Call-Based Appointment Setting

Properly Identifying Your Best Prospects

Last week both of these emails were sent to me by Dunlap Marketing customers. 

“I just wanted to give your team a quick shout out. I just got off a call with the TMRS and they are a perfect fit for our platform, the appointment was set by your team. I know your guys are working hard and I want them to know how much we appreciate the help. Keep up the good work and thanks for everything!”
J W
Account Executive – Texas


“Great one Mike! Thank you. We looking forward to connecting with this prospect.  They are exactly the type of company we want to call on.”
M R
Global Manager

Both messages were the result of properly planning call campaigns in advance of implementation.

While there are many elements of properly planning a call campaign, there are three worth reflecting on:

1st – Knowing Who To Call

To have a successful call campaign, we have to know who the best companies are that need to be called. This is the only way for there to be a “perfect fit”.  With a 15-minute Q&A session between you and us, we can typically determine this answer.  If we can’t, we will model companies that you say are great customers, and we will build a profile of like-minded companies.  As part of this process, we usually factor in annual revenue ranges, employee count ranges, geography, and industry classifications.

2nd – Knowing What To Say

After we identify who to call, we hone in on what to say. This looks like crafting a call message that efficiently communicates your services. This often is a “to the point” approach, using as few words as possible. It includes knowing who the decision maker is, or identifying who this person is.

A common strategy is writing a message where we ask high-quality probing questions, and when favorable answers are given, we do not try to be the expert with follow-up responses. Rather, we ask to schedule a meeting so the prospects can talk to you, the expert.

3rd – Proper Training

Once we have a list and a call message, we train and prepare our staff to professionally represent you while making prospecting phone calls.  These are employees who work inside our West Houston office and who have experience making B2B phone calls.  A unique skill we foster within our team is the ability to be tactfully persistent, while calling with a smile.

Summary

The second half of 2023 seems to be taking shape as challenging for business development. With high interest rates, inflation, global conflict, and political parties that have difficulty working tighter, this might become a time when going back to the basics is healthy.

Maintaining or growing our businesses is necessary, going back to the basics and fundamentals of adding new customers might be the best game plan for the balance of this year.

We are happy to brainstorm ways to do this with your sales team.  Feel free to let us know if you have an interest in talking.

Mike Dunlap – President

Phone: (281) 496-9870 x140

Email: miked@dunlapmarketing.com

What is Good Call Frequency?

Tactful Persistence is the Key to Success

How often should you reach out to a target prospect?  

This is a question we are asked a lot when setting up an outbound telemarketing campaign.

The answer depends upon several factors:

  • Is this a first-time interest in the conversation with the person or company?
  • Is there a known need?
  • Is there a known relationship?
  • Is the prospective company a high-value target for you?

For Dunlap Marketing, making multiple attempts is an important contributor to our success.  Mostly we reach out by making phone calls with the reinforcement of sending one-on-one emails and voicemails.  With calling we balance the number of call attempts over a duration of time.  Time becomes a good friend.  Over time you can call early in the morning, late in the morning, early in the afternoon, and late in the afternoon.  Mixing up your call times gives you a better chance of connecting.

The “How To”

Apply good common sense to call frequency. You want to avoid your target prospect feeling that they are your only prospect.  You have other prospective companies to develop, so find a balance between spending time with other quality opportunities. 

Back to persistence, this is an important trait to have because persistence is often necessary to reach the person you need to speak with.  Decision makers are very busy, and guess what, they are not waiting for you to call them.  It’s no secret that people are often difficult to speak with.  Our belief is you have to earn the opportunity to speak with them, and tactful persistence is often required to earn the opportunity. It is important to trust the fact that just because you are unable to speak with the person, does not suggest they are uninterested. Often, it just simply confirms the fact that they are busy!

To specifically address the question: how often should you reach out to a target prospect – with first time campaigns, where the prospect data file is not huge, it’s common for Dunlap Marketing to start a campaign with the agreement of making 5 call attempts over a 4 to 6 week period of time.  As a general rule, our belief is it’s good to penetrate the list by making multiple call attempts if possible.  It gives you a more accurate feel of what the quality of opportunities is going to look like. 

This represents just the tip of the iceberg based on call frequency.  This type of campaign can rest for a month or two, then you can start calling into it again.  Unless you spoke to the right person, the likelihood is no one in the company will ever remember you called in prior times.  On the other extreme, with campaigns that we have been working on for years, it is very common to see appointments that we set today as having 50 or more call attempts over the past few years. 

If a prospect is important to you, do not be afraid to be tactfully persistent with trying to make contact.  However, it is very important that you do not over call and always be courteous to everyone you encounter while navigating to the right person.  To state the obvious, when you finally do reach the right person, be prepared!

The Exception

When done properly, tactful persistence is almost always a good trait; however, when you have a larger prospect database to develop, it may not be as necessary to practice persistence, as with smaller data files.  The larger the file, the more you can play the game of numbers, meaning, there will commonly be a segment of your target prospects that are more likely to answer their phone.  The larger the file, the more you can skim the top of the list, connecting with those who are easier to connect with. 

You may find that you are successful in filling your pipeline by making 2 or 3 call attempts.  Take advantage of this if you can.  As you develop the prospect list over time, you will find the level of challenge will start increasing as it relates to connection rates.  This is very typical.  The offset is you do a better job of saturating the list.

Ultimately…

A byproduct of skillfully working through your target prospect list is you can create multiple silos of categories.  You can prioritize your silos by who may have short-term interest, mid-term, long-term, or no interest at all.  This is all very good information to know as it helps you determine how to spend your time moving forward.

Part of the value of tactful persistence is it allows you to be creative with keeping your name in front of target prospects and how you integrate other marketing methods to communicate ongoing.  This all becomes beautiful marketing and it will generate terrific results for you.

In closing, this article brings to mind two of my favorite sayings, both of which I firmly believe in relating to how we live our lives and how we conduct business:

  • “Tactful persistence is the key to success”
  • “You never get a second chance at a first impression”

Both sayings significantly play into the intent of this article; work hard, be patient, do not give up, and always respect others.

You can contact Mike Dunlap at miked@dunlapmarketing.com or call him at (281) 496-9870 x140.

Dunlap Intern Q&A Cont.

By: Tammy Tran 

Welcome back to our internship series! Recently, our interns gave us a glimpse into their day-to-day tasks at Dunlap Marketing. From market data research to cold calling, our interns were fully immersed in learning about behaviors of prospective clients. They have put in their fair share of hard work this summer! These future business leaders have learned a lot this summer and without further ado, let’s dive into part 2 of our intern Q&A!

Click here for part 1 of our intern Q&A. 

        

How would you describe your experience this summer?

“Overall, my experience at Dunlap was positive and I am truly grateful to have participated in their internship program. Everyone here welcomed me and the other interns immediately and made us feel like very crucial parts of the company, which is something rare for an internship.”

Owen Steinle, Sport, Strategy, Sales, Baylor University 

“Overall, my experience interning at Dunlap Marketing this summer has been amazing from the leadership of Mike and Kaitlin to our weekly breakout sessions to gain industry knowledge from other professionals.” 

  -Tammy Tran, Marketing, Texas A&M University 

“I would say that I had a great experience at Dunlap this summer, I was able to do quality work while also being in a great work environment. I am grateful that I was able to work for Dunlap this summer and I believe that it is an internship that sets me up nicely for the future.”

Marshall McDuffie, Finance, Baylor University

            

What are your major takeaways from the internship?

“My major takeaway from working at Dunlap is that my communication skills have vastly improved. I am now able to talk to anybody and not have any kind of anxiety on the phone. Secondly, I learned a ton about being a young professional, improving my resume, building my network, and how to create a stable financial budget – which were all topics we covered in our weekly breakout sessions”

-Marshall McDuffie, Finance, Baylor University

“One of my major takeaways has been improving my communication skills, especially through cold calls and setting appointments.” 

-Tammy Tran, Marketing, Texas A&M University

Is there anything that you have learned here that will be beneficial in your future within the business world? If so, what is it?

“One thing I learned is the importance of being involved in professional organizations. There is an assumption that when you graduate from college, leaving all your university’s programs and clubs, you will have to be “on your own” in the professional world. I learned this is not the case and there are numerous opportunities to be in an organization with like-minded people working in the same field as me, which is comforting.”

 -Owen Steinle, Sports, Strategy, Sales, Baylor University

  “I learned the first impressions you have with others, business or social, are vital to the relationships down the road and those connections and networks can help shape your career path.”   

-Tammy Tran. Marketing, Texas A&M University 

It’s been a terrific three months here at Dunlap Marketing! We are proud to be part of our intern’s continued growth and anxiously await to see the impact they will have on the business world. For even more on our 2022 summer interns, check out our Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Summer 2022 Intern Blog PT 1

By: Tammy Tran

Summer has flown by in a blink of an eye and our Dunlap Marketing interns are gearing up to return to campus. For the past seven years, Dunlap Marketing has been passionate about developing the next generation of aspiring business leaders with our summer internship program which allows college students to gain valuable real-world experience and essential knowledge, all while growing their professional skills in a supportive and encouraging environment. The heart of our internship program is without a doubt, our dedicated leadership team that works hands-on with our interns to prepare them for their post-graduate careers.

This year Dunlap Marketing was excited to welcome three college students, from Baylor University and Texas A&M University, onboard our program. They worked on various entry-level campaigns, such as research calls and basic surveys. “We have been gathering marketing data through different mediums all summer. We have called hundreds of people, representing numerous companies, to help these companies better understand their target market,” said Owen Steinle, Baylor University. Contributing to the success of these campaigns, interns gained skills in cold-calling, lead generation, social media marketing, and B2B marketing. 

Here’s what our interns had to say about their work this summer!

“Throughout my internship at Dunlap Marketing, I got opportunity to work on several B2B campaigns, work with Kaitlin to learn the ins and outs of social media logistics and apply my creativity with managing the Dunlap Marketing social media accounts.”

– Tammy Tran, Marketing, Texas A&M University

“In summary, I would call what we did this summer ‘marketing grunt work’ because we captured the data that might initially seem insignificant, but in reality, is absolutely crucial to the marketing and sales processes.”

Owen Steinle, Sports, Strategy, Sales, Baylor University

Of course, our summer internship programs would not be complete without our weekly breakout sessions led by Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas. Breakout sessions function to bridge the gap between what they’ve learned in class and how to apply it. Interns had the opportunity to have Q&As with both, Mike Dunlap and Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas and learn from industry experts on young professional involvement, personal finance, resume optimization, and much more. It has been a wonderful summer with the addition of these talented individuals, and we can’t wait to see what comes next for them!

“My favorite thing about working at Dunlap was the breakout sessions. I learned a ton from talking to Kaitlin, Mike, and the other professionals that we met with. I felt like they were so beneficial for all the interns, and they became my favorite part of the weeks.”

Marshall McDuffie, Finance, Baylor University   

Stay tuned for next week’s blog where our interns talk about their experience being Dunlap interns and what they’ve learned. For even more on our 2022 summer interns, check out our Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. To read about our previous summer interns, check them out here; 2021, 2020, 2017, and 2016!