Walk-In Exploratory Campaign
In the walk-in sales campaign, your approach is to sell yourself to a specific department of a company for a specific line of work. In that campaign, you know what you want, know who you have to see, have the credentials needed, and pursue your job interest with self-confidence in your specialized abilities. These qualities are important aids in influencing employment representatives to hire you. The walk-in exploratory campaign is similar because no prior contact with the firm has been made and because the walk-in is the method used for first contact. It is, however, different in this way: it is not a persuasive effort in which you try to convince employment representatives that you are fit for a particular job. Your approach is to seek out the advice of personnel representatives or executives regarding your suitability for some job in their firms.
This exploratory, or ''help me," approach is not a direct and powerful sales approach, but it may have some very important advantages nevertheless. For the college graduate who is not sure about his or her job qualifications, the walk-in exploratory interview, conducted several months before graduation, may do two things: educate about possible job areas and, at the same time, create some future job possibilities if an application form and resume are filed. For the individual who may be qualified in a number of areas, or for one who is considering changing fields, this information-finding, help-seeking approach may be productive. In fact, you may just win a friend who thinks you are highly capable and who would be willing to work to get you employment with that firm.
Call-In Sales Campaign
The telephone can often provide direct access to a prospective employer. Telephone screening by an executive's secretary is generally not as rigorous as a walk-in screening, and the likelihood is greater that a confident job caller will be connected. The confident, courteous request, "May I please talk to Mr. Reynolds?” often gets the executive on the phone.
Early morning is an excellent time for contacting executives. At this time of the day they are frequently found working busily at their desks, trying to take care of the pressing paper work of the day. Therefore, plan to make your calls in the morning, whenever possible, to maximize your chances of successful contact. When in the office, executives sometimes pick up phones themselves. This situation may also occur near the end of the workday, when the secretarial staff is preparing to go home and the boss is once again back at the desk, trying to complete unfinished business. Generally speaking, the middle of the workday is very bad for calling executives, and lunchtime is the worst of all.
The call-in sales campaign involves two types of telephone-call introductions: (1) the referred call and (2) the unsolicited call. If you were effective in your walk-in sales campaign and were able to generate a number of job leads with names and telephone numbers, then you are in a position to follow up these leads with telephone calls. Use the name of your references as you introduce yourself so that prospects give full attention to your requests for interviews.
A referred call might sound like this:
Caller: Hello. Mr. Marcus?
Prospect: Yes . . . this is he.
Caller: My name is Bob Turnbole. Albert Green at Cornwall Unlimited asked me to contact you.
Prospect: Uh-huh! How can I help you?
Caller: Mr. Green felt that you might want to meet me concerning a possible position on your actuarial staff. I've just graduated from college with a bachelor's degree, majoring in insurance, and Mr. Green thought your firm would be a great opportunity for a person with my credentials.
Prospect: Well, I do appreciate Al's kind words and would certainly ...
If you are fortunate enough to get an initial interview in this manner and bypass the initial written packet stage, you've accomplished a great deal. If, on the other hand, a prospect is not interested in speaking with you further, be sure to apply the sales technique of converting turndowns into new job leads. Be certain to ask the following question before hanging up: ''Would you help me out by giving me the name of someone who might have such a position available or might be interested in talking with me?" This question, if successful, generates a new job lead that can be followed up with another referred call.
The unsolicited telephone call requires an extra-special effort. Remember, you have neither the aid of a reference to make the listener receptive nor the personal appeal of your physical presence, as in a walk-in interview, or the formality of a resume to be read. Your only sales instrument is your voice.
The voice conveys both ideas and feelings over the phone. Be sure to convey a well-chosen message that interests the prospect, as well as a self-confident and courteous attitude. The ideas offered here may be useful to you in opening up the unsolicited telephone call. Also, if you are visiting a distant city and will be there for several days, let the prospect know this in your opening. This remark may very well help you get that interview while you're still in town.
It is, of course, possible to call prospects from a cell phone, but it is much more convenient to call from a home or office phone where your papers can be neatly arranged before you and messages easily written. In addition, remember never to cover the mouthpiece of a phone to speak to a third party. The hand does not completely obliterate the sound of your conversation, which may very likely be overheard through the telephone by your listener. In conclusion, the phone is a valuable but often forgotten job-getting instrument. Learn to use it correctly and appropriately, and it will work for you.
