What am I doing WRONG

I am no expert in cold calling so I can't help much, but I do feel like you may need to talk more in terms of new customers/more profit, not so much "Internet business consulting." While I do call myself an Internet business consultant, when I approach businesses I talk to them in their language. I have tried to talk to business owners in "Internet speak" before and their eyes just glaze over... however, if I talk to them in terms of making more money or having new customers, they light up.

Maybe you could change "I am calling local businesses in my area to offer my internet services" to something along the lines of...

"I help local businesses increase their profits and bring in new customers"

And, if you want to close in person instead of on the phone... instead of asking them if they are interested in your service, tell them you are offering a free consultation to a limited number of businesses in the area and ask them if they would like to sit down and chat.

You need to ask questions that either get yesses or that require more than one word to answer. Ask them how long they've been in business, how their marketing is going, etc. Then ask if they would like a no-obligation meeting so they can see what you do to help startups.

Look online for telemarketing / cold calling forums to get much better scripts than I've outlined above!

Another way is to contact them all announcing free seminars for start up businesses. Give them an overview (the 'what') they need to do and say in whatg way you can help them (the 'how').

No wonder they are saying no.

You are calling them up, interrupting their day, and offering nothing of value. WHY should they be interested in your services? You didn't demonstrate the value of your services. So they have no interest in giving you money.

You didn't offer to help them in any way. Get a conversation going. Ask them some questions. Ask them what they need help with. Ask them what their #1 frustration is.

Also, they may not be ideal clients in the first place. They are just starting out. You can obviously work with whoever you want, but you may want to work with established businesses and owners who have a proven track record.

Great observations, great advice! I think this is a great thread.

I think I'd work on this BEFORE I started cold calling. You can learn everything you need to on WF in the SEO section - but I wouldn't sell a service that you don't know how to perform.

For someone who doesn't know much about cold calling, I think jr1228 hit the nail on the head. If you're going to interrupt someone who's just starting out, you better offer them some value!

Also, I think you're much better off contacting established businesses. Startups have their hands full and can be tough to work with - and also harder to get paid as they aren't making any money yet. Established businesses are looking for a way to grow and are making steady income - much easier to get paid!

i'm bookmarking this thread.

Cheers and thanks to all the advice

I have to agree with everyone here.

1.) Startups are just that start ups - they might not have the cash to pay you for your services as they have limited supply of it and have to track each penny wisely.

2.) If you can I would try meeting them face to face and go with the script that AndrewCavanagh is using. It shows that you are not a sales guy and you really do care about them and their company

3.) Prepare a report "12 mistakes not to make as a new business" and email it to them as a gift from one business owner to another. Then you can have their contact info, and you can warm them up to becoming a client.

4.) Give them something, possibly inform them about google places and set up their listing? It might give them a bit of exposure and when you give you recieve.

just a few ideas

I have to agree with many of the posters above, your approach is offering nothing of interest to the new business owner.

In addition, new business owners are generally broke these days. Economic times are tough and most new businesses are NOT starting out with a bankroll like they did a few years ago. Many are unemployed people who cannot find a job and are desperately trying to earn something as an independent businessman or woman.

In addition, you speak of your list of 300 new business owners as though you are the only one who knows of this list and will be the only one calling them. I can assure you every salesman in town has the same list and the new business owner is getting ten to twenty calls a week (if not per day) from other salesmen. He is feed up with the calls by the time you get to him.

Trust me, I have been there a few times.

I would still use this list, but send an offer for an ebook or something very low keyed in return for their email address. Then try to build a relationship with a newsletter and a few low-keyed calls later. I know this is a slow process, but should lead to more work down the road.

For immediate sales, you are better off targeting business owners that have been around for a while. Businesses that are currently spending money on yellow pages are a good target. Or choose some businesses that already have websites, but ones that may not be performing for them. Offer to increase their return on the money that they are already spending.

With existing businesses, there is also a good chance that they already have a Google Places listing that they may not have claimed. Even if they have verified their listing, the chances that they have optimized it are slim. In either case, it would be easy for you to offer to help them with that.

I hope this helps.
PhilG

I think it's important to remember that you won't be the only 'sales person' calling that business owner that day. A new business owner will be hoping to get calls offering them business, their focus will be on making money not spending it, so getting a call from a sales person will be an annoying distraction for them.

I always send a letter / postcard first offering a FREE consultation - that way they think they are going to benefit from something, and when you introduce yourself they will already know who you are. I find that works a lot better than plain cold-calling, just thinking about doing that makes me feel sick!

When I used to do cold calling for my business, I never asked them if they were interested because it always produced a negative response. They have no reason to say yes.

I tried to find something that would appeal to them, even if was different for each business. I used little tidbits to get them interested in what I was saying, not the service per se.

Also, my goal was to get an appt so the "telephone talk" was more geared to showing them something in person. In my case, I had a presentation book and often they wanted to see what was in it.

Lastly, the biggest problem is you have to sound like you are NOT a telemarketer. Going after the local angle is important because some will give you more credit. But if they think you are just some guy in a call center talking to thousands of people all over the place, again, many will say no. It is better to find something specific in the neighborhood that can give you common ground with the business.

The ones I found that were the hardest to get an appointment were the ones that asked the price right away. Generally speaking, they would always say no because they had no idea what I was offering. They just knew they were not going to spend money and that was the easiest way to get rid of me fast.

You definately want to say more than "Im an internet marketer offering my services, are you interested"?

You have to warm it up a little...

Hey this is john with _______ and we are a new web development company in town... just calling around to introduce our services... hey I was wondering, do you folks a web marketing plan working for you"?

(More of an open ended question that invites conversation).

No? Okay great well.... (pitch)

"Yes? Okay great, hows that workin for you... the reason I asked is because..." (pitch)

Much less cut and dry.... still, ANY pitch you use or list, you are gonna get 90% no interest. Just a fact of business, the law of numbers.

Sounds to me like you are losing them in the greeting and not getting to the body of your pitch much. Try warming it up some and make it more inviting.

Expect that you wont get passed the greeting with ninety percent and you will only establish interest with 1-2 out of the ten left over. That's the numbers.

I didnt make the law, I just observe it.

Although it's none of my business, if your avatar is an actual picture, perhaps you should consider giving up the cigars.

you should call them an personally invite them to a free seminar or a paid workshop that your company is running for start-up business like the ones on the list.

in the seminar/workshop provide info on how SEO has better ROI than other forms of marketing and do a quick run down of how social media and SEO/SEM can and shuold be used for "brand development"

New start-ups will want to create and build their brand image as soon as possible. so do a seminar and teach them how.

don't for get to take down names emails numbers.
at the end give them your card and a sheet of paper they can fill out to schedule a one on one meeting with you, complimetry of taking part in the seminar.

Hi John, good for you for making the calls. That's more than most people. The truth?

It's about: Value, value, value.

Here's their perspective...

Who are you? Why should they care about you? They're busy. They've got bills, payroll, personal problems...

If you manage to get their attention, you've got to hold it, and offer something in return for their time. Because it's always about them.

It's always, always, always about US isn't it? When you have my interests at heart (sincerely) you've got my attention. Every time. I like me. I like hearing about me. I like talking about me. I like others helping me solve my problems.

The obvious million-dollar question then is, how do you do it? And how do you show it?

It depends on a lot. What you're offering, that kind of thing.

Other than that, you've obviously got some skills and knowledge that could be helpful...so how do you go about it?

Honesty goes a looong way. Business owners are pitched all the time. Seriously. But if you're local, and have that in common, why not start out like someone said above?

Then quickly move to what you had in mind. Talk about how you want to add some businesses to your portfolio (the reason you're "so cheap"--if you're just getting started) and in return, can you have a few minutes to show them how (whatever it is you can do...).

Talk about how their business (whether it's a shop or retail store or whatever) is important, and you'd like to have a few minutes to go over some things you think they could use. Tell them lunch is on you, and you've got nothing to offer (sell) unless they like your idea and that it's a win-win if they do because they'll get measurable results and get you "cheap" (for being a part of your "showcase") and YOU get to add them to a list of clients you'll show off for other potential clients down the road.

Tell them you respect and won't waste their time, and you wouldn't have called if you didn't feel "x" (whatever you do) could use a boost in their business.

If you've properly done your research on the company, and you know a few areas they do indeed need improving, the owner will be impressed you took the time to look them over. (Who else does this?)

Never hide your motivations. They want to know that if you're "promising the world" with your services, that you have something to gain too.

But they must believe you can help them. That's why if someone asks me "and why should I do business with you?" when they've come from an unprepared funnel (meaning if they ask that, then they've skipped the usual channels for my "pre-sell" marketing) I usually respond with something like, "frankly, I'm not so sure you should."

This usually takes them aback. It's about positioning really. It's me saying they might have to prove themselves to me; that I'm not desperate for their services. But that's another story.

If you've got the gumption to call all those businesses, you'll do just fine. Just tune up your message and realize you're an "unwelcome" caller at best and a nuisance at worst if you can't quickly offer immediate value, both as a promise in what you do, and right there on the phone for why they should take time out of their day to listen to you.

If they turn you down, move on.

Kinda rambling, but you got great advice above anyway.

Good luck...

There have been a lot of Excellent replies to this thread.... There is more than one nugget of helpful information in here.

I love it

You are making it way to easy for them to say no. You need to ask an open ended question that they can not say yes or no to. The key to sales in person or over the phone is to get people talking. The more they talk the more they like you. The more they like you the more you sell. It is really that simple.

I personally detest cold calling on the phone. I would much rather talk with someone face to face. In other words, for me cold calling door to door is much easier. Takes more time yes, but much more effective for me.

The reason I would buy from sales people was always the same. Everyone else was doing it. I was afraid of being left behind.

If you were just going to cold call, I'd tell them how many people in their profession are doing what you are selling and how it would be a lot less work to use you (and cheaper in the long run).

That usually sold me.

Good luck