How to Effectively Use Cold Calling in Your Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Cold calling|How to Effectively Use Cold Calling in Your BusinessThe digital age has impacted almost every aspect of people’s lives, including how they sell and market their products and services. The rise of social media, online shopping, and email marketing has made it more difficult than ever to reach potential customers through cold calls alone.

However, this doesn’t mean that cold calling is obsolete – in fact, it’s still one of the most effective ways to generate leads and close sales. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your cold calls:

Tip #1: Do your research

Before you pick up the phone, take some time to learn about your target audience and their needs or their biggest pain points. Once you have a better understanding of what they’re interested in, you’ll be able to tailor your pitch accordingly.

Tip #2: Start with a strong opening

Your opener is crucial – it’s the first impression that potential customers will have of you. Make sure it’s friendly, professional, and to the point. Avoid sounding too sales-y or coming across as pushy because this will only turn people off.

Tip #3: Be prepared for objections

No matter how good your pitch is, you’re bound to get some objections from potential customers. Be prepared to handle them calmly and confidently. Thank the person for their feedback and address their concerns head-on.

Tip #4: Stay positive

Cold calling can be frustrating, especially when you’re getting rejected. But it’s important to stay positive and focused on your goal. Don’t let a few rejections discourage you from continuing with your pitch.

Tip #5: Use a script

Using a script can help keep your pitch on track. It also makes you sound more confident and professional. However, don’t be afraid to personalize it to make it feel more natural since people can tell when you’re reading from a script.

Tip #6: Practice, practice, practice

The more prepared you are, the better your chances of success. Make sure to practice your pitch beforehand to deliver it smoothly and confidently. This way, you’ll be less likely to get flustered if something goes wrong.

Tip #7: Keep it short

Your pitch should be short, sweet, and to the point. No one wants to listen to a long-winded sales pitch – they’ll tune out before you even get to the good stuff. Make it so you’re only giving an elevator pitch that lasts no more than 30 seconds.

Tip #8: Use the right tools

To make cold calling more efficient, it’s important to use the right tools. IP-PBX phone solutions can help you easily make and receive calls, while CRM software can help you track your leads and sales pipeline. The right tools will help make your job a lot easier.

Tip #9: Take advantage of voicemail

If you happen to get a customer’s voicemail, take advantage of it! Leave a friendly and personal message, and briefly explain what you do and why the person should get in touch with you. This way, you can at least get your foot in the door.

Tip #10: Stay organized

Keep your leads and prospects organized so you can easily track their progress. This will help you prioritize your time and focus on the most promising leads, which will ultimately help you close more sales.

Tip #11: Set realistic goals

Don’t bite off more than you can chew – set realistic goals for yourself and your team. Trying to do too much at once will only lead to frustration and burnout. So, start small and gradually increase your goals as you become more comfortable with cold calling.

Tip #12: Take breaks

Cold calling can be mentally and emotionally draining, so take breaks throughout the day. Get up and walk around, drink some water, and take deep breaths to clear your head. This will help you stay focused and energized for your next call.

Tip #13: Reward yourself

After every successful call, give yourself a small reward to keep yourself motivated. This can be as simple as taking a quick break or treating yourself to your favorite snack. By doing so, you’ll be more likely to stick with it and see results.

Tip #14: Track your progress

Keep track of your progress by recording your calls and listening to them back. This will help you identify areas that need improvement and give you a chance to hear your pitch from the customer’s perspective. Plus, you can make changes to your script as needed.

Tip #15: Seek feedback

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your superiors and customers. They may be able to offer valuable insights that can help you improve your cold calling skills. After all, it’s always good to get feedback so you can continue growing and evolving as a salesperson.

Cold calling is one of the best ways to generate new leads. Whether you’re a salesperson, business owner, or entrepreneur, cold calling is a necessary skill set that can help propel your success. Cold calling may feel intimidating and uncomfortable at first, but these tips should make it easier.

Disappearing Displays: Can You See Me Now?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Disappearing displays|Disappearing Displays: Can You See Me Now?For those of us in the tech industry, inventions from the iconic Star Wars saga and Star Trek series have led to decades of inspiration – some of which we are still trying to build today. Even over the last few years, I have been thrilled to see many of my colleagues pushing the envelope on next generation digital display technologies. One segment of this industry I see opportunities for innovation is what I call “disappearing” displays – displays that don’t get in the way when they aren’t being viewed, so to speak. Sort of like the character Jeeves in P.G. Wodehouse’s popular novels who could appear and disappear at will.

Let me give you a little bit more context around this. Have you noticed people turning towards their Alexa/Google Assistant devices to ask a question? Or noticed people in a conference room on an audio call, staring at the phone while speaking? How about in the car where people turn to the GPS display while speaking on their hands-free phone? Why is this? Humans are visual creatures. But we also want to see displays when we need them; the rest of the time we would prefer for them to be out of the way, merged with the background, virtually disappearing until we need them again.

When CRTs were replaced with flat panel LCD TV’s we reclaimed substantial floor space in our living rooms, conference rooms and hotel rooms. But TVs moved from the floor to the wall, while they are thinner, the monstrous mounting brackets and swiveling arms cause these ugly beasts to jut out. If you have bumped into the TV while navigating around the conference room table or into the massive TV larger than your bed in your hotel room, you know what I am talking about. We love those screens, but they are in the way, they are inconvenient after we are done with our video call or movie. They gotta go, they ought to get out of the way.
Sometimes all you want is the screen to stop flickering, dim down, disappear into the background when you no longer need it. They don’t need to physically disappear in all instances.

Disappearing displays already exist, we don’t think of them that way, until today. I came up with four buckets to put them in. Let’s review them and then I will get into more futuristic stuff.

  • Physically Disappearing Displays: These include old style TV’s inside a cabinet where you can shut the doors to make them “hidden,” to the more recent LG TV that retracts into its base, or even projector screens that can retract to the ceiling. These displays physically disappear or remain hidden when they aren’t being used.
  • Shrinking Displays: These are displays that can be folded or rolled or otherwise shrunk from their original size to something smaller in the X-Y dimension so they are less obtrusive after use. One example is a foldable phone or foldable laptop/tablet. (These are obviously not like your old school flip phones).
  • Quiet Displays: Here, the display does not physically retract or shrink; it just goes into a quiet mode. When not in use they are about as distracting as a piece of printed paper. A good example is Joan, which includes an ePaper display that doesn’t flicker or distract like its LCD counterparts when not in use, and uses 99% less energy as well.
  • Metaphoric Displays: The users lose themselves in the display such as with an Amazon Kindle where you no longer “see” the display when you are engrossed in reading. As then Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos described it, the top design goal for the Kindle device was “to disappear in your hands – to get out of the way – so you can enjoy your reading.” Another cool example is Samsung’s Wall TV, which just blends into the background.

Some other cool examples of disappearing display technologies include:

  • Boogie Board, the pioneering reusable writing tablet using cholesteric liquid crystal technology; the Boogie Board does not go into screensaver mode like a tablet, it does not flicker or distract when you pause your writing. There are also examples of ePaper single-purpose writing tablets that fit this description as well.
  • Microsoft’s Surface tabletop becomes the table and could be used to place food dishes when you are done ordering or paying in the restaurant.
  • The world’s thinnest watch is an example of a shrinking display
  • Kuori Oy’s Yeti Tablet causes both the display and technology to disappear for senior citizens and kids with learning disabilities
  • Electronic shelf tags that look like printed labels, don’t look out of place like a monitor or TV in the grocery store, they ‘disappear’ into the shelf
  • Noctiluca is enabling OLED display lampshade that causes the “bulb” to disappear or the entire lamp stand to disappear
  • Digital signage that looks indistinguishable from paper posters

And don’t ask me ‘how ‘bout them scrolls?”, those disappeared long before any electronic display was invented. So fuhgeddaboudit, that is ancient history.

Now, without sounding too out-of-this-world, I’d like to take a dive into where I see disappearing display technology going in the not-too-distant future.

  • Transparent displays to replace building and shop windows or a car’s sunroof. These displays will have sparse transistors, on a very thin sheet of plastic-like film, powering Mini or MicroLED. SmartKem is already making such a film using Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT). For example, your “TV” becomes transparent – when you are finished watching a movie, the screen becomes your window, the display disappears. In other words, you can see through the display. Also, think of your car’s roof as a screen. Imagine if I parked my car and pushed a button and my seat reclined and the roof became a screen. We could literally build such a prototype today. Just look at what NBC’s studio did during the Beijing 2022 Games using MiniLED displays, they brought the ski slopes into their studio.
  • AR glasses. Imagine wearing a pair of glasses that have the ability to collect and display data that can, for example, alert you that a colleague is walking into the room and inform you that you owe her money from a Super Bowl bet. The display disappears into the glasses and does not impair your vision like, let’s’ say, VR glasses. eMagin is already building 10,000 cd/m2 bright OLED Microdisplays that disappear into AR glasses.
  • Large color changing ePaper displays. Have you seen BMW’s color-changing car wrapped in ePaper? Imagine using this E Ink display technology on military aircraft that disappear into the sky. The possibilities are endless.
  • NFTs and artwork disappearing displays: Ok, you paid an insane amount of money to purchase a NFT. How will you show it off? What if you had a display that “disappears” into the wall as art? Check out what Canvia is doing and you’ll get the ‘picture’. Omniply is making sticker electronics that might allow you to peel off the display and stick it elsewhere.
  • Digital “bricks”: In the future I see more buildings with blocks of displays on the facade rather than traditional bricks that might resemble this outdoor LED display on the Gold House. X Display Corp could enable this inside the building.
  • Holographic display: Let’s go back to Star Wars for a minute, where holograms were a hallmark, including the famous scene where R2D2 projects Princess Leia, who pleads, “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” Now envision holographic displays that project 3D images that could have useful application in several industries, such as healthcare, entertainment and auto. Looking Glass Factory is already headed in that direction with 3D Holographic displays.

Do some of these ideas sound a bit far-fetched? If so, that’s the point. Wild ideas often lead to breakthrough innovations. As George Lucas said, “Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.” Or, if you’re more of a Star Trek fan, creator Gene Roddenberry said it best: “It isn’t all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning.”

I expect customers to demand “disappearing displays” as a feature in most applications where the display is not ON all the time. I love electronic displays of every kind but they gotta disappear when we are done viewing them. See if you can discover new disappearing displays at SID’s DisplayWeek 2022 in Silicon Valley during the month of May.

Keep dreaming and stay inspired friends.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Sri Peruvemba Sri Peruvemba is CEO of Marketer International Inc. in California. He has also served on the Executive Board and was former Chair of Marketing for many years for the Society for Information Display (SID’s Display Week 2022 will be held in San Jose, CA, May 8-13, 2022). With over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Peruvemba has been an influential advocate in the advancement of electronic hardware technologies. He is an acknowledged expert on sensors, electronic displays, haptics, touch screens, electronic materials, and related technologies; and consults, writes, and presents on those subjects globally. Contact Mr. Peruvemba at [email protected].

Driving Your Business Growth by Focusing on Marketing

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Business Growth|Driving Your Business Growth by Focusing on MarketingWhen you think about business growth, what do you think about first? You probably think about diversification, but is this the answer, and is this the right way to think or approach business growth. When you focus on marketing, you can drive new business to your door, and you can increase your reach to both new and existing customers alike. So, when it comes to utilizing marketing for growth, what should you be focusing your time and efforts on, and of course, what should you be planning for?

Deciding What Growth You Want to Achieve

To begin with, you want to walk before you can run, and to achieve this, you have to think about what growth you want to achieve. For example, are you looking to increase your companies’ turnover by a set figure or percentage? Or, are you looking to increase how large your customer base is? What does growth look like to you, and what does it mean? When you can establish what growth you want to push for, you can then start setting goals, and targets, which you can then begin working towards.

Creating a Marketing Plan

Knowing what marketing channels and methods to use and when is crucial to your business growth. Not all marketing methods that you utilize or employ will be well received or well-valued by your target market, and this is something that you really need to take into account. Knowing what marketing your target audience/customer base responds to and knowing when to implement marketing can be challenging, but with a marketing plan, you can have the information there and written down, ready to use, and ready to implement. When creating a marketing plan, you need to focus on both short-term efforts as well as long-term efforts. Looking at marketing as an ongoing concern is the best thing you can do because it is intrinsically linked to pushing your business forward into the future.

Utilizing a Marketing Company

Trying to tackle marketing all by yourself could be foolish, and it could be a costly mistake that you cannot afford to get wrong. Looking at marketing companies and getting one on board to assist your business and your efforts are crucial. A marketing company will know what channels to use, when, and why. They will know how to drive positive growth and know which mediums are more valuable than others. Utilizing others’ expertise, knowledge, and awareness in marketing are crucial, and you can do this by getting a marketing company on board.

Having a Budget in Place

Business growth and development is going to cost you money, and it is important that you invest as and when required. Establishing a budget for your business growth and deciding what cap you want to put into place is essential. If you do not have a budget in place, then how will you know what it has cost you to achieve growth, and how do you know what it will take to sustain this business growth?

Check Out This Guide To Choose The Right Marketing Agency

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Agency|Check Out This Guide To Choose The Right Marketing AgencyWithout the right marketing solution, your business is going to be dead in the water. Here are the factors that you need to think about when you are choosing a marketing team that will be able to propel your business forward.

Strategy Choices

First, you should think about exploring different strategy choices and the options that marketing companies use. There are various paths that a marketing company can follow to ensure that you are able to achieve your brand goals. Agencies should be completely open about the strategies that they are planning to use. The more comprehensive and clear the plan is, the more reassured you should feel that a marketing company knows how to help your brand specifically. Remember, whichever strategy they choose should match your company. You need to make sure that you avoid a cookie cutter service because this will provide diminished returns.

Cost Concerns

Next, you should think about cost concerns when you are choosing a marketing company. You need to make sure that you think about how to guarantee that the costs of your marketing solution isn’t far above the average. If you are paying more than the typical company for marketing, then this is going to make your business less competitive while also putting more financial pressure on your company. Some companies also work to provide more value with their package. For instance, Dezan Social Media provides a 50/50 SEO program. Here you only pay 50% until 50% of your key terms rank on page one of Google. If you explore this level of value, then you can ensure that you have found a great marketing team you can count on.

The Right Team

You might also want to think about how to make sure that you find the right team that you can trust. One of the ways that you can do this is by checking out the reviews for a marketing company. Make sure that there is a clear trend of past clients that are happy with the service that they received from a company.

Contact Points

Finally, you should think about the contact points that a marketing agency provides. When you use a marketing service, this isn’t a team that you can check in with every couple of months. Instead, you need to make sure that you are constantly looking at the metrics to explore whether or not your business and brand is performing the way it should be or the way you hoped for. That’s why when you look at different marketing companies, you should find out what contact points they can offer. This needs to be more than just an email that they can or can’t respond to.

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you should take to guarantee that you choose the right marketing agency for your business. If you explore the best options here, then you will be able to push your brand to the top of the market where it belongs.

Making Marketing Moves Is Becoming Harder And Harder

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Moves|Making Marketing Moves Is Becoming Harder And HarderMaking marketing moves is essential to seeing success in your business. You can’t just use the same marketing all the time, you need to be different and creative. If you’re not doing this then you are going to find that there’s no more engagement, no more customers, and no more sales than you had previously. Businesses should always be moving forward, not standing still. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the reasons businesses aren’t making marketing moves right now, and how to sort this. Keep reading if you would like to find out more.

Original Ideas Are Tough To Come By

The first thing that we are going to look at is the fact that original ideas are getting harder and harder to come by. So much has been done, that even when you think you have a fantastic original idea, it might turn out that you don’t. Of course, it’s true to say that there are original ideas out there and people who are coming up with them, but it’s a lot harder than it used to be in the early days of marketing.

As such, businesses are not wanting to put out things that they have done before, or that their competition has done before. It’s a tough world to be in right now with marketing, but what we suggest is taking something you have done, and changing it enough that it isn’t recognizable but not so much that it no longer has the elements that made it successful.

A Lack Of Research By Businesses

Then, there is the problem that businesses are not researching what their customers want enough before they start trying to create marketing campaigns. You must conduct research and find out what is appealing to your target audience before you try to create a whole campaign that is aimed at these people. It’s okay to get things wrong as they can be fixed with feedback from a focus group, but you should always try at first to cater to what the audience is going to want. You can use the research conducted by BrandTotal to give you a starting point if you are ever stuck.

Social Values

The final reason that making marketing moves is becoming harder is due to social values. People want to buy from companies that align with their social values, and it can be extremely difficult to add this into marketing for some companies. It’s a tough one, and the only thing that you can do is do your best to show customers in other ways the values your business stands for.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the reasons why we believe that making marketing moves is becoming harder and harder for businesses. A lot of companies on the market still run fantastic, successful marketing campaigns, so you just need to ensure that you are one of them. You can do this, we know that you can, you just need to put your mind to it.