Jason Kanigan

If you're new to the idea of "cold calling"...which I suggest you change the name of to "prospecting" so that it stops viscerally screwing your head up...

...and you're struggling with that "I don't think calling is for me" mindset...

...then I made this video just for you.



If you found this valuable, check out this video on how to begin your prospecting calls. That's the next step in the process.

More like this?

CleanMountainLiving

"...just keep calling..."

Thanks, Jason. Great message!

soontobefishing

Thank You Jason!

Your common sense and stay calm attitude always seems to come just when a little doubt, or even a lot, starts to creep in. Fantastic stuff as always. Congrats on your 2000th and I am looking forward to your 3000th already.

SendCards

Whenever I think "Prospecting" , I think of gold mining......

I like gold....

d0rhk

If it weren't for you Jason I wouldn't have picked up the phone and gotten my first client.

Thank you so much, I've learned so much from you over the past month it's astounding.

I appreciate all the time and effort you put into the videos, forum posts and blog posts.

ownergolan

As usual - GOLD !

Thnx Jason, your a light in this sphere of marketing.

smallbusinesstoolkit

Awesome video.
I have working in sales and finally I got to the same conclusion - you first calls are not to sell anything .They are to qualify/filter if the prospects are your market or not.

Marketing tips and tricks

Claude Whitacre

Jason; Thank you for yet another reason to follow your posts, and use your training. I do daily searches on the Warrior Forum for what was posted by just three members. You're one of them.

Your efforts are having an impact. I hope you continue.

Do you sell online marketing or advertising to offline business owners? You can get a Kindle copy of my new book Selling Local Advertising... on Amazon. You can also just buy the book in print if you wish. Here is the link;
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Local-...laude+whitacre

Marvin Johnston

Jason, thanks for some great information as usual! I'm totally with Claude Whitacre on his comments.

I still remember the first time I did a solo in front of an audience. My knees were knocking so badly I'm sure they were heard for miles around. And the second time. And the third time. By the fourth time, my knees started to behave themselves. A break to switch instruments (piano) and the sequence repeated itself.

I think any soloist or public speaker knows the feeling only too well. Darn, almost forgot telemarketers .

Bu as you said so well, just keep going and things WILL get better! And then you will have war stories to pass on.

Marvin

Monetex Marketing

Thanks for some great information! I am sure someone will benefit from it.

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The IM Factory

Very nice to see someone take time and give out great information like this.. I hope people in here specially the ones starting out in this business listen to your advice.. Good job!

Jason Kanigan

Thanks for the feedback!

You can actually sell on the first call...but for newbies, it may be best to "set the appointment" instead. The difference here is that you don't want to be desperate to sell on the first call. If it happens, great--otherwise, we're interested in finding out whether this prospect has:

* a need for what we offer

* the right budget for what we offer

* a good personality fit with us.

Can we help this person? Can they afford us? Can they work with us?

Let's find out these things, and the sales will do a much better job of taking care of themselves.

laurencewins

Congrats on 2000 posts.

Laurence
The only Writer and Proofreader you'll ever need.
Ask for a copy of my FREE report on how to reduce your refund rates by as much as 90%.

jamtrading

great guy with a great attitude, you are so correct, the only aspect you have control over is consistency

Capbell

Excellent video.

As someone who started cold-calling only a week ago, this type of video is very useful.

I've been using your unsure technique, and out of (only) 20 calls I've made, I have spoken to about 3 owners. Still no sales, but that doesn't worry me.

I mostly got the standard "manager not in" response from the gatekeepers, so I adjusted my calls to: Start with the "hopefully you can help, as I'm not sure who I should be speaking to", and then "can you please tell me the name of the owner?", Gatekeeper:"it's xxxx" me:"oh okay, and do you spell that xxxx? Excellent okay, is xxxx in at the moment?" in a bid to try to sound more personal as the niche I am calling only really has one decision maker (the owner), it seems to me that your unsure technique would work brilliantly when calling big companies.

However, even with the few calls I made using this technique I already heard a couple of "i don't know when they're in, they're not in much", would you be able to give any tips to tackle a roadblock like that?

Thanks again.

rajchander89

i've been lurking here a while but i wanted to post and say thanks for your advice, jason. you along with guys like ken michaels have provided some really helpful information. i'm relatively new to sales but i do a lot of cold calling for a small government contracting firm, so the more confidence i have the better. your advice on how to open a call, the "unsure who i need to speak to" is absolute gold...in fact i had been using something similar before i came across your videos but seeing you give a label and name to it just makes it easier to apply. i open pretty much every call with it now.

again i'm relatively new to cold calling but when i face this situation i'll usually ask when they are expected to be in - if they respond with something like the above i say, "no problem, i'll try back another time - who should i ask for?" and 9 times out of 10 you will get the name of the business owner. now you can call back and know exactly who to ask for which will get you past the gatekeeper almost every time. from there, you just have to figure out when the best time to call to actually reach the person is. try varying up your times and you may have better results: early morning, late afternoon, lunchtime, etc.

Capbell

Thanks for that, but does knowing the name of the owner really an advantage for next time? I say that because I knew the name of two owners and both times when I called (I realise two is not a big enough data pool) I got a "what is the reason for calling?" and I ran into a bit of a wall, because I don't want to pitch to the gatekeepers there, and if i don't say something intelligent, they will say the owner is busy!

Jason Kanigan

Like I said in the video...the averages are...

Half the people you call won't be in.

Half the people who pick up the phone can't actually talk right now.

If the owner "isn't in much," I would start asking who takes care of the kinds of decisions that you deal with...because an absentee owner is not able to do so. If it turns out this "invisible man" is the person who makes such decisions after all, you probably want to decide whether this is actually the kind of business owner you want as a client. If they aren't around often, how much do they really care about the company? And are they going to take the time to give you the info you need?

In these cases you are likely to find a trusted individual who gathers data and makes recommendations to the owner on what to spend money on. Keep digging!

rajchander89

i think so, in any case it's definitely more of an advantage than going in cold. when the gatekeeper asks what it's about, you should have a stock answer ready that isn't excessively long and gets right to the point. e.g. "i want to ask a question about your web site visibility" or "i want to talk to him about your current A/R practices" depending on what your service is.

again i'm not as experienced as some of the senior warriors on here, these are just insights i've gleaned from being on the phone and making these calls myself fairly regularly over the past few months. from my experiences most gatekeepers are just concerned with forwarding calls properly versus screening them to make sure they are worth the boss' time.

Jason Kanigan

If you watched the 2nd video I linked to, you would know you need an effective 30-second commercial ;-)

"Why?" is clearly answered by this.

Knowing the owner's name is not an advantage. In fact, people can spend so much time "researching" that they get nothing done. Call, use the Little Unsure technique, and stop being so freaked out that most people aren't in or can't talk to you today. If you watched my video above, you know that this is reality.

Sue Bruce

Jason,

Hope there's a "Cold Calling Gold" forum in your future.

Many people out there in a desperate situation who can change it so fast if they overcome the fear.

2000 congrats!

Sue

MadLion

Jason, as I told John in a different thread, good posts always. Thank for being real.

bvora

wow - what an amazing post! Thanks for the great video & more importantly...providing motivation to pick up that phone & make some calls!

avandrunen

Awesome video Jason...thank you so much for the much needed advice and direction.

As someone just starting out I am trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can from here.

One question...could you point me in the direction of a good guide for writing my 30 second commercial.

Thanks again for all that to offer us newbies.
Adrian

Jason Kanigan

You're welcome.

How to Start Your Calls: Prospecting Success Tip

I link to a guest blog I wrote about the 30-second commercial.

avandrunen

Ask and ye shall receive...

That's awesome thanks again Jason...

This is why this forum continues to be the best go to place for offliners.

ProAffiliate01

You're actually a gold digger aren't you-not a gold miner. LOL (I hope that wasn't too bad of a teasing.) You're right in a way. I myself haven't done much cold calling. I see the benefits of it but not sure yet if it is for me or not.

Jason Kanigan

The video is to show you that everyone thinks it's not for them, to start with.

Then I give you some numbers so that you understand what's going on.

Now I ain't sayin' I'm a gold digger...but I ain't messin' with no broke clients...

Baadier Sydow

Top class video Jason, love it. I've bookmarked this and your other video. I want to start pushing cold calling hard.

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Jason Kanigan

Don't push...just get on the phone and start sorting.

What this individual says or does who you're talking to right now...doesn't matter. Answers, doesn't answer; isn't interested, wants to buy; doesn't matter. Don't get excited. Keep calling.

koppster

Action is important

Jason Kanigan

<low whistle>

...

OK, let's talk about action for a minute as related to making calls.

Here's what I recommend you do.

Call for two hours, twice a day.

Don't freak out about '100 Calls'; just do two hours twice a day. Two in the morning, sometime between 8AM and noon, and two in the afternoon, between 1:30PM and 5:30PM.

Two hours has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can see the end before you start. In contrast, how long are those 100 dials going to take? Who knows?!

Make your calls like a training Olympic athlete. Every day, no matter what, no matter whether you feel like it or not, you're there. Show up. There's no substitute in life for showing up.

Jason Kanigan

If you liked this vid, head on over to this next step in the process.

Starting your calls off right ensures that there IS a "rest of the call."

JamesBrown55

Hi Jason,

I've been a member here for awhile but I rarely post. I stumbled across the link to your video when I was searching for Toronto Freelance Copywriters coldcalling. I was looking for someone whose blog I had read. When I saw your link, I jumped on it.
I watched the first video last night and it was like you were speaking directly to me, especially when you said the part about Christmas around the corner.

I just started a vlog about my fear of phones and the need for me to coldcall. In the vlog I am going to detail the issues and success's that I have.

I know for a fact that my copywriting career would be much further along the road if a few years ago I had coldcalled, followed up my emails, direct mail with calls. I didn't do it and now I am in a tough spot. I took a highly regarding email prospecting course for people who were too scared to pick up the phone. I have that it made zero difference in terms of the number of people who respond.

Soooo, it is very timely that I have decided to cold call and thank god I found your video. I am about to watch video number two.

I would put your video on par with Peter Bowermans book on coldcalling for copywriters. Both are top notch and I highly recommend you both.

Keep up the great work.

Regards,
James

James W. Brown
http://www.ghostwritergold.com
Ghostwritergold-treats you like gold.
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-articles.html

Jason Kanigan

Thanks, James!

Feel free to link to my vid in your vlog.

mojo1

Wow Jason..very impressive sir

Jason Kanigan

Thanks...make sure you check out the second video.

Rob28x

Great video. Also watched your How To Start The Call video and took lots of notes. I feel that I am a lot more confident with cold calling now. I also read your Arts Companies and the 30 Second Commercial blog posting.

Next step for me is to decide what I want to do/offer and figuring out the best approach to coming up with my 30 second commercial.

Thanks again Jason for all of your help.

Jason Kanigan

Think less about your "offer" than what problems your market is experiencing which you can help fix. That's your lead-in and credibility.

Rob28x

Yeah sorry I should have worded that better. I have learned from here that clients want solutions to their problems, and that's what I need to focus on.
Thanks.

Jason Kanigan

That's correct. Start by sharing a few problems that you have solved for this niche specifically. For anyone wanting to see how that is structured, click here.

John Durham

This has got to be the most killer way to find a job that I have ever seen Jason! Highly creative packaging of management experience! Goes to show that its all in the way you package something. Seriously impressive compared to an average boring resume on paper!

Jason Kanigan

Yeah, after I moved to the US and wasn't allowed to work during the immigration period, I had to do something to jumpstart the process. You try sitting out the better part of a year and see what happens to the perception of your resume. Most people didn't even read that I came from Canada! But they sure would see this huge employment gap...and not ask any questions. I made that video in the summer of 2010...I wrote it, my wife shot it, and a super schoolkid friend of my sisters-in-law edited it on his Mac (he's now at some fancy college for filmmaking and Arts). That's how you get things done when you have NO budget. And it looks like a million bucks.

That video and the free google site it's on have gotten me serious offers, including a defense contractor role supporting the US Marines in supply chain development. I keep it there as an example and it still attracts attention. MARKETING. Whatever everyone else is doing...I tend to be moving in the completely opposite direction and getting better results.

Much better than the junk people keep throwing out there. And unlike the majority of onliners (you being a big exception, John), I don't hide my background, my name or my expertise.

Fast forward to today...I have a made-for-me role with a company that beat oDesk on Inc. Magazine's Top 5000 list...a growing online rep...and I live in the greatest country in the world. I'll take it!

John Durham

In any event its a killer idea. I didnt realize you had a report on it... was just watching your video, and ended up going down the bunny trail ... Seriously, very creative.

Jason Kanigan

https://sites.google.com/site/jasonkanigan/

That's one of the places our "friend" gets his "dirt" from for his squidoo lens.

Mwind076

Love the video! It doesn't matter how you got there (I read about how you made the video), it matters that you helped yourself and are now helping others!

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Visit us HERE for more information on Reaching Your Customers!

Jason Kanigan

The only thing I'd do differently is wear a solid color tie

And I've been helping people with their resumes and job search for a long time...since 2001. When Sept 11 happened, I was coaching jobhunters by mock interviews. When I interview, I'm offered the job about half the time. It's getting those "at bats" that's the challenge to overcome.

Anyone wanting more info about my approach and free help with their job search can visit www.kanigan.ca.

John Durham

I dont pay any attention to him anymore. There are soo many critics out there. I just do what I do, and let them spin it any way they want.

Jason Kanigan

I saw a thread where someone talked about a method like the one I talk about, and called it the "Nice Ass Approach." Several things were wrong with their understanding.

First, they didn't understand why we ask, "Is this a bad time?"

You'll find the answer why in the video.

Second, they didn't understand why we find out about problems in our prospect's world that we can solve....rather than pushing features & benefits.

We don't want buyer's remorse...we don't want to turn ourselves into a commodity and end up haggling about price...we want the pressure to move from US to the PROSPECT.

Free sales training articles at www.kanigan.ca. It's hosted by an ex-employer of mine, and sometimes it has 'bandwidth exceeded' problems...but keep checking. I gave away a lot there.

Jason Kanigan

The kanigan.ca bandwith issues have been fixed, so they tell me. So make sure you go there and check out the sales blog posts.