Fish On.
Saltwater fish (non-herbivores) only eat twice per day on average. Shore fishermen would have a much easier task if fish ate at the same time every single day. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, as fish tend to wait until they are hungry. The best times to fish are during the hungry times, which vary due to many variables including wind, tide, temperature, availability of meals, and more.
Therefore, shoreline fishermen tend to cast lines out and wait for the right time. You see, they don’t know the opportune time, so they will simply wait it out.
Similar to fish, we don’t know the exact time that is best to call the Head of eCommerce at a major online retailer. Our goal with outbound phone calls is to ‘catch’ the prospect at a time where they can talk to us, but each prospect has a different time on each day.
Sales Hack: Call One Prospect Four Times in Nine Hours
Disclaimer: Don’t do this right out of the gate. But, if you’ve run a multi-touch outbound campaign and still have not gained a reply, here’s a good way to improve your sales success.
Use the ‘reminder’ function of your calendar to manage this process, and design a pop-up alert for yourself four times a day. If using Google Cal, you’ll have to set the reminder for tomorrow to make this work.
Call your prospect early in the morning, and leave a voicemail message. In the message, let them know you’ve had trouble reaching them, but you will “try several more times today to catch them.” On all the other three attempts, if they do not answer, do not leave a message.
This is much more effective than calling the same prospect one time every two weeks. How do I know? Because you haven’t caught this fish yet, so your process isn’t working. It’s time to mix things up.
If you are collaborating with a gatekeeper, ask him “What’s a good time to catch {first name}?”
If you do not ‘catch’ your prospect, then 1) send an email late in the day suggesting three times eight days out, and then 2) make a note to reach back out one month later. There’s a chance your prospect will reply to your email (finally). If not, no harm no foul – you’ve spent approximately four minutes on this alternate technique.
Please, do not call someone four times per day for several days in a row – this is “harassment.” But remember, you have a solution that they need, so it is ok to be pleasantly persistent. And your persistence (including early morning messages) demonstrates that you are a hard worker, and this helps to earn business down the road.
