Cold Calling Rant! (about Mobile Websites)

Mmmm... Always wondered how to get the owners name!

Thanks P1 !

The problem is not "in your voice"

Business owners pick up the phone expecting to be asked to do something relevant to them in return for money (ie. when called, they want to sell something). So here you come along, dump a product on their lap, and say "Wanna buy it right now?" Not surprising they hang up when you see it the way they do, is it?

You have to interrupt their pattern, and give them at least one good reason to stay on the phone with you. I give my clients proven methods for doing this.

[QUOTE=lirikh;5029073]@huskerdarren,
I didn't find that new script from scotth.

However, I built this script and I'm going to try it tomorrow:

I just want to land one client, even if it's a free one.

Give this a try:

Call them up, ask for the owner:

Hi, _____________, this is (your name). I just went to your website on my mobile phone and had the hardest time finding any information about your company. Have you thought about getting it optimized for mobile phones so people don't get frustrated and go to another company's website?


The most common responses will be
"No".
"yes, we are working on it".
"not interested"
"our web guy takes care of all that stuff" (What? you have a web guy and it's not done already")

Determine how you will answer each of these and what your follow-up responses will be. Practice them in a tape recorder while looking into a mirror.

When you get a somewhat positive response, don't try to sell them right then. Tell them you have prepared a video for them that will show them exactly what they need to do to get it optimized. Get their email address. Go to Jing, create a video. Post the video on Jing or YouTube and send them a link. Make the video more informative than salesy but be sure you include screenshots of local competitors with mobile websites.

Remember, sometimes you just have a bad day even if you do everything right.

Good luck,
DTaylor

Yeah I thought about showing up at their venue. But being a young 19 year old entrepreneur, it is hard to portray a professional image. First impression are all about looks, and I'm afraid if I show up in person they might not take me seriously.

That's why I'm cold calling people and trying to land a few clients for free, that way I'll have experience and a portfolio which I'll be able to show to potential clients.

I never knew that giving away free stuff would be that hard. People are skeptical, and most of them think it's a sham because if something is too good to be true, then it really is. And if I mention we're a new company and we're just trying to setup a portfolio, they might not want it because they might think it is not good enough since 1. new and 2. free, and business owners want the best for their businesses.

My last call today was to a bar. The owner was busy, so one of his employee picked up the phone and talked to me. When I mentioned that it would be free, I heard him yell to the owner "it's free" and the owner replied "It's free? I'm not interested". So from now on I'm going to stay away from the word free.

"Guilty of hanging up on unwanted sales calls"? So we should waste our time staying on the phone when we don't want to, in order to be polite to the stranger who just interrupted our day to read us a script?

I look at it a bit differently. Cold calling is tough because it isn't permission based-it's interruption based. I am always polite if possible, but that doesn't mean I give enough time for the stranger who called to get through the script before I interrupt to tell them I'm busy, not interested, or whatever.

I had one person so intent on getting through an obvious script, that after a half dozen attempts to interrupt, I finally yelled "EXCUSE ME... HELLO... ARE YOU EVER GOING TO STOP AND LISTEN?!!", and she still pushed ahead without pause (about a minute in-no questions or any other acknowledgement), so I hung up on her. I gave her more time than she deserved, and I regard her as the one who was rude, not me for hanging up, after she gave me no chance to let her down easy. If someone gets my number, they are sadly mistaken if they think that means they can force me to listen to their pitch because of social conventions from another era, when people weren't fending off multiple sales calls every day.)

The OP mentioned something about it being "just rude" when someone interrupts him in mid sentence to say "no thanks", and hangs up. That attitude (that people owe him the chance to complete his sentence, when he interrupted their day), might very well be part of his problem.

I know how crummy it feels when someone shuts you down before you have a chance to complete a thought, and that is why I rarely get up the oomph to do any cold calling. But when I do call, I try to keep in mind that there are more prospects than I could ever get to, and some of them will be interested. But it still feels crummy when someone cuts you short, so I don't do much cold calling.

It might feel a bit less crummy though, if you remind yourself that they are probably busy, so it isn't personal, and you already took a few seconds of their time if they answered. They didn't owe you that, and they don't owe it to you to hear you out, or let you down slow and easy. The sooner you get that out of your head, the better.

I daresay, most of us who do cold calling by ourselves, probably spend more time "recovering" from rejections while staring at the phone, or a list of numbers, than we do actually calling and finding those who are interested.

It might shorten your recovery time if you stopped branding those who cut you short "rude". Instead, rejoice that they didn't waste any of your time, and now you're free to blast through the rest of your list.

If the rejection really gets to you though, try looking up Ari Galper's cold calling training. He says that all rejection is caused by the way the salesperson communicates, and once you stop reading a script, as well as using over-used salesy language (like "would you be interested", "what would it take" "would tomorrow at 3 be good for you, or would Monday at 1 be better", etc-big red flags) and start using his more human approach, the rejection might disappear.

One tip I can share from him: don't start the call with "my name is blank, and I do blank", or "I'm from blank company"-that makes it all about you, before you've given them any reason to care, and it announces that you are calling to sell them something. Instead try an introduction like, "Hi, I'm hoping you can help me out". That evokes compassion-zero sales pressure= zero negative reflex response to the sales pressure they sense is on the way.

Also, in one of your posts, you said you were going to stop doing one approach because one person responded negatively. Be careful of what you think you are learning, because if you are going to eliminate every approach that a single person reacts negatively to, you will be left mute. If you suspect an approach has merit, try it on at least a few dozen people before concluding that it flopped. One negative reaction is hardly a fair test.

I hope that was helpful.

Thanks John for your kind words.

By the way, I know your telemarketing forum provide call lists, but do you serve Canada?

I'm glad John mentioned this, because it often has more to do with the results you get than anything.

I've called businesses for years, and can tell you, first, you have to know EXACTLY what you're going to say. No thinking. Automatic.

THEN, and only then, you can work on the tone, inflection and rhythm.

Many marketers never get to that stage because they don't hang in long enough to even get the script down.

For me, getting good at calling was not an event, but a process.

BTW, this is the same process comedians use to develop a stage act. First they develop their material (script) and then get lots and lots of stage time to work on the DELIVERY...which is where it becomes funny. It's the pacing, pauses and physicality, that makes it work.
_____
Bruce

The nice thing about cold calling is that it doesn't cost a lot to get started. Also, it is immediate, meaning you can potentially get an order TODAY.

Cold calling gives you a confidence in meeting objections that is hard to get any other way, just because of the sheer volume of conversations.

If you learn to close business by cold calling you will learn a lot about your target audience. This should help you put together a better direct mail piece or website. It will also improve your sales skillset and your closing ratios.

If you have not learned to close sales then you will most likely blow quite a few of the direct mail responses. That is why sales managers usually give the best leads to the best salesmen.

If you have sent out direct mail pieces in the past you know that sometimes you get a great response, sometimes not so great. What do you do in the meantime? If you are sitting by the phone anyway and it is not ringing, why not pick it up and get some business?

Don't get me wrong. I wholeheartedly believe in the power of using marketing to get business more efficiently. But...if the phone ain't ringing it is my job to make sales. Once I have a couple thousand $$$$ in my pocket the marketing is a lot easier to have done while I continue to make sales.

DTaylor

All the above you've been given, is great advice from experienced pros. Sounds like you are on the learning curve in "how to not sound like a telemarketer".

Local businesses are getting pounded by large BR's cold calling about Internet-this, website-that and Google SEO-this. I'd suggest ditching all vocabulary about websites, IM, SEO, or any Internet related vocabulary words when calling. Use their lingo.

* Targeting Your List for Need/Desire

I didn't see a mention of what type of businesses on your list. Might have missed it. Some businesses have a greater need for mobile. Suggest you only call to a targeted, segmented list.

The "Desire" part you should qualify with your opener starting your calls... that is, the desire to grow their businesses. Some do and some don't.

For instance, restaurants usually hit both these criteria for mobile websites. Pizza places and take-away places are high on that scale of need, and desire is almost always there in competive verticals. So you might try targeting pizza

You've said you are selling "Mobile Websites". Well, in my experience most of your prospects won't have this phrase in their vocabulary. And you're better served in my experience to get on point, by focusing on problems/pain/solutions.

So, don't use "Mobile Websites" in your script. Try this instead...

"Hi, this is Joe calling... I wonder if you could help me with a small problem? (pause here)

"Well, I can try... what do you need?"

"I was wondering where I could get your SmartPhone website address so I can see a map and driving directions to Romero's Pizza on my phone? "

Romero's Pizza being the name of the business.

This one's a good conversation starter as well as qualifying. And it will go right where you need to be. Finding and focusing on the problem.

"Uhhh... I'm not sure where that is, hang on a minute... hey, get Joe on the phone for this guy."

Conversation is better than pitching and this opener also motivates a handoff to the right person with the info you need to know, who might happen to be a decision-maker. of course, that's who you need to talk with

And again, try staying on focus you can the decision-maker... conversation about the pain of lost customers, lost sales... all going to the competition.

The Problem: They are losing business to competitors when smartphone users go looking for a take-out pizza on the way home from work. Or a dozen other real-life situations where they want pizza and search with a smartphone

With that call opener, either they have a problem... or they don't. If so, make the conversation focus on the Pain of their Problem. Talk about 200 million smartphone users. "You know, Bob... that's a lot of hungry people at 5 o'clock, isn't it?"

Pain/Loss/Fear - You won't have to hit them over the head with it either. 95% of these people you are calling... they use their own smartphone a 100 times a day already. They understand ths issue. If the biz owner wants these benefits, he must have an optimized mobile URL.

This is Win/Lose Decision Point. No half measures. The business owner either gets in the game, or says No to all smartphone customers. And that's the conversation you control the entire time you are on the phone.

Benefits - Features.

A restaurant with a smartphone web address gets these benefits:

• Listed on Google Mobile - Yes? new customer. No? you lose.
• Tap to Dial button - Convenience. The smartphone searcher is driving
• Tap for Map - Obvious benefit.
• Tap for Driving Directions - For the visually challenged

Summary

• Segment and Qualify your Target List.
• Qualify with your Opener
• Speak their lingo, not yours.
• Speak to their problems.
• Focus on the Pain

If you'd like a specific targeted list of local businesses in your area with a need for mobile, PM me and I'll send you a list.

And that opener I gave you... it works. Try it.
.

Sure, you're welcome... I do campaign development like this for private clients, even writing the scripts. The concept is what you might call "warm calling" instead of cold calling.

The OP is in Canada, but if anyone else would like help with a targeted list in USA, just ping me here.

Yes, and even though this method takes time, it can be effective.

We just had an Edward Jones financial guy knock on our door and introduce himself and what he does. my wife talked with him, and the next day she got a hand written note in the mail thanking her for her time and to let him know if there was anything he could do to help us. She was very impressed, as was I. We have Fidelity or we would probably go with this guy. Maybe this is effective again because no one does it anymore.

Seriously, I am a newbie but this is a very misleading post IMO.
Why would one say, that if you cant sell an internet marketing service online, then you are not enough reliable internet marketer? Does that mean that we need to wait for a barbershop owner to go on google and search, SEO optimizer in {city} and then start calling the first 5 companies that show up on the first page?

The only thing I agree with you, is the numbers game. The more you call, the better. And of course, who you target and how you manage the calling and selling process is important as well.

You can do that. But, if you want to write a lot of business on a consistent basis (especially just starting out) take what MidasMan said above and live it for a couple of weeks. If you tell enough business owners that you have something that can dramatically improve their business you will get some orders.

It does not take a gazillion customers in this business to make some decent money. Just get on the phone and set a dozen appointments for the week. You will write business from them and be on your way.

DTaylor