So over at Mojo Marketing, Angela has been blogging about a couple of awful networking experiences (like this one and this one). I have been having my own issues with tele-marketers and execs at startups.
Twice last week, online video/collab/conferencing companies have asked for 90 minutes each for our first call. 90 minutes? Are you kidding me? Who has 90 minutes for sales talk? I asked for 30 minutes. One guy said that his stuff required at least 60 minutes. Really? You can't pitch your product on the first sales call in 30 minutes? Did you invent a replacement for water? That might take 90 minutes even with my chemistry degree, but video conferencing/collab??? Um, I use webex, GTM, Vidtel, Zoom.us, Join.me, Jabber, Skype, Hangouts every day.
Folks, if you are selling for your company (and hint: every employee is a salesperson for their company - EVERY employee!), then be able to pitch it in less than 30 minutes.
No VC or journalist (or cranky @ss blogger) is going to pay attention after 15 minutes. Honestly.
I could tell from the email that the pitch was going to be all about their secret sauce and tech-mumbo-jumbo. Not to spoil what your moomy told you for years, but it isn't that special. In 15 years in telecom, special sauce or an A-HA are extremely rare.
Your pitch has to be about you about THEM. Get it? Not let me puke on you for 90 minutes about our platform and features. Even your grandma would tell you to Shhhhh. It has to be a story about how owning your service will benefit them.
Dear Tele-Marketers, if you start off with a disjointed opening, like is this RAD-INFO? May I speak with the person in charge? You are done. The next sound you hear will be a click. It takes all of 5 minutes to Google my company and know who owns it. Apparently, you did NO research and are robo-dialing, which means anything else you have to say will also not be about ME, so thanks for the interruption but I have stuff to do (like write this blog about your awful sales tactics! But thanks for the content idea!)
It amazes me that in this day and age, people still don't have a clue; they don't prepare; and they puke all over you. (Be thankful I didn't add a picture.)
If you want to succeed, prepare!
If your opening isn't working, try being human and friendly. Or Google tele-marketing tips. There are thousands of sales training videos on YouTube. I know you have to make 150 dials today, but don't you want to be better?
