I recently met with a friend who is an expert on IT security. We were discussing Phishing, a technique internet scam artists use to attempt to get your personal or corporate information via fraudulent pretenses. Examples include emails supposedly from your bank which tells you to verify your email address and personal information via some website links or your account will be inaccessible. Or the famous note telling you they have 100,000 dollars for you if you can just help transfer 1,000,000 dollars by supplying a bank account number. (You can learn more about this and remedies at www.phishtank.com).
In the corporate world, receptionists and others, get calls everyday asking to speak to the “person in charge of IT”. Or,” I have been working with Joe Jones on a project with a consultant and it would be really helpful if you could share an organization chart or contact list.” These people can be any number of individuals: legitimate requestors, sales people attempting to penetrate your organization, competitors attempting to get proprietary information, and lastly recruiters or headhunters looking to snatch top talent.
In my organizations, we used a number of techniques that skate the borderline of phishing versus prospecting. Some examples are:
- Calling the receptionist and asking for the person in charge of IT
- Leveraging the fact that nearly 60 plus percent of emails follow two specific formats and using company list or email addresses from contacts to hit numbers people in the organization
- Using a social networking site (Plaxo, Tribe, LinkedIn, etc…) to find people who used to work at a company in a given role then calling the company to ask for them. When the receptionist says they don’t work there anymore, you ask for the current person.
- Taking the executive list from the website and using social networking to connect
- Taking association lists, chamber of commerce, tech council, etc… contact names and using technique 1, 2, or 3 to penetrate
Sales organizations and telemarketers are encouraged to use these and other techniques to gain as many contacts as possible to expand their lists and thus their addressable universe. More names, more calls - more response.
Companies, on the other hand, are encouraging their employees to be more secure with their information. They are beginning to change email formats to include middle initials or numbers to thwart the email spammers. Employees are required to attend regular training on information security and what to look for in security scams. And many have email SPAM filters that are getting more and more sophisticated.
Many inside sales representatives are finding it harder and harder to get past the gate keepers. In the decade I have been working with Tele, I have found that those who are most successful do the following:
- Are honest upfront. They identify who they are and what they are looking to get and why. Often gatekeepers will appreciate the honest and integrity of someone who is upfront.
- Their homework. They know who they are calling and what the company does so that when they speak to someone it is clear they are professional and understand what the company does.
- Communicate a very clear and compelling value proposition. Once you have gotten someone to listen, you have 10 seconds to convince them why they should let you in
- Say thanks. Regardless of outcome they are cordial and professional throughout a conversation and recognize the individual is sticking their neck out and taking time from their busy day.
As I said, there is a fine line between Phishing and solid prospecting. It is all up to you whether you are phishing or using solid prospecting techniques. If you approach you “target” with honesty and integrity, you won’t catch every one, but some day you will get the big “fish”.
Tags: call techniques, demand generation, inside, phishing, telemanagement, Telemarketing, Telesales
