The Screwtape Emails, Part IX

The Screwtape Emails, Part IX

Welcome to SalesFish Brand Marketing & Sales, the most strategically biased B2B Marketing Agency, telemarketing services, telemarketing companies (sales agency) and digital marketing companies, serving Orange County, Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento and the Pacific Northwest (Bend, Portland, Seattle). We gladly serve California and all 50 United States!

There are right and wrong ways to go about marketing, and the pitfalls are many. A lot can be learned by seeing how not to manage your marketing. This original blog series weaves together an entertaining story that will help you navigate 21st-Century marketing with a view from “the dark side,” as “Screwtape” teaches his apprentice “Wormwood” via email how to sabotage your marketing. Enjoy…

PART NINE:
To: Wormwood
From: Screwtape
Subject: Freezing Out the Cold Call

My dear Wormwood,

Let us explore sales a moment in this missive, shall we? As you well know, Wormwood, most businesses cannot survive without sales. And while many of the “old school” sales techniques of the past are not as effective in the digital age, some still apply. Herein lies opportunity for you to sow dissonance and contradiction into the Patient’s sales plan.

Let’s focus in on the concept of the “cold call.” We have two opportunities here:

  • Convince the Patient that cold calling is dead.
  • If that does not succeed, inspire the Patient to make the cold call truly “cold.”

The truth is that cold calling is not dead; it has merely evolved. That is to say, that the concept of pursuing prospects you’ve not yet had contact with can still be effective, and even necessary, for many businesses.

The best way to freeze out cold calling is to put a stereotype of into the Patient’s mind. Evoke unwanted phone calls, SPAM emails and other annoying disruptive techniques. I call these the “wolf whistles” of the sales world. You see, it’s perfectly acceptable for a young man to take interest in a “beautiful stranger,” but approach is everything! A genuine and friendly introduction will be received much differently than a wolf whistle or a cheesy pickup line.

See where I’m going with this? If you can convince the Patient that cold calling means being “salesy” and intrusive, he of course is going to shy away from such an approach. Our goal is to get the Patient to dismiss cold calling as he would a polyester suit and white wingtip shoes.

But should he realize that a genuine interest in the prospect and an offering of value can and will gain prospects, our cause is seriously threatened (as is your frail good favor, which I remind you can be lost). If the Patient has the annoying insight to realize that cold calling can be warmly done, then we are in real trouble (and by “we,” I mean “you”).

One small chance remains: Convince the Patient that cold calling only applies to the telephone, when in fact, email, social media and other media provide opportunities superior to simply going down a telephone number list.

Lock this is a vault, but the simplest way to do cold calling boils down to a few key tactics:

  • Define your value proposition for a particular audience.
  • Make a list of companies that would benefit from that value proposition. Be specific as to size of company, geography, any other demographic details that will narrow the list to the most promising prospects.
  • Prepare something of value to give to them. It may be a white paper, a free eBook, a free 30-day trial—there are many options.
  • Make the first contact about a genuine interest in their business—in THEIR story—NOT selling or expounding the virtues of your product. Offer that “something of value,” no strings attached. It’s acceptable toward the end to ask if you can contact them again. After all, the young Romeo may ask for a phone number if his interest is reciprocated.

More on this later, but to drive home my point, just go back up to these four points and simply add the words “do not.” Now are you getting the picture?  If the Patient annoyingly chooses to use cold calling, then assure he’s as annoying as possible to the prospect. Make sales a hunt based on numbers—that is, if I take enough shots at enough people, something is bound to hit. The alternative is to focus on quality of leads and genuineness of approach, and we don’t want that happening, now do we?

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape


Stay tuned for more relevant content on creating world-class digital marketing strategies and B2B telemarketing sales strategies. We at SalesFish Brand Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic planning, B2B brand marketing and B2B sales execution.

Call today and our “high-touch” dedicated team will assist you in assessing your strategic sales goals to tailor our marketing and sales tactics to your specific needs.

SalesFish B2B Telemarketing Services

SalesFish Net of Sales Services:

  • B2B Direct Sales, Channel Sales and Marketing Strategies
  • On-Site B2B Presentation, Negotiation and Sales
  • B2B Telemarketing and B2B Telesales Services
  • Cold Calls and Appointment Setting
  • Online Presentations and Webinars
  • Product Awareness and Announcement Calls
  • Primary Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Surveys
  • Experiential Event Marketing
  • Pre and Post-Event Calls
  • Audience Acquisition, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales
How to Use Facebook to Actually Sell Something

How to Use Facebook to Actually Sell Something

Welcome to SalesFish Brand Marketing & Sales, the most strategically biased B2B Marketing Agency, telemarketing services, telemarketing companies (sales agency) and digital marketing companies, serving Orange County, Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento and the Pacific Northwest (Bend, Portland, Seattle). We gladly serve California and all 50 United States!

Facebook can be kind of an enigma sometimes. With the constant changing of algorhythms and rules, it can be difficult to keep up with what might work today, or what might not. As a small business owner, this can be almost impossible to have time to keep up with. How about we help you out a little? Here are a few tried and true ways to use Facebook to get more followers and increase your sales.

  1. Engage. You cannot sell anything until you engage your followers on their terms. Serve them interesting content that connects to their story, and they will engage with likes or comments. These days, if a fan isn’t engaging with a page on Facebook, the almighty seer will stop bringing your posts into their feed. So first rule is to always engage the interest of your target audience.
  2. Give stuff away. I know, you thought we were talking about making sales, right? Well, sometimes to earn trust with a potential customer, you may have to be the first to invest in the relationship—in fact, you should. Hold a contest and give away some of your product! Everyone loves free stuff, and this gives your patrons a chance to become raving fans, or your potential customers a way to try your product that they may have been putting off for a later date.
  3. Boost a post. There are many technical things you can do with Facebook to run ads and track all of the data. If you’re a small business owner, perhaps that’s not the best way. Your time is money, my friend, and we get that. So instead of trying to learn a ton of information about the technical ins and outs of Facebook ads, simply boost a post. It’s a great way to get eyes on a special you’re running or a new product offering. But remember, in this post, make sure to always refer back to rule number one: Engage.
  4. Use an app like Shopial to help you save time while getting more eyes on your product. Simply install the app (and how great that it also works on Instagram!) and it will:
    • Import photos directly from your website product pages
    • Create ads and optimize them for you
    • Make a liaison from Facebook straight to your product pages

Bam! Time saved and more customers will be directed to your product pages for easier sales. (There are plenty of different apps out there, so do a little research and find out which will be the best fit for you first.)

There you have it, a few simple ways to help increase sales from Facebook. This requires some work and thought, but mostly your goal is to build connection, engagement, and trust with your customers. Remember to have fun!


Stay tuned for more relevant content on creating world-class digital marketing strategies and B2B telemarketing sales strategies. We at SalesFish Brand Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic planning, B2B brand marketing and B2B sales execution.

Call today and our “high-touch” dedicated team will assist you in assessing your strategic sales goals to tailor our marketing and sales tactics to your specific needs.

SalesFish B2B Telemarketing Services

SalesFish Net of Sales Services:

  • B2B Direct Sales, Channel Sales and Marketing Strategies
  • On-Site B2B Presentation, Negotiation and Sales
  • B2B Telemarketing and B2B Telesales Services
  • Cold Calls and Appointment Setting
  • Online Presentations and Webinars
  • Product Awareness and Announcement Calls
  • Primary Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Surveys
  • Experiential Event Marketing
  • Pre and Post-Event Calls
  • Audience Acquisition, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales