Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

so i'm offering small businessess mobile website
I'm telling them that I've been to their website from my i-phone & their website is not mobile ready & it could hurt their business

then I say that I already created a demo site & i'm sending it to their cell phone


O.K stats from the last 12 hours:
emails send -20, no reply
calls made - 10, from that 10 only 2 were in & 2 agree that i'll send them the demo

I've contacted businessess that run ads on the newspaper

I'm sure that email DO work, but I hate the fact that after I send the email there is not much I could do

any1 using a similiar approch? what's working for you?

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

I can't say anything about cold calling but I will have a couple of words about emailing.

20 emails is nothing. To evaluate an email campaign you need to send out at least hundreds of emails. Most business owners check their emails rarely unless their business mostly relies on emails. In some cases, they have an employee who checks the emails and simply deletes promotional type emails. Sometimes, your email simply lands in the spam folder and gets deleted without even being seen. Sometimes their current webmaster gets the email and gets rid of it. Sometimes, the business owners see the email, read it but find it too salesy or too good to be true and just ignore it.

You see, there are a lot of factors that affect whether your email will be read or not and if it is read, whether or not you will get a response.

When I was sending out emails about mobile sites, I tried many approaches and from thousands of emails that I sent out, the most important lesson I learned is that you need to grab their attention and start a conversation first before telling them that you are a marketer and you offer mobile websites. You can grab their attention in many ways using an email but do not start with an email that sounds like you are selling something.

This is my personal experience, it may or may not work for you. Other warriors may have different experiences with emailing and I would like to hear them as well.

Nail

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

Great info Nail
I see what you are saying, I need to ramp things up to judge better what gets me the best response, thanks for the share

on a personal note Nail:
Fenerbahce, Galatasaray or Beshiktash ?

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

As I said, send at least a hundred emails before making a judgement and improve your email copy based on the responses. Try different niches and cities. If you cannot get any response, modify the email and send another batch. Your first goal should be to grab their attention. If you can grab their attention in a way, such as by asking a question about their business or products, they will more likely to respond and read your following message about your offer.

Here is a previous thread where I talked about emailing in detail:
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...d-calling.html



I am a fan of Fenerbahce :)

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

It is interesting. I have found that on the coasts business owners are more progressive and open to emails so I get a better response rate. Whereas in the Midwest, it is still more of a small town old style approach of cold calling and meeting face to face.

Just my experience.

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

You might also want to use some type of tracking pixel so you know which emails have been opened. A popular one is: SpyPig - Free Email Tracking System - Find out if your email has been read!

It's very hard to determine how effective your message is if you have no idea how many messages are getting opened. You might send out 100 emails and 10 of those emails get opened and 2 of those businesses end up contacting you. So your response rate for that email would be 2% right? Out of the 100 emails you got 2 leads.

Now you send out a different email to 100 people and only 3 of the emails get opened and out of those 3 people, 1 of them contacts you. So your conversion rate would appear to be 1% because you got 1 lead from those 100 emails.

So the first email was the winner because it got twice as many leads as the second. Or is it?

If you were tracking the open rates of those emails you would then find out that the conversion rate of the first email was actually 20% - 10 people opened it and 2 of them contacted you.

If you were tracking the open rates on the second email you would find the conversion rate is actually 33% - 3 people opened it and 1 of them contacted you.

So when tracking the open rates you will find it is actually the SECOND email that pulled better.

What you would then want to do is test different subject lines to try and get the open rate higher and higher as well.

As Nail also said, you don't want to go in for the sale right away, your first goal is to get in contact with the business owner or decision maker. Once you have their attention then you start talking specifics... and yes, 20 emails is way too small a sample. You need at least a few hundred, if not more, before you can say you've given it a proper go. Don't expect your response rate to be huge. Email is a very impersonal form of communication so it's never going to convert as well as face to face or cold calling. You need to try BIG numbers to get the sales you are looking for.

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

Thanks Will, I'll scale hings up.
do you put an opt out option at the bootom of the mail,
so thet person can choose not to recieve anymore message?

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

You definitely are ahead of most by taking action. So don't be too hard on yourself.

I'll also add that it might be a good thing to include some helpful information about their industry in your first communication.

For example, an ice breaker might be to ask them: Are you aware that xxx number of people in need of emergency dentists in your area were looking for your service using their mobile device?

I know most business owners don't care strictly about the numbers, however, they are more keen to listen and want to learn more about a question that includes their industry and location and how it might apply to them.

Educate first and sell second is what I'm learning helps to builds long term success in the consulting business.

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

What's the call to action in the email? Visit your website? Call, Etc. what's your open rates on the emails sent and CTR

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

2 people contacted and 2 people agreed?

Thats a 100% of people who you've spoken to who have moved into the next stage of your sales process!

Why would you do ANYTHING else with those stats?

The truth is that MOST people reading this don't have the balls to pick up the phone....they literally tremble at the thought of it.

Long may that last I say...because the phone is every top sales persons best friend.

Re: Cold calling for me is a better numbers game
 

well, Barry, those stats are from my area, when I call prospects from other countries, it's ten times more difficult to communicate & sound reliable and not just be precieved as a 'telemarketer'

then again, maybe it's just in my mind