7 Steps to Implementing a Smart Calling Program

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

What is Smart Calling?

A smart calling program incorporates the discipline of making prospecting sales calls with a plan. It’s having a targeted approach and a game plan that will guide you to a desired outcome.

A smart calling program has a plan that utilizes a known process that you can trust.

7 Steps to Your Smart Calling Program

The following are seven steps, developed by our team, that you and your team can follow as you prepare your own smart calling program:

  1. Data Records: clearly identify the businesses you want to call 
    • Common starting points are utilizing either a current customer list or an idle customer list
    • If you’re building a fresh list, common list-building criteria are: 
      • Specific industry categories (such as SIC codes)
      • Specific company sizes (revenue and/or employee count)
      • Defined geography
  2. Identify the Decision Maker: know who the right person is you want to talk with; if this information is not available to you, know the proper title and/or department – in today’s environment, it’s also helpful to find out if this person is working in the office or remotely
  3. Messaging: prepare a message that is brief, quickly gets to the reason for your phone call, asks good qualifying questions, asks about current satisfaction levels, and defines their future plans
  4. Utilize Technology: have a data-capture tool, such as a CRM, that allows you to efficiently document the valuable information you gather, a tool that allows you to define and schedule next steps, and might allow you to send follow up emails
  5. Train: be properly skilled to make the phone calls, roll play, and practice.  Record your live calls and listen to them and have peers listen to them  
    • If you are new to making business calls, don’t feel like you must be an expert – you do not.  Prepare yourself to answer basic questions, and this will get you much further than you think.  Remember, these calls are the beginning of the sales cycle, not the end
  6. Schedule: develop a schedule for making your smart calls and enter these times in your calendar. Create a schedule that is reasonable and achievable, then follow your plan and be patient
  7. Commit: trust your plan. If you do the work, you will start to see the results

If you follow the above steps, you will be implementing a smart calling program with a smart plan – a plan that is targeted specifically to a group of companies, some of which might become your future customers. There are common industry phrases that describe this type of work such as cold calling, telemarketing, teleprospecting, or lead generation. No matter what you call it, when it’s done properly, it is an excellent way to fill your pipeline with qualified prospect opportunities.

We live in odd times right now.  Normalcy is something that people are looking for, an example of this is human-to-human conversation.  With all of the bells and whistles that can come with sales and marketing, sometimes the simplest thing to do is call and have a conversation.

Dunlap Marketing has been in the business of building and conducting smart calling programs since 1996. Over the years, we have developed a process that we utilize with every client we serve. For more information on our programs, email Mike at miked@dunlapmarketing.com.  

Dunlap Develops the Future of Business

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Written by Audrey Tuttle

The future of the business world ultimately lies within the hands of our current generation of college students, and Dunlap Marketing is doing its part in guiding these individuals to a successful future. Our summer internship program has created an opportunity for these ambitious individuals to work first hand with the leadership team and staff at Dunlap Marketing. The five-year program is moving into its second month of operation this summer, and these five college students could not be happier to continue getting their feet wet within the field.

Our interns have built upon their prior knowledge of business and have gained the skills that are critical to have in your tool box before taking the big step of earning a job after college. They have gained experience in cold calling, lead generation, telemarketing, marketing through social media, data research, B2B operations, and much more. Additionally, through the weekly breakout sessions with Mike Dunlap and Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas, the interns have gained expertise on the ins and outs of being successful in the work force.

Of course, these statements can only be backed with a fun Q&A with the interns…

What work you have been doing at Dunlap Marketing?

“Making phone calls to capture data, working with other employees on campaigns, acquiring new clients for businesses.” Grant Haney, Texas A&M University, Finance

 “I have had the opportunity to build upon my communication skills through cold-calling and acquiring important information for databases. My other work responsibility has allowed me to expand my creativity as it involves creating and scheduling all social media posts for the company and writing company articles.” Audrey Tuttle, Texas Tech University, Marketing

What skills have you developed while working at Dunlap?

“Through my internship at Dunlap Marketing, I have enhanced my communication skills through phone calls and learned how to be persistent when making sales calls. I have developed a better sense of self-motivation and worked on adapting to whatever campaign I am assigned to.” Grace Mosby, The University of Texas at Austin, Business Major

“Some skills I have developed while working at Dunlap are spreadsheet organization and navigation, phone call communication skills, and more effective time management.” Addi Barrett, Belmont University, Commercial Music/Songwriting

            What exciting things our interns have to say about their internship experience! Don’t worry, we have more responses where that came from! Check out next week’s article for a part two of the intern’s Q&A. You won’t want to miss it.

Applying Salesmanship 101 Principles

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Updated – December 2019

Since this article was originally posted in March 2017, much remains the same with our five-year client. The program has continued to grow in the United States – Dunlap Marketing also has the pleasure of supporting the Canadian team now. The process is unchanged, but has been further refined and additional database files have been built and added to the program.

Defining your target marketing, tactfully and respectfully reaching out to them, then making appropriate follow-up steps are the epitome of salesmanship 101 principles. Nothing fancy, just effective.

Original Article – March 2017

An international oil and gas company, and two-year Dunlap Marketing client, has proven when it comes to selling, salesmanship 101 principals still remain. Dunlap Marketing provides an integral function of making prospecting telephone calls into businesses around the US that have large and medium fleets of vehicles. The objective is to schedule phone or face-to-face appointments with interested prospects and our client’s regional sales managers.

“You guys are on fire in my area! Two proposals went out this week from your leads.” – Mid-states region

Process:

  • Before calling began, Dunlap researched and built a national database consisting of our client’s target prospects, based on industry-type and fleet size
  • Once the database was built, Dunlap called to identify the person responsible for decisions relating to fuel card programs
  • Through tactful persistence, Dunlap makes ongoing telephone calls to communicate with this person – the goal being to learn how their company’s current fuel card program works and identifying potential interest in meeting with our client’s regional sales managers
  • Upon request of the prospect, the Dunlap team will email additional information about the program to prospects who want to learn more before scheduling an appointment
  • Throughout the course of calling, Dunlap adds additional database records to the master list. New records can come from either our client’s CRM or through additional research
  • The ultimate goal continues to be scheduling appointments, with a major focus on new business development

“Thanks for the leads Mike. I sang your company’s praises last week at our national sales meeting. I think your staff does a great job.” – Southeast region

Additional Value-Adds:

  • Maintaining CRM application to properly track/manage appointments we set
  • Blitz programs isolating certain events or markets that include a targeted initiative around selling more fleet fuel card programs
  • Internal, weekly product training for continuous education of the Dunlap staff

“Our sales manager was able to speak with all of the calls scheduled! AND one of them is likely to close a deal with us! Nice job! – Marketing Manager

The success of this campaign is based on applying basic salesmanship 101 tactics. Proper planning, messaging, cold calling, strategic follow up calls, and use of email correspondence are the building blocks of selling.

For questions or inquiries, contact us online. Or, reach out to Mike Dunlap at miked@dunlapmarketing.com, 281.496.9870 x 140 or Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas at kaitlind@dunlapmarketing.com, 281.496.9870 x 180.

The Best Way to Make Cold Calling Work

Posted on by Kaitlin Dunlap

Throughout Dunlap Marketing’s 22 years, there is one question we are very accustomed to hearing – what is the best way to make cold calling work? While this sounds like a simple question, it’s not always a simple answer.

The Best Way to Make Cold Calling Work

The truth is, cold calling absolutely works; however, as with any marketing campaign, cold calling works best when used in conjunction with other forms of marketing (ie: email, social media, etc.).

To dig deeper and to get more specific, cold calling works best with a strategic plan. Let’s play a quick game –

Would you rather spend your marketing dollars calling into random companies who may or may not (likely, not) be interested in your product / service OR would you rather spend that same money calling a customized list of companies who match your target prospects? I think I can guess your answer to this question.

Hungry for more on how to build a database?

How about this – would you rather spend money and time calling into prospects without a clear direction for your call OR would you rather spend time and money having productive conversations with prospects, always having a defined next step? Again, I’m going to assume you’d prefer the latter! And if not, why in the world are you wasting your time reading this article?!

Trying to figure out how to write a telemarketing script? We can help with that! 

In a nutshell, the two best ways to make cold calling work are to incorporate it as one component of a larger marketing campaign and to approach it with a strategic plan.

For more information, please reach out to Dunlap Marketing.

Contact form

Mike Dunlap – miked@dunlapmarketing.com – 281.496.9870 x. 140

Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas – kaitlind@dunlapmarketing.com – 281.496.9870 x. 180