Magnus Marketing Blog

Just the other day, this Austrailian consultant cracked a joke about people who want "to connnect, sell you stuff, and talk to you". I lost the exact post, but while meant in humor, his post was 100% on the money. Take this example:

A college student considering a start-up had no experience in outbound telecampaigning or sales and asked a question on LinkedIN about stay-at-home moms. One other cold calling expert answered and I seconded his answer, supporting what he said and adding to it. Neither one of us said a thing about working with him, we offered advice and answered his question which was about the validity of stay-at-home moms as telemarketers. Three other people answered who spent one line saying in essence, "forget that, what you really need are professionals like the ones at my company which has tons of experience doing exactly what you need".

Wow, I thought. If these companies all approach sales the way they answered the question, they really must suck. And lets review why!

1. Define experience. I have learned that to really make sales happen, you need experience in the product, service, industry or the ability to quickly (and I mean quickly) "get it". Just because you have "people" who can "dial a phone" doesn't mean there will be RESULTS. In fact the wrong people with the wrong messaging can be devastating to a company, particularly a start up! These three respondents pitched the service based on the fact that they had "people who could dial a phone". No where did the question-asker elaborate on what he was trying to accomplish, which brings me to the next point:

2. Exactly what you need. What does this student need? He never elaborated on his business, situation, goals/objectives, or what he was looking to do. Sometimes, you get to talking with someone and realize that the REAL ISSUE is something else. I make an assumption that the questioner was looking to increase revenue or go-to-market and thought outbound phone selling would help. Possibly in further discussion, this may not be true - maybe he would need SEO and print ads, direct mail, better messaging, a restart to a new market...whatever. You never exactly know what ANYONE needs, until you engage in a discussion - an OPEN discussion. Consultative sales requires relevant knowledge.

3. Exactly what you need - part II. So lets say one of these companies undertakes the effort assuming that telesales is what he needs and, it turns out, it isn't. They just sold to an unqualified prospect, which could do more harm to their business because it was a failed effort from the beginning. The sale was made, money was collected, but at the cost of reputational harm. Worth it? No. BS has a way of catching up to you.

4. We are better than.... All three companies denounced the stay-at-home mom idea, yet never created a value proposition that really made any sense. Our callers are better because they sit with headphones at a computer in a cubicle? What if there is a stay-at-home mom who has an MBA, inside sales experience, worked for a start-up as a EVP, and her husband is a CFO and does consulting on the side? I don't think that profile will be found anywhere in a cubicle. Uh, I have an MBA, worked for a start-up or two next to the CEO/Founders, have inside sales and marketing experience, and have pals that do consulting work on the side - and no kids - does this make ME lesser qualified than someone in a cubicle? Hell, no. In the past, I worked with a telemarketing company that had a caller who was so aggressive, they caused problems for our clients and another that put an unqualified person on the campaign. Can't say those resources in "professional" firms worked out any better than alternatives.

Scary isn't it? These firms or their representatives rush to secure business without qualifying the opportunity, creating a value proposition relevant to the opportunity, providing support for why they are the best fit for the opportunity - in fact, they don't even understand the opportunity! Many don't even take five minutes to check the profile out of the person who asked the darn question - such a simple task or email them for more information.

And, I am going to trust them with selling or marketing my product...

Don't think so.