Cold Calling Basics In A Nutshell.

I wanted to comment on this statement, as well. No, cold calling isn't as bad as some would have you believe - if done right. That's by being kind, respectful and listening to the prospects needs. All I do is ask a few simple questions, wait for them to answer and then see if I'll be able to HELP them. That's the key.

I have customers that I've done business with for over 20 years and during that time I've worked at more than one location in a niche. I'll call them up, let them know I'm back, where I'm at now, let them know how I can continue to HELP them and they say "I'll buy from you, now that I know you're back."

You build relationships over time by taking care of the needs of these business owners. They could be perfectly content to keep buying elsewhere, but they chose to buy from me again because they know, like and trust me.

And it all began with a simple cold call.

Another thing, and this is HUGE. Nearly all of your competitors in practically every market have huge advertising budgets and are spending enormous amounts of money on PPC, SEO and print advertising. When people do a search online most are looking at things like prices, shipping, brands, contact information, coupons, etc. These people are practically swimming in information!

Everyone needs to keep in mind that many of these people aren't nearly as internet savvy as those that hang out here or are online much of the time.

Contacting business owners by phone allows you to differentiate yourself from them. You're a real person that has a name instead of just (Contact Us). If your prices are fair and you take good care of people, you'll become their "go to" guy, just like John said about being their "web guy" in his report.

Believe it or not, there are a LOT of people that don't like shopping online. It can become a huge undertaking for them. Many business owners have their secretary, office manager, crew chief, etc deal with it because they don't like doing it.

In addition, there's very little loyalty from customers who buy from these large companies. I just had a conversation with my sales rep at a major supplier in a niche I sell in and he was telling me that he used to be in charge of their east coast sales department. I mentioned a couple large competitors over there that are fairly well known in the industry and he told me something that almost made me fall off my chair!

Speaking of one large company in particular, he said "they're #1 in both the PPC and search results for nearly every keyword you can imagine in this industry. They spend millions annually on advertising. We process at least 20 orders or more per day for this company alone."

No big surprise there, but the next thing he said floored me. "Of those orders they get, many are only in the $50.00 range and I rarely see repeat customers come through."

He'd know if there were repeat buyers because they'd have the previous orders, shipping and billing info, etc in their system, right?

So these guys are spending a TON of money on advertising every year, are probably losing money and don't even realize it, and they're creating very few long term repeat customers!

Some of you may be wondering what I'm trying to say. I'll simplify it...in a nutshell, YOU can do BETTER than they are by simply picking up the phone and cold calling!

You won't have the ad spend, you'll still have competitive pricing, AND you'll become their "web guy" and likely get most or all of every dime they ever spend on their site and potentially a lot of their advertising budget.

And it all begins with a simple phone call. You find those people that are looking for you, gradually build that relationship and get paid again and again.

Most people don't understand that. Of course, things can be leveraged and expanded. Profits can be increased exponentially - if that's what you want to do. But if that's not your "thing" there's still nothing keeping you from making $50-$100k from a small desk in your bedroom.

Some things to think about.