Do you target the right people?

We all get sales calls from time to time whether we like it or not. The ones I hate most are the ones where the product/service on offer has no interest to me. It goes without saying then that the success of your cold calling will depend on the prospect list you are using. Ensure the people you're calling are likely to be interested in what you have to offer: Don't call pensioners offering them tickets to the next Eminem concert. Spend extra time on targeting your prospect list.

For example, when we try to market our training events we take into consideration:

• Geographic spread: There's no point in calling people in another state for a half-day training event.
• Position/Title: In most databases, you'll probably have information on the prospect's job title. This is often a good reference point as you will know if you are speaking with a decision maker or not. Assume you're a sales professional for Ferrari: you wouldn't make any sales if you were to speak with CEO secretaries rather than speaking with the CEO directly!
• Interests: Some databases hold information about their interests or hobbies. This is a great way of building instant rapport with the person as you have a way of relating to that person. Even if you aren't interested in Rugby, for example, the five minutes you spend on the web researching last weekends results and whose been named in the Wallabies for the upcoming test could end up paying dividends, as the person on the other end of the phone will immediately identify with you.

Using our own SQL Servers we run queries which are able to identify people from our database that:

• Are developers (positions such as DBAs, web developers, programmers etc) in the IT industry
• Have registered themselves as interested in a particular topic (through our website or an answer on one of our evaluation surveys)
• Live in the right geographic area E.g. NSW