San
Ramon, CA--
Magazine,
Business 2.0, December Edition, features SalesMasters in "Fire
Up Your Cold Calls".
Mark Lojacono says, "It is always a great feeling when a high-tech
publication like Business 2.0 recognizes your mission and the tactics of your
every day work".
Co-opt the gatekeeper.
Of course, you can't cram all of your calls into the early morning and evening,
so what do you do between 9 and 5, when executive assistants are on the job?
Mark Lojacono recommends a mildly shocking one-liner. Lojacono is CEO of
SalesMasters Solutions, an outfit based in Danville, Calif., that makes cold
calls on behalf of small technology firms to high-level execs at Fortune 1,000
companies. He describes a typical call: "The gatekeeper will answer the phone
and sternly state the name of the executive and company. Then we'll have a
comeback like "Well, that's a cheerful voice for a Monday afternoon!" It tweaks
the gatekeeper's brain. If they're in the middle of reading an e-mail while
juggling your call, they will usually stop and engage you."
Lojacono says the assistant, caught off guard, will
volunteer more information than he otherwise would. For instance, Lojacono
usually tries to enroll the assistant's help in confirming the target exec's
e-mail address and phone extension. In late October, Lojacono's 20-person staff
of cold-callers broke six new accounts in a single day on behalf of Acteva, the
online event-registration firm, by charming the gatekeepers for vice presidents
at huge companies like Sears.
***
SalesMasters is a
professional services organization dedicated to helping senior executives
realize value from the launch of their new company, products, and services,
SalesMasters provides solutions for companies seeking to optimize their revenue
growth and sales strategy. Representing more than 50 years of experience in
business ownership, strategic marketing and consultative selling, they offer a
wide range of services designed to transform a company’s initial vision into a
successfully marketed product.
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