Started to do cold calling....discovered that I suck.

I dont cold call, I use direct marketing response in order to make the prospects to contact me instead of me chasing them

It goes back to knowing their problem which they know exists.

When speaking with business owners, they need to hear you talking about their problems first.

Mentioning your services, like seo, sms boxes you in a bad corner.

You must talk about their problem and results.

Results like a law firm went from closing 4% of it's website visitors to 45%.

If you have no results, it doesn't matter. You borrow results from other companies.

Still no mention of how you do it.

You can say payback is 90 days and it is independently monitored.

Once again, no mention how you do it.

Just drop lots of little pearls that keep them wanting to know more.

Never tell them how you do it.

Best,
Ewen

I agree with Riz. I think it's awesome that you tried cold calling. I used to do it myself and hated every second of it. I used to have to do 100 cold calls just to get 1 appointment. And yes, you do develop a thick skin after the first week.

I found a much easier tactic that I posted in a different thread. Groupon prospecting. I find businesses that are using Groupon, send them an e-mail with the subject line "Your Groupon ad" and then offer a freebie with no obligation. Usually it's something that costs me $5 (from fiverr.com). So a little cost, but you build a relationship, provided something for free and you are in the door. You could even use John Durham's suggestion on building them a free site. It's in a different thread in this section.

Best of luck and congrats on taking action! You beat out 99% of the other people out there.

Evan

I would like to congratulate you on taking the first step as well.
But, it's like you said, you only called 5 businesses.

Or, use your approach, get the owner's name and just walk-in to the pizza joint around dinner time. Order a slice and look/ask for the owner.
In some smaller shops, the owner walks around and asks how everything is or makes the pizzas or something like that. They get involved.

So, you could order your pizza and start to eat it.
If the place isn't packed, ask the owner why..
Say, "This is some really good pizza you got here"
"How come this place isn't packed?" or "Is this your usual dinner size?"
Sometimes they will tell you they are looking at ways of getting more customers, sometimes they will lie, or maybe it's just a slow night. Like they are always slow on Tuesday's or Wednesday's...

If there is a lot of foot traffic, ask if they would like everyone that goes by to be able to get a coupon to their business... Proximity marketing
Or, if they would like to change that slow night.... SMS
Ask if they would object to more customers.

Basically, take an interest in the pizza place...
They get several calls from companies offering marketing services, you are just another caller. You have to differentiate yourself.
Maybe their food sucks. So, you would be marketing a dying business.

That is exactly what I did, and landed a client.
(They were also advertising in the ValPak)
I said, would you be interested in more customers.
She said and I quote "Of course I would, who wouldn't?"

Well at least you know 5 calls isn't enough. Without adjusting your pitch, or doing anything else, you need to realize that you need to make about 100 calls.

Simply ask to speak with the person in charge of marketing decisions... if your goal is to set up an appointment, don't pitch to them over the phone, just say you're going to be in the area on whatever day and would like to drop by to give them some materials and show them in 10 minutes how they can increase their sales, and blow away the competition. Don't ask for permission, don't ask if it is a good time to talk, don't ask them to buy anything, TELL THEM you are stopping by.

I close about 80-90% of deals over the phone, no meeting, nothing. If you're only making 5 calls, then don't expect to do well from that.

If you're only doing SMS marketing then the most efficient thing to do would be direct mailing with post cards, in my opinion. I can make 500 calls a week and get numerous sales, but I'm offering more.

Mr Couch Potato,

I promise you, you could not have been worse than I was. I started in the beginning of December calling when I had time and was horrible. I quit my job and went "all in" January 1st. I called all of January and finally got a sale on towards the end of January. I haven't cold called since Valentine's Day as I have been too busy.

It works.

I called a couple thousand businesses and I wouldn't be where I'm at if I didn't do it.

I couldn't sell a dollar for 50 Cents

Cold calling really works if you know how to do it.

Give yourself a 1 hour time block and see how many calls/leads you can make with your original:
"Hi, I'm Mike from Willow Promotions and we're a new promotion and marketing company. I'm just calling to see if I could stop by this week to introduce myself, show you what we have to offer, and see if it's something you'd be interested in."

Then try:
""Hi, I'm Mike from Willow Promotions. May I ask who I'm speaking to? Well, (use their name), I was calling to see if the owner was in, I have some/a great (free) information/technology that could really improve their business."

If you don't get the owner, be sure to have the caller record your message.

If you do get the owner, it may go something like:
"Hi (name), thanks for taking the time to talk with me. My name is Mike from Willow Promotions and I have a great service that you would be really interested in. Have you heard of SMS texting? I'm sure you have...(explain benefits). All I ask is 15 minutes of your time, so we can talk to face to face and discuss the results of having this for your business."

I just made that up but it covers:
Problem/Benefits
Emotional
Results
**And huge part** You're selling a face to face meeting here, not your service. Use the face to face to sell your service. Check out Permission Marketing by Seth Godin , it's explains this really well. Anyways, keep working hard.

Instead of selling them (which they get that all day!) Offer them a freebie. Tell them you are offering a few free services as a way to introduce your services to the area. This works like magic! I offer facebook fan page set up, free 45 sec video, twitter set up, heck even a free QR code you can print for free online.

I went more into this approach on my Offline RockStar Academy Blog: Read It Here
.

Couch Potato..You were defeated before you ever started.

Sounds like you just wanted to get it over and done with before you died.

Well you lived.

Now it's time to cash some checks.

Mindset and Posture will always be key.

There are some INCREDIBLE scripts on this fourm but if you mindset sucks you are wasting your time.

Never say I suck.... or better yet, how do you think you will do if you scream out " I SUCK at this! 100 times before making your calls tommorow?

How about "I am getting better and better with each call I make?"

5 calls for anyone only gets your juices flowing (No Matter how good you are)....next time schedule 20 business owners to call...your posture will increase with every call and soon you will find yourself in the Profit ZONE!

Remember, you are NOT a telemarketer but a fellow business owner who can help them get more customers in the door.

Posture up and Kick A$$ and Get some checks!

Sorry to hear that you've encountered so much difficulty, but unfortunately your approach is really at the root of that issue. I know it's really hard to know how to handle promoting your new business, so you should know that I don't mean this post as a put down, understand that I know exactly what you're going through.

Two things I really would never do when it comes to promoting SMS text marketing: (1) cold calling businesses trying to get a chance to pitch them (too much effort for likely too little return); (2) offer to give away our services for free in an effort to get my foot in the door with them.

Most business owners are accustomed to getting bombarded with people trying to get their money to "advertise" their business -- this is especially true these days with print advertising dying -- and that's why cold calling can be a difficult route. Giving away your services to just any new business you're prospecting can also be problematic. Some businesses will want the freebie with no intention of ever paying for your services, others will assume that the fact that you can give it away for some period of time for nothing means that you can afford to sell it to them for cheap when the time comes to pay -- you can actually devalue your services by doing that.

There are a few methods that have worked very successfully for us, particularly in regard to SMS text marketing and other similar services. I will nutshell them for you here:

1. Free monthly business seminars
No, not seminars on SMS text marketing, but rather seminars about how local businesses can increase their sales. Of course we pitch our SMS text marketing services (and other services) as a part of the seminar. Most business owners are very interested in attending free seminars if they can help them make more money. We promote our seminars through various means, including local networking groups and the CoC.

2. Direct mail
We have developed a very unique direct mail piece that offers a HUGE open rate (recently well over 80%). It is a real door opener for us.

3. Referrals
We get our clients to send us more clients, and we get our other business contacts to send us more business contacts. To be honest with you, this method and method #4 gives us more qualified leads than we can actually handle. I'm being absolutely truthful when I tell you this: I have asked people to STOP sending us leads for the time being because we don't have enough time to meet with new prospects and fully service our existing clients. I know that's hard to believe, but it is absolutely true as of right now.

4. Recruit a trusted advisor
This is one of the most powerful methods we've ever used. We have developed a working relationship with a company that has nothing to do with advertising and promotion, but services hundreds of restaurants in our local market. These people are trusted by their restaurant clients, and when servicing their clients, they mention the awesome marketing service that WE provide. They also mention that we're swamped with business, but because they like the restaurant client so much, they'll get in touch with us and see if we could possibly make room for them on our calendar. They can consistently provide us with 30-50 pre-qualified leads every single week.

Method #4 works like magic.

I found out I sucked when I started at cold calling, and when I started playing guitar, and when I started typing and when I started to walk, that first time I ever jogged a mile I found out I sucked at running... Found out I sucked at dieting, found out I sucked at interpersonal relationships, found out I sucked at writing ad copy and I sucked at writing wso's...

Its amazing all the things I have experienced, that I would have never gotten to do if I had stopped everytime I found out I sucked at something.

Food for thought...

Are you going into things to "find out if you can do them"?

Or are you going into things to "Get em done".

World of difference.

In the beginning cold calling was the worst thing in IM but after a while it went better and now it's just a part of things to do when I start my day.


Regards Kristof

Mike, you get an 'A' for initial effort....however, it does take a lot more practice and honing down a script that works.

I do some calling, but it's usually in person. Restaurants make great clients, btw.

In person, many of these gruff, stand-off owners/managers are a lot better. But they can be brutal to phone callers. I've been inperson talking to owners when they get a prospecting call, and just cringe when I hear how 'cold' they can be...

and then they turn around and resume a much nicer conversation with me.
Also, the main tool I use is direct mail letters, and that has been very effective.
Your idea to drive to an area and walk in could work better, but you still need to develop an 'approach' for that as well....and when you're in person, there's more than one contact point.
_____
Bruce

Cold calling sucks but if you call around with a small presentation booklet which explains what you do it's hard for the owner not to see you. Once you have told them who you bare and what you just leave them the information and tell them to call you if they wan't more information.

Go back a few days later and call in, tell them you were just seeing someone else and thought you would drop by to see if they had any questions.

The first call takes away any pressure from the business owner and also makes it harder to say no to you face to face. The second call will either spark off some questions from the business owner which then gives you the opportunity to pitch your services.

Find out what their problems are and present a solution.

Keith

Cold calling is usually for experienced telemarketers, its all about energy and believing in the product your selling.

forget teh cold call for now... just go there walk in and ask for the one in charge of the marketing.... its easier to hang up than it is to turn one down face to face...

cold calling does work but if you want cleints now just go there....

this is what i do

walk in than

i am looking for the person in charge of the marketing.... are they available

than intro your self

my name is Scott Chalmers i have a local marketing company and i am looking for business to help get the fastest return on there investment. I wouild like to schedule a time whne you would have lets say 10 min to cover a few things that would definatly see imediate results...

than wait for them to either say i have ten min or give you a tiem to come back.....

Mr. Couchpotato: I love your posts. You always ask about things I'm interested in and I love how genuine you are. I wish you the best and please keep posting.