Cold calling is STILL the number one way to get your exact message to the right audience.

With so many tools available to connect you with potential customers, you might think of the traditional cold call as a relic from the past—but the traditional cold call can be useful for growing your business if you approach it the right way. Knowing how to properly make a cold call can save you from countless hang ups and awkward encounters, and it’s a great way to create relationships with businesses that know nothing about you or your product. Cold calls give you the opportunity to share exactly what a new potential customer needs to hear.

Think of cold calling as the best targeted marketing possible. It’s the guaranteed way to for your prospects to meet you—and you might be exactly what they are looking for.

Have a Plan

The most important thing is to have a plan in place before you make the call. Define success ahead of time.

• Do you want an email address to follow up with?
• Do you want a meeting with the CEO to pitch your product?
• Are they another contact to add to your list to build your network?
• Are they a potential customer down the line or right now?

Be very clear with yourself as to why you are making the call. Why does this company care about staying on the line to make that happen? What are you bringing to this company that makes you stand out?

Most manufacturers can’t manage more than a couple new customers at a time, so it’s critical to vet potential customers. Who is your best current customer? What products are most profitable? Don’t try to reinvent the wheel when you can pursue more of what already works.

Who to Call

Any calling program starts with knowing who you are contacting. Cold calling isn’t just randomly dialing numbers and hoping for a good conversation. It requires you to research not just who to call, but also why they would want to speak with you. Know who you are calling, who you want to talk to, and why you are the ideal solution for them right now.

Keep It Simple

Cold calling isn’t a long conversation. Think of it as an elevator pitch or networking opportunity. I’m sure you’ve been in phone conversations that dragged on and you just couldn’t wait to get off the phone! Avoid being that call. Come to the conversation prepared, with a point in mind.

Approach it the same way you would if you were meeting face to face. You aren’t looking for all the information possible about everyone in the company, just a contact point to establish a connection and hopefully lay the groundwork for the next conversation. You want to keep it short, recognize their time on the call, and go for something tangible (like an email or phone number) that you can follow up with.

Have your talking points ready, but make it quick. Remember, this isn’t a catch up with a childhood friend. It’s just a brief call to get your foot in the door.

Clear Message

Remember: every call you make is to a new person, even if you have said your spiel a million times that day. The person picking up the phone doesn’t know you at all. Begin each call by taking a moment before to create a tone is positive. It’s so easy for someone to hear a negative tone, when you sound bored or drained. Avoid this by thinking about something positive before dialing the phone. It may sound a little comic, but it does work!

You are an expert in your industry. You just need is to convince the person on the phone of that fact. Share your story and passion! Showcase what working with you would look like, with great customer service or personal responses. Focus on whatever you bring to the table that makes you the ideal company and product.

After the Call

After the call, take a moment and recap. It’s important to do this after every call while it’s fresh in your mind. Fill in your contact sheet with any information gained, and don’t forget to ask on the call for names to be spelled out and read back to ensure they are correct! Make some notes for yourself of what went well and what didn’t.

Have a draft follow-up email ready to send to all new cold call contacts. Personalize it, fill in some customized details if possible, and schedule it to send immediately while you are top of mind with the prospect. This shows that you are invested in developing this relationship. It also helps get rid of that pesky to do list of emails if you send it off right away.

If you do the heavy lifting right after the call when the information is still fresh in your mind, it can save you countless headaches and make cold calling less stressful and more rewarding.

Other options for follow-up include:

• Adding the contact to a monthly newsletter
• Setting up a quarterly call
• Following up on questions asked during the call
• Connecting on LinkedIn with a personalized note about the call
• Sending over a case study showcasing a point talked about previously

You’ve created the first point of contact with a cold call. Go for the next two or three to really stand out!

Chin Up

Don’t be discouraged if things aren’t going well. Some calls might get sent to voicemail (have a great voicemail script too!), while other might be a hang up. It happens! But every call you make brings you closer to that great new contact.

Cold calls are a chance to expand your customer base, and the people who want your product will stay on the line if you convince them fast enough that you are the one with the solution to their problems. It’s a chance to speak directly to your targeted market. And of course, if you absolutely despise cold calling, outsource it to someone who doesn’t. It’s still a great tool to find new potential business!

For more information on business development and marketing, sign up for our newsletter or Contact Us. We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss your specific needs.

Fall is just around the corner which means students will be going back to school soon. The question is, will you be prepared to engage with this future workforce? Many manufacturers have a good working relationship with their technical high schools and community colleges. However, we know that this group alone will not provide the volume of candidates that will be needed to help with the shortage of employees that manufacturers face. You need to be communicating with your comprehensive high schools as well.

There are a couple touch point opportunities that come to mind…

School curriculums can be a means of connection – example: can someone from your company present on the day students are studying simple machines? This would be a great opportunity to show the evolution of manufacturing.

Interactive experiences in the classroom – work with the teacher to create a hands-on learning experience to build something with the students – this could help to engage some students, outside the Tech Ed realm, who might not have seen themselves going into the manufacturing field previously. Interactive experiences like field trips to your facility or sponsor a trip to an innovation lab.

High school students can provide an immediate solution to the workforce shortage but you should start even sooner. Late elementary and early middle school is when the conversation about a career in manufacturing should begin.  This is also when you can engage and educate the parents who often have a significant influence on the direction of that student.

Regardless of the education level you’re engaging with, it’s important to show your commitment to the community. This can be done by meeting with key contacts, supporting fundraisers, sponsoring and attending social events, or any other role to cultivate a symbiotic relationship. It is important to remember that working with school systems means being creative and reliably showing up for the most intentional events and support.

Having a specific plan to engage is very important. While school systems can be tough to navigate, being prepared can alleviate a lot of the stress and help programming happen. Teachers and school systems may not have an opportunity to reach out to businesses for programming that connects with curriculum. However, if you bring them a program that fits their curriculum, you will find them much more receptive to engaging with you and building a relationship.

The growing generation of creators and brilliant minds are everywhere. Short and long term investments in building your workforce can begin right in your own town. It’s critical to invest in a program that takes into consideration both the frequency with which you need to engage and the content needed to obtain the desired results.  If interested in creating a plan to work with schools or learn more about how we assist manufacturers in Connecticut to be more successful, visit the Connecticut Manufacturers Resource group at ctmrg.com.

Like many of you, the bane of my work day is the email inbox. The sheer volume of never ending emails is enough to overwhelm. On top of that there are the bolded, all caps subject lines yelling to be opened and read immediately.

The challenge is that email is one of the easiest investments in communicating to and growing your customer base. So why should you bother investing time in sending out emails if they are just going to go ignored? The bigger question is: Why are your emails being ignored and how do you get people to engage?

Yes, your weekly newsletter might be getting deleted from some inboxes during the afternoon slump. But did those emails address your customers’ needs? Probably not.

When investing in an email program there are a couple essential rules to follow. The first is clean and segment your database Take an evening, delegate to an assistant, hire a marketing professional. Whatever it takes, be sure to clean up your list. What you send out, no matter how engaging, won’t matter if the right people don’t see it.

Once you have the missing names or incorrect emails filtered out you should segment your list. There are several ways to segment a list. For most manufacturers segmentation by industry is the best option. You’ll also want to note if the contact is a customer, prospect or vendor. Now you can invest in building your relationship with the people on your list.

The Case Study

The best place to start is the case study. A case study should tell a story to the reader about your company that intrigues and showcases your product and process. When curating case study content, look at the information from your audiences’ viewpoint. A case study shouldn’t have a company centric focus. It should showcase something you did for a customer that may not be readily apparent to others.

This could be based on an innovative new product, or be a story about quality or customer service. If you choose to engage in a consistent email campaign be sure to mix it up a bit. If every case study is about a product, it will feel like you’re selling at your audience.

Case studies should addresses a challenge your customer faced and the solution you worked with them to find. Create a compelling story to showcase a different side of your company outside of products. The best stories are the ones that make the reader think “Wow, if they can do that for another customer then surely they can solve my challenge”.

Note: You don’t necessarily need to mention the name of the customer to get your message across, although it’s best if you’re able to.

When you create a compelling case study that customers can relate to, they will want to know more about your company. When you talk about something that you are passionate about, people listen. Make case studies work for you and showcase that passion.

Earlier this month, we told you about a scam email that two of our clients received in December that alleged they had misused photos on their websites. This is just one of many misleading emails or outright scams out there. We will continue to share the ones we come across, but we thought this was a good opportunity to tell you about a service that can help train your employees not to fall victim to scammers.

In the case of the photography scam, we were fortunate that neither client clicked on the link embedded in the email. Most companies count on their employees to know enough to keep their systems safe; however, employees usually are not trained on what to look out for. We recommend training your employees to protect your company from cyber-attacks through phishing scams.

Firewalls and anti-malware software are critical to fighting off cybercriminals and their malicious attacks on your servers, but many employees might not recognize a phishing email or know not to click on an embedded link. One click and you could become the victim of a malware attack. Education on the subject is a must.

Phishing Training will help you…

• Improve Awareness – If an employee doesn’t know how to distinguish between a legitimate email from a trusted source versus a phishing email, your system could be compromised.
• Avoid Unplanned Costs – Cyberattacks are expensive. The bad players may be able to access your financials or charge you to get your data back and, in some cases, leave you open to a lawsuit if they access customer information.
• Ensure Compliance – It’s simple. When hackers have access to your secure data, you risk violating the law in addition to risking civil penalties or a lawsuit.
• Protect Your Reputation – No one wants to be that company in the news with the major data breach.
• Create a Team – Educating your employees allows them to work as a team that can recognize a phishing attack and report it before hackers have a chance to take advantage of your network.

For more information on computer safety training, please contact us. We’ll connect you with a service provider who can assist you with your specific company needs.

In the last month, we’ve had two clients receive similar emails. Both mentioned images that were used illegally on their website. Since we purchased all images for them, we were sure it was a scam. Fortunately, both clients forwarded us the email without clicking on anything.

PLEASE be on the lookout for any email like the one below:

Hi,

This is Meleena and I am a qualified illustrator.

I was discouraged, putting it lightly, when I recognised my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without an owner’s permission, you’d better know that you could be sued by the owner.

It’s unlawful to use stolen images and it’s so mean!

See this document with the links to my images you used at (website name) and my earlier publications to obtain the evidence of my ownership.

Download it now and check this out for yourself: (a link supposedly to a document listing the pages with the images in question)

If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll file a complaint on you to your hosting provider letting them know that my copyrights have been severely infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.

And if it is not enough, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to take legal action against you! And I won’t give you a prior notice again.s

There a are a few ways to immediately identify this as a scam:

1. Misspelled word – recognised instead of recognized (This technically isn’t a misspelling. That’s how the word is spelled by non-Americans—so it’s more an indication that it’s from another country.)
2. Request to download a file – never legit unless requested
3. Threatening language – used to scare recipient into action
4. No contact information – can’t confirm claim

This is just one of the many scams out there, but it’s rather prevalent these days. We thought we should send out a warning. Remember, NEVER download a file from an email you don’t recognize or remit any kind of payment to a person or company that you can’t confirm.

Web Savvy Marketers is proud to be a Series Sponsor of the Manufacturers Workforce Summit Series presented by Connecticut Manufacturers Resource Group.

The Manufacturers Workforce Summit Series is the state’s only workforce-building event focused solely on manufacturing. Due to the ongoing restrictions on in-person gatherings, event organizers have decided to take the Summit online in an inventive new format. Rather than a single day of workshops and networking, the second annual Summit will feature a series of six online presentations and panel discussions, to be held over the course of ten months beginning on Thursday, October 15.

Each session will be designed to give senior executives in the manufacturing industry the opportunity to learn from thought-leaders and resource providers who can offer solutions to some of the sector’s unique and pressing workforce challenges. Topics will include best practices from around the state, with presentations and panel discussions featuring manufacturers who have had success with recruiting and retaining a dedicated workforce in this highly competitive market. Serving as the program’s emcee will be Ron Angelo, President and CEO of the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) and former Deputy Commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).

The Summit Series has begun. The first event on October 15th was a success. Leesa Schipani moderated a discussion on the Second Chance Program with Peter Brunault and Angel Torres from Whitcraft and Warden Garcia from the Department of Corrections. Note: It’s not too late to sign up.

Register for the remainder of the series and you will be sent the complete video of the October event. 

Click here for more information and the dates/description of each upcoming webinar in the series.

A recent article in the CT Mirror calls on education not only to help us recover from the pessimism and economic downturn related to COVID-19, but to actually lead us to a better place than where we were before. I found that interesting, because it addresses education beyond what is taught in the classroom or measured on standardized tests. The article talks about broadening that scope to include something called Collective Impact, saying, “Collaborations such as ‘Cradle to Career’ have accelerated progress for children through collective impact. Collaboration between education and community development efforts are expanding education’s effect on communities. What other segment of organized society has such credentials?”

So how does this relate to manufacturing? Just as education has the best credentials to positively impact communities, manufacturers have the best credentials to help overcome the workforce challenge. We discussed the Collective Impact concept at last year’s Manufacturers Only Workforce Summit. It’s no longer enough to simply seek out and hire employees based on your individual needs as a manufacturer at a specific moment. If we keep doing that, manufacturers will just continue stealing the best employees from each other. Instead, we should be striving to improve the perception of manufacturing jobs throughout our communities. Before a company talks about why it’s great to work for them, they need to explain why it’s great to be in manufacturing overall.

The Manufacturers Workforce Summit Series  is being presented by CT Manufacturers Resource Group (a division of Web Savvy Marketers) and manufacturers who are committed to Collective Impact. They are willing to share their experiences and success stories to help their fellow manufacturers and boost the industry as a whole.

Last week, we addressed the need for a segmented database. Once you have that, it’s time to determine your message. Before you start writing blog posts or sending out e-newsletters, you need to decide on the “voice” of your messages. Is it going to be very professional or more casual? Will you be speaking in the first or third person? Will it differ depending on the audience? These are important things to consider before you even begin writing.

To make these decisions, you must first understand your brand. People often think that a “brand” is something that’s important for consumer products or big corporations like McDonald’s or Apple or any of those instantly recognizable logos that come to mind. But every business has a brand, whether they think they do or not. If you have customers, if you have people who are willing to give you money for something, you have a brand. A brand is like a promise. It’s everything that people know in their gut about your company—what they know they will get when they do business with you. It is what differentiates you from your competitors in the minds of the people you want to do business with.

So when you develop messages—LinkedIn posts, advertisements, press releases, email marketing, job postings (those are incredibly important right now)—keeping your brand foremost in your mind as you create them will help you to achieve consistency even though you are crafting the language to appeal to specific audiences.

One way you can flesh out your brand in your mind and use it to craft messages is by using the marketing tool called a SWOT analysis. You’ve probably done that at some point—and if you haven’t done it recently, we’d encourage you to do it especially as we enter a post-COVID 19 world, because so much about the marketplace has changed. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, the letters stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Your brand message should primarily emphasize your Strengths and Opportunities, and as much as possible, downplay your Weaknesses and Threats.

Quick example: Say your biggest strength—your differentiator, your uniqueness—is that you’ve been in business in your field longer than anyone else. You have massive experience. An Opportunity could be that you are incorporating new product lines so you can serve new customers. Perhaps a Threat is that other companies can afford to sell more cheaply than you. When you sit down to craft a message, you’ll want to keep in mind words like “respected,” “valuable,” “experienced”—because you want to attract the attention of people who value the same things you value (customers AND employees). You don’t want people who need products fast, cheap, and in bulk. That’s not you.

So get clear on your brand and what you have to offer, and WHO you want to attract. Then you can tailor your messages to your target audience while still maintaining some consistency.

Finally, a message needs to be about what matters to the person RECEIVING it, not the person sending it. If you are introducing a new product to the market, that’s a great thing to communicate. But the message needs to be about what problem it solves, and how it can make people’s work easier or their lives better. Get out of your own head. Your innovation and how smart you are for coming up with it—that’s not as important as how the product will be used.

This is especially important in the post COVID-19 market. People are helping people. Your products are helping people. I’d bet that everybody reading this has been creating something or doing something that is service-oriented over these last couple of months. That’s where the world is right now, and that’s the tone in the market. So keep that in mind. Why does what your are doing MATTER? If you talk about that, people are going to want to hear what you have to say. Next week, we’ll discuss What’s Worth Saying.