It's not easy for everyone, he concedes. One look at the sales scoreboard -- posted near the office kitchen -- makes that evident. During a week in May, one new rep had done $1,000 worth of business, and another had done $3,000. By contrast, Algeri had made $39,000 in sales. Cavanaugh had hit $82,000. Orders from current customers made up a nice chunk of his sales. But the company's future growth clearly depends on the CEO's ability to bring in new customers.
"Get the prospect to like you in 30 seconds, or you've blown it," advises Pat Cavanaugh.
During that fairly typical week, Cavanaugh saw 13 prospects and customers in person and placed phone calls to 100 more. He likes to make his cold calls from 9 a.m. to noon -- or even better, around 1:30 p.m. That's his favorite time to reach the most prized, hardest-to-get sales prospects on the phone -- when they're "sluggish and sedated." People who are impossible to reach simply go to the top of his "stalking list."
Take the purchasing guy at Home Depot, whom Cavanaugh had been pursuing long-distance since January. The buyer had had a few choice words for promotional products: "trinkets and trash." He told the CEO, "I hate dealing with companies like yours." But that didn't daunt Cavanaugh. After all, Home Depot already bought said trinkets and trash by the tens of thousands to use as store giveaways. Now, by Cavanaugh's estimate, 75 companies were dogging the buyer for the national store account. "He's going to pick someone," reasoned Cavanaugh. Why not him?
Hoping to catch the Home Depot manager a little more relaxed after lunch, Cavanaugh dialed the man's office again. No dice. His call went straight into voice mail -- again. The CEO decided to leave a message. It was the only one he'd leave that week. That's another one of his rules: No more than one voice-mail message per week. It's not just good etiquette; the tactic actually helps him get noticed.
Cavanaugh had better luck when he dialed the marketing director at Dick Corp., a large construction company in town. In previous conversations the director had been "very harsh on the phone; he would hardly talk," according to Cavanaugh. But on this day the man took Cavanaugh's call. The CEO was casual. "I'm going to be in your neck of the woods on Tuesday," he said. The marketing director said he couldn't meet then, but how about Thursday at 9? Cavanaugh wrote the date in his Day-Timer and hung up happy. He attributed the sudden breakthrough to a short and direct voice-mail message he'd left the week before. "Don't erase this message yet," he'd said. "I'm not wasting your time. All I'm asking for is 10 minutes in person. ..."
Nothing gets Cavanaugh as revved up as a prospect who gives him a hard time. "When someone says, 'Why should we use you?' I love rattling off the reasons," he declared as he was training two new sales reps during a lunchtime session at the company's new offices in Pittsburgh's North Hills. The new guys were practicing a phone script. The trick, of course, was to sound spontaneous. Cavanaugh played the role of the salesperson and then offered advice. "Get the prospect to like you in 30 seconds, or you've blown it," he told the new recruits. "Try to make a joke to remind them what a hassle it is to manage promotions. 'Do you have any hair left?' If you don't get a laugh, go for the jugular." By that he didn't mean make a last-ditch sales pitch. That would be suicide. He meant prepare to say good-bye.
"When the person lets out a sigh of relief -- 'Finally, this guy is getting off the phone' -- then come the killer questions. 'Oh, by the way, when's that golf tournament? Maybe I can work up some ideas.' You say it almost like an aside," Cavanaugh continued. "Let 'em know we know how to work on a budget: 'We've worked with the mayor's office and even the Secret Service. Maybe I can work on something for you.' Everything is maybe, maybe, so there's no absolute commitment." And, he reminded them, "you don't have to shoot every time you have the ball. Sometimes a sale is not in the best interests of our company."
The one-page script was simple. Four main points. But don't be deceived, said Cavanaugh. "The script is what allows you to get these damn appointments."
That's how he had recently gotten in to see Toni Holliday, then an executive assistant at Washington Penn Plastic Co. She was searching for just the right something to give to 126 clients. It was a $10,000 potential sale that could lead to more, like incentive items for 300 or so employees. But it had taken Cavanaugh months to land the appointment. ("I've been trying to get this forever" is a popular Cavanaugh refrain.) Now, wearing a sporty yellow-and-black houndstooth jacket and a conservative tie, he was finally sitting across from Holliday. Leather sample bag by his side, Cavanaugh talked up his company's work ethic. He used one of his favorite opening lines: "We've grown 2,000% in five years, mainly because we have good service, real good service." He also mentioned Cavanaugh's new Internet sales capabilities. But Holliday cut to the bottom line: "In one sentence, What makes your company different?"
