How to Cold Call to Factoring Prospects
Factoring Broker Cold Calling Training
Cold calling is tough, but it still works. When it comes to business development, there is nothing wrong with Emails, SEO, and networking (my favorite way to get business) but a well-targeted sales call to the right potential factoring prospect or bank referral source still bears fruit. As a sample of Bankers Factoring Broker Education, here is an excerpt from some of our factor broker training.
Calling Invoice Factoring & PO Funding Prospects:
I get very few hang-ups on phone calls when cold calling prospective Accounts Receivable Financing or PO Funding Clients. Why is that? Well, one, I am offering business owners money and even if they don’t need it now, they probably will need small business financing in the future. Talking to me is cheap insurance. Besides that factoring business reality, let us start with four simple rules:
- Target a specific industry and/or Pain Point. For instance, Bankers targets staffing companies. Your opening line might be ” Good Morning! This is Chris from Bankers Factoring, for 20 years we have been funding Staffing companies. We have new, aggressive financing programs for GA staffing companies with cash flow problems. Can I please talk to Ms. Jones?
- Have a clear goal or goals from each call. If you can’t talk to someone then ask politely “Can I please email Ms. Jones information on Accounts Receivable working capital financing for her staffing company? Great! Her email is?” If you cannot talk to someone, at least get your information in front of the business owner. But follow-up after a cold email.
- Instill a sense of urgency. Noticed I stated, “we have a new, aggressive financing program for GA Staffing companies”. I offered something new that can help the company and designed specifically for their industry/location.
- Brevity. Brevity. Brevity. Your goal is to get past the gatekeeper or get contact information from the gatekeeper. Voicemail and email are highly effective communication tools. As such, your target list of prospects and customers is inundated with voicemails and email messages from your direct competitors, in addition to any number of other vendors who compete with you indirectly for budget dollars.
There are only two reasons people respond to voice and email messages obligation and curiosity.
- If your boss calls and leaves a message, you will return the call. If your largest customer calls, you will surely return their call as well, because that is what you do when you have important customers, or a boss.
But, what about decision-makers who do not feel obligated to return cold calls from vendors or even a funding source? Besides obligation, the only other thing that causes people to return voice-mail messages or email is curiosity.
The challenge is most voicemails and email messages that are lobbed into potential decision-makers do more to satisfy their curiosity than create it. Oops! As a result, the average return call rate on voicemail has dropped below 5%, and the odds of getting replies to email can be just as bleak.
Sample messages of Curiosity Inducing Voicemails:
Hi, George, this is Chris Curtin calling from Bankers Factoring I am on the team that funds Wine & Spirits Importers and Wholesalers in Central Florida. I was on a conference call with one of our underwriters this morning, and two issues came up that I thought might impact your current situation, one of which is time-sensitive. I wanted to be proactive and try to catch you in the office this afternoon. If you get a chance today, please call me back at (561) 882-1331. I should be here until 5:30 pm.
Hi, Dale, this is Chris Curtin with Bankers Factoring. I am on the team that funds pallet manufacturers and pallet brokers in Mississippi. I was hoping to catch you for a minute because we have new funding initiatives for the pallet industry. Please call me at (561) 882-1331.
Hi, Steve, this is Chris Curtin with Bankers Factoring. I manage a team that works with Factoring Brokers in the Oil Patch. A note from our underwriters came across my desk yesterday morning that caught my eye regarding non-recourse factoring specifically for the oil industry and I wanted to try and catch up with you today. When you get a chance, please call me at (561) 882-1331.
Key Point: If I sent five different voicemails or email messages, they would have five different sets of words depending on what information I had about the prospect, my purpose for calling, and the objective of the call.
But in every case, my intention would be to leave (or send) a purposeful message, that was local, specific, and relevant. Do that in your business, and you can easily realize a 25%+ response rate, which represents a whopping 500% increase over industry averages.
I hope this helps you talk to more prospects as a Bankers Factoring Broker. Please call us if you want to discuss any deal or talking points before you make the important call to a factoring prospect. Here’s to your success in the factoring industry.