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Did a little ColdCalling Action today!

by qwertz
13 replies
Hey Guys! Excuse my English (Europe).. I understand everything, but my writing..

I called - wait.. I know, its not much - 10 Companys today (yesterday 17 and spoke with 8), spoke with 9 of them. It took me ~10 Minutes, but it is a little bit too late now, to call other companys. Could be a limiting belief! Anway, tomorrow is a new day!

I have no clue, why i was so afraid todo it, over the last few month. Now i am at a Point in my life, where i had to do it. My first way to go was Direct mail. I send out 30 letters and didnt got any calls. I should have send (alot) more than 30, of course. But i thougt to myself: "If i call 30 people, and no one wants a website, why should they want a website, when i send them a letter. A Letter makes it even easier for them to ignore me." 1000 Letters cost me ~900$ and to call 1000 Persons cost me.. like.. nothing.

I only choosed direct mail because im afraid of cold calling.. but now is the time, where i have to do it. Its faster. It cost me a minute to find out, if they want a website, or not. To mail them a letter it cost me too much money and too much time. So this is now the only way to go, for me.

I have tax (5000$) and health insurance (~10000$) debts, the Governement in my Country wants to close my Company, this sucks, so i need Money. Fast!

Today was a good day, im a bit proud of me. I wear a nice suit (without the jacket) (dont laugh! This gives me more the feeling, that i have my own company and gets me in the Right "do it!"-mood. Fake it, till you make it! ), go to youtube and hear "Survivor - Theres no easy way out", grab the telephone and start calling. Even if it just was 10 calls today. It starts to feel good to call people. It is not as bad as i imagine..

Yesterday I smiled and said:

"Hi, this is XY. I create websites for small and medium sized companys and just want to ask, if theres any interest."

Today i smiled and said only:

"Hi, this is XY. I create websites, is there any interest?"

Maybe not the best first line, but i think its ok. I just want to find out: Yes, or No.. So whats wrong with straight to the Point?

I just want to say thank you.. Took a little action and feel good about it.. John Durham, IamNameless, kaniganj(jgjjijij) and a few others.. Thank you! The First step is done.. Maybe this here leads to a small Journal, if its ok!
#action #coldcalling #today
  • Profile picture of the author cosmeticsKing
    listen when you cold call forget about business. Seriously
    my script from sales was

    Hi im aristos a lonely and desperate cosmetic salesman that want nothing to do with you but he has to pay his ex freaking wife . oh yea i have a great offer 100 of X you get 1 X free ))

    but you need to have balls
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  • Profile picture of the author racso316
    First of all, congrats on taking action and making calls. I think you could get a better script and I'm sure the experts on cold calling here can help you out with that. There's also a lot of threads here with awesome scripts if you want to use the search option.

    I think 30 letters is too little to even try to measure. Besides, what you needed or still need to do is follow up. Don't make the mistake of just sending a letter once and forget about it. Send a letter, wait a couple of days and call them up about it. Also, use a sequence of letters, and calls. Don't just give up on the first try. That could get a little costly but that's how it's done. If you don't have the funds, then yeah, cold calling is a good path to take.

    You should also test your letter, the headline, offer, make sure you have an irresistible offer, urgency, etc. Test your script as well.

    Either way, keep on going and again congrats on taking action.
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    • Profile picture of the author qwertz
      Originally Posted by racso316 View Post

      First of all, congrats on taking action and making calls. I think you could get a better script and I'm sure the experts on cold calling here can help you out with that. There's also a lot of threads here with awesome scripts if you want to use the search option.
      Im pretty sure that there are really good scripts! The Problem is, if i translate them into my language, they sound a bit "weird". Its not the way we talk here!

      Originally Posted by racso316 View Post

      I think 30 letters is too little to even try to measure. Besides, what you needed or still need to do is follow up. Don't make the mistake of just sending a letter once and forget about it. Send a letter, wait a couple of days and call them up about it. Also, use a sequence of letters, and calls. Don't just give up on the first try. That could get a little costly but that's how it's done. If you don't have the funds, then yeah, cold calling is a good path to take.

      You should also test your letter, the headline, offer, make sure you have an irresistible offer, urgency, etc. Test your script as well.

      Either way, keep on going and again congrats on taking action.
      Thanks for the Tips! I will give a new try soon, thats for sure. But now i just can't afford it..

      Originally Posted by AdwordsMogul View Post

      Congratulations on moving your a$$ and doing something!

      Here is the thing: when you're desparate, it's easy to skip steps.

      Your direct mail campaign depends largely on many factors, including your sales copy.

      How much research did you do before mailing/calling?

      What's you offer? Why should they do business with you vs. anyone else?

      You need to take a short break, lay back and write out a plan. Think of what you'd do if you were not in this situation. Then act as closely to that as possible.
      The research for the Mailing was to look if they have a website, or not. I sell Website, so in my opinion it was enough to know if they had one, or not. Maybe i'm wrong with that..

      For the Calling i do not very much research. I wrote a little software (php, mysql), scrape the Yellow Pages and insert the scraped data into a database. Now i can select niche and have website/or not.

      I know for sure, that if i select "No Website", that there are some WITH a website, they are just not listed at the Yellow Pages. But thats ok, every "NO" at the Telephone makes me more comfortable with rejection. It takes me longer to search @Google if there had a website or not, than to call them.

      What's you offer? Why should they do business with you vs. anyone else?

      My Offer is a well designed and "cheap" Website. Not very Creative, i know. Why they should do business with me? Hrm! Good Question! The first Thing that pops into my Mind is: "They are in need (and know it) and i be there!"
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  • Profile picture of the author AdwordsMogul
    Congratulations on moving your a$$ and doing something!

    Here is the thing: when you're desparate, it's easy to skip steps.

    Your direct mail campaign depends largely on many factors, including your sales copy.

    How much research did you do before mailing/calling?

    What's you offer? Why should they do business with you vs. anyone else?

    You need to take a short break, lay back and write out a plan. Think of what you'd do if you were not in this situation. Then act as closely to that as possible.
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    • Profile picture of the author LBspeaks
      Originally Posted by AdwordsMogul View Post

      Congratulations on moving your a$$ and doing something!

      Here is the thing: when you're desparate, it's easy to skip steps.

      Your direct mail campaign depends largely on many factors, including your sales copy.

      How much research did you do before mailing/calling?

      What's you offer? Why should they do business with you vs. anyone else?

      You need to take a short break, lay back and write out a plan. Think of what you'd do if you were not in this situation. Then act as closely to that as possible.
      Have you ever done some cold calling yourself? I somehow feel you haven't. Because I cold call 3 days a week and have been doing it since 2007. I never, ever did any prior research on the lead.
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      Lokesh Batra- The Man Who Serves...

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  • Profile picture of the author sreeprashanth
    Originally Posted by qwertz View Post

    Today was a good day, im a bit proud of me. I wear a nice suit (without the jacket) (dont laugh! This gives me more the feeling, that i have my own company and gets me in the Right "do it!"-mood. Fake it, till you make it! ), go to youtube and hear "Survivor - Theres no easy way out", grab the telephone and start calling. Even if it just was 10 calls today. It starts to feel good to call people. It is not as bad as i imagine..

    Yesterday I smiled and said:

    "Hi, this is XY. I create websites for small and medium sized companys and just want to ask, if theres any interest."

    Today i smiled and said only:

    "Hi, this is XY. I create websites, is there any interest?"
    Good Luck with cold calling.

    Nice to see that you get the guts to make cold calling by wearing a suit, it is right that some people get the required steam by doing certain things.

    The same here i like to listen to some music first to make my IM things fast.

    By the way I think you have to get a better script and you should change the opening. IMO it should not be direct to the point in the opening :-)
    Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Great Job !! You will need to call alot more than you are doing currently. 27 calls is not alot. I would suggest trying to get a list together with the phone numbers ahead of time than just go calling alot each time.

      It is a pain making a list however.... you can easily call that number of people in one shot. Here is a suggestion call as many people as you can in one sitting to get a nice rythm going. Aim for a 100 a day, good luck !!!!
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      • Profile picture of the author qwertz
        Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

        Great Job !! You will need to call alot more than you are doing currently. 27 calls is not alot. I would suggest trying to get a list together with the phone numbers ahead of time than just go calling alot each time.

        It is a pain making a list however.... you can easily call that number of people in one shot. Here is a suggestion call as many people as you can in one sitting to get a nice rythm going. Aim for a 100 a day, good luck !!!!
        Thank you Dwolfe! Well, i have a "List", i scrape the Yellow Pages, write them into a Database and Print the Results (Title, Adress, Number and Niche) out. The Quality is for sure not the best, but a "List" of Adresses+Numbers (for example) of 40k architects cost me a few thousand Dollars! I aim for 1000 a Week!
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  • Profile picture of the author damasgate
    This is pretty inspiring, let us know if you start making sales

    It's true what they say, the fear of loss is a better motivator than the happiness of gain.

    It really does build tough skin to do cold calling.

    Personally, I was in the game of approaching random women every day to get their number lol in order to improve my skills with them.

    After learning to laugh and accept the possibility of rejection, the results were so glorious after that.

    Looking at cold calling I felt the same kind of fear. I realize now that the fear of rejection was driving me not to make the calls.


    anyways, great job buddy
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  • Profile picture of the author PvPGuy
    Originally Posted by qwertz View Post

    go to youtube and hear "Survivor - Theres no easy way out", grab the telephone and start calling. Even if it just was 10 calls today. It starts to feel good to call people. It is not as bad as i imagine..

    Awesome, lol. Those songs are timeless. Good luck with your calls. (btw, that's Robert Tepper, not Survivor, but they go good together for inspiration!)
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    This is awesome, I plan to start doing the same thing to drum up some new business for my web design company. Just waiting till university exams are over and I have some time.

    Please keep this thread updated with your progress! I am sure it will be inspiration for some of us who havent yet gotten the courage
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    "You shouldn't come here and set yourself up as the resident wizard of oz."
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  • Profile picture of the author youyap
    Good job stay focus
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    websitedesignguru.com
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    • Profile picture of the author gvsridhar171
      Congrats ! I have been living my life only on cold calling. Initially it was me all alone, then a team of 5 and now I have a team of 300 totally outsourced to Call Centres. There is no other substitute to "cold calling". You do get into problems like TRAI Regulations (in India), DND (do not call registry) and so on, but if you are smart in breaking them, then no one can stop your success.
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