It used to be that you planned on 20 cold calls to make one appointment with a prospect. Today it takes upwards of 100 - 125 cold calls to make an appointment. The cost of getting that all-important appointment is now - on average - $700 USD, and that's just the beginning of the sales cycle.

According to The National Sales Executive Association reports that:

¨ 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
¨ 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact
¨ 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact
¨ 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact
¨ 80% of sales are made on the 5th - 12th contact

It's taking longer to reach your prospect and after to reach them, you need to contact them several times before getting a sale. This not only increases cost, but the time you have to wait for the money to roll in! Fortunately, there is a way to combat the difficult sales environment and improve both your sales and your cost per sale figures

The 7-step plan to generate response rate improvement!

1. Know how much it costs you to generate each sale
You'd be surprised at how many companies don't know how much it costs them to sell their product. How many calls to make an appointment, how many appointments to make a sale, how many leads gathered from each tactic used, how many contacts to a sale, how many ads, how many promotions! These are vital numbers to have and if you don't have them (or some help to get them) you better get them or your sales won't be anywhere near what they could be.

2. Develop a winning list
You absolutely must build a list that is focussed entirely on prospects that meet your target market profile. If a prospect company, industry or contact doesn't fit into the industry, company size or growth cycle placement that your best customers have historically been in then you shouldn't be wasting your time with them. It only makes sense that if 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers you want to be selling to prospects that have the same profile as that golden 20%. Digging through your records can be time consuming and hardly the glamorous side of sales but you can always get a professional to do it for you or at least show you how. The benefits far outweigh the effort.

3. Find your customers hot buttons
There are any number of reasons why companies buy. Why they bought last year may be different from why they buy this year. They may be focussed on purchasing products and services that help them boost their sales or reduce the number of steps they take to produce their product. Your prospective customer could be in a rapid growth period and needing extra help or product to deal with it. Maybe they want to explore new markets, downsize or bring a new product to market. Whatever their issues are will effect why they buy. You need to know what these issues are and how to address them before you even think about contacting them.

4. Focus on qualified and profitable targets - only
If it costs $700 to make one sale when you are targeted imagine how much it would cost to make one sale if you don't take the time and effort to make sure you are selling to the right people. 60% of success in any cold calling program is based on the quality of the list you use.

Developing a list starts with your in-house list, your partner list, purchased lists and researched lists. Add lists developed at trade shows, events and industry networking. Then polish your list weeding out those contacts/companies that don't fit the profile of your ideal target.

5. Make them an offer they can't refuse
Know what tangible results a customer gets from using your product or service. It must be outcome focused and stress the business value of your offering. Your offer should answer:
¨ Why would I do business with you?
¨ What have you got to offer that is worth my valuable time?
¨ What difference can you make to my business issues?
¨ Why would I change the current situation?

6. Use multiple tactics
You won't be able to reach all of your clients with a phone call or a fax. The proper use of websites, trade shows, networking, public speaking, article writing and press releases can add lots of qualified prospects to your list.

7. Training for maximum performance
Once you have developed a good size qualified list you don't want to place in at the mercy of a less than qualified sales person. Be sure your sales staff have current sales skills. Old style scripts and approaches just don't work in today. Get professional help and remember with professional assistance you may be able to do some of the work yourself and build your sales along with your expertise. For more information pick up The Next Generation of Prospecting at: http://www.coldcall20nextgen.com