Talon Mailing &
Marketing, Inc.
561 Acorn Street, Deer Park, NY
11729
(631) 667-5500
Welcome to the Talon Mailing & Marketing January 2003
Newsletter:
Happy New Year!
To view this
newsletter using your internet browser click here:
By Adrian Miller, Adrian Miller Direct Marketing
Prospecting
for new business does not have to be a daunting experience. By following these simple “rules”, success
should be yours. But, no
shortcuts. If you want to succeed, be
honest with yourself, and follow these techniques closely.
And
remember: “Victory
belongs to the most persevering”
Napoleon Bonaparte
- The voice mail message that
you leave on a cold call MUST include a BENEFITS STATEMENT. That means you must answer the age-old
question that every prospect asks themselves when they hear a pitch..."what's in it for me!" If you do that, you'll increase
your percentage of returned calls.
- You must speak SLOW enough
for the prospect to ACCURATELY record your name and telephone number. The best way to do this.... write down
the number yourself when reciting it.
If you can record it, so can the prospect.
- Yup...we all know the
adage.... features tell, benefits
sell. Then how come so many of
us still speak in terms of features and not benefits. The prospect doesn't care what your
product or service does, they only care about what it does FOR THEM.
- Not everyone responds
to the same benefit. Make
certain that you open your sales presentation with a "general"
benefit that appeals to all, or most, prospects. Then, probe for your prospect's "hot button."
- Don't expect prospects to
listen to a monologue. After the
opening benefits statement, "engage" the prospect with a
question.
- The best questions to ask are
open-ended. Closed-ended probes get a "yes," "no"
response, or maybe a number.
Open-ended probes encourage description, feelings and dialogue.
- Do not ask more than 2
questions in a row. If you
do, you'll sound as if you are conducting an interrogation. Prioritize
your probes carefully. You never
know when the prospect is going to interrupt and stop you in your tracks.
- Try to overcome objections
BEFORE they are raised.
Proactively address prospects' points of concern and resistance.
Don't back off from objections.
While they are not the most pleasant part of the dialogue, they
provide you with the opportunity to re-sell.
- The worst objection is
the one that is unspoken.
- A request for literature is
not a dead end. Do not
automatically assume the prospect is a deadbeat. Agree with the prospect
that you will send them literature. Tell them that in order to make
certain you send the information that is most relevant to their needs, you
need to ask some questions. Make
certain that the questions will allow you to re-sell and close again. Ask
the prospect exactly what they are looking to see in the brochure / literature. Perhaps you can tell / explain it right
then.
- All prospects that
request literature should get a return phone call. Probe and find the best time / day to
callback. Send out literature within 24 hours. Better yet, ask if you can fax the literature.
- You won't make a sale, or get
an appointment, unless you ask for it. Closing rids the prospect of
uncertainty. Closing is a call
to action. You have to close more than once on each call. Be prepared.
Make prospecting a commitment
that can’t be broken. Commit to a
specific number of hours per week.
Schedule the time (no cheating!)
Remember, in life you miss
100% of the shots you never take (thank you, Wayne Gretzky). The best time to start…NOW!
Adrian Miller is a "hands-on" sales and customer service skills
trainer and consultant who plans, designs and delivers highly interactive,
innovative skills training programs that are based on "real-world"
selling situations.
You can contact her at: Adrian
Miller Direct Marketing, 43 Park Ave, Port Washington, NY 11050. Phone: 516-767-9288
Email: info@adrianmiller.com
Digital Printing
Technology – Story Update:
Last month we wrote about our new digital color duplicator and how clients will benefit from this new technology (see the archive section if you missed the story).
This month we would like to share a testimonial from our
client, Print International. They supplied us with pre-printed holiday
cards and our task was to image an inside message and a matching return envelope for Print International’s client
(non-for-profit Jewelers Charity Fund for Children). There were 30 different sets of messages and
return addresses. While traditional
off-set printing of such small runs is time consuming and costly, it is a
perfect job for our duplicator. We produced
the holiday card project for substantially less money than the non-profit spent
in previous years.
_____
Pictured: Talon produced small runs of personalized messages on the inside of pre-printed holiday cards.
Next we imaged return-addresses on matching envelopes.
In the interest of space we are including excerpts. Please contact us if you would like to see
the complete letter and job samples.
“It looks like the JCF Holiday Card project is
just about done, and I want you to know that I’m really very, very pleased…
When I asked you who was the person behind the scenes you told me about Angela
– who has certainly earned my personal gratitude.”
“Talon generated over 65,000 pieces… the job ran
superbly…controlling the counts and overseeing quality, and then trafficking
the 122 different parts and marrying up the sets to fulfill orders all the way
through the drop shipments – these are the critical steps that make or break a
job like this. There were dozens of
ways the project could have gone wrong, but with Angela’s careful attention, we
delivered on the needs of our customer without a flaw.”
As our client closed his letter, he added “One of the nice things about this job is that these
cards provide a serious source of revenue for the JCF in its mission to help
young children with catastrophic diseases.
Our ability to deliver a good job in a timely manner to the benefactors
of the charity will hopefully help the charity and thereby the children even
more next year!”
Congratulations to our employee Angela on a great job and
the recognition she received from our client!
New Clients:
Talon would like to welcome the following new clients this
month to our growing roster of clients:
Mailing
Clients:
·
Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland
New Mailing Lists Housed at Talon
(we house over 500 mailing lists)
·
EBIZQ - The Portal for e-Business Integration
·
National Legal Research Group
Mike’s Favorite Links:
Here are some links you probably are not aware of:
- Converter's Paradise - Free converters for everything
imaginable!
- Lileks.com - A fun, nostalgic site.
- scorebrowniepoints.com -
For 78 cents a day they mail you something, you take it home to your loved one.
Work
Samples:
Did you know Talon offers the following services? Click on the links below to see samples.
·
HP High
Quality Inkjet (near laser quality)
·
Data Entry
(from 100 to 100,000 names and addresses)
·
Polybag
and shrinkwrap services
·
Merge/Purge
services with comprehensive reports that can instantly be retrieved from the
internet
Click here if you
wish to see old newsletters.
Do you know of anyone else who would be interested in receiving
our newsletter? Please let us know
by email: mb@talonmm.com
To learn more about our company, please visit our web site: www.talonmm.com or contact Michael Borkan at
(631) 667-5500 x 303.