This week’s question from our portal “Ask Us Anything” comes from Keith:
I call a lot of leads for insurance renewals, and my numbers keep getting flagged as suspected spam. I’ve verified my numbers with the carriers and I’m looking at branded caller ID and ringless voicemail, but 85 to 90 percent of cold calls still go unanswered. People are skeptical about picking up the phone, and I’m running out of ideas. What else can I do?
It’s not that it’s hard, it’s that it’s changing. Salespeople used to knock on doors, then they moved to the phone, and now they’re texting. If you say it’s hard, it’s going to be hard. The shift also requires that you build a new skill set, and I find that fun, because I look at sales as a game: how do I get this person to respond?
People used to be programmed that if the phone rang, you answered it. Now it’s “check the number first, and then don’t answer.” So we have to pre-think what’s going to get them to respond. What can I ask in the text? What can I say? What could I claim? Then we experiment to see what actually works. When Steph first started testing nine-word emails, response went from flat to through the roof, because people had never seen anything like it. Their minds reacted, and part of the reaction was a response.
Calling and texting together works better than calling alone. Text them, let them know you’re a real person, tell them why you called and that you just left a voicemail, and then ask a question that’s easy to answer, like a yes or no, so you’re starting the conversation and getting them to engage. There are plenty of texting services, like Twilio and SalesMessage, that let you text from a business number instead of your personal cell, and the replies just route to an app on your phone or desktop.
The more you can show that you’re a real person who’s reaching out because you want to help, and the less you inflate your results, the more people will respond. Business is changing faster than it ever has, and if you treat it as fun, you’ll always stay on the cutting edge of what works.
