, the star producers were all people who
understood and made good use of the psychology of
good clothes. I have seen a few well dressed people
who made no outstanding records as salesmen, but I have
yet to see the first poorly dressed man who became a
star producer in the field of selling."
I think that just about sums it up. Dr. Hill's credentials are far
greater than mine could ever hope to be, so I'll let his words speak
for themselves.
Let's face the truth here. Trainers who spew forth this kind of
nonsense only survive because they agree with the dictator managers
who continue to force salespeople to spend every waking moment cold
calling. When hiring trainers, these managers simply want to know,
"Will you agree with us?" You'll never hear them ask, "Are you
forward-thinking and think for yourself?" No! They merely want a
puppet who will stand there and validate all of their wrong ideas!
One last thing before moving on - I'd hate to see what her students'
clothes look like!
Okay, back to reality. Jeff, you made an excellent point when you
said, "Learn to distinguish between marketing, cold calling, and
selling." Well said!
Picture a triangle. Triangles are the strongest structures known to
man. The great pyramids of Egypt have survived for thousands of
years. In our world of selling, I like to draw a triangle consisting
of the following three sides:
1. Marketing (the baseline)
2. Prospecting
3. Selling
The important thing to learn from this is:
Prospecting is not selling! Selling is not prospecting!
Companies that fail are companies that throw salespeople out on the
street with the expectation that they will be responsible for
generating 100% of their own leads.
Companies that succeed and survive in the long-term are companies
that build successful marketing programs that generate qualified
leads and appointments for their salespeople.
If you happen to be with a company that does not provide leads and
expects you to generate your own, or if you're self-employed or are
an independent agent and you ARE the company, you need to build your
own marketing program to generate leads for you.
By doing this, you can spend your productive time selling, not
prospecting.
Remember, prospecting is not selling.
Selling is not prospecting.
The two are very different and very conflicting areas of expertise.
Most telemarketers who are great at getting on the phone and setting
appointments are lousy presenters and closers. Most salespeople who
are excellent presenters and closers are lousy cold callers and
despise doing it.
Know the difference between prospecting and selling. Build a
prospecting system to do your prospecting for you, and all of your
working hours will be free to sell! As Jeff said in his letter,
"True sales professionals realize that the only way to succeed is to
spend time with qualified prospects who want what you have at a time
they can say yes."
It doesn't get much more clear and to-the-point than that.
***Success Story***
Hi Frank,
I am a new customer and also VP for a bank in Ohio.
I have used each idea that you have presented in the
book. It is fantastic! I am online with my website,
a one page from godaddy.com. It is a newsletter
and many prospects and clients have commented on
it! I made up flyers and had them distributed.
There were 500 made for a target demographic. I
received 126 fax backs, and 57 e mails (out of
these, 41 qualified for my services and I booked
1.2M in new business and I received your program
just a few weeks ago!!). My free offer is to
perform a free review of their banking products
and services, then I am in the door! I have
contacted the publications, which I have done
before, and added new articles to some of the
local papers. It seems that now I have many avenues
to use to get the word out. I have been a top
performer in my field for 9 years now, but this
will help me exceed at least three times production!
I am also sending e mails to Chambers etc.!
Thanks for a great program!
STEVE
My comments:
Steve,
All I can say is ... WOW! 1.2 million dollars in revenue in only a
few weeks! And congratulations to you on getting the program and
IMMEDIATELY putting every bit of it into action! Nothing
frustrates me more than getting emails from people who have already
bought the book but are allowing their limiting beliefs to stop them
from using any of it. They email me with, "I have your book but do
you think it will really work for me?" Yes, it will work, but you'll
never know that until you DO it!
You're really done a nice job with the website which I did take a
look at. You have to love godaddy.com, where else can you get a
professional website for five bucks a month? And the flyer
distribution with a fax back form was another great idea. That was
always one of the top producers for me and is one of the simplest
yet most effective things any salesperson can do to get a ridiculous
amount of qualified leads.
Keep up the great work. It sounds like you're out to implement all
of my program, not just a few bits and pieces, and once you've put
100% of it into action you'll have more business coming in than you
can handle. And it already sounds like you might be in that
situation. Too many leads is a great problem to have and it's a very
common problem for people who use my techniques!
With that in mind, I've just realized how long I've been typing so
I'll wrap things up with that and save the rest of these letters for
the next mailbag. Remember, if you're ready to build a
prospecting system for yourself that will generate leads for you and
allow you to stop cold calling and start spending all your
productive time selling, my program will show you exactly how. It's
available right now:
Order 'Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time' right
now
Do it right now. You'll have the e-book in just a
few minutes, and can start putting my system to use immediately.
(To order by phone please call (602)231-6711, 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.)
Be sure to send in any questions you'd like to see
answered in a future mailbag. The email address is:
newsletter@nevercoldcall.com
And keep the success stories
coming. Include "Success Story" as the subject
line and send to:
successstories@nevercoldcall.com
I read those first!
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Thanks once again for your time and thank you for
reading. Good luck and happy selling!
To your success,
Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr.
PS: Imagine what it would be like if you never
had to make a cold call - ever again. You'll be able to do exactly
that with "Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The
Information Age" - get it right now:
Order 'Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time' right
now
Copyright 2008 Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr. and FJR
Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. "Cold Calling
Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The Information
Age" and "Never Cold Call Again" are registered
trademarks of FJR Advisors, LLC.
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