Want more offline clients? This is a NEVER FAIL way to do it.

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If you ask anyone what the hardest part of sales is they will tell you “Cold Calling”. Being even a less than average salesman, if you can get cold calling right, you can earn a good living.

Generally when someone is consistently failing, they are not consistently prospecting. Why?
Because, again, prospecting is the hardest part of sales. People who don’t do the hard stuff, cant be in the top percentile.

Does it have to be hard… no.

Our internet marketing pioneers have taught us funneling systems… ‘systems” that were more effective years ago than today, though the “principles” taught still thrive.

We constantly have to come up with more complex ways to make them continue to work…
You see systems, and techniques change, only “principles” endure.

In every conception there is a metaphorical egg and a fertilizer or catalyst… So, what spawned all these systems, and knowledge of these principles of online prospecting?

Desire. Desire to never have to cold call anyone again. Desire to advertise in ways that make customers come to you… Generating customers “passively”.

Still, in some markets like “web design” for instance the online competition is soo steep that for most offline marketers , they will never be able to funnel any significant amount of customers from the search engines… the most brilliant seo people and marketing minds in the world are competing for those spots, even in small towns.

Not impossible… but not easy in a lot of cases, furthermore in some small localized areas the online market simply isn’t big enough to bring significant business even if you have the top spot…

So how do you compete?

Many go back to the principle that endures… “prospecting aggressively instead of passively”, taking the bull by the horns and controlling your numbers through telemarketing.

Telemarketing ALWAYS works. It NEVER fails… and it NEVER gets more complicated than:

1: A person
2: A list
3: A script
4: A phone.
5: A willingness to make 100 phone calls, and expect a 3-5% conversion rate (2 in the bag and 3 in the pipeline).

Go where the competition is not.

Here’s how telemarketing works:

1: Make 100 calls
2: Schedule two appointments
3: Two more appointments will come over the next two weeks from that initial 100 calls.
4: Prospect every day, and keep the pipeline stuffed.

This system is worth 2-3 clients per week on the front end… and eventually 2 or 3 per DAY if you keep cold calling daily and stuffing the pipeline.

It ALWAYS works.

Do you have to do it yourself? No.

If you are marketing to offline businesses do you HAVE to do it? No.

Will it guarantee your results?

YES! YES! YES!

It never fails…

Try it and see.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #clients #fail #offline
  • Great post. Telemarketing can really suck, but it does work. At least in the offline marketing world you would not have to do it forever if you have clients paying monthly. Put up with it for a few months and your business will be booming.
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    • I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have saved my own ass by picking up a phone book and cold calling some people. It doesnt take an act of congress. Take five minutes, write a sc ript and if you have nothing else, open a phone book and start talking to people.

      Here's my golden script:

      Hey Im a local webdesigner, just moved to the area, and Im callin around trying to drum up some business...wonderin if you folks had a website or had maybe considered doing one for your business...

      Then some would say... Well I have been thinking about it but its on the back burner... I aint got 2k to spare right now

      Me: Well you dont need 2k , all you really need is an about us, home, contact us, and services page... I could have that running for you in 72 hours... you only need a couple of hundred dollars to geet started...
      Customer: Well...
      Me: Tell you what, I'll be out in your area on thursday...is there a good time to stop by and talk...

      Then... when you get to the appointment, offer them a deal thats impossible to say no to.

      Okay...

      It all begins with, "Have you folks given anythought to starting a website?

      If they already have one... just move on. Dont beat yourself up rebuttling people and selling them... just find someone who is interested. You are looking for a laydown.

      If you make 100 calls per day you will get a ton of laydowns.
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    • AMEN TO THAT BROTHER! HAHaHaHAHA...
  • Thanks for the reminder to get out there and make the calls, it's so hard, but offline clients are worth every cent.
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    • I have a friend who refuses to do this. He wants new clients, but he hates sales and won't spend money on expensive air time. Cold calling a few hours a day will get him more work than he has now...oh well. When I first started I cold called every ad agency in the state just about and ended up doing work for a few of them. Screw it. You gotta get money, you do what it takes.
  • You can outsource this.
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    • This is true. But sometimes you need someone who can really sell it and knows the ins and outs of that industry. I worked in a call center and nothing sucks harder than trying to sell a product you no nothing about and don't believe in. It's so much easier to sell something you know and have knowledge of the industry. I hated cold calling older people about RV insurance when I knew jack about RVs or insurance. Customers can tell and many of them would call out callers like myself or others who didn't know what they hell they were talking about and just going through the motions on a script.
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    • Yes you can outsource this... in fact providing lead generation services, for everything from Insurance companies, to financing institutions, to siding windows and roof repair... make up about a 3rd of the whole telemarketing industry.

      "Exclusive telemarketed Lead Generation Services" is what one of my old companies did... mostly for Insurance agnecies...

      How did I get the contracts? I telemarketed Insurance companies.

      There are alot of virtual call centers who will be glad to set web appointments for you.


      Dont have them sell. Have them set appointments for the pro salespeople to call on them either fACE TO FACE OR VIA PHONE.

      Sales and lead generation are two different functions. Personally I think of "closing" as another seperate function in and of itself.
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    • Online or offline?
    • Banned
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  • I'd rather have someone else call them just to find out who's interested enough to call me - without any hard selling at all, just curiosity based for the business owner... if that makes sense?
    • [2] replies
    • Yeah, you need a professional "appointment setter".

      The cost of having a telemarketer set appointments for you ranges from 10 bucks per hour to $100.00 per appointment or more depending on the size of the deal he is setting you up with.

      Usually you have to pay the fee in advance ie: "I want to order 10 appointments. Here's my $500 bucks_

      The general consensus is that appointment setters do not give refunds but they will reset or refill any bad appointments.

      They can set you up face to face appointments or phone appointments, whichever you like. Even transfer live leads to you in real time.

      Usual practice is that they will email you the lead the moment they hang up with customer, but you can opt to have calls transferred live to you as well.
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    • I know exactly what you mean. A conversation never goes to waste. In fact, I think I have gotten more business lately from just being curious about people's businesses than straight "wanna hire me" calls.

      I truly want to know how people are doing and somewhere in the conversation I can mention, "You know, I do this thing where I help people get more customers with almost your same marketing budget". And then the conversation turns interesting!
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  • Hello there! Since I am not a salesman by nature, cold calling seems to have a certain fright factor built in, and after reading your suggestions, I must admit that the intimidation factor is less-thanks for the pointers.
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    • Whats intimidating about saying "hey Im a local webdesigner, just wondered if you folks ever thought about doin a website"?

      Or "Hi were just calling around offering business owners free rate comparisons on health Insurance... wondered if you folks could use one..."?

      Most horror stories about telemarketing come from "residential" marketing... B2B is quite different. The prospects are much more polite and receptive for the most part.

      Now when I ran a "fundraising for drug awareness" program... with about 60 tsrs... that was some HARDCORE prospecting... calling people at home... different ballgame, different approach. Think "Boiler Room".
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  • Well, the reality is:
    Doing it this way is an extremely and I mean EXTREMELY hard work.
    And just because it is possible to take an extremely hard route I don't see any reason doing so.
    There are much easier ways.

    I think telemarketing is mostly dead already and will soon die completely.
    • [1] reply
    • Telemarketing B2B is nowhere near dead and likely never will be.
      And, as the OP describes his method, there is absolutely nothing
      about it that even resembles extremely hard work.

      Tsnyder
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  • Hi there,

    I've got a great telesales guy who could with some extra work, if anyone needs some calling doing over the next few weeks. He's in the Philippines, but has a good accent & a great attitude. I know he needs some extra money at the moment. Drop me a PM for more details.

    James
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  • Banned
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  • interestingly this thread is inspired by those in the Americas, has anyone from Europe or Australia got a viewpoint on this subject
  • I find it very interesting that there are methods that are proven to work, but people dont' like to do, so they avoid them at all costs. (I can be guilty of this myself)

    Most people would rather avoid the sure thing that is difficult or out of their comfort zone and search for the "easy" solution that may or may not work.

    Meanwhile the ones who put in the effort and do the things they don't enjoy, reap the rewards, while the ones searching for the easy fix end up still searching.
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    • Well, IF you're unsure whether or not the "easy" solution will work, then you surely can try the hard method that *one* person says it works for *him*.
      Of course, that essentially means that you don't really *know* whether or not it will work for you. But you can try it regardless.

      However, I think that given the choice hiking to a city that is 100 miles away OR driving to that city in a car on a highway, most people would prefer the highway in a car.
      You can blame the comfort zone for that. :-)
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    • Hmmmmm.
      After 25 years in selling, including 7 years on a phone, appointment making for myself and others, phone closing sales, even short stints in real boiler rooms in Bangkok and Manila, i can tell you one thing.
      Whether you find it easy or hard is up to YOU - your mindset and focus (and sense of humour)

      Johns' suggestion is to go for what in Australia is called "low hanging fruit"
      You are looking for nice people who have a self-perceived need to fill.
      THIS IS THE EASIEST PHONE WORK IN THE WORLD Period.

      For a self employed service provider it is the absolute best way to start - and its easier than you think once you relax and just make the calls (you lose fear when you relax into a rythmm of calling).

      Each day you talk to a lot of people, most will be polite, some will be good people, who will refer you to other good people and one day you will find you are only talking to good people

      One day making cold calls will be just a memory.
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  • Lot of food for thought on this discussion, thanks for all the input. Now if only the phone didn't weigh 500 lbs. :-)
  • @ AnneRose88

    Yes not only in telemarketing but affiliate marketing, article marketing, google marketing, blog, facebook marketing... the list goes on... there is alot of turnover...

    Its a fact that most opportunity seekers will never succeed. The reason is because they dont hang for the hard parts.

    There are 100 ways to skin a cat... this is just one's contribution and experience.

    But I'll still bet if you tried it for two hours, and REALLY meant that try.... You would get clients or at least appointments worth $500. to 2k potential...

    This is all given that you are indeed a business person (not you personally) who has the potential to actually be in business and carry on a business conversation. That is a given. Truly, I have found 1 decent telemarketer for every 5 I've hired... however in the case of starting your own offline business: If you cant say a simple pitch you're doomed anyway... you have to be able to do business.

    Just sayin

    No matter what you do do.... a basic requirment for success is that you have to be a mover and shaker, or else there wouldnt be any glory in saying "Im successful".
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    • Hmm... don't you think that if I'm posting here (especially after what I've said above), that I must have tried and I mean REALLY tried this method?

      Hint: I tried it not just for two hours but for WAAAY more than that.
      And I didn't just "try."
      I used to really believe in this method and I've got one of the best telemarketing trainings you can get...

      So, I know from experience that this method does work.
      And I also know that this method is probably the hardest there is and for this reason most people will fail with this method (because they will try to avoid doing it at all cost).
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  • John,

    You have the 'bull by the balls' - good on ya. You will never go hungry.

    People like you are rare.

    If you can cold call and make money, then you are the true entrepreneur.

    Keep up the good work !
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  • Its not easy, but doable. Persistence is key.

    2% conversion rate is very conservative if you're able to have a good tone, not sound like a recording, and have done your research on who to contact.
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    • Yes Im trying lowball the figure (3-5%) so people wont get discouraged easily and will suprise themselves. Personally my conversion ratio is more like 10-15%.
      2% is fine though as long as you know how many numbers it will take to hit your target.
  • Cold-calling is one the fastest ways to get in front of people and it still works incredibly well. I recently posted this on my member's only forum to help put things into perspective:

    I'm looking for a telemarketer to spend 4 hours per day on the phone cold-calling small business owners. The pay is $1,500 per week which is $75,000 per year.

    I know that a lot of you would probably take me up on an offer like this. Why would you do this for me, but not do this for yourself?

    Think about it...

    Here's what you'd need:

    -Phone

    -List - (List broker, Yellow page scraper, InfoUSA, Sales Genie Lite, GoLeads, etc.)

    -Script (Hi, this is... I'd like to give you some ideas about you can make your existing marketing more effective...)

    Here are the numbers:

    Let's make a conservative estimate that the service you're offering has a $400 profit margin. (Social media setup, Google maps, SEO report, mobile website, etc.)

    You call for 4 hours per day, 5 days per week.

    My average lead generation rate when calling business owners is around 1.5-2 leads per hour on the phone.

    Let's be conservative and work with 1.5 leads per hour... (You can double this quite easily if you decide to use a predictive dialer, but that's a discussion for another thread).

    1.5 leads per hour multiplied by 4 hours per day = 6 leads per day.

    6 x 5 days per week = 30 leads per week.

    So, to hit your $1,600 per week, you've just got to make 4 sales out of 30 leads, which is incredibly realistic.

    If you totally miss the mark and only make 2 sales... you're still making $800 for the week which is $41,600 per year and 3 sales per week based on these numbers is $62,400 per year.

    What if your profit margin per sale were $1,000 or $1,500? Could you land one deal out of 30 leads?

    Profit margin is a big variable because there are a lot of services you can offer your clients, but even looking at incredibly conservative numbers it's obvious that to be successful only requires some action.

    Thanks,


    Joshua
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    • Yup, all it takes is a phone and and an offer with even a $2-$400 profit margin and you could replace two fulltime day jobs in 4-5 hours per day. Love this post. Thanks for the contribution!!!

      We are really helping people with this. I have never worried about offline market getting saturated because there are a few guys out there making direct contact.... and the rest are spending six months at a time trying to figure out how to funnel one decent lead through their website...

      On the other hand you have huge telemarketing rooms doing it all day, but the telemarketers dont really know crap about how to help a business person...

      I dont see huge competition with that being the case... either way, the proof is in the pudding - everytime I pick up the phone I find business.

      It will NEVER be saturated.
    • Banned
      Thanks! Great layout. I guess I better get started on my script.

      It's hard to get started because your first feel calls are always so nervous since as with anything when you're starting out.

      Also must learn to take a lot of rejection...

      Do you have any tutorials on how to create a script and tips on cold calling?
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  • Here's a neat little trick to speed up the process of dialing numbers.
    Get an upgraded Skype account which lets you call landline phone
    numbers. I have the worldwide account which is $12.95 per month.

    Skype automatically detects phone numbers on webpages, and
    highlights them with a quick launch icon, so you can double click
    it and make the call. No dialing necessary.

    Now, you might be saying "yeah, but they have a web site dufus".

    My answer to that, apart from agreeing with you that I'm a dufus,
    is to go to business aggregate sites like Company Profiles & Company Information on Manta, which
    list ALL businesses by geographic location, and gives their current
    phone number - regardless of whether or not they have a website.

    No ink on the fingers, no misdialed numbers, paper cuts, or deciding
    which yellow book to use. Grab one, find a category, search it in
    Manta, along with your city and state - and BAM! (I watch the Food
    Network too).

    I've found that I can make about 30-50 more calls this way in about
    the same amount of time.

    The downside is that you have to have a pretty decent connection.
    And sometimes Skype generates some weird vocal abberations when
    it digitizes your voice, but overall it's pretty effective. :-)
    • [ 9 ] Thanks
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    • Your post may be unpopular with some people who want to avoid methods like cold calling but it does highlight a very important principle...

      The fastest way to get businesses as paying clients is to contact them directly.

      You can do that on the telephone, in person, by mail, by email...etc etc.

      The closer you get to you being face to face with a business owner the higher your chances of getting hired.

      All these methods take some skill, most take some motivation.

      Over the last few years I've observed that the people who finally just start getting in regular contact with business owners are the ones who start making money the fastest.

      If you're still trying to get local businesses as paying clients and not having much luck then it's probably long overdue that you just pick up the phone or go see some in person, go to the next business networking meeting etc etc and keep doing that consistently until you see some real results.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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  • I wont be cold calling, as its not a strength of mine.

    Has anyone had any success with outsourcing this function on freelancer.com or odesk?
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    • Understnadable Jenn... cold calling isnt for everyone, and by all means your business should serve you in ways that make it pleasant for you to do business... outsourcing is a good way to do that...

      Some claim to be able to find good telemarketers for like 2 bucks per hour in the philippines... I dont know, but I do know that if a person is willing to pay a telemarketer what they are truly worth, then they will be worth 100 times more to the person who hired them. If you pay someone crappy... "usually" you're gonna get a crappy telemarketer...

      I am confident in my ability as are alot of people with my background... I can get results... but Im not gonna even LOOK at a phone for less than 50-100 bucks per hour.

      Still there are others willing to do it for 7 or 8 bucks... you may find them... You can google it and there are a ton of call centers out there offering services. If you get sales thats all that matters.
  • I have to disagree with you a little bit about Telemarketing for the Offline SEO Niche.

    I have been a brick and mortar business owner for a long time and I received no less then 5-8 calls per day promising page 1 Google BULLCRAP!

    Its beat to death already and its annoying as HELL!

    If you want to stand out from your comp.

    Go out and talk to them face to face.

    Don't make outlandish claims, and educate your prospect.

    Its FAR BETTER learning how to be a One Call Closer then dialing a frigg'n phone all day long playing a numbers game.

    Seriously your multiply your income 4-5 times the moment you learn to close face to face and not over the phone.

    • [2] replies

    • Someone gave me GOLDEN advice on telemarketing once. He said "just because you wouldnt do something, doesnt mean everyone else feels the same way"

      When I was in a booth in a call center.... there were a hundred people a day (calling residential) who say "I cant believe anyone would buy anything from a telemarketer... Im so sick of these calls" but still day after day... hundreds of days in a row... while 100 people would say that, I still got 20 sales a day...

      So just because 60% wouldnt do it? Big deal!

      Im not looking for them, Im looking for the 40% who dont feel that way and actually who would be relieved to recieve a call in the right moment from someone who could solve their problem!

      Alot of people wouldnt buy online either but that doesnt stop Allen from making his sales quota's/goals.

      Yes face to face is good too... but, with a call list you can target your prospects in very detailed ways that you cant knocking doors.

      With a good list generating program... I could look up your business before hand, and tell you 10 different things about your income, number of employees, type of corp...

      You can really create a "perfect prospect profiule" and target it with a call list.
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    • True... I stay away from that "1st Page Google phrase" if i can... I say "I do online lead generation for brick & mortar biz using a variety of online tools... pause a bit... it's much more than just having a website or being on the 1st page of google'...

      and continue on..
      email capture
      google places
      press releases
      etc.
  • There is NOTHING like walking into a small business owners establishment and closing the deal face to face on the first call, and walking out with a fat deposit check.

    It is totally possible, totally doable, and 100% teachable.

    As a matter of fact I am SO sure about it that I am will to take any one willing to beat the street and teach them how to be a one call closer.

    Then watch them change their life financially in less then 30 days.

    And I mean a big financial change.
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    • Nice. Boy have I been there... last year I made that comment on the warrior forum and 200 people asked me for free training...

      Bkay warned me to charge but I didnt. I was too busy trying to be an ANTI GURU and prove that Good will would pay... it does... but dont take it to the extreme because people will walk on you. I hate it but its a fact, the vets who warned me were right.

      Be sure to add a charge for your valuable training.

      If it seems like Im a know it all with an answer for everything its because in my lifetime I have had well over 1,000 telemarketers work for me... there really isnt any "telemarketing failure" objection that I havent heard... Still determined people succeed no matter what.
  • Cold calling?

    Wow.

    Okay, I am currently working on a $100,000 marketing consulting contract with a $3 million/year technology integrator. I signed the contract 6 weeks ago and will be done in about 3 weeks.

    My client has been spending $6000 a pop with a telemarketing group to cold call clients.

    $50 an hour for 120 hours to fill the seats in a live breakfast briefing seminar. It's an extremely targeted list, but there's no relationship.

    They burned through $8000 for their last event to get 55 leads and 26 event registrations.

    They closed one deal for $75,000 at a margin of 14%. After paying for the marketing, the event, the commissions and the payroll taxes on the deal, they barely broke even.

    This is a localized business mind you that services two major metro markets in Ohio.

    They have steadily been losing registration rates, and this reflects the same sentiments of a very large number of sales teams that I have talked to. Over the past several years, the effectiveness rating of cold calling has plummeted.

    We put the telemarketing group on calling the warm list and the response rate went through the roof. Right now they're at 250 registrations out of a 2000 approx. list.

    The point is that the list was warm, and it made far more sense to spend the expensive direct selling effort on a more targeted list.

    When you're cold calling someone, you're spending time and money gambling that you're going to call someone up when they're already in the buying process. You're trying to find the needle in the haystack, and a start-up company simply doesn't have the money and resources to cold call a bunch of random contacts.

    Warm contacts, qualified leads, yeah. Cold calling - no. There are far more effective, and cheaper means of customer acquisition.

    If you think that this doesn't apply because you're a small company or startup, guess again. It's even MORE of a reason that you can't afford to gamble with expensive, and low return lead generation like cold calling.

    I don't care how good of a talker or how structured your logical branching script is.

    A far more effective use of time and resources for a start-up is a structured PR and expert writing campaign combined with personal networking and event presentations.

    BTW I spend about $20K a year on marketing studies and surveys from companies like Forrester and SAMI Burke. Telemarketing is dying across the board in the B2B space.
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    • Michael,

      Did you close that deal over the phone? = )


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    • Exactly!
      Cold calling is dying really fast. It is almost dead already.
      That was one of the reasons why I said that promoting cold calling as a "never fail" method is so wrong.
      • [2] replies
  • Thanks... there are millions of of wanna be ball players, and there are millions of wanna be business people. The ones who are willing understanding the concept of "failing to succeed" WILL!

    The better you get at it, the more the numbers start bending to your will... but even just playin the numbers and performing average puts you in the game... so if you need 1-2k per week in business. You can always count on picking up a phone. make a hundred calls in 2 hours asking a simple question... and develop 2 or 3 new $500-$1000. clients.

    @ Hiles

    Yer awesome man.

    I can only speak from my personal experience in the industry.

    Cold calling can be way more advanced than the average phone book... I can laser target 60 year old ladies who live on walnut street and own pomeraniens...

    Thats almost as good as a warm lead.

    It costs nothing to pick up a phone and do it yourself. Thats what Im trying to encourage for those who arent on the 100 million dollar contract level... or even the $5,000 contract level. They just need some income.

    PS. Folks... no wso in mind... just putting this stuff out there to try and form ideas for one maybe. I've never tried it.
    • [3] replies

    • Laser targeting is irrelevant.

      The overall tolerance for all interruption marketing is dropping across the board in the B2B arena.

      Marketing Sherpa put out a recent study, their Business Technology Buyer’s Survey, and it found that word of mouth is by far the most common factor influencing purchasing decisions. 48.3% of those surveyed said they were impacted by the tactic - as opposed to webinars which came in at 18.4% and cold calls which came in at 2.8%.

      It absolutely costs something. Time. And time is money. The most expensive time in any business is the time of the entrepreneur and founder. Thousands of dollars per hour. Future net opportunity lost because of ineffective use of time.

      Yes, I agree that for someone that's absolutely desperate beyond measure for income, to be bold and start asking anyone and everyone for business. But outright cold calling for lead generation to try and engage an unaware and uninterested prospect in a conversation is an extremely ineffective means of persuasion.

      But in reality, if you're that desperate, in all likelihood, you need a job, not a consulting contract. If you're trying to sell marketing services to people and you're not even able to effectively market yourself any better than randomly dialing people, then one has to question your overall understanding of marketing and sales in the context of the present business environment and the effectiveness of the services that you're offering.

      The numbers game works for large companies with lots of resources. They can afford it. The numbers game works for Mother Nature, who has unlimited time and resources. She can come up with several billion salmon eggs to produce a couple million fish.

      But small companies and startups have neither unlimited time, nor do they have unlimited resources - and using the most effective methods of generating leads would be the very start of the business process.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • This is right on the money. Having a targeted list is almost as good as a "warm call". Blindly calling out of the phone book is obviously going to be far less effective than calling a targeted list.

      Let's face it...

      If someone has thousands to invest in marketing or several months to ramp of their business, there may be other avenues of prospecting that make more sense.

      For those with a limited marketing budget that need to get in front of potential prospects right away, cold calling is the best way to do it. You can't beat the number of contacts you can make in a relatively short amount of time for FREE/cheap.

      Cold calling can even be a viable marketing tactic for companies that have the money to invest... I have a guy that works with me on a daily basis that used to sell six-figure enterprise software via cold calling... Did he have a targeted list? Yes. Were they warm leads? No... completely cold.
    • Really interesting posts from everyone.

      My take is that there's no point just doing what people on a thread suggest, test it yourself.

      I hired a telemarketer to call my CoC membership list to set up appointments. Not exactly a warm list as they hadn't heard of me but at least he could say "calling on behalf of a fellow CoC member...".

      He called 80 or so companies, spoke to 50 or so decision makers, made 6 appointments and I closed 2 of those appointments. Lifetime value of those clients to me - approximately $2,500 each (converting from GB pounds).

      Total cost to me - under $500. An ROI of over 10:1. Yup, I'll take that. So long as I get those results I'll pay - when it stops making financial sense I'll stop - I don't care what Forrester or anyone else says, if it works for me I'll do it - and that's what everyone should do. TEST IT FOR YOURSELF.


      Good thread.
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
  • Recent article from Modern Selling... remember, this is Europe, who has instituted a commercial DNC list (coming soon to the US).

    It's subscription and requires a login, so I copied it here for you.

    • [ 4 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • I certainly wouldnt want to sidetrack anyone from from testing social media as a lead generation strategy... just, while they are trying to achieve a more passive position in running their business... a few cold calls here and there will absolutely give them some cash injections along thew way...

      Much like the many threads that actually advise you to go walking door to door ...

      What comes naturally to a guy like you is what we are all striving for but many havent reached... in the mean time why be broke?

      I still disagree with something here though... If I knew a guy that was starving and needed business.... and he needed to eat TODAY.... I wouldn't tell him to set up a social media network.... I'd say "get on the phone and you can have $500 bucks in your pocket TODAY, and Tomorrow, And the next day...

      Large scale, small scale it works.

      Is this ole time slick snake oil salesman stuff? Isnt it all?

      Here's the FACT, did I say FACT?

      Mom and pop businesses are the backbone of America... and that 50% of America you see that isnt online... thats them.

      There is a LARGE sector that you will never reach on the internet no matter how hard you try... why?

      Because they simply arent there...unless somebody helps them get there like you or me...

      Im not talking about building websites for the coca cola corporation, although some of the telemarketing Insurance leads my room generated for companies like Allstate... have certainly been the door openers for MAJOR insurance deals... like the Tyson corporation... I have friends who deal with Walmart , Lowes Home Depot...

      I had a friend whose telemarketing track record landed him a job at Merrill lynch for 75k plus commission first year. He didnt even graduate from high school... and guess what Merrill Lybch did? They gave him a desk, and a big list of millionaires to cold call. My friend made almost $250,000 his first year. Hard to convince him that telemarketing isnt sophisticated.

      I was "cold calling" agencies when I struck a MAJOR deal (THAT MADE ME OVER A HALF MILLION DOLLARS) in 2002 with Ty Kilinc who at the time was the #1 modeling agent in the world... something that an email would doubtfully have accomplished... looking back it was amazing that he even picked up the phone that day... but when you are taking action things happen. I called him like a dumb unsophisticated telemarketer... and struck a deal that made me a HALF MIL, can you imagine?

      So anyway, go on with your bad self... It's all good. I'm through defending the concept.

      I think the point of this thread which was aimed toward people who need a paycheck (bigger than a job BTW) has been diluted... we're not talking about large corporations here... we arent even talkin about IM... we're talking about "Offline Cash Cows"... based on targeting Mom's and Good ole Pop's.

      Some truths are self evident, and telemarketing is a strong marketing tactic no matter how small or large its scaled out.

      If you think a guy cant make 5-10 million a year with a small telemarketing room... there are thousands of rich call center owners, some of them I know up close and personal... who would laugh and say "Ha. They've been saying that for 50 years"... one inparticular I know who does 10 mil easy and only works 4 hours per week has been doin it all 50 of em!

      So yes, I still believe that not ONLY small business but HUGE business can be generated with telemarketing.

      Other forms of media are great too...

      Honestly my favorite models are a blend of both.
      • [ 5 ] Thanks
    • You win. How could a multi billion dollar industry ever argue the editor of "Modern Selling" magazine?
  • And Marketing Sherpa.

    And Forrester Research.

    And SAMI Burke.

    Modern Selling has about 50,000 subscribers of high level sales reps and execs. I'd say that when it comes to industry trending, they're as targeted of a group as any.

    John, you seem to be taking this personally.

    Look, there was a day and time when Wayne Huizinga would have laughed at anyone telling him that Blockbuster would have ended up like it has. Industry cycles come and go. The statistical numbers from all the major industry marketing analysts are based on statistical research conducted with million dollar budgets.

    I didn't make it up. I didn't do the surveys. I don't personally track marketing industry trends. I just buy the very expensive, and very accurate reports from the giant corporations that do.

    And let's be perfectly clear here... never once have I said TELEMARKETING is ineffective. You've interchanged your words, now substituting TELEMARKETING for COLD CALLING. Cold calling is a specific subset of telemarketing. Just like you omitted my clarifying statement about cold calling mom and pop proprietors trying to sell web services, you're now selectively interchanging words that have very different meanings and contexts. You ignored my admission to engaging in the practice. You ignored my statements that it's not a personal bias against the practice, but simply a desire to use the most effective tool for the job IN CONTEXT.

    It would actually seem to me that because of your selective omissions and interchanging of terminology, that you're trying to take the debate in a very different direction. I'm not sure why, because I've built multiple bridges and created many areas of common ground. I even stated that I agree with T.D. that everyone should TEST TEST TEST.

    How the flying motherfu {BEEP} do you think I got to where I am at? Clinging to my personal bias? Or simply accepting the trends as they emerge and learning to adapt as an entrepreneur?

    I don't think cold calling is hard. I don't find it personally offensive. I am quite content with a telephone in my hand talking to a perfect stranger about how to help them in some fashion.

    But I, along with a whole hell of a lot of marketing and sales industry pros far beyond my own scale and scope, see the subset of telemarketing known as cold calling facing a setting sun.

    In fact, when the commercial DNC list comes to America in the next few years, it won't exist at all.

    Then what will the people who failed to adapt do for their $500 SEO by phone deal?

    For the multipleth time... I don't care what people do. Do what you think works for your business. Test it and do the numbers. See what works and what doesn't. Make those cold calls. Keep track of your time and numbers. The article I posted gives you a perfect template to use for comparison purposes against social media - and a bright person could probably come up with some metrics for things like direct mail.

    P.S... the very worst idiot, stammering moron novice hack cold caller will go much further in business and life than the timid dreamer who is afraid to take some kind of action. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
    • [1] reply
    • Micheal,

      Yeah Im passionate. Im acually a huge fan of yours... every since you accused me of "sending a bunch of newbies all willy nilly starry eyed to Alibaba" lol. I love you man.

      You said I was pulling off a "wonderful Alibaba Arbitrage" I believe, and I remember finding your choice of words to be interesting and quirky... I believe that word stood out to me again today in your posting... I've looked up the definition and still dont quite know what it is...

      It's all good. Maybe I was selective in my reading... lots of thought going on here... I may have read your post while in the middle of another thought process and my mind highlighted whatever. Sorry.

      My agenda? Just to talk about something I know about and try to find my next direction...
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • after reading this amazing thread and the most useful posts i can now give a seminar about it
    no kidding this was the best Business thread i have ever read online
    anyway, in real life here in Egypt it's so hard to find a good Secretary how would you find a good telesales
    in other hand the opportunity of doing business is AWESOME

    this is a call done by me

    me : hey sir this Hessein from BLAH BLAH do you interested of making website for your business?
    customer : yes Mr Hessein i am very interested

    the conversion rate here maybe more than 25% because the Internet business is recently new for the Business in Egypt

    When i talk to marketing management in the largest company here and offering them making website for them they say " we already have one " and i tell them and how about promoting your website online?
    customer : HUH!!!!!!

    OH YEAH, Got You


    anyway, Thanks John for this thread and it maybe my transforming about my business


    PS : sorry for my bad English
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • hello John,

    You have a great plan ... and if anyone works the plan it will succeed.

    You can always hire someone or have a relative do it for you, but the bottom line is, it does work.

    Once you get your initial 10 clients, you should be dealing with referrals 90% of the time.

    All the best ... Ron
  • HAHA! It's hilarious that someone thinks I would have "emotional issues" or would be "nervous about talking to others." None of it is the case.
    • [1] reply
    • You're the one saying calling people is hard - I don't know how to explain why that is.

      I think it's crazy to suggest that making phone calls is 'hard'.

      I have no such experience and whatever is making you say it's hard is nothing to do with the actual action - and all to do with your interpretation of it.

      I'd be interested to hear why it is that you seem to believe everyone else will have the same problem.

      Why would anyone choose a business doing something that they couldn't emotionally cope with and that made them miserable? It doesn't make sense, especially in IM when you can create your own business model based on your preferences and strengths.
      • [1] reply
  • In my experience most of this stuff is about your attitude going in. Regardless of whether we're talking about cold calling or any other parts of business. Sometimes it seems like people are allergic to success and it's even been an issue with clients I work with...
  • Hey John,

    Thanks for the post. YES Telemarketing works and I'm the perfect example of that.

    Went to work for a Vacation Company on a Friday Afternoon. Set up Telemarketing shop for 10 Telemarketers in the next 7 days. By week number 3 we had on average 100 new clients walking thru our door to enjoy our 60 minutes Vacation Presentation.

    TWO Different Vacation Companies we went from ZERO to over $1,000,000 in Vacation Sales in our first 120 days in business.

    Of course that was NOT all profits...

    We ended up expanding to over 100 telemarketers after our first year.

    Hope this inspires you to go pick up the phone and make some calls.

    Good Luck.

    Roger
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
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    • Nice. Yes once you know how to set up telemarketing shop, numbers like that are just a matter of quantifying and scaling... Awesome success story. Cool!

      Interestingly there are so many people who claim they would never talk to a telemarketer selling vacation packages... but guys like you are still climbing the ranks and breaking records with no signs of slowing down...

      Just goes to show something: "Just because you wouldnt buy it, doesnt mean thousands of others wouldnt" Great, steller, phenomenal work man! You should be commended.
  • Hi John,

    Just wanted to say I've really enjoyed reading your posts these last few days in this and other threads and appreciate the time you've taken to share your knowledge and experiences here. I've literally just started my 'offline' business consultancy and it's been really encouraging to learn more about cold-calling and telemarketing.

    I sent a mailshot to 100 people last week and noone replied so I picked up the phone and got two new clients the first two I rang. I know I was lucky there but it showed me that if I grow some balls and just try, good things can happen so I'm going to do it a lot more now. I used to run my own mail-order company which I sold a couple of years ago - had a great website and sales funnel but it was all reactive so being proactive on the phone drumming up new business is all new to me and a bit of a shock.

    I see you have had lots of ups and downs in business over the years and it's great to see you keep a positive attitude in good times and bad. Look forward to learning more from you and hopefully sharing my own successes soon as I work at my new business.
  • This thread was very interesting for me and ive been glued to it for the last 1 hour or so in the middle of the night. Why? because i've been a telemarketer for the last 4.5 years and still am.

    While I am not as qualified or experienced as most of you in this thread but I think I'v got something with which I could add one to John's argument.

    here is the scenario...
    3.5 years from today, I was leading a small team of about 15 telemarketers who called on home owners in the US trying to generate live transfer leads for mortgage brokers and lenders alike. Im sure most of you would remember that was the time that sub prime market in the US had just begun to crash... interest rates had shot up a couple of percent in 3 months and it was boiler room in that 150 seater call center. Rejections and hangups were the only thing we received on the phone... all the other teams besides mine that is...

    So while the overall lead generation had dropped for us 75%, the number of leads my team was generating had actually increased by 300%-400%! same data, same call times, same resources... what was it that I did differently?

    I just didnt throw everything on the wall and hope that some of it would stick... I segmented the lists given to me.. i drilled them down to states, time zones, interest rates, types of mortgage, etc and micro managed how each of my agents called these segments. I customized their scripts for each of these segment and the product they offered to them. were my agents better than the rest? NO Infact they were less experienced. at that time I was a 20 year old college student trying to make ends meet with a job to pay for my bachelors degree.

    So my point here is... at that age with only a year of total work experience, if I could pull this off ... in an industry and economy that had started to crumble... why cant all you business owners who are experts in your fields do it at a time like now when things are beginning to look up again.... a hundred calls a day is a breeze...

    and AnneRose... I so not agree with you when you say its "hard"... on the contrary, its very easy... seriously all you're doing is talking to perfect strangers on the phone! what could you possibly lose?
    • [1] reply
    • Hey John,

      Great post. In my younger days (being from Tampa Bay, FL) I've worked at a gazillion telemarketing places.

      And it does work. You wouldn't believe some of the people I worked for (or maybe you would lol) and how much money they made.

      I have a few different offline businesses and telemarketing is definitely something I'm gonna use for growth.

      Mike
  • Love ya Brucerby!

    OMG What an AWESOME point you are making!

    I was just thinking that should be added to the equation here:

    "DISTRACTION"

    As a young telemarketer, I used to draw pictures while I made calls... something about drawing pictures while you're are talking to someone made it seem a little more laid back....

    I guess when people hear us talking of cheerios, and sub sandwiches they think it's cockiness... you are explaining that it is actually a technique we use to get the mindset right, energy, whatever you call it. "To get in the groove".

    People smell your anxiety about cold calling like dogs. The more comfortable you are, there more comfortable you will sound, and the more comfortable they will be...

    EDIT: I wrote a bunch of stuff here then edited it out because honestly Bruce said it all perfectly.

    Bruce this is the kind of practical advice that can really help people.


    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Thanks John...just to add to this, I've found its easier (and faster) to change one's PHYSICAL STATE than the MENTAL state.

    Get the physical right, and the mental can follow. So, if I place myself in a relaxed physical environment, and have some distractions, it enables me to adopt a calm "unconcerned about the outcome" attitude.

    Its the only way I've found to remove any pressure. And calls made under pressure show through, as you've said.

    Tony Robbin's teachings about changing states also applies here.
    Very good discussion, btw!
    _____
    Bruce
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Thanks Gina!

    Okay Guys I now have a link in my sig... Im gonna go ahead and write a detailed report on how to make this work for ANYONE real simple and easy like. If you follow my instructions you will have made $500 -$1000 in biz within 72 hours.

    Yeah there are other ways... this one is quick , simple, legit, and it will put money in your pocket when you need it - NOW!

    ... and hopefully MINE TOO... We'll see. I have never sold a report before.

    So anyway, I just threw a scrap page up on a domain I used last month to showcase a closeout load overseas, but next week I will create a proper domain for this.

    Please click below if you want an email alert when the report is done.

    Thanks for making this a great thread.
  • Some of us are just not cut out to be telemarketers. I've tried it and hated it. I've also been an appointment setter. Was pretty good at it. Hated it. Quit fairly quickly.

    I also am not comfortable walking into a business of any kind and asking them if they need online assistance. It might not be hard, but there's no way in hell I can force myself into it because it's simply not my thing. (Yes, I've done door to door and hated that, too.)

    So what if I hate it. Doesn't mean I have to do it. It's not me, and I'm not going to fight it. All I have to do is hire a commission only person to do it for me. Or someone to make the initial visit to a place face to face and then turn it over to me.

    Go on Craigslist and find someone local to do it for you if telemarketing (or physical cold calling) isn't your thing. They get the leads and make the appointments and all I do is show up and have a conversation about what I can do for them.

    The other thing that's worked for me since 2006 is giving talks to business groups. I get 20 minutes to give a ton of information. At the end, my workshops are full (I teach people how to do IM for their business). At the end of the workshops, when they realize what it takes, they're lined up to hire me to do it for them.

    Chances are that if there's something that needs to be done, but you hate doing it, you're never going to be able to bring yourself to do it. No matter what.

    The good news is that you don't have to. And that's the important point here. Hire someone to do it for you. Find another way. You don't have to do the things you hate.
    • [1] reply
    • If you have the fortitude to hire someone to sell for you then thats a great idea... this is for those who need it, and yes some think its hard, just like some think affiliate marketing is hard...

      Winners and losers... its all about determination... you want it or you dont. You want it bad enough to go out and get business, or hire ssomeone to do it for you, or you dont.

      Those that dont are pipe dreaming becuse it takes alot of "want" to succeed... even the easy ways.

      You dont have to do business if you dont want to..., but you just wont be successful... even getting others to take action for you, outsourcing... it all requifres work. You think managing outsources isnt some work. I bet alot of people here would say differently. I sure would. I have designed perfect slaes systems and managed successful businesses for othewrs... literally I have personally trained 1000 people... but, let me tell you, even though it was them on the phone and not me, getting those rooms to break records was alot of passionate blood sweat and tears.

      Sales managers who dont like to work have sucky unmotivated sales teams that dont produce either on or offline.

      Listen Im not saying telemarketing is the end all be all... just saying that if you want business, you can get some "TODAY", not tommorrow, not when your adwords start converting, or when your funneling system is perfect... if you need business TODAY, this will get it for you.

      BTW alot of good thoughts there. Thanks.

      Even if you outsource web design you have to write detailed clear instructions for the desiners and work with them daily on tweaks for each specific job... try having 10 websites going at once... with others doing all the design work... tell yourself "Im outsourcing the work" and then ask yourself if your are still "working".

      This has been another message from :"The voice of experience".

      @ Gina, thanks for bein so helpful! What a great resource. I have no affiliation with go leads so... I just quoted the last price I paid.
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  • I've seen these two things mentioned briefly here in this post, but as they are important and valuable I shall expound on them.

    First, I very well know how hard cold calling can be for some, how much "it can suck". Many people are just not set up to call complete strangers and offer them something they may have no need or desire for and then, worst of all for many would be phone-pros, getting rejection after rejection.

    Two important things. In case anyone reading this thread doesn't know, B2C or residential cold-calling is almost completely gone the way of the Dodo. A significant percentage of the North American population is already on DNC lists and more join every day. Companies breaking the FTC & FCC laws and regulations regarding DNC lists face a first time fine of $16,000 per call.

    However, at present there are no such regulations for B2B (business to business) calling.

    A great way to reach 1000's of potential customers without making a single cold call is Voice Broadcasting. With all due respect to the OP, John I think it may have been some time since you last looked at this technology.

    I spent a significant amount of time investigating this marketing technique and many of the companies involved in it; this is how it works. It's simple. You prepare a 30 second message advertising your product/service etc., included in that message is the option to press 1 if the listener would like to hear more about it, or press 2 to be placed on a DNC list. If the listener presses 1 then they are transferred live to you, and presto, there you go! A warm, live lead. Much better and more responsive than a cold call. The lead generation company's software/dialer then makes 1000's of calls, playing your 30 second message to everyone who answers the phone. While true it may not always be the decision maker answering the phone, usually non-owners won't be pressing 1 anyway which means (if you're with the right lead generation company) you won't be paying for that call anyway (more on this in a second). And as mentioned earlier in this thread, if you target small companies, your chances of having the decision maker answer the phone are much higher.

    One company in particular that I found to be highly reputable and responsive charges per live lead transferred to you (most companies charge by the minute). So in other words, it does not matter how many 1000's of calls they have to make for you, you pay for and are guaranteed a certain amount of leads, based on the package you choose. As well, through an easy to learn interface you have complete control over the frequency of calls you get transferred to you. The smallest package this particular company offers is $400 for 100 transfers (leads), at greater volume orders the price per lead goes down obviously.

    My personal results with this type of campaign were very good and we had a very satisfactory ROI. (This was with the company I used to work as the Director of Sales & Marketing for-until I quit last week as they hadn't paid me for a month because one of the owners spent most of the money I had earned them fixing his damaged Mercedes...but that's another story. Sometimes living in a Mexican paradise isn't always paradisaical.)

    If you don't like cold calling but want to take advantage of the potential sales telemarketing can bring you, B2B Voice Broadcasting is definitely a type of marketing I would highly recommend. (and certainly do go with a company that charges by the lead, not the minute)


    PS Thanks for another great thread John!
  • John,
    I opted in to your site last night in your sig. However, I didn't receive an email. Was I suppose to?
    • [1] reply
    • As a business owner I can tell you I am fed up of cold calls and avoid them like the plague, I even have my dragons breathe fire down the line way before the call gets to me.

      There is however a workaround that I posted in another thread on this forum, but I will rewrite here.

      I used this trick as I was not a saleman by nature. Picking up the phone and selling frightened the crap out of me, so I started by using this trick, and kind of never gave it up.

      What I used to do is this:

      1) Select an industry Iw as going to target (works well if you target the same industry)

      2) Write a set of questions you would ask an expert in that industry that would help you sell or create rapport with someone within that industry (maybe 5 questions).

      3) Add another 2 questions related to your business but not selling. For example if I am a SEO consultant, I may ask :
      i) How important is your website in attracting customers
      ii) In what ways do your customer find out about your website

      4) I then ring someone in the industry and tell them I am doing some industry research and looking for 'an expert opinion' - note, you are not lying, you are doing research and they are the expert here.

      5) Ask the questions, delve deeper if interested, thank them and hang up.

      6) Ring the next person, same script but now you have some background knowledge so you also sound like a little expert ! Amazing how well the conversation will flow from here!

      7) A few days later, compile a mini report based on the conversation you had and send it to everyone (make sure to add a few experts names to feed the ego) - add a flyer at the back describing your service.

      8) Send it to industry newspapers/magazines and perhaps get published, giving you greater credibilty - you have just conducted interesting industry research and hopefully got great answers to interesting questions.

      9) Wait for the return calls from people who like your report you sent them, or in one week ring them back and plug your service a little (you know the gatekeeper and the end client so its no longer a cold call!)

      I used this with tremendous success and am even writing a book about it which I will release free soon on my blog. It's a little slower then hard cold calling, but since I was not selling it mentally made it a lot easier for me. It also helped me gain access to journalists which was crucial for my business. Importantly when you see the customer in real life, you have already proven you know something about the industry so you no longer have to worry about proving youself.....

      That was a quick writeup so I hope its understandable and that it helps.
      • [ 5 ] Thanks
  • You had made great points here that i can not tell you here. You have made n outstanding effort. i appreciate your effort.you have made very good tips. Good thing in business is direct contact and relationship with the clients.cold calling and dialing numbers is one of the most effective strategy in business.
  • Cold calling works, and as others mentioned, it is a numbers game. I believe it is also a niche game. Meaning, some respond better to cold calls than others. I'd recommend giving away/offering SOMETHING of value right away though, you'll stand out and usually get some better contact details upfront. Make it personalized too, as if it is too general or broad, it is not really of value to the biz owner, you know?

    Personally though, I'd rather work with 3 people in three different industries for free in exchange for testimonials and referrals if you're looking to get clients RIGHT AWAY. The time it takes me to give three business owners value on the net (through a variety of ways), I can get clients for months to come just off of word of mouth alone. Obviously the key is to target people with a good amount of contacts in the community.

    I'd rather work for free for a week, and have clients for months that ALREEADY BELIEVE WHAT I'M OFFERING CAN HELP THEM (their buddy told them)....than cold call for a week, and get 10 "prospects", but still have to do some more informing/selling/persuading/etc.

    Having done this for a bit my best advice for cold calling is to offer something of value right of the bat, for free. And make sure it is personalized. (could be a 30 sec video, etc). Hope that helps some people.
  • Guys the report is on the way, I have been working on it for most of the day today and it is coming along marvelously... I'm hopin it will enlighten some people, and really open some eyes.
  • I do agree :p
  • Bit of background from me:

    I have about 18 month experience of telesales (outbound) , 7 years inside sales ( mostly inbound and account management)...and 4 years of door to door selling (pitching people at work )

    It all works...But some metrics need to be taken into consideration , pay particular attention to your ROI (Return on Investment) both of time and money.

    I post two links below of telemarketing approaches that align perfectly with me:

    Telephone Selling Techniques That Really Work: How to Find New Business by Phone: Amazon.co.uk: Bill Good: Books
    This is by Bill Good , try to pick up a later version.As you can see, you can pick up this book very cheap

    the other is from Scott Channel , buy is seminar in a box at 187$ , awesome stuff

    If any body has any specific questions about cold calling, telemarketing or door to door sales...I would be happy to help (PM me)

    Hope this helps
  • John Durham-can you pm me your email address?

    Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Is this Marko? He's the only one I know who both loves Alabama, and calls me by both my first and last name.
      • [1] reply
    • Try thecloseoutguy@yahoo.com

      Im in there alot lately, because Im workin on a closeout deal. I will look for your email.
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  • @ Gina

    What is your conversion ratio?
  • Rock and Roll!

    Thats awesome. so you have an 8-10% conversion ratio. Thats healthy.

    I would love to hear more about your systems and numbers... for the benefit of the readers here. This thread could potentially help broaden the mindsets of alot of people.

    To say that telemarketing is not sophisticated... is simply not sophisticated. It can and does work synergistically with the net to create brilliant , perfectly balanced marketing systems, by intertwining the two, that are stronger than either one alone.

    Some people think telemarketing is hard because, let's say they should expect a 5% conversion ratio given their situation; they really dont grasp that because there is a 95% failure rate... all the see is failure.

    Expectations management is key... "Expect" that you are working towards that 5%... in fact set your self up so you only need 2 successes a day to be successful.

    Create for yourself a system that even a "below average person" can enjoy a modicum of success.

    Expectations management: I need to talk about that in this report.

    Better get back to working on it now...
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • [DELETED]
  • John, I REALLY like this thread. Lots of good ideads been thrown about so thanks. But can I say one thing? PLEASE, PLEASE use another font in your closeoutguy copy. Comic Sans is TERRIBLE lol.
    • [1] reply
    • I could give a hoot about what the sales page copy looks like. I just can't wait to see what the actual report looks like!

      How we doin' there, John?
      • [1] reply
  • @ Youniversityforlife

    AWESOME!!!!

    Thats what Im talkin about!

    The best part is this:

    "Those are just the contacts you made off the intial 100 calls... wait till you see over the next few weeks how you start getting call ins from the messages you forgot you left...!

    This is how we roll on the phone folks!

    Great testimonial!

    What a great contribution to our cause in this thread.
  • Very interesting thread. I think both of you michael and john got your own point of view. I think you both are right. You both think , social media and cold calling can be effective. The discussion is about conversion rate. Now, conversion rates depend upon person to person. Personally, i am business owner and i dont find it offensive when someone call me with their sales pitch. Thats how the world moves, i am myself a marketer ,how can i hate marketing pitch.

    But, also i get 2,3 pitches in a week . When someone call me personally for business, i respect him. I respect him that he got balls to do cold calling. It shows the person is serious enough to call me. It also shows me that he must be somewhat expert. Coz i can blast so many questions to test his knowledge.

    Personally, i havnt done cold calling. As an internet marketer, generating leads from internet is easy for me. But someone who is starting up and feeling frustrated about his own online personal failures. He may get benefit by cold calling.

    I completely agree that its all about testing. In the end, i think thread is all about "If you got no money, get your ass off, take some action and do this.......
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
    • [1] reply
    • Lol...That what my grandpa said. You need to pre order my report. It should be ready tomorrow.
  • @ graphicsgenie

    Pm'd, and interested to hear what you have in mind. Sorry for delayed response.
    • [1] reply
    • Replied back John, lets see what we can for you.

      Looking forward to brainstorming.

      Darren
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
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