Morning,

Normally I don't cross post questions, however....

The below appeared in the moderstors box and I
thought it relevent.

Please note:

Natalie is after suggestions NOT Solicitations.

Hi All.
I was after a bit of advice really.
I found your site by chance through google but not too sure where to post my question.
Maybe you can direct me.

I have been employed as office manager for a pharmacy service supplier to care homes.
This is a hub office, the Head office being based in the South West.

My first job is to develop the business. This is not my forte and I could do with some advice if you are able to do that.

I have a database of around 350 care homes in the the Midlands area. I have devised a survey to ask the managers
of these care homes to ascertain where there current suppliers may be failing and where we may be able to step in
and improve their service.

I am finding people are happy to complete the survey with me but are also happy with their providers.

Do you have any advice on how I can persuade these people on letting me book appointments
to go in and show them what we can do for them.

I am confident once a face to face meeting is arranged I can secure the business
but telemarketing is not my area and I'm finding myself struggling.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Natalie


Regards

DaveA

I don't have much time but here goes.

You have no problem getting through to them and no problem getting them to complete the questionnaire, thats good your obviously doing that part right.

The face of B2B telemarketing is changing and you will find you get a very low return by calling businesses and selling your business on features and benefits alone, you need a compelling reason or message. Not that your FAB's arent compelling enough its just that you have to be a little more inivative these days.

I would recommend taking a percentage of the 350 you have and calling them asking questions like what are the best points of the people your with at the moment, people are always to very happy to talk about the positives. This should get them to open up then follow this with, if you were looking for improvements which areas would you like them to focus on.

This type of information gathering will give you a good understanding of your target market. Once you have this you can build a targeted campaign, come up with some key points that you think are real sellers and go out with the message.

Beyond that I cant really help, also dont forget to get TPS cleaned data as you could be calling in contratdiction of the TPS rules and reg's.

Jason

Thanks for this Jason.
I will take on board your suggestion.
Having never worked in this area before I'm finding it hard to know where to start!!
As I'm heading up the hub obviously it falls on me to make the branch a success.

Any other suggestions welcomed.

Thanks

Natalie

I know I have never turned down a free lunch from a vendor wanting to sell me something!

:D

The size, management and nature of care homes being what they are, don't focus entirely on the objective aspects of service. If they're happy with their current suppliers, they're likely to be happy with the people they're dealing with. So part of your task is to project a personality for your company and let them know they're dealing with "real people", too.

I think 350 free lunches may be stretching my budget a little ;)

Thanks for your reply Max, that is exactly what I am finding. While running through the survey I'm noting anything negative at all to say about their current suppliers and using it to my advantage at the end.

Its the end of a long week and I'm happy to say it got a little more successful towards the end!

Don't forget to spend enough time researching your competition - particularly if their cutomers are so satisfied with them...what are they good at in particular? What are their weak points? What do they offer that you don't? how can you include their plus points in your own offering?

Natalie,

When a salesperson calls a customer who has made a buying decision they often hear the "we are happy with our current supplier". Google for SPIN selling, you may find that your survey is aimed around "situation" type questions and you need to develop that into "problem" questions to widen the gap and make the customer realise the deficiencies of their current supplier.

Good luck

James