[HELP] Offline Marketing Tactics

I get 5 to 10 of these sort of calls a week so I would try a different approach.

As soon as you mention SEO or online marketing etc their eyes glaze over and you have lost them.

These are business people interested in their bottom line.

They already have an asset that is being underutilized so you need to talk more about ROI, Assets, profits, more customers and sales etc. Stuff they understand.

Quentin

That all sounds great! One thing I'd keep in mind, is that approx. every 100 calls equates to one single lead. Make sure to schedule in at least 100 calls per day. It's rough but if you persevere it should pay off. Script sounds decent. Best of luck!

Why don't you just pick some likely target websites and do a mini analysis?

Then call them and say....we've done a preliminary mini analysis of your website with some ideas of how to improve the profitability so can I ask you a couple of questions?

1. Would you be interested in seeing what we've suggested and
2. If we can show you some improvement would you be interested in doing a full review (or similar)

Works for me.

I talk to prospects face to face at chamber meetings,
Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle meetings, etc.

I talk to them about the pain and wasted dollars
with things such as yellow page advertising and then
suggest that they spend some of that money with
me where I can offer them clearly measurable
results.

Let them know that you understand them and the
pains of running their business, and then show them
that you have a better solution... and offer risk
reversal.

I don't generally do cold calling. I do ask existing
clients for referrals and introductions.

Willie

Agree with helisell in the sense that you NEED to make it personal/customized. The sad thing is that I believe even the whole "free site review" thing is getting SPAMMED to biz owners now too (not saying it won't work, because I have done it and DOES, but the future looks bleak for that approach too). It's hilarious, I run an offline consulting biz and I GET CALLED like 3 times a day with people telling me they can get me to the top of Google.

Sometimes, if I'm really bored, I will follow along with their pitches and ask them to check out some of my rankings and ask them SEO-related questions. The one guy was like "we will get you listed with over 2500 major online search engines". I was like "Do you guys handle Google Places /local biz citations as well?". His response "Yes, people locally will find your website if you try our system out sir." :rolleyes:

I know people will disagree with me all day on this one, but along with offering a customizable review of sorts, try and come up with something that you can essentially give companies for "free" that they can immediately SEE the value in. A report can be fantastic as long as you talk to them in english, not search numbers and other seo speak.

I have found that offering a free video creation/promotion (submit to youtube using a geotargeted long tail, don't give them their highest searched for keyword so they still need you , or tubemogul if you're feeling especially generous) can help get the ball rolling with particular clients on the edge. You still need to target the RIGHT businesses, but if you have 10 local businesses competing in the same niche that are all currently spending money on advertising, I'd imagine one of them will at least consider TALKING to you after you give them a video.

Develop the relationship, then go from there. Anyway hope that helps, and it is just my opinion from my own experiences. - Jim

Saturation of the market. I saw it coming. Creating websites and doing SEO is nothing new. Adding a free gift or whatever if you join a list is becoming common place. Move in fast before it is on every template.

I agree, as soon as someone calls me offering SEO... or even worse, has an accent and talking about SEO, I'm immediately uninterested.

You're going to need a better pitch and a complete marketing overhaul. And Referrals will ALWAYS be the best bet. Don't take this the wrong way, I know nothing of your skills, but you really need to know your shiz and be able to prove it in a receptive way to get clients.

Hey Daniel,

The problem with your calling is that you're talking about search marketing services right away - this turns off a lot of people.

You need to be talking about 'acquiring new customers'. Your call should be about what you can do for them - not how you will do it.

The first job is to arrange a good time to talk about how you can send them new clients - not trying to sell your services right away.

Also you probably want to find a better way to target your prospects too. The fact that they're in Google just means they have a website - not that they're interested in paying money for marketing it. Even if all you did were call only businesses that have a local listings entry, at least you know they've had to put some focus on the web to know about that and get it done.

As someone also said, if you take a few minutes to look at their website you may spot obvious problems or opportunities that you can mention briefly to show that you're not some random cold-caller who has no idea who they are.

It's easy to lose a potential client by saying the wrong thing - so try to keep it simple and talk about their business and customers rather than your services.

Andy

A big thank-you to everyone that has replied, some great information provided by all of you

@Andy - Would it be wise to still introduce what I offer, but ask questions like:
- What is your target market?
- How much of your work comes from website referral?

Also, when looking for clients what type of businesses should I be targeting. So far I've tried:
- Cleaners
- Landscapers
- Jewellers
- Child Care

Am I heading the right direction and if not, what are some better examples?

I've made some updates

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Him: Hello I'm Adam from whatever company
Me: Hello Adam, Good afternoon, how are you doing today?
Him: Not too bad, how are you?
Me: I'm doing pretty well myself. Thank you for asking. Adam, could you please put me through to the boss.

At this point, a number of responses may occur:
Outcome 1:
Him: Sorry, the boss isn't here right now, can I take a message
You: Sure, I'm Jay from PremierSEO development solutions I specialise in online marketing consultancy. - I was wondering if you could tell me a time I could call back
Him: Around 3pm tomorrow.
You: Alright, thank-you for the time.

Outcome 2:
Him: One moment, what is this in regards to?
You: I'm Jay from Premier SEO development solutions I specialise in online marketing consultancy.
Him: Ok, I'll get the boss
*Carry on from script below*

Outcome 3:
Him: Yes, I'm in charge, what's this about?
*Carry on from script below*

----------------------------------------------

Me: I'm Jay from PremierSEO development solutions. Adam, do you currently advertise in newspapers or the yellow pages?

Outcome 1:
Him: Yes, we do
Me: Adam, if you don't mind me asking what are your expenses towards the advertising that you do?
Him: Around $10000 a month
Me: Well Adam, what if I could bring even more customers to you at the fraction of the cost of your other advertising forms?
Him: Sounds great!
Me: Adam, my company specialises in Internet Marketing and we would love to do business with you, the way this concept works is we're able to help you get more customers from what people are searching online.
Me: Adam, do you have an online marketing company/consultant helping you out with internet marketing for your website?
Him: No, not at the moment.
Me: Oh alright. If you want, I could run a free analysis of your website for you and give you some tips for increasing your online exposure.
Him: No thanks, I'm not interested.
Me: Hey Adam, it's free, I promise, not strings attached!
Him: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I am! I won't take up too much of your time now since I assume you're busy. I'll call you tomorrow to discuss my analysis of your website with you and give you a few points on how you can market your website. How about I call you tomorrow, same time?
Him: Sounds great.
Me: Alright, perfect! Talk to you tomorrow then. Have a great day, nice talking to you.
Him: Same here Jay. Thanks for calling.

Outcome 2:
Him: No, we don't
Me: Well Adam, what if I could bring you more customers at a fraction of what you would normally pay for a newspaper ad?
Him: Sounds great!
Me: Adam, my company specialises in Internet Marketing and we would love to do business with you, the way this concept works is we're able to help you get more customers from what people are searching online.
Me: Adam, do you have an online marketing company/consultant helping you out with internet marketing for your website?
Him: No, not at the moment.
Me: Oh alright. If you want, I could run a free analysis of your website for you and give you some tips for increasing your online exposure.
Him: No thanks, I'm not interested.
Me: Hey Adam, it's free, I promise, not strings attached!
Him: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I am! I won't take up too much of your time now since I assume you're busy. I'll call you tomorrow to discuss my analysis of your website with you and give you a few points on how you can market your website. How about I call you tomorrow, same time?
Him: Sounds great.
Me: Alright, perfect! Talk to you tomorrow then. Have a great day, nice talking to you.
Him: Same here Jay. Thanks for calling.

Cold calling is a royal P-I-T-A, try to conduct a free seminar and upsell your services. As already mentioned, cold calling is all about numbers. The more calls, the more of a chance to set an appointment and possibly close a sale.

I've long noticed how few people actually put out anything original. I've gotten calls from hired telemarketers pitching this or that. When pressed for details or specifics, none could say anything that wasn't in their poorly memorized or understood script. One of them didn't even know what "monetize" meant. I've done telemarketing (sucks big time. Glad it is disappearing); sounding like a bad actor reading in monotone gets poor results, lowering odds of success considerably.

There is a lot of competition in the filed so you should talk really nice and offer some special to persuade peoples to use your service. Try offering some bonus to peoples or something like that.
And at least one percent of such calls will surely give you a lead.
Good luck.

SO many local business owners are shell shocked from all the spam emails & phone calls from those so-called SEO companies from overseas guaranteeing them the world with promises they can't keep. I get those same emails & calls...I really can't blame them for being skeptical or annoyed at your calls or mailings....

I went as far as to changing my tactic to combat that on-slought......offering education about local seo, showing true results from a business owner that lives & works in the same city as them...one who understands the local economy & knows how to locate local customers...that if there is ever a problem, they can literally knock on my door & sock me in the nose......in lieu of some wanna-be "local" seo company from India or where ever...who can't even say the name of my city right....(Tuk-son...instead of Tucson...the c is silent...lol), who wants up-front money & is never heard from again, with no recourse....

Education = trust & trust goes a long way with local business owners...the only problem is that it takes work to gain that trust & not many are willing to work hard for it...

Honestly....any time I get a phone call that starts...."Good afternoon, how are you doing today?"...I know it's a sales call....

Good Luck,
~Ken

Chet Holmes book The Ultimate Sales Machine addresses cold calling and has a fantastic method for getting leads and ultimately sales. Rather than type out the book :-), I'd say hit Amazon or the local library. His suggestions are spot on and are laid out before you hit the halfway mark in the book.

My standard line when someone cold calls me is: 'I think 1990 is calling you on the other line.'

I prefer to do my own Offline Marketing for my business. How can you sell Offline Marketing to other people when you can't do it right for yourself?
I get many of my Offline clients from Social Media...

Fair enough. I am sure telemarketing has it's place. Almost everything does. It just isn't me. Agree to disagree. I made 250K when others around me made 1/4-1/2 as much trying to do the same thing. I did it ethically, many off them lied their ass off. I never have telemarketed except once for 2 weeks and am a firm believer in positioning. (Most securities boiler rooms I know about did not 'cold' call either, but called people they had previous relationships with.) I know several telemarketers and generally like them as they usually do understand selling. To me, selling is almost a religion and encompasses much more than a phone contact could ever mimic. Like I said, some is just a personal preference. And being on the recieving end of aggressive callers, I have honed some (rude) defenses.
Nothing happens until someone sell something. How is probably less important than the seller (and in my world the buyer) is comfortable. That can probably be achieved telemarketing, but my access and 1st 'mentors' in the 3D and on-line world were dead against it. I merely carry on the tradition and haven't even tested it as I probably should. (I haven't tested typing newsletters either, but you bring up some good points.) It isn't like I am going to pick up the phone and start calling people, it is still to each his own. I am sure I do some things that you would be against. (Though I do nothing unethical). In any case, sorry to offend,
Mark
PS- If ever you need anything, CALL me. Lol. and make a donation to http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...aughter-2.html if you have a few spare bucks. Thanks,
Mark

To the OP: Do both cold calling and face-to-face visits. Look not at "conversion" but ROI. For example, you may cold call 100 people and get 5 leads. Assume 1 converts to a paying customer at the rate of $500.

If it cost you $50 to call 100 people (probably way too high, but works for the example), you've made $450 while "only converting" at 1 percent.

Which is better to your psyche even though the outcome is exactly the same? $450 or 1 percent?

Cold calling sucks and it's a numbers game (partly why it sucks so bad).

But make yourself known in the business community and after a few months people will come find you, especially if you've provided a good ROI to some customers.

By the way, you can create AWESOME ROI for a select few customers by delivering on your promise for free. Use them as referral magnets.

i never call cold its usually a waste of time and effort i would rather have them call me back for my services

Cold calling doesn't suck when you have 50 clients paying you 200 bucks per month for a google map listing...

Do you want money?

I guess if one has other ways thats great, but if you are broke... get some money by all honest means... this a way that millions of people do it successfully everyday -cold calling.

It takes a special breed to start and stay with cold calling. This is one of the, most hated jobs in the world.

I use to do this at 16 years of age and it was no cake walk. Rejection is at its highest when you do cold calling. It's all about not taking the rejections personal and keep calling people and trying to set an appointment, to demonstrate your product and close that sale.

This method might not be, the most popular of doing business, but many do use this method and some make real good money as well.

My way of trying to give you a way to go that is both fast and lucrative if played right. Thought about this post all night! Lol.

At the risk of conceding something to John...

If you are going to 'cold call', 'warm call' instead.
Call a few local companies until the phone call isn't being answered
correctly. If it is a company you already use, so much the better.
(Your plumber, your electrician, etc.)

Then do a keyword search for that business, see if he is missing a few
COMMERCIAL keywords with a decent search volume. See if he is listed in Google Biz,
Yahoo Biz and Bing Biz listings as well as maybe 50 or so other local biz listings.
Sooner or later, (probably sooner if the phone is answered incorrectly), call and ask to speak to the person in charge (whose name you already know). When he is on the line, introduce yourself, but not what you do. Ask a few client type questions. Mention you are sure he has received emails and/or calls about his website and having it placed higher in the rankings for a number of keywords. If he has no site, he probably does not 'get it' and you are probably wasting your time, except for a one time $500 for a site... maybe.

This is where it gets tricky because if he wasn't aware it was a sales call, he sure is now.
Assure him that is NOT why you are calling him, but as an aside mention you do do that, but
that you are pretty sure that unless he is not experiencing the recession most of us are he is
missing out on some business you may be able to help him retain.

At this point you should have his curiosity aroused. (or get tossed. Lol) Assure him that you don't need any money and would like to meet with him for 90 minutes or so uninterrupted and talk with him about it.

If you get a negative response, let him know that if he changes his mind he can have your
number if he wants it. If he wants it, give it, if not wish him a great day and move on.

Eventually you will procure a meeting. Before the meeting be sure to call several times as a
potential client and make a note of every faux pas. The meeting is nothing but having him fill
out a questionnaire. Actually you ask him the questions and write them down. Then schedule
a 2nd meeting. Do NOT ask for money.

At the second meeting you point out all the mistakes you have identified through your calls
and the questionnaire. Go through them point by point. At about halfway through, some of
the problems will be on-line problems. There will be a lack of page ranking, a lack of social
media, back links, email campaigns, etc. (always let on you are a big fan of 'free'). Basically
take a good 30- 45 minutes and hurt him bad.

Then go on to part two; solutions. Offer phone training and fixing any other profit leaks you
have identified. About halfway through the meeting though, you should start moving onto the
on-line stuff.

When talking about keyword ranking be sure to say you could have him rank for 100
keywords tomorrow, but unfortunately, no one entering those keywords is buying anything.
99% of the searches are being done by students researching a paper, and that is why it is so
easy to rank for them.

Then propose that he hires you to:
A. Fix his current problems (even if it means spending 4 hours teaching the desk person
how to answer a phone and to do so with-in 2 rings.), as well as instituting other
procedures that will plug the profit leaks in the business he already has. Teach the
sales staff how to up-sell/down-sell and cross sell, whatever will make an immediate
difference. Fix or institute direct marketing to his customer base.
B. To increase his online presence. At this point feel free to ask for a check.
As you go through each solution to a problem (vaguely) ask him what percent or amount he
feels fixing that problem will net him. Before you have even hit the online stuff you
should be up to 20-40%. In a 1 million dollar company (Very small) that adds up to a
200-400k increase. Numbers that HE has given you as the amount he thinks will be saved by
fixing those problems. You are NOT telling him, he's telling you!

Best to NOT sell commodities like SEO, websites, Google listing, ect. Even though you will
do those things, that is not what you should be selling. Best to focus on results.
Sell the results. Sell the benefits of using your services. That is all most businesses
care about. "What have you done for me lately?"

If you want ask him what it would be worth for him to hire you to fix those problems AND
wave your hand up the sheet and mention we are only halfway into our (notice 'our')
solutions, his answer may very well be larger than you would have charged him. If so ask
him to have a check drawn up while you draw up a contract "and oh... BTW... there is a
$1,497 (or whatever) monthly fee in addition, but I am sure you can see the value in that."
(As if he is astute enough to realize it is obvious).

Charge 10-30%what you save him in a year. If he thinks you will save him 200k the 1st year,
(his numbers, not yours!) $1,497 x 12 = $17,964; charge 13k upfront if you can-that is 15%
At 10%, charge $997 x 12 =$11964 and get 8k upfront

Be flexible, especially the first go around. As you keep doing this your confidence will grow
and grow.

If it is a little mom & pop and you get 1k up front and $500 a month, it is training for you and
they can afford it. Many will be sceptical, even after they are the ones giving you the
numbers. Reiterate that you are basing your fee off their numbers.

Also the ones that need it the most really can't afford the big upfront fees. Be kind, be
gracious, be helpful but feed your family and make the car payment.

If it is a tiny business and operating on a shoe string budget, and after a second meeting
your gut says he is a man of his word, take a chance on him.

I do a client for a monthly fee only, no upfront payment. I did a month of different things
before he gave me the first payment. The worst case scenario is that I spend a few hours for
free, best case is I have a client for life. 10 clients for life at 1k/mo each is $120,000 year
for maybe 10-15 hours of work a month. Or it is a 7Pac listing for one commercial keyword for
600 clients. Which is easier? (Or 120 clients 7 pac for 5 keywords at 1K).

Just close one customer. Referrals will be all you will ever have time for after one.
(Forget the one time $200-$500 deals, you may as well get a job).

If you ask the client to say what you would be worth and his answer is too high, back it down
a bit. If not high enough, tell him he is close. Decide whether the amount he says the service
is worth to him is worth your time. If so, concede you will do him a favor on this deal.

Stay in control throughout the process. YOU are the expert. First start plugging the profit
leaks. You should be able to make instant increases in his net if you found the right
company, know how to answer a phone and sell.

Meanwhile work on the on-line stuff at your leisure. Out source as much as you can.
If the business doesn't have a Twitter and/or a Facebook page, there are two tangible and
easy things the person hiring you can see whether or not they add any cash to the net.

When you make a fan page, you end up having to make a personal page for him. Make his
birth-date wrong but close, as much as possible private and email him a link and the user
name and password.

You can usually take most of the info for the fan page right off his website. Do business listings,
a press release or two, some article marketing, back-linking, etc. each month to earn your
$1,497/mo. You can spend $400 outsourcing all of it and net 1K. Voila! The 4 hour work week.

Go for a one year contract, or 6 months if you have to, but if he is chopping you, he may
understand that the majority of the work is done the first 60-90 days. Still, the close
should be over 10K.

This is a simplistic version of an easy & effective way to procure a off-line gig. I have done this 3 times and gotten 3 clients. (alter to match your personality and circumstances). I am in constant pain and in the process of dropping
them. Hurts too much. (Otherwise I would have just gotten referrals, I have refused the ones sent me.)
Fortunately I am well enough funded to not have to worry about being unemployed for the last 3 years.

& At least I get to watch General Hospital. Lol.

It's more powerful when you have something SOLID to offer...

Here's what I mean; Say you purchased the domain name ClevelandLandscaping.com...

Then you could call all the landscapers in Cleveland area (whether they have a website or not doesn't matter) cause now you can explain to them why it is so powerful to have that kind of domain name (if you do SEO), etc.

I found that by having something of value to them (what's it cost $10), they're more apt to listen (as you EDUCATE them).

In spite of all these opinions Bob foster the owner 20 year old call center that I managed for over a year called Non Profit services In Nashville Tn... Makes about 4 million per year more today than he did 10 years ago...

Whats funny is that 20 years ago when I started on the phone, there was even more intense talk of telemarketing failure than there is today, yet there were only less than 500k telemarketing jobs in America... today there are 4 MILLION call center employees and it is projected by 2020 that there will be 8 million.

Some authorities projections are "speculation"... but the hard evidence suggests that telemarketing is a perpetually growing and not declining industry...

You can tell me that economy sucks...but mine doesnt... I dont notice a difference personally. You can tell me that telemarketing is dying... but it looks like salaries are going up in my local newspaper, call centers are getting more sophisticated and even more HUGE companies are employing it, telemarketers families own middle class houses and cars... looks to me like things are getting better...

I think alot of ego's want to think that the internet (10-12 years old) is gonna make good ole fashion sales principles that are THOUSANDS of years old die.

Cold calling didnt kill door to door sales (rather made them easier with preset phone appointments), and the internet isnt gonna kill telemarketing... though encouraging that belief doesnt fit into the agenda of some egocentric internet "end all be all" marketers who think they are gonna destroy it with mobile text marketing...

I can believe a 90 billion dollar COMPANY could go down, even over really stupid simple things... but you would be hard pressed to knock down a 90 billion dollar collective "Industry".

Napster affected the record industry, but didnt kill and isnt going to anytime soon...

The internet affected printed word industry... but it didnt kill it... theres still book stores popping up all over and newspapers still thriving...

They have all integrated the new concepts to improve and become stronger.

I dont care how sophisticated you are, its always gonna be 10 times easier for a customer to say "No" to a text message than to a live trained salesperson.

Call it intrusive or whatever... Power to the people and Long Live Hiles!!!! I love that guy!

I have to stop now... Im getting blue in the face!

I'm sure many will disagree with these suggestions. They are merely given from the perspective of helping. Hope they help. And, there are multiple nuances at work here, but never are any of them based in treachery or trickery.
Be cool, confident and be the expert as I'm assuming you are.
....
Here are my suggestions for your script.
Ask for "the boss" first then introduce yourself...
i.e....
"Hi, is the boss in? It's the SEO Expert calling."
Nothing more. Nothing less. Many times the screener will think you are a friend calling.
---
NEVER ask how anyone is doing. If they are having a bad day, they will tell you and it can easily turn a potential good call into, well, a bad call. So, when "The boss" gets on the phone, I suggest asking if you reached them at at decent time. Even if they say it's not a good time you can handle the issue much more easily than asking how they are doing.
OR...
If your cold caller has the cajones, have them start with something so far out of the blue that it really gets "the boss's" attention... Use your imagination.
---
Tell the guy, right from the start, that you don't know if this is a good fit, but you may have a way to ...
1. save them money
2. make more money
3. save time
etc...
---
Tell "The Boss" that you're only interested in getting together to discuss how you can do this but before you set a time to get together you have a few questions for him and if it makes sense to the both of you, then you can align your calendars to meet.
...
So a "perfect" call would look SOMETHING like this... (Y = You P=Prospect [includes both receptionist and The Boss])
P: Thank you for calling XYZ Co. how may I direct your call?
Y: Is "The Boss in" it's "The SEO Guy" calling... [[[I recommend you NOT using your company name. Use your first name only.]]]
P: One second.
P: This is The Boss.
Y: Hey Mr. Boss. It's YOUR FIRST NAME calling. Did I reach you at a good time?
P: It's never a good time, but what can I do for you? (Or... Who is this? Who are you with? What the hell do you want?)
Y: It's YOUR FIRST NAME with COMPANY NAME. The reason I'm calling is to get together with you. We've developed a strategy that can help you FILL IN THE BLANK BENEFIT. I don't know if what we're offering is a good fit for you or your company and, frankly, it might not be, but if we can spend a few moments together, right now, we may be able to uncover new ways that you may be able to accomplish BENEFIT. Do you have a minute?
P: Maybe... or whatever....
....
Then go into your presentation and only go for the appointment.
Once you get the appointment you can do your dazzling display of digital dexterity!

ALWAYS my friend get your clients to say yes? Like, do you know how I found you guys? they will say, how ? and you say with Google, and then say , you guys like google? how about yahoo?
and then from there you should add in your above mentioned pitch. you want them saying yes right away to get them into saying yes to silly questions but it is a mind thing.

this is really saturated and when i call local business they are angry to receive more website company calls then client call for which they have the office.

I'm more into building rapport for at least two minutes before I ever talk about business or who I am or what I do.

I mean I just don't get why people will fly off the handle and give someone the chance to say NO within the first 10 seconds, they don't know you, they don't like you, and they have their guard up.

I call people and will do everything in my power NOT to tell what I do for at least sixty seconds. I do this by asking questions. Daniel, do you do commercial landscaping? What type of equipment do you have for your commercial jobs? Are you a member of the Better Business Bureau? Listen to his tone, do what you must to get a laugh. Then I say something like this, Daniel I'm the owner of PremierSEO located right down the road from you, I was doing some research and found some really interesting statistics that you might not have seen about people looking for new commercial landscaping contracts. If I could show you how to get an extra $10 of work for every $1 you spend on the internet, would it be worth 5 minutes of your time? Could I stop by either Thursday afternoon or first thing Friday morning?

Building rapport is the key though. I want to identify with them. I want them to like me. I convey that in the tone of my voice, in the words that I use. I also understand their industry. Before I ever go into an industry I'll interview at least 20 members of the industry. I'll know what works, what doesn't, what scares them, what motivates them, what the numbers and the metrics look like, etc. It's not that hard to interview people, they love to talk about their business and what works and what doesn't. So when I go to build rapport, I "get them". I don't know why more people don't spend the time doing this.

I'm also a business owner myself, I own 5 different offline businesses. So I'm not some kid who doesn't get how business really works. I can talk to them business to business. That part helps, but the more experience you get with other businesses the more of a "true business owner" you become as well. So, when business is slow I can talk to them about my business too. Like right now I talk about how Santa Claus kicks my businesses butt, and how I can feel him hovering around the corner waiting to swoop down and just bust my butt. That's usually good for a laugh, and a bit more rapport. I GET him, he doesn't get many people that GET HIM. He only gets problems, he gets people complaining. He might go weeks between ever having a chance to talk to a real "peer". It's lonely being the owner, trust me I know.

I really believe in building rapport. I'm not into the 80-100 calls an hour, I'm more into 10-20. But I've measured my results based upon the time I spend on the phone before we talk about what I do. The difference between 30 seconds of rapport and 2 minutes of rapport is about 250% more appointments. I've cold called and gotten 25% appointment rates, absolutely cold just by state management and rapport building(very targeted list), and when I use ethical bribes I've gotten as high as 40%. But I also have 5 years of experience in the industry and over 20,000 phrases ranked #1 in Google.

Just my side of the coin. I'm open to being wrong(wouldn't be the first time).

Marcos

What I like to do is this:

Visit their website before calling. Look for an opt-in box. Do you see on? Is it buried underneath pages? Are they offering anything for the opt-in? You know- everybody listens to WIIFM Radio (what's in it for me) to submit an email.

If they are totally tore-up in that department & still say they have someone doing that already, apologize to them, and tell em that you didn't think they did and this is why...

I'm sure you see where I'm going with this...

Take those notes down and give them a ring. Create your script around that

Give it a shot.

They provide nothing of apply, it understand that they are making your opinion known, however a response like this offers no value to a forum. They had made it apparent that it dislike cold calling, now for a new business starting out with no existing customer base is hard; having people call him for services isn't going to work if no one has heard of the yet.