Rumor - Cold Calling is DEAD! So, What Do We Do Now?

November 10, 2008

(Here is an great article written by Jeff Goldberg - www.jgsalespro.com)

Lately I’ve been both reading and hearing that Cold Calling, as a way to set appointments, is dead. It’s “old school”, the techniques are outdated, and it just plain doesn’t work.

About a week ago I had the pleasure of working with a sales team of young, hip sellers in the advertising industry (who sell a really cool product!) and after we spent two days together one of the managers, a very sharp young man, commented that he felt that the time we spent going over how to cold call should have been cut by 3 or so hours, as cold calling “simply doesn’t work” in his industry. He said that the people they’re trying to get in touch with are incredibly busy and don’t answer their phones. (sound familiar?) He went on to say that the people they’re trying to reach have voice mail boxes that are always full. What he neglected to take into account was that in the single hour his team spent on the phones, applying the techniques they were just taught the day before, several team members set appointments and virtually every rep left several voice mails. So, before you start celebrating in Munchkinland and singing, “Ding dong, the cold calling witch is dead,” you might want to consider that while I speak about, and train people on, many different subjects, cold calling continues to be the one most requested by clients. The reason is simple - cold calling over the telephone, when done right, continues to be the method of filling your pipeline with appointments that is most time and cost effective.

Anyone who knows me, or has been trained by me, knows that I wish it wasn’t true. While most people have a strong dislike of it, I hate cold calling. I hate it more than you do. I hate it more than you and everyone on your sales team hates it. I hate it more than you, everyone on your sales team, and everyone you know hates it. I’ve spent significant amounts of time trying to figure out how to avoid it completely and eventually I’ll write a book titled, “How to Avoid Cold Calling,” but I have yet to find a way to avoid it entirely. If part of your job is developing new business then cold calling should, at the very least, be part of your appointment getting mix.

Are there other ways to get appointments that work, or at least turn a cold call into a warm call? There sure are, thank goodness! Here are a few that can be helpful.

Referrals are probably my very favorite way to get appointments. Referrals, when properly handled, immediately turn a cold call into a very warm one. Ask EVERYONE for referrals. I’m writing this on a plane taking me home from three days in San Francisco. I’ve already spoken with the gentleman sitting right next to me as well as the woman across the aisle from me asking them what they do for a living. Of course, they both asked me too. After answering them by clearly explaining what I do and the type of people I look to meet I asked both the question, “Who do you know that I should be speaking with?” Both asked for my card and one gave me a referral on the spot. Do I always get referrals every time I ask? Nope. But I always ask because immediately after asking for, and receiving, a referral I then ask if the giver will do me a “little favor.” I ask if they’d be willing to call or e-mail the person they referred me to letting them know to expect my call and that they (the referrer) would appreciate it if they (the prospect) would accept my call. Does everyone who gives me a referral contact the referral for me? Nope. But I always ask and they often will. This becomes an almost certain appointment without the likely rejection of a cold call!

Networking continues to be another of my favorite ways to develop leads that can turn into appointments and again, if done properly, your cold call will become warm. I like it because it’s social often results in referrals. Handle these referrals the same way you do any other by asking the giver to contact the person you’re being referred to. Be cautious to invest your networking time wisely. You can spend all day every day attending networking meetings and functions. Look for networking groups with a professional facilitator and one that actually results in referrals. Too many groups are run by, for example, an insurance agent who also runs a networking group, or a chiropractor or a printer or any one of a hundred of different professions who run a networking group so that THEY can get more leads. A professional facilitator will help YOU get leads. If you’re not getting leads from the groups you belong to find different groups. (If you need help with tips on how to increase the effectiveness of your networking check out my newsletter archives for an article on the subject) Social networking sites like LinkedIn and pay- for-lead networking sites like Salesconx can also be very useful in getting referrals and appointments. I’ll admit I’m not an expert in this area yet but am learning more about them each day and have seen some success. (If you’d like to be connected on LinkedIn either send me an invite or e- mail me at jeff@jgsalespro.com and I’ll be glad to invite you!)

Giving speeches is also high on my list of ways to develop leads that are warm. I’m a member of the National Speaker’s Association and they suggest that of every ten people in your audience when giving a speech, at least one will have an interest in what you have to offer. The trick to giving speeches to develop leads is that the speech can’t be a commercial for your services. However, when you speak on something related to your business you are viewed as an expert and people will approach you. There are MANY groups and organizations that are always on the lookout for speakers for their meetings. Call and offer your services for free. I get paid well for giving keynote speeches and training sessions but I’ll speak with almost any group for 30 or 45 minutes for free, or a small honorarium, in order to get in front of someone who might be able to use my services. Even if nobody in the audience needs what you offer you can bet they know people they can refer you to.

E-mail is often used successfully to set appointments but, in my experience, it’s not as successful as doing so over the phone. The reason should be obvious, over the phone when someone tells you why they won’t meet with you; you have the opportunity to help them change their mind. In e-mail, it’s much more difficult and the attempt to overcome an objection like, “I’m not interested,” usually ends up sounding like a plea or a battle. Still, e-mail can work and should be a part of your appointment setting mix. Same for instant messaging. In both e-mail and IM the key is going to be in your message. You need to get to the point quickly (as is true over the phone) and be sure to include a request for the appointment. Without a call to action your message is simply a poor attempt at marketing.

These aren’t the only ways to avoid cold calling but they’re a few that have worked for me and many others. Develop a strategy that you think will work for you. Apply it and test it. If it’s working, keep on doing it. If not, adjust and try again. It’s my pleasure to help you so feel free to e-mail or call if you’re having trouble getting enough appointments or developing more business in this challenging economy.

Jeff Goldberg is a sales trainer and keynote speaker as well as co-author of the book, “How To Be Your Own Coach.” (www.byourowncoach.com) He can be reached at 516-608-4136 or Jeff@jgsalespro.com. His website is www.jgsalespro.com.

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Posted by Evan Sohn

Salesconx on Fox Business News

October 25, 2008

Here is an interview that took place October 20, 2008 on Fox Business New.

1 Comment | 1, Sales, Salesconx News, Small Business, Supplemental Income, salesconx | Permalink
Posted by Evan Sohn

Social Networking, Open Source And Your Business Success by Terry Brock

October 23, 2008
{this is a great piece by Terry Brock that I wanted to share with you, Evan}

Social Networking is a logical extension of Relationship Marketing or what I call R-Commerce. It is the desire for people to connect with others who share similar interests, values, ideas and can help each other. It is also a symptom of how marketing has changed.

In the old days (not that long ago), marketers would craft their message and push it out to the masses. Vehicles used included TV advertising, radio advertising, newspapers and other tools. These were good for taking your message and sending it to the masses.

Today things are different.

The old model has been turned upside-down. A combination of factors has brought this about: 1) Technology has made it easier to send email thus we’re all getting WAY too much email. Our filtering systems (both technological and psychological) are more highly refined. That means your prospects are more likely to filter out your message. 2) Technology has enabled the average person to create audio, video and text products that rival the old radio, TV and print media. 3) We want more real human interaction because of the overwhelm from too much stuff.

So, how can a smart marketer make it in this market? Adapt to the new ways and blend in the best of the old.

Be a friend. Be a resource. This is how you get attention. Be the go-to person that people turn to for information and answers. Yes, this means you have to do your homework and be up on relevant information that is pertinent to your customers. Tom Stanley, of Millionaire Next Door fame (and the best marketing prof I had in my MBA program!) said it is important to be the hub. Be the person that others come to for connections. You don’t have to be a real estate agent, but you should know who is best for various types of real estate, geographies, etc. You don’t have to be a dentist but learn who are the good dentists in your area and provide recommendations. Be the person that “everyone knows” and be likeable. This combination is the new way of marketing effectively. It is what R-Commerce is all about.

Another important trend is Open Source. This means that software is available, usually in web-based applications, to get the job done. Products like Google Docs, Gmail (with contact support), Zoho, Salesforce.com and others are rivaling the traditional desktop-based software products that were dominant earlier. Today we can use the power of the Net to produce documents on Google Docs, let others collaborate from anywhere they happen to be, see up-to-date information and be always updated with the latest version. Backup? It’s already done since it’s on the Net. This “Thin Client” approach to computing is changing the way to access data. Actually, it is a new way of doing what used to work years ago. What’s old is new again.

Think about how you can “Open Source” more of your content. Be the hub for others and let them interact with you. Be the resource that people must turn to for relevant information. Look at the new G1 Android from Google. It is designed so that developers around the world can create applications and apply it to the device.

The G1 Android (www.android.com) is imminently flexible to allow for a variety of applications that the open market will create. Some will be very useful. Others won’t. Hey, that’s the way the free market works. A command and control top-down approach to software is giving way to a more interactive, user-sponsored system. Much like the old Soviet Union fell trying to wield all power from the top, organizations that practice a more interactive, “invisible hand” approach (to borrow from Adam Smith) will succeed.

A good example of how this is working is with SalesConx (www.salesconx.com). This company serves as the “introducer” for buyers and sellers of various products and services. It is a system for business referrals connecting people who have skills with those who need them. Sellers pay a fee for referrals and buyers get someone who is screened by SalesConx to insure legitimacy.

I recently experienced SalesConx not only for this column but also in my own business speaking services. Soon after posting my listing I received a reply. It seemed intriguing but being the skeptical, jaded journalist who I am, I questioned the lead. The staff of SalesConx came through checking into the authenticity of the offer and recommended I pass on this one. That saved me the referral fee and potential disappointment. Having that third party intervening can help both buyers and sellers.

This is a trend that I see continuing. Although I still haven’t booked any solid business through them, I believe that SalesConx has a lot of potential. If you want to recommend people for legitimate business, it is a good way to connect people and make some money yourself. The way the system is designed is a real win-win — just like business should be. Check out their website and services to see how you could add some extra business. It is well worth the time.

Social Networking works because when it is done right, it connects people who really want to be together.

It is a new world for business. Embrace the opportunities. Open your mind to a new way of connecting. It is a great way to prosper in any economy. Besides — it’s also a lot of fun!

Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and columnist who helps businesses market more effectively, leveraging technology. He shows busy professionals how to squeeze more out of their days using time-honored rules and practical technology tools. He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.

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Posted by Evan Sohn

Salesconx™ Online Sales Referral Marketplace Attracts $1.5 Million In Series A Funding

September 9, 2008

Fast-Growing Service will Use the Proceeds to Increase Market Visibility and Expand Offerings to Support Needs of Larger Enterprises

NEW YORK– Salesconx, the online marketplace and expert network for selling and business referrals, today announced it has received $1.5 million in Series A financing from a consortium of individual New York investors with broad experience in building successful companies. The investment marks the first outside funding for Salesconx, a company that provides a pioneering solution for the buying and selling of introductions to key business decision makers.

Salesconx intends to use its new funds to expand its presence in the U.S. among its key audiences of sales, marketing professionals and corporate executives. It will also continue building its technology platform and expand its offerings to support the needs of larger enterprises, an important growth segment for the company.

“Salesconx has achieved strong results in the four months since it moved out of beta,” said Evan Sohn, founder and chief executive officer of Salesconx. “We’ve grown consistently at an average rate of 30% per month across all metrics—not only transaction volume, but also numbers of buyers and sellers. In July alone we added over 500 Selling Experts to Salesconx.”

Over 700 companies of all sizes have come to Salesconx to leverage the strength of its online marketplace. Salesconx connects Selling Experts—those individuals possessing relationships with some of America’s top business decision makers, especially in the sales arena—with companies seeking introductions. The company’s network currently represents over 40 industries across the U.S. and Canada including accounting, computer services, marketing, manufacturing, retail and business services.

“Social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook and Xing, remind us that the path of least resistance between two people is through a third-party introduction,” noted Sohn. “We have created a marketplace that allows buyers to specify their desired target decision maker using specifics such as location or industry, while also enabling sales professionals to capitalize on their hard-won business networks by introducing other sellers to their customers.”

Salesconx has received favorable coverage from numerous sales and marketing industry publications. Stacy Straczynski of ManageSmarter, the online newsletter of Sales and Marketing Management magazine, calls Salesconx “the new social-networking-based service that may have you thinking differently about connecting online.” Karl Goldfield of the Startup Sales Mentor weblog said, “In the few months since its inception, Salesconx has already proven to be a successful solution for both the buyers and sellers of sales leads,” while Zack Miller, blogger of New Rules of Investing, described Salesconx as one of the new ideas that represent “a sea-change in Sales 2.0 technologies and their implementations.”

Until its Series A investment round, Salesconx had been entirely angel-funded.

About Salesconx, Inc.:

Salesconx, Inc. provides technology and services to support an online marketplace and expert network for selling and business referrals. Launched in January of 2008, Salesconx’ platform for qualified introductions and pay-for-performance deal generation has helped businesses and selling professional across the country drive more business, adding more clients and customers in a broad range of industries and disciplines. The Salesconx Selling Experts represent industries from business services, computer services, financial services and over 40 industry segments across all 50 States and Canada. Salesconx is fueled by an extensive partner program consisting of over 50 companies and organizations from sales portals, small business portals, networking organizations, LinkedIn Lions and business web sites. For more information about Salesconx, please visit http://www.salesconx.com.

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Posted by Evan Sohn

Prospecting 2.0

September 3, 2008

Not too long ago (say 1990) if we wanted to drive leads for our business we would send out postcards. Really great looking postcards. We would send out thousands of them, hoping for a 1% response rate. Online postcard companies that would send the postcards out for you automated this process. These companies would even provide the mailing list. Over the years, these organizations morphed into email houses and other eMarketing shops.

Prospecting 1.0 moved us onto the “internet superhighway” with online seminars (webinars). No longer limited to an in-person seminar in multiple local cities (can anyone else say 10 city seminars in 4 weeks?) the Internet allowed us to produce an online version of our in-person seminar. These of course became so dry that we supplemented the rather poor attendance with recordings that became available ‘on demand’. Prospective 1.0 eventually led to Podcasts and who (other than me) doesn’t want to listen to selling training materials on their iPod?

Web 2.0 has created a more open approach to the Internet, in particular user-generated content, blogs, podcasts, social media, review sites, Wikipedia, etc. Prospecting 1.0 has clearly benefitting from Web 2.0 trends as companies are using the social networks to drive business (certainly the recruiting industry and consultants are benefitting from social networks). Sales 2.0 brought together discrete marketing and sales tools into a single framework (think Salesforce.com, WebEx and Genius) and thus the Sales 2.0 sales force leverages the activity from Web 2.0 venues (such as Blogs) to deliver leads to the sales team. Web 2.0 was a real paradigm shift as consumer-oriented venues (Facebook for instance) are being leveraged for businesses. Companies started thinking about their social media coverage the same way they measure their public relations (print) coverage. But there has not been a shift in the way that prospecting occurs – it is very much the same formula; response to lead to qualified lead to warm lead to hot lead to opportunity to hot opportunity to deal. Many people have written about these steps (from Miller Heimen to Siebel) but let’s assume these are pretty much the steps. Web 2.0 has given more ways for responses to occur – from clicks, to blog posts, to downloads and web responses. These build on the direct mail response leads from the early 90s but in the end are still just responses. Shouldn’t the Internet be able to shift the way that people prospect for business the same way the recruiters now fish for candidates across LinkedIn?

Prospecting 2.0 is the new trend in allowing buyers to reach decision makers without the need for the first 3 steps of the marketing equation (response – lead – qualified lead). This is actually the most costly area of the marketing process. Think of how much you spent on your last Google PPC campaign and how many qualified leads were generated from that campaign. Think of how much you spent to exhibit at your most recent tradeshow and the number of qualified leads that were generated from that event. Web 2.0 has created an environment where one could easily leverage what we will call human capital. This started with eBay (albeit Web 1.0) where your ‘stuff’ is valuable because there is someone willing to purchase it. Prosper.com created a marketplace where your liquid cash can be ‘sold’ for higher interest rates because there is someone willing to pay a premium for a loan. More recently expert networks have become a common place where professionals could earn extra money (often referred to as an honorarium) by speaking to companies looking to leverage their knowledge (check out glgroup.com). Prior to an expert network a company would have no alternative but to hire a consulting firm whose analysts would serve as the industry experts on the desired subject. The analysts would do their research gathering information on their own and sifting through the bits and pieces to come up with their own conclusions that they would share with their clients for a very hefty fee. Online expert networks (the Web 2.0 flavor) bypass the analysts and consulting firms connecting the company directly with the industry expert.

Prospecting 2.0 works in a similar vein. Rather than a company using Google or other traditional marketing tools to drive responses, leads, etc. they bypass them by going directly to the source of the opportunity. They do this by creating a marketplace for referrals driven either by the buyer (of the qualified leads) or the seller. Companies like Myndnet, LeadVine and ThePerfectNetworker allow buyers to literally publish their lead request and the fee they are willing to pay for the referral. Companies like Inquisix and Passitto take the sellers approach by allowing a seller to list their referral or contact opportunity and allowing buyers access to their connections. Companies like Salesconx do both buy and sell introductions to decision makers. Are they working? It is probably too early to tell as a sector, but $10 billion will be spent in 2008 by businesses in the US on lead and opportunity generation. Checking out these companies sites, it isn’t just small businesses using these services. Myndnet has a few listings from Netscout, Passitto has a law firm, and Salesconx has Administaff, MessageLabs and Berlin Pacific. Companies of all sizes are faced with the constant struggle and desire to grow. In a day and age when every dollar counts, isn’t it time for Prospecting 2.0?

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Posted by Evan Sohn

Recession Selling – making the best out of the worst (or the very bad)

July 7, 2008

It is no surprise that trying to sell in a tough market is one heck of a challenge. Think of the opposite – just how easy it was to sell when everything was going great. Companies buy to either (a) drive revenue or (b) cut costs. Y2K, Sarbanes Oxley, SEC and HIPPA compliance are long gone (unless you are one of the lucky ones) so forcing a company to spend money to get into compliance isn’t an option for most of us.

In sports, it is common for one team to be struggling against a far better or more prepared opponent. Yet somehow, time and time again the underdog emerges victorious. Something happened during the game to allow the seemingly defeated to emerge victorious. Perhaps there is something there for us to learn and emulate.

Here are some suggestions for surviving during a tough selling period:

  1. Pull the goalie or go for the goal. In a hockey game it is common for the coach to pull the goalie and replace the goalie with another offensive player in the hopes of getting a goal in the final seconds. Pull out all the stops and go for that “big” account you’ve been talking about. Think huge (bigger than big) and try to get a piece of business that never in your wildest dreams you ever thought you would get.
  2. Full court press. Spend as much time as possible on site with your client. Participate (for free) at creative meetings or strategy sessions. Take people out to lunch. Learn as much as possible about where your client is headed to and weave your way into those projects.
  3. Switch pitchers. The market isn’t going to change overnight so whatever you are doing today needs to change accordingly. Try a whole new approach to your service or offering.
  4. Go for the interception. What similar service is your target buying from someone else? Why not focus on stealing that piece of the business from one of your competitors. All is fair in love and war. There is only a finite of business that your client will transact so why not shift some money your way. You may need to discount it highly but squeezing more money out of the same client is far easier than landing a new one.
  5. A walk is as good as hit. Not everything you do needs to be a homerun. Just try to make a sale no matter how small with a new client. Think about what you could offer a client that is easy to buy – keeping it very simple. Filling your plate up with singles is much better than having no one on base.

While we all hope that the market turns around soon, we are all in this for the long haul and having the stamina and fortitude to make it through the storm successfully will make you feel like a winner.

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Posted by Evan Sohn

Getting Your Foot in the Door

June 2, 2008

You have a great product or service to sell. You know the pitch back and forth and are prepared to handle any objections made by the prospect. All you need now is a prospect. Knowing full well that the right person isn’t going to pick up the phone and call us – how do you get in front of the right people?

We all make cold calls or, in the web 2.0 vernacular, send out blind emails (not spam). We certainly want to make the most of our lead generation time. Marketing is always concerned (or should be) with the return on investment (ROI) of marketing spend but how about the ROI on sales time? Who is measuring whether the time spent on the phone prospecting is actually paying off in revenues? If reaching the wrong person is a sure fire way to not drive business, then reaching the right person will certainly move the ball forward.

Aim High – why not set your targets on reaching out to the best possible prospect first? Go for the homerun! Find out the person’s name by using Zoominfo, Hoovers, LinkedIn or any professional network. Why not send a well written by brief email to the target? If I am sending an unsolicited email I always apologize for the intrusion and ask for their assistance. Make a list of your top prospects and send them all similar but personalized emails. Make sure the subject is interesting and compelling. Perhaps you read a recent article demonstrating their ingenuity or some other element that connects you together – use it.

Stop and Ask for Directions – when you are talking to any prospect, why not ask them to steer you in the right path? Start by stating upfront that you know he/she is not the person you should be talking and then ask for the right person. If you are able to engage a person in a conversation then have them help you. Talking to an administrative assistant or a subordinate – ask them when the best time would be to reach the prospect.

Think Out of the Box – let’s be real, whatever you are selling the chances are that someone pitched the very same thing to your targeted prospect within the past 30 days. If not then you got a hot one. Why not think about a different pond to fish in (enough metaphors). If you are selling small business benefit services why not pitch to local accountants that serve small businesses? If you are selling web design services why not introduce your services to local computer stores?

Buy Your Way In – larger companies spend a fortune in marketing getting their service/product in front of the right people. According to the American Marketing Association, $90 billion was spent in the US in 2006 in marketing. While you may not have that kind of money to spend, think of what it is worth to you to get in front of the right prospect. Is it $50? Is it $1000? Why not offer that up to your network as a referral fee for helping you get into door of a prospective client. Most enterprises use appointment setting services where they pay telemarketers to open up doors for them with prospects. Why not do it yourself?

Knocking down doors is a hard business, especially in a difficult marketplace. If your company’s marketing department isn’t driving leads for you then you have to do it yourself. The good news is that we (all of us sales guys) have done it before. We all have good days and bad days. The key is always persistence, staying on top of leads and following thru.

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Posted by Evan Sohn

The First Ten (Customers)

May 8, 2008

Your research is completed. Your development is done. Your blood, sweat, and tears have finally come to its zenith. Your forecasts for revenues are in line with your expense projections. Your hot-off-presses business cards are printed and your website is going ‘live’. All that’s left is to finally prove to the world (and of course all the naysayers) that your idea for a new business was right on the mark.

We can talk about writing press releases, taking out ads and sending out mailers. But, think about it - in tangible terms, how are you going to get those first ten customers? Your first few customers are so critical to your success because they:

  • Legitimize your offering, demonstrating that yes, there is indeed a market for your products and services (“dogs eating the dog food”).
  • Provide valuable feedback to help you improve your business operations.
  • Give you real testimonials and referrals.
  • Pay the bills (let’s not forget about that one).

The Old Way

Let’s assume for our purposes that you are not blessed with a brand name like Pepsi or Jack Welch. If that was the case, then simply cold calling a potential customer would suffice. There are a number of ‘old school’ ways to find potential customers in your immediate network – the “warm market”.

  • Personal Contacts – friends and their friends, school connections, fraternity brothers, club members, church and so forth.
  • Business connections – former employers, employees and customers. Your personal vendors - lawyers, doctors, accountants, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, bankers, real estate agent, contractor and so forth.

After you have built your list of contacts, send them all something letting them know about your new business. Keep in mind that you aren’t necessarily soliciting them to be a customer but rather, you are informing them that your new venture exists and with that knowledge your contacts could either decide to become a customer themselves or refer folks that might be interested in your product or service. Make it really simple for them too; what problem are you trying to solve and how do you solve it. When should you be brought into the situation? A colleague/friend is going to refer business to you in the hopes of them looking good to both you and the prospect.

In order to attain your first customers, you are relying on the trust that you have built (ideally) with your personal relationships, friends and family. While this method will hopefully drive business, if your business does not directly align with your contacts then hitting them up for business will be futile.

The Internet Way

What better way (presumably) to launch your new company than to leverage the power of the Internet to get your first 10 customers. The (now) classic steps are:

  • Build your website.
  • Optimize it to be visible within search engines.
  • Launch a pay-per-click campaign with text and banner advertisements.
  • Tweak the messages to attract your audience.
  • Weed thru the clicks to find quality leads.
  • Close business.


While this seems extremely straightforward and easy to launch – it is still difficult to get your first customers this way. We surveyed 800 small businesses at the end of 2007 and most of them were concerned about upfront costs on any marketing program.

While the internet will help you drive people into your store, when they look around they aren’t going to see pictures of satisfied customers – because there aren’t any. As they look around for accolades from your biggest clients, all they’ll find is smoke and mirrors. Of course you could get lucky and convince your site visitors to buy your service but this could take quite a while. It is no wonder this approach is often called the ‘spray and pray.’ Think about it; you have allocated a significant amount of money (that you likely don’t have) into Google and PPC advertising in the hopes that one of the hundreds of people who will click on your advertisement will convert to a customer. It could happen…but can you rely on it for your first ten customers?

The New Way

With the proliferation of social and professional networks, there must be a better way of ‘finding the right person’ to buy your product/service. And, isn’t that what all this marketing is really about – finding the decision maker who could authorize a purchase or trial of your product/service. The “old way” as described above, finding the right person was by leveraging your immediate network. The internet way says: broadcast your message to as many folks as possible and someone (hopefully) will be the needle in the haystack.

But, the new way, and ideally the most cost effective and efficient method is to harness the business relationships of others to find the decision maker. Here is a good visual – if you were to launch your company and have 50 independent sales people ready to promote your product/service would that be a better approach to finding your first ten customers? Think of the power of having an army of people trying to open up doors for you the “master salesperson” to close the deal.

Social and professional networks have really gotten the ball rolling on this approach. Think of your ideal decision maker – the head of sales training at a company with more than 100 sales reps, the head of marketing at a consumer good company or the CIO of a retail chain. Now, why not tap into your professional network (whether it’s LinkedIn, Xing, Ning or others) and ask them to make introductions for you to your target decision maker. I know some folks on LinkedIn (like Moshe Weiss) who have 17,000 contacts in his ‘network’. Surely, the type person that you are looking for could be found in Moshe’s network. Getting these networked folks to make introductions for you shouldn’t be too difficult even though you don’t actually know them. How, you may ask? Would you ask 50 independent sales reps to go out and find customers for you without compensating them? Of course you wouldn’t. So why not offer the same compensation you would offer an independent sales force – on performance or based on success.

Let’s assume that you stand to earn $50,000 from landing your first customer for your new product or service. If you hired a sales executive they would expect commission of 5%-7% on top of a base salary. So why not offer $5,000 to anyone that could bring you a customer. Maybe it is a residual payment of 10% of the monthly revenue. Think of what it is worth to you to get that customer and what it would cost you to drive that lead yourself – PPC ads, telemarketing, etc. Add on top of that the cost of commission to a full time sales executive. It certainly sounds far less expensive to leverage a 3rd party sales team that to build one yourself – especially if you are only paying for success. Outsourced sales and telemarketing is a huge business that usually incurs upfront fees or monthly minimum commitments. They could be very effective but it requires an investment in time and money.

Leveraging the networked folks seems like a winning combination; a broader reach than your personal contacts without the cost exposure of a full blown internet marketing campaign. Let’s not forget that money is a great motivator so why not offer money to help drive your business. I generally don’t like the whole favor business – the quid pro quo of you doing this for me and I’ll do this for you. I prefer, here is what I need and I am willing to compensate you accordingly.

So here is the question; if I was looking to meet someone you know professionally and compensated you for making the introduction a percentage of any revenue I generated from the relationship – would that create more of an incentive for you to make the introduction? That would make you the middleman just like the role of a real estate broker or even an investment banker. Now if you could only earn the fees of an investment banker – wouldn’t that be something?

1 Comment | Lead Generation, Marketing, Referrals, Small Business | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Evan Sohn

The New Networker

April 23, 2008

Social and professional networking has really taken the Internet by storm. LinkedIn, the largest of the US professional networks, has more than 20 million professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. There are many smaller professional networks such as BizNik, FastPitch networking and Xing just to name a few. Recruiters and corporate recruiters were the first ones to jump on the professional networking bandwagon. Examine the top “connected” folks on these sites and you will still find an overwhelming number of them in the recruiting field. And it is no wonder, before the days of business networking - the recruiters always carried the largest rolodexes. Online networking created a new platform for recruiters to tap not only the folks in their network, but also the contacts in their network. Private wealth managers also account for a healthy segment of this user base. These folks spend a large portion of their day cultivating new clients and landing one produces significant fees.

Recently, a new breed of online networker has emerged – the ‘power networker’. The power networker doesn’t tap into his network to sell his/her product line. The power networker doesn’t tap into his/her network to find potential candidates. The power networker in fact doesn’t sell anything to contacts in his/her network. Rather, the power networker derives revenues from simply having amassed the collection of contacts. How does the power networker make money?

(a) The old fashion Internet way – Ad revenue. Pretty amazing that we treat ‘old fashion’ in Internet-speak as advertising revenue but so it goes. For the power networker to earn advertising dollars he/she invites their network over to platform that provides them a share of the advertising revenues. Xing has put together a great platform for doing just that – creating a true partnership between the social networking site and the creator of the network. Facebook and LinkedIn both have group functionality and this resource has been leveraged by the power networker to collect users and then bring them over to another site that provides them revenue. Given people affinity for joining social and professional networking sites joining yet another one is not a far stretch. A similar approach (even easier) is to drive ones social network traffic to ones own site where advertising revenues could be earned. [it should be noted that we found a number of power networker’s home pages are actually their social network profile].

(b) The business developer. This clearly is the favored approach and most likely the reason that professional networking exists – to help drive business. For the power networker with rolodexes exceeding 10k professionals, the odds are the person that you are seeking is in their rolodex. Requests are made to power networkers throughout the day requesting introductions and access to their rolodex. The power networker is entitled to ask the requestor for a fee in exchange for making the introduction. Though this functionality is not built into the traditional professional networks, these fee based transactions are occurring and are growing in frequency and size.

(c) Referral Fees from 3rd parties. As anyone who has purchased a lead list before could attest to – just obtaining a name is valuable. Zoominfo, Hoovers and Spoke are just some of the firms that provide contact information (of course for a fee). Well, the power networker also has valuable contact information and could easily leverage their network. Of course the power networker needs to be careful how many times they tap their network for promotional purposes but it is a great source of revenue. Many online publications derive lots of revenue from dedicated emails, sponsored promotions and newsletters. The power networker has access to the same base of users and in many instances outweighs the smaller publications.

If you missed the boat on buying up 1800 telephone numbers, registering thousands of domain names, or setting up an offshore development company, chances are you are too late to become a power networker. We are already seeing a significant amount of cross over in terms of contacts from power networker to power networker. But, as new people are joining social and professional networks everyday it shouldn’t take long for anyone to amass enough of an online network to drive some real revenue.

No Comments » | Marketing, Referrals, Revenue, Salesconx News, Supplemental Income, salesconx | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Evan Sohn

Brainstorm Host Monetizes contacts using Salesconx

April 14, 2008

I was interviewed recently by the host of Brainstorm (www.brainstormbusinesspodcast.com) Penny Haynes, who also happens to be a successful member of Salesconx.com. Listen here: http://quikonnex.com/search/displayenc_pop.php?itemid=30609.

Penny is actually the founder of Online Communities Magazine (http://www.OnlineCommunityMagazines.com).

Thanks Penny.

No Comments » | Salesconx News, salesconx | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Evan Sohn

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