ISR Call Outlines – Cat® Linkage Pins & Bearings

Note to Managers
Two call outlines are attached. The second call outline should be used by ISRs who are calling
customers in their territory and they have called before.
The first call outline is for ISRs who are calling customers not in their territory and the primary
purpose is to sell this product.
ISRs Calling Customers Not in Their Territory
If you are designing a calling campaign to customers not in an ISRs territory, it is recommended
you take the following approach:
1. An ISR can talk with about 20 customers a day. It is recommended you provide the ISR
with a customer list sufficient to last one month at a time. If the month has 20 working
days, the ISR can talk to 400 customers. The list provided to the ISR for the month
should contain about 1,000 customers. 60% of the customers may be out of business or
unreachable if they are non-territory customers;

2. The list should be segmented so high priority customers are contacted first and more
frequently. The typical connect rate is about 1 out of 5 on a given call, so the best
customers should be attempted five times, lower priority customers less.

3. Segment the 1,000 customers by recency, frequency, and monetary value. For example:

R+F+M RFM Recency Frequency Monetary Customer

Value
3 111 Last purchased In the last year, Bought $ 3,000 Joe Jones
1 week ago bought 5 times in the last year Excavating
6 222 Last purchased In the last year, Bought $ 2,500 Sara Sidel
1 month ago bought 4 times in the last year Contracting
9 333 Last purchased In the last year, Bought $ 2,000 Harrison County
2 months ago bought 3 times in the last year
12 444 Last purchased In the last year, Bought $ 1,500 Brady Electrical
3 months ago bought 2 time in the last year
15 555 Last purchased In the last year, Bought $ 1,000 Grayson Sewer
4 months ago bought 1 times in the last year

Break the group of 1,000 customers into 5 equal groups for each of these categories,
with 1 being the highest recency, frequency, or monetary value and 5 being the lowest.
Add the three together (R + F + M). Start at the lowest number and work upwards with

1 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.

 the list. Customers will have a variety of RFMs, “111”, 152”, “511”, etc.

4. It is recommended you attempt:

a. R + F + M 3 to 5 5 attempts 200 customers 1,000 dials
b. R + F + M 6 to 8 3 attempts 200 customers 600 dials
c. R + F + M 9 to 11 1 attempts 200 customers 200 dials
d. R + F + M 12 to 15 1 attempts 200 customers 200 dials
2,000 dials
With a normal 20 working day month, the ISR should be able to dial 100 times a day and
have 20 conversations. 2,000 dials x 20% connection rate = 400 conversations

2 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.

 Inside Sales Representative
Call Outline

Your Calling Situation – Marketing call to a customer not in your territory on Cat® Linkage Pins &
Bearings

Smile!

Verify – “Are you the person at <customer’s company> who makes the decision regarding parts and
services for your equipment?”

Clarify – “My name is <your name> from <your dealership>.”

Compelling Reason to Call

My job is to support your Caterpillar equipment and to assure you have the lowest operating costs and
unscheduled downtime. I’m contacting our customers because our studies show linkage pins & bearings
are critical components for machine maintenance. May I ask you a couple of quick questions regarding
your machines?

Credibility Question First, I see you own <Cat equipment list>. Has anything changed?

Open-Ended Questions

Tell me how owning and operating costs impact your business.

(Product points: avoiding damage to joints by replacing worn linkage pins and bearings which could
result in costly repair services (line boring) and machine down time. Product point: up to 3 times greater
hardened case depth compared to competitor pins. A smooth surface for better wear and longer life.
Product point: avoid additional fuel costs from poor performance (i.e., chattered applications with
buckets and blades, etc.)

How does unscheduled downtime impact your costs?

(Product points: replacing linkage pins and bearings will reduce up to 85% of the cost of an unplanned
repair, depending on your machine. Product point: up to 9 times thicker chrome to give you longer life,
and reduce galling potential)

Describe to me how you use your CAT machines in your business.

(Product points: possible noise issues with urban work/the need for high performance/the need to keep
owning and operating costs down, minimize unplanned downtime)

Closed-Ended Questions

Have you had problems with squeaking joints?

Is machine performance critical for you?

3 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.

Is minimizing your owning and operating costs important?
Is reducing downtime important?
May I verify your email address? / May I have your email address?
May I verify your mailing address? / May I have your mailing address?
Is this the best phone number to use?

Do you need to purchase any linkage pins & bearings now?

Would you like to purchase any linkage pins & bearings for inventory?

Product Bullet Points

• Longer life, lower operating cost: replacing pins will reduce up to 85% of the cost of an
unplanned repair, depending on your machine
• Superior resistance: up to 9 times thicker chrome than aftermarket pins for increased wear life
and reduced galling potential
• Better design: Up to 3 times greater hardened case depth compared to competitor pins. A
smooth surface for better wear
• Avoid damage to joints by replacing worn linkage pins and bearings – could result in costly repair
services (lance/burn out, line boring) and machine down time
• Maintain your machine performance – precision results maintained (i.e., smooth grading from
graders, smooth digging from hydraulic excavators, smooth paved surfaces from paving,
accurate payload readings for medium wheel loaders, etc.)
• Lower your machine owning and operating costs – avoid additional fuel costs from poor
performance (i.e., chattered applications with buckets and blades, etc.)
• Avoid unnecessary noise from “squeaking” joints that could result in environmental noise
limitation requirements

Offer

See dealership’s promotion sheet.

Typical Next Steps

Close on current needs.

Email customer promotional materials and offer.

Close

May I place the order for you?

May I email you the fact sheet about linkage pins and bearings and our current offer?

Closing Question Is there anything else I can help you with today? Thank you for your time

4 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.

 Inside Sales Representative
Call Outline

Your Calling Situation – Marketing call to a customer in your territory on Cat® Linkage Pins & Bearings

Smile!

Pre-Call Preparation

Review your customer narrative and recall previous conversations. If the customer has identified these
two business issues, you can position these products using this information: (Check if applicable)

⃝ 1. Customer is concerned about operating costs:

[Customer] I know you told me holding down your operating costs is critical. You can avoid costly
damage to joints by replacing worn linkage pins and bearings which could result in costly repair services
(lance/burn out line boring) and machine down time. Our pins have up to up to 3 times greater hardened
case depth compared to competitor pins and have a smooth surface for better wear and longer life. We
can also save you money on fuel due to poor performance (i.e., chattered applications with buckets and
blades, etc.)

⃝ 2. Customer is concerned about unscheduled downtime:

[Customer], I know you told me reducing unscheduled downtime is critically important. Replacing
linkage pins and bearings will reduce up to 85% of the cost of an unplanned repair, depending on your
machine, and our linkage pins have 9 times thicker chrome to provide longer life.

Call

Verify – “Hi, is this <customer name>?

Clarify – “This is <your name> from <your dealership>.”

Primary Compelling Reason to Call

< something from your customer narrative >

[For example, “Jim, the last time we talked, you told me you were starting on a project at Grayson’s
Landing. How is it going?”]

Bridge to Sales Conversation: Secondary Compelling Reason to Call

<customer name>, one thing I’ve learned since we last talked is how critical linkage pins & bearings are
for machine maintenance. We’ve developed an initiative to help our customers with this. May I ask you
a couple of quick questions to see if this is something that might be a fit?

5 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.

Open-Ended Questions

Tell me about any performance or cost issues you’ve had because of damaged or worn linkage pins &
bearings.

(Product points: avoiding damage to joints by replacing worn linkage pins and bearings which could
result in costly repair services (line boring) and machine down time. Product point: up to 3 times greater
hardened case depth compared to competitor pins. A smooth surface for better wear and longer life.
Product point: avoid additional fuel costs from poor performance (i.e., chattered applications with
buckets and blades, etc.)

Tell me about any problems you’ve had with squeaking joints.

(Product point: possible noise issues with urban work/the need for high performance/the need to keep
owning and operating costs down)

Bring up pre-call preparation operating costs and/or unscheduled downtime if applicable.

Closed-Ended Questions

Is machine performance critical for you?

Is minimizing your owning and operating costs important?
Have you had problems with squeaking joints?
May I verify your email address? / May I have your email address?
May I verify your mailing address? / May I have your mailing address?
Is this the best phone number to use?

Do you need to purchase any linkage pins & bearings now?

Would you like to purchase any linkage pins & bearings for inventory?

Product Bullet Points

• Longer life, lower operating cost: replacing linkage pins and bearings will reduce up to 85% of
the cost of an unplanned repair, depending on your machine
• Superior resistance: up to 9 times thicker chrome than aftermarket pins which provides a harder
surface and longer wear life
• Better design: Up to 3 times greater hardened case depth compared to competitor pins. A
smooth surface for better wear.
• Avoid damage to joints by replacing worn linkage pins and bearings – could result in costly repair
services (line boring), machine down time
• Maintain your machine performance – precision results maintained (i.e., smooth grading from
graders, smooth digging from hydraulic excavator, smooth paved surfaces from paving, accurate
payload readings for medium wheel loader, etc.)
• Lower your machine owning and operating costs – avoid additional fuel costs from poor
performance (i.e., chattered applications with buckets and blades, etc.)

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 • Avoid unnecessary noise from “squeaking” joints that could result in environmental noise
limitation requirements

Offer

See dealership’s promotion sheet.

Typical Next Steps

Close on current needs.

Email customer promotional materials and offer.

Close

May I place the order for you?

May I email you the fact sheet about linkage pins and bearings and our current offer?

Closing Question Is there anything else I can help you with today? Thank you for your time!

7 © 2020 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE GROUP INC.