About Michael Cooch

Michael Cooch is the founder and CEO of Kutenda, a marketing services frm that helps small
businesses promote and build their businesses by delivering affordable, innovative marketing
campaigns and strategies. Mike brings nearly a decade of experience as a successful
entrepreneur in technology and business services.
Prior to Kutenda, Mike founded Everon Technology Services-an MSP serving the SMB
market-in 2003, and successfully sold the business in 2010. While at Everon, Mike was
recognized several times as one of the 250 most infuential people in the marketplace, and
Everon was recognized in Inc. Magazine as one of the 5000 fastest growing companies in
America three times.
Mike is now also the Publisher of the Local Income Lab, a newsletter and membership site
delivering business-building strategies for local offine marketers.
Some nice things said about Mike
"Ive learned so much about building a business from Mike, I wouldnt even know where to
start. Listen to what he has to say and your business will grow faster."
Josh Clifford, Vice President & General Manager, PlumChoice Business Services
"They broke the mold at the very start of the MSP revolution. They were the frst partner to really
understand the MSP model from marketing all the way through to delivery. When we frst met
they said 'your job is simple; implement ConnectWise to make us scalable and fully integrated to
match our integrated approach to managed services. It was the frst 'Pure Play MSP I had ever
seen and I was astonished at how focused and driven they were toward every process of their
business. They are on my top 10 list of 'Wow Entrepreneurs."
Arnie Bellini, CPA, MBA, CEO of ConnectWise
"Ive seen Mike take managed services from an idea in his head to a multi-million dollar business
in just a few years. Everyone in our industry has something they can learn from his experiences
building Everon and his general passion for business and entrepreneurship."
Nancy S. Keddy, CEO of NSK Inc. and Touch Ahead Software
"Mike was a great source of ideas and inspiration for me as I built my managed services
business into one of the fastest growing in Canada. When it comes to building a business fast,
he knows what he is talking about!"
Trent Dyrsmid, founder of Dyrand Systems
"Thank you for sharing the lessons you have learned ... It has helped our team in creating a
winning sales compensation plan for our sales team."
Brian Doyle, Fuss and O`Neill Technologies
Note from Mike
There is gold in them thar hills!
Small businesses are an awesome opportunity for entrepreneurs like you to build a great
business and lifestyle. There are so many of them, and collectively they are spending untold
amounts of money on products and services from entrepreneurs like you.
But the small business marketplace can also be tough. If you approach it with the wrong
strategies, trying to grow your business can be too hard and not a lot of fun!
Business should be fun!
I`m a big believer in this statement. If you aren`t having fun, fnd something else to do! Life is too
short, and you spend way too many hours in the offce to not enjoy what you are doing each day.
I love business. It`s the only thing I`ve found (other than my 4-month-old!) that can keep me up at
night, fred up to learn more, get better, and try to fnd a way to win! I read every book, take every
class, and fnd every opportunity to learn that I possibly can.
Growing your business by fnding new customers and delivering a great product or service
should be really fun-it should be the best part about business, aside from possibly getting to
deposit your checks each day.
That doesn`t mean it will always be easy of course-but with the right strategies the good days
should defnitely outweigh the bad.
I`ve built two multi-million dollar businesses provided services to the SMB marketplace, earning
recognition as one of the leaders in our industry, an expert in the SMB marketplace, and a three-
time winner of the Inc. Magazine list of the 5000 fastest growing businesses - and I`ve had a lot
of fun along the way! I don`t say that to brag; rather to impress upon you that I have some real
experience that I think can be of value to you.
It`s my sincere desire that this guide opens your eyes to the key strategies that will give you a
greater capacity to succeed and enjoy what you are doing each day.
If I can make that happen, mission accomplished!
Best wishes,
Mike Cooch
Who this guide is for
This guide was written for entrepreneurs selling into the huge marketplace of small businesses.
The SMB market-as it`s come to be known-has been identifed as the "last great frontier"
because of its huge aggregate size and spending power. But most looking to sell into the SMB
space are doing it all wrong, oftentimes leaving the market in frustration, and with less money
than they started with!
I`m going to share with you the key things I`ve learned from my years of experience building
businesses that serve the SMB market. If you fnd just one good "nugget" in this guide, I`m sure it
will improve your chances of success, and ultimately your income.
About the SMB marketplace
As you already know, the small business marketplace in the United States creates a massive
opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to establish their own business. According to the U.S.
Census Bureau, there are over 28 million businesses in the United States and approximately
25,000,000 of those are considered small businesses.
The size of this marketplace obviously creates many opportunities, but the small business
marketplace has unique challenges that can make it diffcult for an entrepreneur to succeed.
What is a small business, anyway?
The frst of these challenges is just defning exactly what a small businesses is. Any good
business will target its products and services specifcally to the needs of a prospective customer.
However, in the small business marketplace it`s not clear exactly what a customer is.
Is a small business the single person working out of his or her home offce with no employees
and only a part-time income? Or is a small business the 45-person law frm that pulls in $10
million a year in revenue?
Obviously these two types of businesses-while both considered small by most defnitions-have
very different resources, and have very different needs.
If you are to be successful selling to small businesses, you really must understand the specifc
type of small business you`re going after and tailor your products and services, as well as your
sales and marketing messaging, to a specifc audience.
Again, according to the U.S. Census, the vast majority of businesses in America are non-
employer frms, meaning that they don`t have any employees on payroll besides the actual owner
of the company. This constitutes roughly 22 million of the over 28 million businesses in the United
States.
Businesses employing between 1 and 19 people make up about 11 million businesses in the
United States.
Businesses with 20 to 99 employees make up about 500,000 businesses in the United States.
I think that most people believe that the business stops being small at 100 employees. By that
point, they are usually a very established and proftable business-not exactly what we think
of as the mainstream small business. For our purposes, will focus on everything under 100
employees.
But as you can see, even below 100 employees, there is a great degree of variability. Do you
plan on targeting the solo entrepreneur working alone from her home, maybe just part time while
holding another job?
Or do you plan on targeting the much smaller number of companies that have more than 20
employees but less than 100?
Or is the sweet spot the 11 million businesses that lie between?
There`s no right answer. Each of these markets can serve as a perfect area of opportunity to
build your business.
But hopefully it`s obvious that the way you structure your products and services, as well as
market and sell those services, will be signifcantly different from one end of the spectrum to the
other.
Challenges selling to small businesses
No matter which market you decide to target, selling to small businesses can be challenging.
Small businesses often have the fnancials of the consumer but the expectations of an enterprise.
This combination can create a very time-consuming and costly sales and marketing process, and
lead to a very frustrating business-building experience.
To be successful, you must create product and service bundles that are priced right, very easy
to understand, and very effcient and cost effective to deliver. If you get just one of these factors
wrong, you can be doomed to struggle in building your business.
The get them right, and you can tap into an incredible opportunity.
Challenges servicing small businesses
As I said before, the small business marketplace can have the budget of the consumer but the
expectations of enterprise. This creates service challenges, just as it created sales and marketing
challenges.
Deliver too much service, and the small business marketplace will eat you alive. Deliver to little
service, or set the wrong expectations about your service, and word will get out that you "don`t
understand the needs of small businesses," a phrase that has doomed many businesses trying
to break in into the SMB marketplace before you.
Psychology of the SMB
Despite the huge variety in size of small businesses, I believe that they do share common
psychological characteristics that when understood will help you achieve the greatest degree of
success with your sales and marketing efforts.
People start small businesses for a few reasons that seem to be common no matter their size.
Talk to just about any small-business owner and you will hear the same messages echoed over
and over again in your conversations. They started their businesses because they wanted to
escape the perceived shackles of the corporate world and control their own destiny.
Specifcally, you hear the same desires expressed over and over:
Freedom
Balance
Control
These are the desires of the small-business entrepreneur.
I`m sure these desires ring true to you as well. You are most likely engaged in this business part-
time, while you continue to work at a job you are completely satisfed with until you`re making
enough money at your own business to set yourself free.
Or perhaps you got so fed up with that job that you took the leap to be a full-time entrepreneur.
You determined that you must be in control of your own future and nothing else will do.
Either way, I congratulate you. I have the utmost respect for entrepreneurs.
And either way, you have perfect insight into the mindset of the small businesses you are
targeting and the messaging you must use to get their attention and get them to open up their
wallets for your products and services.
In this document, I will reveal to you the seven secrets that-based on my experience building to
multimillion dollar companies-are necessary to win in the small business marketplace.
There is no doubt that there is "gold in these hills," but it will take the right strategies to tap into
this opportunity.
The 7 Secrets to Winning in the SMB Marketplace
1. Automate Everything
The frst secret for success is to automate everything. Now, obviously not everything can
be automated, but your mindset should be to fnd every opportunity to take advantage of
technology and automation to make your business more effcient and free up your time for your
most productive activities.
As a small business yourself, you must treat every minute of every day and every dollar that
you have available to you as sacred. Waste either, and you will quickly realize that you are not
likely to make much more money than the job you quit prior to starting your business.
Simple, automated operations are key to success.
You must be aggressive at minimizing overhead at every opportunity.
And you must take advantage of the technology available to you today-many of them are
truly a godsend for the small business.
The dream situation is that you automate every routine task in your business so that you can
spend time only on the things that you are most passionate about and that which bring most
value to your customers and to your business.
Now, this may seem like it just a dream, but it is becoming more and more of a reality every
day.
Every day, new systems are created that allow small businesses to market, sell, produce,
deliver, and invoice their services without ever having to be involved with any manual effort.
If you hope to build a high-margin business that provides you with the income, lifestyle, and
freedom of time that you so desired when you started your business, you must be ruthlessly
focused on automation.
2. Focus on a Vertical
I mentioned earlier that it`s critical that you determine the size of business that you want to
focus your sales and marketing efforts on, but it`s just as important that you also choose a
vertical to focus on as well.
By vertical I mean a specifc industry that you will target your sales and marketing towards.
Why focus on a particular vertical?
Two key reasons:
Creating a strong market-to-message match
Creating and delivering the most effective and effcient product or service
Creating a strong marketing message means that you are aligning your sales and marketing
with the very specifc needs of the vertical that you are targeting.
It`s pretty simple to realize that the best marketing message for a real estate agent will be
very different from the best marketing message for a doctor. And yet most businesses market
to small businesses as if they`re all just one big blob of customers that need the exact same
things.
This is the biggest mistake you can make in marketing your business.
You must pick a vertical and tailor your messaging using language that they recognize and
focus on the specifc challenges and desires that they have.
That to be clear, I`m not suggesting that you can`t provide products or services to more than
one vertical-you can. But I am suggesting that for each vertical that you are working with you
should create tailored messaging to get the best results from your sales and marketing efforts.
If you are just getting started, I would pick one vertical that you believe you`ll have a good
chance of success with and create all of your sales and marketing messaging focused on that
one vertical. Once you`ve had success there, you can decide one that`s right for you to expand
into additional verticals.
If you`ve been in business for some time and you`re looking for ways to maximize your results
and speed the growth of your business, my experience is that nothing will do more for you then
choosing a vertical that you`re already having success in and focusing like a laser in your sales
and marketing efforts on that one space for a period of time.
The decision to focus on one vertical initially has been the rocket fuel that is has allowed my
existing business to grow at an incredibly fast rate.
Likewise, tailoring your product or service to the specifc needs of a vertical you are targeting
would get you similar benefts.
Although small businesses share many characteristics, they would like to believe that they are
unique and that your products and services recognize their unique needs.
Deliver what they perceived to be as a generic product or service, and they`ll believe that you
don`t understand their needs and will seek out a vertical-specifc solution to replace you.
Alternatively, deliver a product or service that is perceived to be tailored to their specifc needs
and you can win rabidly loyal customers that will stick with you for life and proactively refer you
to their peers in their industry. This can ignite incredibly fast growth.
Now, it`s important that you note that I use the word perceived in the previous paragraph.
In most cases tailoring your product or service to a specifc vertical is more a matter of
perception than it is any dramatic changes that you`ll actually have to make your product or
service. Often times, it`s just the packaging that will do the trick.
Don`t limit yourself by thinking that tailoring your products or services to or vertical will be too
much work to be worth it-my experience is that it`s typically not the case.
3. Find and Use Aggregators
Marketing to thousands or even millions of small businesses can seem like an overwhelming
proposition if you`re starting from scratch.
That`s why it`s important to leverage existing channels that we call aggregators.
What is an aggregator?
An aggregator is something that can act as a channel for you to reach your targeted vertical or
targeted geographic market as easily and cost-effectively as possible.
Many businesses or organizations have already done the hard work of fnding and aggregating
small businesses into common groups by vertical industry, interest, geographic market.
It`s important to realize that you don`t need to start from scratch.
What are some examples of aggregators? The following aggregators have been used
successfully by many marketers trying to tap the small business marketplace:
American Express
YEO (now EO) and YPO
Inc., Fast Company and Entrepreneur magazines
National industry associations
Local industry associations
Chambers of commerce
Meetup groups
LinkedIn groups
Email newsletters
There are many more .
If you attempt to market to small businesses without taking advantage of these aggregators,
you will be at a serious disadvantage to the competition. Smart marketers will use these
aggregators to get higher response from their marketing messages at minimal cost and
eventually drive you out of business or leave you with nothing but the table scraps.
While it can sometimes require more work to access these aggregators for the frst time, the
long-term payoff is more than worth it.
4. Be Easy to Do Business With
One of the surefre ways to fail in serving the small business marketplace is to overcomplicate
your product, service, or business processes. Small businesses don`t have the patience to
work with a vendor that is diffcult to do business with.
Again, keep in mind that you are your market!
Just as you will be looking for every way to automate your business and conserve your scarce
resources, so will the small business customers that you`re selling to. Make it too diffcult for
them, and they`ll seek out the competition.
How do you make yourself easy to do business with? There are countless number of ways, but
here are several that I`ve found to have the most impact:
Use simple contracts that you don`t have to be an expert lawyer to understand
Make it very clear how to reach you-I typically suggest a single phone number and single
email address to access anything in your company
Simplify the features of your products and services to the point that you can represent them
in a brief list that clearly explains to each customer what it is that you`re delivering as well
as the benefts of buying from you
Create pricing that is very simple to understand
Use automated support and ticketing systems that ensure that you are tracking and
following up on any outstanding issues in a timely manner
As you build your business you`ll fnd many opportunities to make your company easy to do
business with. Never stop searching for ways to simplify how you interact with your customers
and make it easier for them to buy from you, use your product or service, and refer you to
others.
5. Create Affordable Offerings
In most cases-not all, but most-small businesses are pretty tight on money. It is critical that
you create offerings that meet their needs and are also very affordable if you hope to maximize
the volume of purchases and response from your marketing efforts.
I was recommend those selling to small businesses package their products or services into
three tiers:
The frst tier should be an entry-level package that should be affordable to all businesses in the
market that you`re targeting. This product may not necessarily be the most proftable for you,
but it`s a way of getting in the door in establishing a relationship with a new customer that gives
you opportunity to grow that customer into more lucrative products or services.
The second tier should be the package that you believe will meet the needs of the majority of
the marketplace while being proftable enough for you to build a healthy business on. This is
your "bread-and-butter" package, so to speak.
The third tier should be an upsell package for those that want the best product or highest level
of service and are willing to pay for it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not having
these more expensive packages in your business, as just having 15 percent of your customers
take you up on these can nearly double your bottom line.
It`s been my experience in selling many products and services to small businesses that 20
percent of the customers will fall into that frst tier, 60 percent will fall into the middle tier, and
20 percent will opt for the most expensive package that you offer.
This distribution has proven to be very predictable over time.
By understanding this bell curve of buyer behavior, you can create entry-level packages
that allow you to get into almost any account an upsell the majority of them into your more
proftable offerings.
6. Create Recurring Revenue
The single strategy that has resulted in the greatest degree of business success for me is my
ability to create subscription-based offerings for my customers that, in turn, create recurring
revenue streams for my business.
Selling to a small business can often take just as much time us selling to a much larger
business. If you are only selling to them once, it is very unlikely that you`ll have a business
model that will ever produce much income or growth.
You must package your products and services in such a manner that you create recurring
revenue so that every time you sell to a new customer you are taking maximum fnancial
advantage of that new relationship.
This is the difference between spending every single day selling just to put your next meal
on the table, versus being able to take vacations with your family knowing that you have a
predictable income stream.
Creating recurring revenue offerings is easier than it may initially seem, although I have found
most people believe that their product or service can`t be offered this way.
It is absolutely critical that you don`t dismiss the idea of turning your product or service into a
recurring revenue package.
How do you create recurring revenue offerings? There are many ways:
Create an ongoing done-for-you service
Create and ongoing management or support service
Create a content subscription (e.g. monthly newsletter) that keeps your customer up to date
with the latest and greatest information related your product or service
Simply take a high dollar product or service and create a fnancing option that allows the
customer to pay over time, and of course at a premium to the price based on that option to
pay over time
Again, there are many more ways to do this. An absolute must is that you take the time to
brainstorm recurring revenue packages that will turn your customers into long-term clients that
pay you over and over.
7. Use proven sales and marketing strategies
OK, here`s where the rubber meets the road in terms of actually generating revenue from your
small business prospects.
Selling to small businesses is a strange mix that includes some of the strategies used for
selling to a larger enterprise as well as some of the strategies used for selling directly to a
consumer.
Small businesses lie somewhere in between, and your strategies and tactics must take this
into consideration.
That being said, sales and marketing always comes down to selling to an individual. You must
always consider the psychological factors of that individual when creating your sales and
marketing message and approach.
Marketing
When it comes to marketing to small businesses, I have created what I call the "Five E`s of
Marketing to Small businesses" that have served me well over the years.
The fve E`s are:
Empathy
Education
Entertainment
Events
Evidence
I do my best to incorporate all fve into any marketing activities that we`re doing to attract and sell
to small business customers.
The frst E is empathy: it`s critical that you are able to empathize with your small business
prospect. This is the heart of what was covered up until now in this document.
You must understand the unique needs and challenges (real and perceived) of the market you`re
selling into and be able to empathize with them in your marketing communication so that it
resonates most effectively with your prospect.
This is what prevents your marketing message from being too generic or completely off target.
The second E is education. Small businesses don`t have the training budgets and resources that
large enterprises do, but they realize that they must continuously learn if they hope to continue to
grow and improve upon their businesses.
If you can use your marketing as an opportunity to educate your prospects, they will view you
as a trusted resource that adds value to them, and they will be more likely to return the favor by
giving you their business.
The third E is entertainment. The greatest sin that you can make in your marketing is to be
boring and forgettable. Small-business owners are typically working very, very long hours without
the benefts of the huge expense accounts and fun corporate boondoggles that big company
employees get to take advantage of.
By fnding ways of making your marketing entertaining, interesting, funny, and even exciting, you
will earn the attention of the small business marketplace.
People love to be entertained! Find a way to incorporate entertainment into your marketing at
every opportunity.
The fourth E stands for events. Small-business owners and employees love to take the
opportunity to escape from the routine of their business and attend events such as seminars,
parties, and meet-ups.
By hosting these events you can position yourself and your company as a central fgure in their
business life and the most likely candidate to do business with.
The ffth and fnal E stands for evidence. Small businesses are being aggressively marketed
to from just about every angle these days. To achieve the most credibility and get the most
response from your marketing you need to provide as much evidence as possible that what you
say is actually true.
It`s not enough to say that your product or service will deliver benefts; you need to actually show
these benefts being achieved.
The most common way to do this is through testimonials from satisfed customers that have
already consumed your product or service.
You can never have too many testimonials!
Make it a point to collect testimonials at every opportunity and use them throughout your
marketing messages as frequently as possible.
In addition, look for other ways to demonstrate the value of your products or services. Depending
on what you offer, this could be by creating some visual demonstration of your product or service
inaction, or could be simply collecting specifc data about the fnancial savings or performance
improvement you are able to achieve for another customer.
Whatever it is, always look for ways to include evidence in your marketing message.
Selling
When it comes to you selling to small businesses, sales and marketing truly do go hand in hand.
I seriously doubt that you have the budget or time for doing market campaigns just for the sake of
branding.
You need results at a price you can afford!
To get them, you must make sure that your marketing creates awareness of your products and
services AND actually gets people to respond. Then your sales efforts come in to close the deal.
Trying to sell without a good marketing effort to lead the way . sucks.
Conversely, marketing without a good sales process to back it up is leaving money on the table.
You need to make sure you strategically use both to get the best results.
So when it comes to marketing and selling to small businesses specifcally, what works?
In my experience, there are two key rules of selling to small businesses that can`t be ignored:
1. Getting people on the phone works!
2. Anything that marketing can do to help get people on the phone is fantastic!
I have built two multi-million-dollar businesses using affordable marketing tactics and following up
with phone calls.
Specifc market tactics that we rely on heavily include:
Email campaigns
Webinars
Speaking opportunities
AdWords ads
Direct mail
Drop offs
Lunch and learns
All of these are affordable enough for just about everyone to do, and with a little creativity, each
can incorporate the fve E`s we discussed earlier.
To make these tactics most effective, you should practice the following:
Employ multiple tactics
Do them consistently over time; the longer you are out in the marketplace on a consistent
basis, the more success you will have
Always have a call to action
Be clear about the next step you expect them to take
The foundation cold calling
I know people don`t want to hear this, but cold calling works and is a foundation of any small
business prospecting campaign. Yes, other things may seem easier and more effective, but cold
calling has been around for a long time for one reason-it works.
We built our business for three years doing essentially nothing but cold calling. We had no
money, we had no marketing people, and we didn`t have any of the ideas I`m about to share with
you-all we had was time and a desire to get off the ground. So we picked up the phone and
started dialing.
It`s not sexy. It`s not easy. But it works.
To this day, our salespeople make 50+ sales calls each and every day. I think this will always be
the case.
You`ve got to learn to love the phone!
Cold calling expectations
The reason most people dislike cold calling is because they have the wrong expectations. If you
think that every call you make is going to result in someone being glad to hear from you, then
you will of course be sadly disappointed.
However, if you understand that for every 50 calls or so you are likely to get one good
appointment that may lead to business, then you will be able to fnd success.
Fifty calls for every appointment may not sound like a great ratio to you, but considering you can
make 50 calls in one day, it`s not that bad. The way to improve that ratio is to "warm up" the calls
you make, and every one of the additional techniques we cover will help you do so.
Don't wing it!
Every call you make should have a script that you follow. You should always be testing and
refning your script based on what works for you. Try one script for a week and carefully record
your results, then try another script that is slightly modifed from the original for a week and
compare the results. Continuously work this process and your script will continuously improve.
There are all kinds of ideas on how to cold call. Some of it comes down to personal preference
and what feels comfortable to you, but it should primarily be based on performance and results;
after all, most people fnd any cold calling uncomfortable-you can`t let that stop you!
The following script works. I frst heard it from my friend Andrew Morgan, but I had always
practiced something similar, if a little less refned, myself. I`ve broken it down below to illustrate
the specifc steps of the call. These steps are critical; the specifc language you use at each step
is less so. It goes like this:
1. Get their attention
Use an opening line that will get them to pay attention to you. Just using their name is enough:
"Jim - Mike Cooch with Kutenda here."
2. Lower their defenses
Humor is often a great way to get them to lower their defenses and be more receptive to your
conversation. "This is a sales call; I`m sure you`re excited."
Or you may have something local going on that you could reference: "I`m glad I caught you at
your desk; most people are at home mourning that Patriots` loss last night!"
Just fnd something that fts your personal style and gets them relaxed a bit.

3. Set an up-front contract
An up-front contract is a way of laying down some ground rules/commitments that make your
prospect more comfortable and will give you a better chance of success.

At this stage of the prospecting call, an example would be: "I know I`ve caught you off guard
and I know you are busy. If I promise not to take more than 3 minutes of your time, could I
ask you a few quick questions to see if it makes sense for us to continue speaking with each
other?"

4. Ask questions that demonstrate your knowledge of their world and challenges
An example at this stage in a prospecting call is to say something along the lines of:

"Typically when speaking with other (Their title)`s in your industry, I fnd that they face the
following challenges:

Challenge 1
Challenge 2
Challenge 3

"Do any of these challenges resonate with you?"

This type of question is an opportunity for you to establish credibility and demonstrate your
knowledge, while giving the prospect the opportunity to "raise his hand" by acknowledging a
challenge.

5. Respect the up-front contract you made!
When you`ve used up your initial time say "Mr. Prospect, I`ve used up my three minutes, but it
seems like we have something to talk about. Do you have a little more time to continue now?"

This shows that you respect their time and keep your word.

6. Lower their guard even more and demonstrate proof of your capabilities at the same
time
At some point, the prospect will most likely ask something along the lines of "How are you
suggesting that you`ll help me solve my problems?", to which you should reply with something
along the lines of:

"Well, Mr. Prospect, I`m not sure that I can. But here is what we did for a similar company in
your situation."

By doing so, you keep yourself from going into a pitch about how you can make their world
perfect without even knowing the details of their problems-a common salesperson affiction!

7. Set another up front contract
"Mr. Prospect, I think the best way for us to proceed is to meet and spend some time
discussing your specifc business needs. If I promise to keep it to 45 minutes, can I come to
your offce next week to meet with you?"

8. Set the appointment, if that is your objective
Again, it`s the process behind this cold call that is most important, not the specifc language
you use. The entire call structure is designed to get a conversation and establish credibility
with the prospect.
There are many other cold call script structures, and many of them will work for you. Experiment
with several and use what works best for you. Just stay away from anything that is overly
gimmicky, and keep in mind that the cold call is just the frst step in an often long sales cycle, so
do everything you can to leave a good impression and establish yourself as a trusted resource.
Warming up the prospect - the un-coId caII!
Ideally you fnd a way to warm up every call you make to a prospect, so it isn`t really a cold call.
Most people fnd this creates a much more comfortable prospecting environment because it gives
them a reason to call the prospect.
What exactly does "warm up a call" mean?
It means a number of things:
The prospect has heard of you before the call
The prospect was expecting your call
You have a specifc reason to call that is of interest to the prospect
You`ve already done something of value for them that triggers a sense of reciprocationYou
have a relationship with them that is of interest
You get the point. It doesn`t have to be all of these things at once-any single factor will help-
but the more you have, the better off you are.
When these factors exist, the call is less cold. The prospect is more receptive to hearing from
you, and you are usually more comfortable with contacting them.
If you believe, like I do, that the huge majority of sales will happen in a face-to-face meeting with
a prospect, then the point of all of these tactics is to help you get a meeting.
Specic tactics for warming up the caII
Send a sales letter with lumpy mail
A very common sales strategy for warming up a prospect is to send them a letter frst, then place
the follow up call referencing the letter.
There are many theories of what the letter should be about. One of the most famous books that
adresses this technique is called "Selling to V.I.T.O." by Anthony Parinello. It goes into great
detail about what specifcally should be in the letter and how it should be used.
For the purposes of this guide, I am less concerned about the specifcs of the content of the
letter. I am more concerned that it gets the prospect`s attention, gets opened, and is memorable.
For these reasons, I highly recommend using what`s called "lumpy mail." Lumpy mail is just as
its name describes-lumpy. An example would be an envelope that has something large stuffed
inside of it. Because of the odd shape the envelope takes because of what`s inside, the piece of
mail is lumpy and really stands out from others in the stack of mail. This almost guarantees that it
will be looked at.
If it gets looked at, it`s very likely that it will be opened. And if it gets opened, and you put
something interesting inside, it is very likely to be memorable.
Let`s assume all of this has happened. How much easier is it for the salesperson to now call and
say, "Did you like the X I sent you?" or "This is Mike, I`m the person that sent you X"?
It`s much easier! Your salesperson is more confdent and having more fun because they had
something specifc to reference and the prospect is more likely to welcome your conversation out
of a sense of reciprocation.
There are a million ideas on how to use lumpy mail. The best resource I`ve found for ideas is the
website http://www.3Dmailresults.com. They will send you a free course on how to use lumpy mail,
and they can serve as your source for "lumpy" products.
Get their free course and study the principles of how to use lumpy mail effectively, and then get
creative with how you execute on the concept; there really is no limit to the number of things you
could do.
This technique is one of the best ways to leverage your time. You can reach a huge number of
people with direct mail, and by using "lump mail" techniques, you can make sure that what you
are doing will stand out in the mind of your prospect.
Once you`ve found a campaign that works, you simply repeat it over and over again.
Send an article or report
Sending an article or a report to a prospect is similar to sending a sales letter, but it adds a
degree of perceived value and thoughtfulness to your approach.
Put yourself in the prospect`s shoes.
If you receive a letter from someone saying that they will be calling soon to introduce themselves,
it has limited value-primarily just creating awareness.
However, if you receive a report or article that`s of interest to you with a note attached that says "I
thought you might enjoy reading this." you now attach the value of the article or the report to the
person that sent it to you.
As the salesperson, you are effectively "borrowing" the value of the article or report.
This is one of the easiest things in the world to do. You don`t have to be the genius that wrote the
article or report-just fnd one, cut it out or photocopy it, and send it along to your prospect with a
hand written note. Then follow up with a phone call to introduce yourself.
It`s best, but not necessary, if your handwritten note adds something of additional value to the
article or report. If your note shows some thoughtfulness or expands on the ideas of the article or
report, then you gain an extra degree of additional credibility with the client.
Invite them to an event
Inviting a prospect to an event can be one of the most enjoyable ways of warming up an initial
contact. People love to leave the offce to do something different every once in a while, and
they particularly enjoy it if it`s on somebody else`s dime, makes them feel important, and is
entertaining.
The number of things you can do here is unlimited, and really depends on the time and money
you want to put into the event, as well as the one-on-one time you hope to achieve with each
prospect at the event.
For example, a popular use of the "invite someone to an event" strategy is taking someone to
see a local professional sports team. Salespeople and business development people have been
doing this for ages for one reason-it works! The downside is that this can be pretty expensive;
the upside is that it takes virtually no effort to plan and it gives you great one-on-one time with
your guests.
As an alternative, we have used events such as "Small Business Roundtables" in which we`ll
invite a number of small business executives-say 10 or so-to a private event at a nice hotel
conference room so we can ask them their thoughts about business trends, use of technology,
etc.
We position these events in such a way that the business executives feel honored to be invited
because we are acknowledging them as experts and infuential in their local business community.
During this type of event, we do very little in the way of selling our services, but we get a ton of
good connections, build good relationships with infuential people, and get good one-on-one time
with prospects for the several people on our staff that we`ll have attend. The sales fow naturally
as a result of the impression we made on our prospects.
Finally, we have hosted many local seminars of our own about topics related to small business
technology. We have been able to attract anywhere from 10 to 25 qualifed prospects to these
types of presentations.
Seminars such as this serve as an excellent way to position your company and your people as
thought leaders and experts. They can cost a signifcant amount to host, and they don`t give
you as much one-on-one time with the prospects, but they do serve as a great way to impress a
signifcant number of prospects.
No matter what the event, it`s nice to have an invitation to extend to a prospect; it feels like you
are giving them a gift. This makes for a totally different call versus calling in to speak to a cold
prospect with nothing but your elevator pitch in hand!
Speak at local business groups and events
Public speaking is probably the fastest way to create credibility in the eyes of most people.
Speaking at local conferences, events, and industry trade shows or meetings in particular is a
great way to establish yourself in a local community and get the word about your services out
to a large number of prospects. These types of events are happening all the time, so there is
literally no limit to the number of opportunities.
These events allow you to borrow from the pre-established credibility of the organization you are
speaking for. People assume "if he`s speaking at such-and-such conference, he must be the real
deal." This gives you an immediate and dramatic advantage over those that don`t speak in public.
Speaking at events like this gives you several opportunities from a sales perspective:
Call to invite prospects to the event
Collect business cards and have conversations at the event
Follow up via phone call and email after the event
Those are three touches that all have the event as an obvious reason to get in touch with the
prospect, making it much easier to get a conversation, and pre-qualifying the prospects that
showed up based on their interest in the subject and took the time to attend.
In order to execute on this idea, you must get comfortable with the idea of being a thought leader.
Most people aren`t comfortable with this; they get a sensation known as Imposter Syndrome,
where they assume that they aren`t smart enough or qualifed enough for the role they are
playing.
You must not fall victim to this.
The truth is that if you are in this industry and have been for a decent amount of time, you have a
ton of valuable information to share. Take some time to document those ideas and organize them
into a thoughtful presentation, then practice delivering it until you feel very comfortable that you
are an expert on the subject.
You need to sell yourself frst!
It only takes a few good presentation topics to fll your calendar with speaking engagements each
year, so be disciplined enough to develop them and book your frst presentation!
Do drop offs
Drop offs are very similar to the lumpy mail concept we covered earlier, but instead of being
mailed, they are delivered in person by the salesperson.
Delivering them gives the salesperson the opportunity to do a little bit of discovery while at the
client`s offce, and sometimes meet with the prospect immediately.
I don`t know who originally created this strategy, but I learned it from a District Sales Manager at
ADP. This strategy alone cost me more than you are paying for this guide in lunches and
thank you gifts I purchased to help get this guy talking!
If you aren`t familiar with ADP, they are a nationwide giant that provides a variety of services
to small businesses-largely focused around payroll and HR administration outsourcing. My
understanding is that they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15000 sales reps out in the
feld! We all have something we can learn from them.
ADP uses drop offs very successfully to help their salespeople get in the door with new
prospects. My contact at ADP says it`s by far the number one way they go about getting
appointments with prospects; that`s enough for me to hear.
Specifcally, for every 25 drop offs he does, he gets in the door with about two-thirds of those!
Any salesperson would kill for those numbers!
How do you use drop offs? It`s very simple:
Identify a target list of prospects-I would keep this to 30 prospects or less per salesperson
per campaign
Identify a theme for your campaign messaging-examples could be "having a hard time
fnding you" if you are marketing an SEO service
Choose a product that:
You can buy in bulk at an affordable price
Is related to the theme you chose
Will get the attention of the prospect
And ideally is something they will want to keep around and use
Have it branded with your company logo if there is an affordable and appropriate way to do
it-you can get this done with almost any product
Write a note or sales letter to go with the product
Deliver the product to the prospects offce, addressed directly to the prospect you hope to
meet with
Follow up the next week with phone calls and email, identifying yourself as the person that
brought the gift and asking for an appointment
A very high number of people will accept your call or respond to your email, and a good number
of those will agree to meet with you to discuss your services.
The more creative you are with these ideas, the better. Get a number of people in your company
to brainstorm ideas and give a small reward for the best idea-you`ll come up with some very
clever ones.
There are two very important things you should consider when using this strategy:
The number of drop offs a salesperson can reasonably do in a month is not a huge number,
perhaps 50 or so. However, the number doesn`t need to be huge, because this idea will get you
in front of a very high percentage of your prospects.
You can afford to spend considerably more money on each of the drop offs (as compared to the
"lumpy mail" concept or other similar marketing tactics) due to the high success rate. Keep in
mind the concept of Total Lifetime Value when you develop your campaigns and spend enough
money per drop off to give them some real frepower.
To illustrate, if you were running a campaign about security, you could have your salespeople
deliver a nice padlock, or you could spend more money and have them deliver a personal
freproof mini-safe. Which do you think would get a better return for your money?
You`d have to test and measure the ROI to be sure, but my bet is that the personal safe would
get your salespeople in front of a dramatically higher number of prospects.
And naIIy . referraIs
One of the best and most well-known ways of fnding new business is through introductions and
referrals. Most people in our industry rely way too much on these, so I hesitate to even bring
them up. However, it is still a great strategy, and one that is rarely used to its full potential.
Most salespeople are limited in their effectiveness at getting referrals for three reasons:
They don`t have a process for asking for them
They don`t develop a network of strategic referral relationships to leverage
They don`t have a formal referral program that clearly identifes rewards
Without doing these three things, you will still get referrals; you just won`t get nearly as many of
them as you possibly could
Getting Started
The shift you must make
Before this guide can be expected to work, it must frst be preceded by a shift in your thinking
that only you have control over.
My experience in this industry is that the majority of people tend to focus on their service-delivery
capability frst, and sales and marketing capabilities last, if at all.
This mindset is the number one killer of growth. You are too focused on the doing of the work,
and not nearly focused enough on the selling and marketing of the work.
The one thing I can say to you in this document that will have the greatest impact on your destiny
as an entrepreneur in the small business marketplace, it would be this:
If you want to grow beyond a small business yourself, you must make the shift to being a
sales and marketing company that happens to deliver SEO, websites, email campaigns,
etc., as its product, instead of being an SEO, website development, email marketing
company, etc., that happens to do sales and marketing.
If you make this shift, you will fnd your efforts rewarded with a healthy, growing business. If you
don`t, you`ll struggle to grow and every new client will seem to come only after a challenging,
long sales cycle.
The secret to winning in the marketpIace is being in the marketpIace!
It`s generally accepted in the marketing world that a prospect has to hear an advertisement for a
product or service seven times before you achieve some sort of brand recognition in their head
and signifcantly raise the odds of selling to them.
In addition, people learn in different ways, and they generally need to receive the advertising
in a variety of formats in order for it to stick-that`s why advertisers use written words, jingles,
images, and experiences to try to make a connection with their prospects.
Keep these points in mind when developing your prospecting habits. It is very easy and all too
common for salespeople to try things once and then give up.
Don`t fall victim to this mentality!
You must do a mix of activities over a period of time. When you are out in the market consistently,
prospects will start to recognize you and assume that you must be worthy of their attention-just
by the fact that you`ve been around for a while. The longer you are present in their market, the
more credibility you will have and the easier this will become.
The small business marketplace is a huge opportunity if you approach strategically and
consistently.
Now get out there and sell!
All the best!
Mike Cooch
Feel free to share this sucker if you learned something useful from it! I appreciate it!
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