Connections DFW
Turning Cold Calls Into Clients
(972) 963-0792 janet@connections-dFW.com
What We Do
Connections DFW is a lead generation/appointment setting service/public speaking booking service for licensed B2B and B2C providers who want to reach their potential clients in the most cost-effective ways possible.
Simply by using cold calling and emailing, we introduce your business to those who could or should be interested in using you or having you speak to their group, determine their interest in your products/services and ideally, set them up for an appointment or speaking date.
“But,” you say, “I have staff people to do that.” Chances are you would rather have your staff spend their very precious time taking calls instead of making them, working with current and new clients and closing qualified leads. And if you’re the one doing the selling, your time is even more valuable.
That’s why we do the nitty-gritty, time-consuming work of prospecting and qualifying your potential clients or speaking groups so you or your staff won’t have to.
And then we’ll arrange for an appointment – in person, by phone or by Zoom – and you or your salespeople can take it from there, do your demonstration/evaluation and close the sale. Or if speaking is your game, we’ll start the process of getting you booked.
Why Use Us
You’re a provider serving commercial accounts but are having trouble reaching the business owners, administrators, property or facility managers or other key individuals who decide which companies to use.
Or you’re an attorney, chiropractor, dentist, financial advisor or other professional with information people – especially those over the age of 50 – could really use, and you want to give a 20 -30 minute educational talk to local groups, but don’t know how to go about getting booked.
Chances are you’re using some form of digital marketing – you have a website, hired someone to make sure you’re on page one of Google, and may be paying hefty fees for such services as Google AdWords or Yelp. If you’re franchise owner, you’re also expecting that your parent company will provide you with a steady stream of leads.
And chances are you’ve probably found that despite their cost, these approaches are necessary but are also somewhat inefficient ways to generate leads. That’s because someone who may have a need for what you do has to take the initiative of finding and contacting you, but you’ll never know about them unless they do.
This is even more true with the local community service and retiree groups who always are on the lookout for good free speakers, but don’t know who to contact and are often booked months in advance.
That’s why you need to be regularly reaching out to your potential clients using proven, time-tested marketing approaches that establish familiarity and trust so that when they do need you or they need a speaker, especially at the last minute, you’re the only one that comes to mind.
Our Methods
How We Work
We use cold calling and emailing to reach your potential clients or speaking groups and speaking groups through our cloud-based CRM database.
To speed the process up, you may provide us with a leads list, as well as a list of your current clients and those in your sales pipeline, so we make sure not to contact the people you’re already doing business with or talking to.
That said, as part of our work, we will develop a list of potential clients or speaking groups that meet your criteria using sources on the web at no charge.
Targeted Cold Calling
Many people believe that cold calling is hard, is filled with rejection and is one of the least effective ways to generate business. The reality is that when it’s done right, cold calling is easy and enjoyable for everyone involved, and is the most effective way to start generating those “yeses” you want to hear.
We start out by using your criteria – who you want to reach, where they are located and an understanding of how your business can help them.
On a typical day, we’ll make between 30 – 40 targeted calls to your potential clients or groups and reach the decision maker about a third of the time. If we have to leave a message, we’ll send an introductory email first, and then follow up by phone a few days or a week later.
Once we have them on the phone, we’ll engage them in a conversation to learn about their needs as they relate to your products/services or topic, tell them about your business and ideally, set up an appointment using your schedule as a basis or get some potential speaking dates for you to choose from.
Very often, this requires a follow-up call and/or email, since many people won’t commit to an appointment at first. And we’ll continue to follow up on a regular basis as long as it’s appropriate.
Customized Emails and Ezines
There are few things more annoying than getting pitchy emails from strangers who make it clear they know nothing about your business and care even less, who then expect you to schedule a call with them by telling you when they’re available.
Or worse, when they send you a series of unsolicited and unwanted emails, by the third or fourth one, want you to give them a reason why you’re not interested.
Instead of these spam-type emails, we use personalized emails geared to your clients’ particular interests which educate, inform and generate an increasing awareness of how your services can benefit them or their group’s members.
Our approach is very simple – we don’t sell; we share and we don’t pitch; we persuade. Since nobody likes to be sold, but everybody loves to buy, our job is to make the decision to do business with you effortless and enjoyable for all concerned.
This is most effectively done through a regularly-sent ezine or e-newsletter, which shares handy tips, the latest industry trends or updates on local events your potential clients might be interested in.
Over time, these emails can be an extremely effective way to generate awareness and familiarity, so that when they are ready, you’re the first one they think of.
You can also put a signup form on your homepage which can increase both traffic and web inquiries, and there are plenty of email distribution services who can take care of your subscriber list and distribution for a modest cost.
And if you’re speaking, we’ll write a signup form for you to use at your talks so that interested audience members can provide you with their contact information. You can then follow up with them after your talk to schedule an appointment and/or put them on your ezine list.
Once an appointment has been agreed to or a speaking engagement has been confirmed, you’ll get an email with all of the pertinent information, and you or your staff can take it from there.
At the end of each week, all appointment setting clients get a report detailing:
- How many calls were made
- How many decision makers were spoken to
- How many messages were left
- How many emails were sent
- How many appointments were set and with whom
And at the end of each month, they also get an Excel spreadsheet that includes:
- The name, title and phone number of the people we contacted
- Their company name and address
- Their email and website
- The type of business they have
- The date they were contacted
- Recent relevant notes
In addition to using this spreadsheet as a leads list to import into your own database, you can use it as a subscriber list for your ezine.
Who We Are
Janet White spent the first part of her career as a commercial real estate writer and publicist working for some of the biggest companies in the industry, and writing for several of the industry’s national trade magazines, including National Real Estate Investor, World Property, the Journal of Property Management and Stores.
After 18 years in commercial real estate, Janet switched careers and spent more than a decade in the senior care industry selling mobility, patient handling and patient care equipment to hospitals, nursing homes and senior living communities.
After that, Janet ran The JW Speakers Agency for ten years, designed exclusively for small business owners to help them get more clients by speaking to local groups, and generated a nationwide clientele of service professionals.
The pandemic put an end to the speakers agency, so Janet became a remote inside sales representative for an Ohio-based manufacturer who had jumped into the PPE (masks, gloves, wipes, etc.) business when Covid-19 hit.
Using the internet, Janet built a database of thousands of small, rural school districts across the country which were overlooked by the major suppliers, and through cold calling and emails, she sold more than $800,000 of PPE supplies in 18 months.
After life returned to normal, Janet did cold calling/appointment setting for a D/FW-based commercial cleaning company and four local franchises of a junk removal business, and worked briefly for a national appointment setting company.
She then launched Connections DFW to help local businesses grow by securing appointments for them with their potential clients in the most cost-effective way possible.
Janet is the author of “Cold Calls to Closing: What Every Small Business Should Know About Selling” (available on Amazon). https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Calls-Closing-Business-Selling/dp/0692239235