Cold calling or face to face??

13 years ago

I think it works more when you go face-to-face. Why? Because this whole telemarketer craze we have going on. People tend to hand up on someone they do not know, so your best option would be to meet face-to-face.

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newuser_2 13 years ago

Cool makes sense! I tried to thank your post but I can't for some reason... Whatever I guess lol

EDIT: NVM I was able to do it... But yeah it does make sense that doing face to face is better than cold calling and mass emailing combined, for you establish a trust, or a type of relation.
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- BradleyC 13 years ago
  
  Face to face is far more effective to develope leads and close sales. However, when you compare how many businesses you can see in a day versus how many you can call by phone, the phone will have you actually talking to more businesses in a days time.
  
  Based upon your scripts and effectiveness will determine which would work best for you. For example, let's say you can call by phone and actually talk to 20 business owners a day but you only pull 1 or 2 leads. But you could walk the streets and pull in 3 or 4 leads. In this case I'd go with walking the street.
  
  I find when working with reps that you have to have much better skills for using the phone to schedule appt's and create leads than you do in person because people's defenses are up so high from phone solicitors.
  
  In person they can see you and size you up, and if you present yourself well you've already broken through a few hurdles. Plus, it's harder for businesses to say no to someone in person than by phone. And finally, in person they know you're local like they are which does help.
  
  Take a week and test the cold-calling, take the following week and test hitting the streets and then you judge what is best for YOU personally.
  
  My 2 cents.
  
  Bradley
  
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hotlinkz

13 years ago

Face-to-face without a doubt. Not everyone can do it, but for those with the gift of gab, it can be a prospecting goldmine.

Cold phone calling works best when you can outsource it at reasonable cost. It can be very time consuming when you do it yourself. Plus, it requires a certain measure of attained skill.

Face-to-face prospecting allows you to make a more organic connection with business owners. Some owners will just take a liking to you and listen intently to what you have to offer. By the same token, you will also encounter some "know-it-all jerks" who revel in giving you a hard time. Even so, you will spend less time getting clients than you will chasing them down by phone. At least that's my personal experience.

Try it both ways and judge for yourself.

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Rus Sells

13 years ago

face 2 face all the way baby! Close Anyone & Stop Hanging Paper See the to guys testimonials on there who I helped with face to face selling local services.

It sets you apart and above the marketing noise. It makes you do or die too!

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Chris Cho

13 years ago

check out my blog. I've not sold a single thing on it. just straight up contents to help people.

I had my shy intern close 2-3 deals in a day going door to door and Jose from WF who closed his first deal in 2 days.

door to door works so well because everyone is scared to do it. And business owners appreciate you for coming in time to time.

If someone wanted to sell you a website... which one would you go with?

1. telemarketer?
2. door to door guy?
3. direct mail?
4. email?
5. referrals?

Answer: Referral > direct mail > door to door > phone > email

that's just my 2 cents.

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kenmichaels

13 years ago

i just had to weigh in with my 2 cents.

Some people are amazing face to face.

Some people are amazing with the phone.

Even more rare is the person who can do both effectively.

Unless you try for your self you will not know the answer to your question
about which works best. The phone experts will say phone. The door to door experts will say face to face.

You wont know, until you try both, and you really have to give them both a fair try.

Personally its in my best interest to use a phone, can i , do i do face to face? Occasionally i do, when i have to , or when i am trying out a new technique.

But my phone skills are far superior to my face to face skills.
I am 100% in my own comfort zone on the phone, and because of it
i can control the conversation, and walk them right to the close,
a heck of a lot easier then face to face.

I cannot stress enough for you to try both for your self.
here is why. lets say you go door to door and your first week
you make a sale or two. and you keep doing that. you may be happy with that, you may even feel you are doing well.

but what if you really suck at it? what if your not as strong as you think you are? what if your just a numbers guy, and those are laydowns?

What if you spend the same amount of time on the phone, and you make 4 or 5 sales a wk and you keep doing that over and over?

If you don't try both, your never going to know. ever. and that may be the difference between a mediocre, and a highly successful business

and who knows, maybe you will be that rare breed that can do both

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thelibidoguy

13 years ago

Originally Posted by kenmichaels

i just had to weigh in with my 2 cents.

Some people are amazing face to face.

Some people are amazing with the phone.

Even more rare is the person who can do both effectively.

Unless you try for your self you will not know the answer to your question
about which works best. The phone experts will say phone. The door to door experts will say face to face.

You wont know, until you try both, and you really have to give them both a fair try.

Personally its in my best interest to use a phone, can i , do i do face to face? Occasionally i do, when i have to , or when i am trying out a new technique.

But my phone skills are far superior to my face to face skills.
I am 100% in my own comfort zone on the phone, and because of it
i can control the conversation, and walk them right to the close,
a heck of a lot easier then face to face.

I cannot stress enough for you to try both for your self.
here is why. lets say you go door to door and your first week
you make a sale or two. and you keep doing that. you may be happy with that, you may even feel you are doing well.

but what if you really suck at it? what if your not as strong as you think you are? what if your just a numbers guy, and those are laydowns?

What if you spend the same amount of time on the phone, and you make 4 or 5 sales a wk and you keep doing that over and over?

If you don't try both, your never going to know. ever. and that may be the difference between a mediocre, and a highly successful business

and who knows, maybe you will be that rare breed that can do both

That just absolutely hit the nail on the head! Could'nt have wrote it better myself!

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imback

13 years ago

Face to Face baby

Sometimes I cold call first then follow-up with a face-face if they deny.

CHAD

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digichik

13 years ago

Originally Posted by newuser_2

Hey guys I dont post often but I have a big question...

Do you get higher conversions when you offer your services to local businesses in person or by phone?

I am asking this for I know that when cold calling you have to call about 50-100 numbers to get at most a few leads and I am hoping its not the same when you meet business owners face to face....

Hi there-

Just a little clarification for you. 'Cold calling' is contacting a prospective customer you have never contacted before, whether by telephone or in person. Cold calling does not just pertain to telemarketing.

As many have suggested, you will have to try both ways to find out which works best for you. You may want to combine methods such as direct mail, email, phone calls and in person visits. Just because a business owner may not be interested today doesn't mean he will feel the same way a month from now. It may take you contacting a prospect 4 or 5 times before they say yes.

I read many posts on here where warriors will send out emails or direct mail and only get 4 or 5 responses out of hundreds, they never take the initiative to call the hundreds of other contacts, what a waste! Remember just because you don't hear from them doesn't mean they are not interested, they could have forgotten to call you, they may have misplaced your email or direct mail piece with your contact info, they may just be super busy, etc.. If you invest the time and money to reach out to prospects, make sure you take it upon yourself to follow-up, don't wait for them to get back to you.

Learning how to sell by both telemarketing and face to face it the ultimate way to go, it will put you way ahead of the field.

Don't be fooled, you are going to have to reach out to prospective clients with many different marketing methods-- email, direct mail, telemarketing, in person meetings, etc. -- some people believe you should use at least 7 different methods to reach prospects. No one method is going to work all the time and if you really want to build your business learn how to use/combine multiple methods.

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Monikacis

13 years ago

Yeah i also favour face to face interaction as compare to cold calling.

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Cold calling or face to face??

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