Cold Calling?? If I have no B...s what next?

Hi Karen,

I feel your pain. Cold calling is really awesome, however you have to embrace the grunt work and handle the rejection. If you really cannot stomach that then my best suggestion (from what is working for me) is that you set yourself up on Linked In.

When you have a complete and full profile on Linked In, Target niches you want to sell to and join groups with these in mind.

When you are in groups, you can contact people and offer basic mobile sites for free.

Once you start getting some interest you can either start charging for hosting of these mobile sites or else upsell the clients you get who will be delighted with what you have done for them. You could then sell on with SMS or whatever.

Giving away something free on Linked In is something I have found to be a very quick way of making contacts and generating revenue.

The same principles apply, message the correct number of people with your offer. A percentage of those people will take you up on that offer and a percentage of the people who take you up on it will pay you for hosting or other services.

No cold calling required.

Could not agree more Ken. That is 100% my tact when I'm prospecting!

Lol'd a bit with the brass-balled hard sell motormouth comment

Here's a thought... and something I've done with varying success.

Make a "paper WSO", aka a flyer, and don't cold call, but cold "show up" and speak with the receptionist. Something like "I'm a new business in the area, and i was wondering if I could leave some information that the (DR, Counselor, Business Owner) could look at whenever its convenient."

You might end up with congratulations and a few questions about your business, but don;t be overlong. You've just made a heck of an impression, and the person you spoke with can now "vouch" for you when s/he presents it to the business principle.

Then when you call back, its not a cold call. You've actually met the person you;re speaking with, the receptionist/gatekeeper. You might even get a call about the information.

Response rate may be very low, but getting the call off the flyer is not the main thrust, you're (ahem) taking the cold out of cold calling.

Hello Karensworld.

Don't be afraid of the phone. There's fear but no danger. Put together a script and practice it. Then take action. I promise you, once you start calling people it gets easier and easier. You'll get comfortable and you'll learn to overcome objections. Embrace rejection, it will make you stronger! It's part of being an entrepreneur and a marketer.

To Your Success,
Brad Marcus

I think only some ppl have it and some just dont have it

I have had warriors on here offer to send out emails because they were scared to cold call. So I would create them an email account so I can see the amount of emails going out, the responses, etc. I give 50% of the sale if they ever get one. So far, no one has generated a sale from a cold email. Out of 700 emails from the most recent guy, we got 2 people that responded, saying to not email them anymore.

You have to think, if you cold called you would probably get someone in those 100 calls. If you email, you're possibly looking at 1,000 emails to get a sale. Not saying that is always true, but it is a realistic comparison.

Why are you guys pushing her in something she clearly doesn't wanna do, she doesn't wanna do cold calls so keep you're cold calling religion to yourself. jeeezz

If you want to do it without cold calling, you can. Use personalized postcards, you say you do mobile websites? i do to and what i do is i create a simple demo site with their logo on it and in the colors of their website, i take a screenshot of it and ad that to my postcard and sent the postcard to them, after a day or two i call them if they received my postcard and i get a lot of good response that way (the call isn't cold anymore) if you don't wanna do the call sent them a email if they received the postcard... you still be getting some good responses.

Dave

<Sigh>

It is Rejection if you view it that way.

If you've watched my Free training videos, you will understand that a different perspective is necessary. Your purpose in calling is to qualify prospects In or Out. Nothing else. Detach yourself from the outcome and do the behaviors.

It is not rejection if they are not there when you call (and half of the people you call will not be in).

It is not rejection if they do not want to talk to you right now (and half of the people who answer the phone will not be ready to talk to anyone right now).

It is not rejection if they are not interested in what you have to offer right now (call back in 3 - 6 months and maybe their situation will have changed). All they did was qualify Out. No need for what you offer. Big deal.

Yes is good.

No is good.

Think It Overs are unacceptable. Those waste your time and energy.

It is pointless to be afraid to pick up the phone and talk to other people. What are they going to do to you?? For the most part, other people are nice--and the higher you go in organizations, the nicer people are, because they went up through the Sales career and know exactly what you're going through. But if you're prejudging the next call (the last 20 people weren't interested, so the next one won't either--WRONG!!), you will fail.

Read some of the other posts of people who are new to cold calling, learn what to say and how to say it, and persist. I've said it before but I'll say it again: Day One is not much fun, for anybody--even me when I'm starting prospecting for a new business. But stick with it and by Day Three it will be comfortable.

To succeed, it's best to have an independent sales coach. Then you have someone with more experience to bounce your concerns off of. But the best advice is to just get over the worry about rejection--the worry is far worse than anything people will actually throw at you, and you can checkmate yourself easily with it--and do the calls. Calling is the fastest and most effective way of reaching prospects and qualifying them In or Out.

You don't have to like making prospecting calls--you just have to make them.

Keep preaching huh?

Hi Karen,
You have seen in these posts where everyone can pull you in a different direction. First, and foremost, you plan to run a business. You first have to have the mindset that you are a business owner. 2nd, you have to design the way you plan to do business. 3rd, you have to plan how you will get business (this is the part you have asked about here in this thread). There is more, but let's examine the products you want to offer before we discuss how you get the clients.

The products, as you have stated, are Mobile Sites and SMS Marketing. I can tell you as a matter of fact, the most powerful element in sales is the "Demonstration". This goes back thousands of years. Never doubt the power of a demonstration, never doubt the value you demonstrate. With both Mobile Sites and SMS you can do demonstrations for the business owners without ever making the first call. However, you still need to make a call or receive a call once the business owner has seen the demonstration.

Now, before I tell you more about the "Demonstration", you do need to understand your reluctance to the phone. Your reluctance is likely a result of the perception you will have to deal with rejection, or you are not comfortable about how well you know your product, or you feel dealing with objections and conditions is difficult on the phone. In daily life, I guarantee you meet people that don't agree with you. Generally speaking, most of us just agree to disagree and move on. Just follow your normal way of communications to start and as you progress you will learn new ways to say things in a manner that are less disagreeable to others and more appealing to them. This is life, not just business.

In every business, in every persons daily life, the phone is an ever present item of need for proficiency. I can guarantee that probably daily, most certainly weekly, you talk to someone you have never met before or spoken to on the phone. When you do, you probably do it well. You are probably great at it. Most everyone is. A friend of a friend calls and says "what up", or what ever. Because there is some common ground, maybe a friend or something, you have the ice cracked immediately. You never give a second thought (or any reluctance to the phone conversation). This is because you think you aren't selling anything. You think it's just another friendly call. Well, it is, and so are the prospecting calls! Here is the big secret to using the phone in business, "CHARM"! It really is as simple as that. Show them your charm, your kindness, your understanding. Why, because this is a "SOCIAL WORLD"! You cannot do business without a phone, an address, a website, a mobile web site, and a few other tools. The phone is an important element, don't allow others to fill your head with anything that makes you think the phone is mystical and requires "special training" to be able to use it. Any special training you may require is salesmanship, product demonstration, and negotiation. Now, this is the part where the hard core, high pressure, phone sellers are going to go all "Rambo" on me. They always do. They have in several other threads. But here is the news, it doesn't matter if you are on the phone, or in person, you need the correct demeanor, the correct presentation, and the correct closing techniques. The truth is, this does come very natural for most people if they let it and they couple it with the right guidance to improve.

I am a Realtor. I am also the owner of a virtual tour company, an offline marketing firm, and several online affiliate programs. In every case, I spend a lot of time on the phone and always talk to folks as though I am standing right in front of them. Even if you get prospects through efforts other than making a call, you still end up making a call, in fact, you will be on the phone all day, every day with clients to work out details. When you eliminate the mindset that you have to be some kind of POWER SELLER on the phone, then the use of the phone has no power to scare you off of contacting a PROSPECT. Just have a normal conversation, period! The more you are on the phone with prospects, with clients, with aunt Ada, cousin Henry, the new boy friend, etc., the more comfortable you are and the more effective you are. It's all just conversation.

Now, the "Demonstration". Building Mobile Site mock-ups is the best tool in your arsenal for Mobile Marketing, these are quick and easy to do. You can do about 5 (mock-ups) an hour once you know your product. Make a bunch of mock-up sites. For example, a Dental Site, a Chiropractic Site, a Restaurant Site, A Pizza Shop Site, and more. The more demo sites you have the better you look. Put these sites on sub domains of the main web site for your business. To properly penetrate a market, you need to use all of the prospecting methods, and mix them up. Spend some days out and about. Where ever you go, stop by businesses and drop your card off to the owner. Tell them, "I was in the neighborhood and while walking by I thought you had a great business that could benefit from Mobile Marketing". Keep it short! Tell them, "I have time now, but if you prefer, look at these demo sites when you have a moment" (have a brochure in your pocket or bag to give them with the mock-up sites listed). If they don't want to do anything at the moment, say, "I understand this isn't a good time for you, I am a little busy myself right now. How about you look at these later and I'll touch base with you tomorrow. I believe you could drive another 15% to 20% of traffic to your store, restaurant, services, etc. with a Mobile Site and Push Marketing. It's cheap, effective, and 1 in 7 Google searches are now on mobile phones.

Also, get their business card whenever you can, in fact, when walking through a mall, or visit any business for any reason, always get their business card because you will get their email address that you can send a mock-up site to. Most will also have a cell number you can send a sample site to as well as a sample SMS to.

Everything revolves around contact. Every type of contact, and it must be done with taste and professionalism if you want to get them and keep them. This is relationship building.

Believe this Karen, you must organize your business as a business. You must present yourself as a fellow business owner, you must know your product inside and out, and you must be happy and comfortable with speaking to people you don't know. When it come to people you don't know, well, everyone you do know now you didn't know at some point and when you met them you found a way to build rapport (Noun: rapport (uncountable). A relationship of mutual trust and respect. "He always tried to maintain a rapport with his customers"). Wiki : rapport - Wiktionary

Just be natural, don't power sell on the phone, treat everyone as though they are in a willing and friendly space. With this you will do great!

Remember: Sell your company, sell your product, sell yourself, and you will never have to sell the price. Selling is not telling, selling is a natural part of most any business, and selling is demonstrating the features and benefits of doing business with you and your products.

T J

Again why are you people trying to convince Karen to do cold calling if she clearly doens't wanna do it, you guy are like those religious people that don't take no for a answer... not everybody is good on the phones no matter what you do... and cold calling is JUST ONE METHOD TO GET NEW CLIENTS... it's is not the next best thing after sliced bread...

It works for you? great all the luck to you and your cold calling ventures, but please stop preaching about, there are many methods that are way better then cold calling will ever be... direct mail for instance has a better ROI then cold calling, it doesn't piss of your prospects and you don't have to sit there on the phone with a knot in your stomach.


This is just not true, it isnt the most efficient way, sure maybe if you have a auto dailer, but calling 100/200 businesses a day (because that is what you need to get one sale on average ) is hard work, first you have to get a list with qualified leads, and then you have to manually call these businesses ... 50% of the business owners of decision makers aren't in so you have to mark them and call them back at a later time.

I have done this myself and cold calling is a lot but it is definitely not efficient.... i sent out a 100 postcards per week for my mobile sites and i have a response rate of 15/25 percent, you try that with cold calling. good luck to you.

Networking with local leads groups, chamber of commerce, community groups etc is a great alternative to lead generation if calling is not your thing.

Hi there are cold calling centres where you can hire someone to cold call for you,if you google it depending on where you live you may find a few contacts also you could hire someone on fiverr as a cold caller.
Hope that helps
vivi62

Dave,

no need to get so damn angry, the point is, there are more threads of people getting their first sales here in these forums by way of the telephone then by any other method, and there is a reason for that.

Also we have all said IT IS NOT THE ONLY WAY. We like your postcard method, I intend to use it, I post CL ads, and send emails.

I don't even have a business card in my hand yet but have a meeting next week to discuss SMS with a client, because I picked up the phone and made 50 calls.

No i didn't

No it isn't (bit childish this)

I don't really care if you doubt it or not, it is the truth

Spo you don't qualify your leads at all... great way of going about it (NOT!)

I also sad that cold calling for me isn't a problem, read it back it's really there

I hate doing taxes to that is why i pay a specialist to do it for me, these guys are much better at it then me and saves me time and most of all money because i don't understand **** about taxes.

Sure there are big corporations and they gave big systems and trained people in place also what they have is something called qualified leads, you just don't wanna get what i am saying do you? I understand that happens a lot with religious people like you, you're not open for other methods, only your god is the true god right? how sad and shortsighted...

let me try it one more time see if i get anywhere (i know i am up for failing but he i have some time to kill before El Classico begins) cold calling doesn't work for most newbies.. it's as simple as that just grabbing a phonebook and calling random businesses isn't going to bring the newbie any new business period... first you have to learn how qualify your leads before calling them, that is why it makes cold calling so inefficient and time consuming... then you have to get a good script and you have to learn to talk to people with trust in your voice... it isn't easy at all and people like you, religious nutjobs keep forgetting that... you tell people to go ahead and call call call... it's ridiculous, no wonder a lot a people don't make, thanks to people like you.


It is relevant in my discussion to Karen, not to someone who clearly doesn't want growth. My point was to show her that people need her services.

By showing her how *kuch* great you are?

Thank you

Calling is free right?

It can be inefficient but if you use email in a follow up to a directmail you can get upto 90% opening rates, especially if you have sent something special.. i belief it is called lumpymail with you guys

Cold calling cost money, is time consuming and inefficient

It so sad to see people like you who are so rusted in their way of thinking, i am always open for new ways tp prospect and make money, but people like you really make me sad...

Ohw well one look at my bank account tells me i am right and you're wrong

Now Real-Barca is on and i am going to enjoy that, sad people like you bring me down.

have good one

Dave

Wow, this thread has taken a dangerous turn....

There is no best way to get clients. There are plenty of ways to get clients. If you try to force yourself to use a method that doesn't fit well with you, you'll only procrastinate and avoid marketing your business.

I hate straight cold calling. Sucks. I did a couple of telemarketing jobs and I still have nightmares. I was pretty good at it, but I don't force myself to do it because there are other options.

--I do direct mail. I send out a customized package/presentation to businesses that are already advertising. I tweaked a wso that I purchased. Works really well.

--I do networking events. I'm really an introvert so I volunteer to help. This gets my name out there and I'm in a position to really get to know the members.

--Workshops/seminars. As a Toastmaster, this works well for me.

--Just tell everyone what I do.

I have been really dragging my feet about my online presence. I really like PositiveVibe's LinkedIn thread.

Well because something works doesn't make it efficient

Of course everyone has to paty taxes and that is not what i was talking about, i have to obey the law like everyone else, but i don't have to do my taxes, i don't have to keep books... let me specify it for you cus you seem to have a hard time understanding it, i don't have to do things business-wise that i don't like to do... i outsource it or i just don't do it... things like paying taxes isn't one of them because that would be breaking the law... is it clear for you now.

Door to door salesman, seriously? do you guys still life in the 1970... i haven't seen a door to door salesman since i was 5 (about 35 years ago) lol you grasping at straws to try to win this argument.

First let me be clear on one thing i am not your bud, ok? Secondly i am aware of the long toe's of religious people and frankly i really don't care... i am not here arguing to get the most people behind me, that is maybe the difference between me and you, i just defend my position and you're making a contest out of it, you seem to feel the need of people backing you up... i don't, i belief and stand behind everything i have sad about cold calling, rather people like it or not.

And sure there are people having success with cold calling, again, i am not denying that cold call works, i am stating that there are way better methods then cold calling, with a higher success rate and more fun to do... it's as simple as pie, but this concept is still to hard for you to grasp, isn't it?

So it isn't free like you stated so bluntly? hmmmmm

You really have no clue do you? The method i use is very simple and it only involves one postcard and a email or a phone call afterwards... i can easily reach about 70 businesses in a week with personalized postcards and i sell about 15/25 mobile sites and about 10 other types of services, like SEO, SMS Googleplaces and such. you never get those rates with cold calling... my whole investment is about €100- a week

You know why i have a good response, because i qualify my leads, i make sure that the businesses i sent postcards to really want what i have to sell, i am not just randomly sending postcards to businesses, and you know what a lot of business owners appreciate you going the extra mile for them... makes them feel special and builds immediate trust.. that is something you can't do with cold calling...

Call it what you want, i know i am right and you just can stand it do you, you just can't stand that there are better ways then your way to do prospecting, isn't this what this whole back and forth is all about.. you hearing from people that your way is the best... that is why you get it on a personal level from the get go of our discussion... that's cool...


Again you twist my words hoping you get to win the argument or something, i never sad i have anything against cold calling, again i sad and keep saying that there are better ways to prospect and that cold calling is not for everyone.... nothing is changed on that position... read the postings back i have sad it a view times now COLD CALLING WORKS (happy now?) but there are better ways to prospect especially for people who don't het anywhere with cold calling... do you get it now?

And that is where you're wrong, but you're so full of yourself and cold calling then you just don't wanna see the other options, you keep preaching that your way and only your way leads salvation.... Good luck with that.

I am going to end this discussion with you, we are running around in circles and i see no point in further debating this with you....

I'll give you the last word so you can twist and take out of context some of my statements to make you look good, how is that?

I am done.

Dave

Well, I'll just sum up how I feel about CC:

I grow cold when I think about cold-calling. It freaks me out, really. I am always worried that I'll sound like a bumbling idiot and spoil my own chances. Each call is an experience itself.

I'm actually quite done with cold calling. I personally feel that it's a waste of time for the prospects and for me as well:

-prospects can't trust whatever we say on the phone as they can't see us face to face.
- we could have called them at the wrong time. So when they are annoyed, even if you say the best things, they ain't gonna listen to you.

So, well, I'm gonna try emailing next.

The key to making cold calling work is to do it in a way that it doesn't feel cold to either yourself or your prospect.

So working on a delivery mechanism that accomplished that would be your first order of business. Once you figure that out everything else will be down hill.

Interesting idea, paying them for the Nos. I like it. Motivated either way.

Yes is good

No is good

Think it overs are unacceptable.

The biggest problem people have with cold calling come from:

1) the phrase "cold calling"; it's awful...start calling it "prospecting"

2) they get emotionally involved and feel a No is a personal rejection (it's not. All it means is they don't want what you have to offer right now. 6 months from now...?)

3) they don't do it well. Like any skill, you need guidance and to commit to a style that works for you in order to develop. You are NOT going to be good at cold calling overnight--just like you wouldn't be good at karate, cooking, tennis or anything else overnight.

No skill and incorrect expectations, stemming from lack of training systemic to Sales work, is the cause of poor performance with prospecting.

The 'comfort zone' can take a while to achieve, but once you get it, everything (including winning your prospects) will be a lot easier to achieve.

Always remember that practice makes perfect

WOW! Getting a little "heated" here Good stuff, though....

Karen - I have no affiliation with this person on the Forum, but here's what many Warriors are also doing now:

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-business.html

BUT I do want to try and contact as many business's as I can for mobile sites and sms.
I really like the idea of doing a video on a specific site using jing, and including image of site ect.
My dilema is, each video would take me about 30 mins from start to finish, so realistically only 6-8 emails a day!!

I am reading here that I should be getting out about 100 a day, this method seems like such a lot of work to only have about 1/100 opened.

Why not send out a generic video sampling your work, with an offer to do a video on their specific site? They will at least review it the initial video. If only 1 out of 100 responds, then your workload is reduced, but more importantly you have an interested prospect.

I think Jason and Nameless have summed up a lot of things I would say. But let me offer the prospective from the other side. I handle internet marketing for an RV Dealership and thus I am among those that "offliners" pitch.

First there are two ways to get customers.
1. They come to you (common in retail, auto sales, and yes even realitors). To get them to come to you your marketing is focused on branding. You need them to think of you or your company when they need _____ product or service.

2. You prospect for clients. This can be any of the "colds" from cold emails to cold calling.

Unless you have a massive budget, high margins, or a product/service that will appeal to the masses it will be hard to brand effectively to get business. While it may be possible for an offliner to brand and get people to randomly call them I do not think it is likely with the budgets that people have here for marketing. And even those with bigger budgets would be likely to tell you that branding in this line of work is not worth the ROI.

So that leaves prospecting. So let me tell you how I feel about the most common forms of prospecting and how I, as a prospective client, react to each. I suspect my reactions will be common to many others.

1. Cold email: This is by far the easiest and cheapest method of prospecting. I believe most will agree with me that it has very low responce rates. The reason is myself and most others either delete it right away or skim it and delete it. Every once in a while a cold email will stand out and get my attention. And if you can get a great converting email it could work out for you. But it will be a numbers game. Nameless said 1 in 1,000 and while I am sure a good email could convert better I don't doubt many experience worse conversion rates.

Pros: Cheap & Easy
Cons: Likely the lowest conversion method. Prospects have been trained to ignore.

Cold Calling: This is a favorite on this forum and for good reason. Like email this is cheap and easy. But it is also a numbers game. Nameless said 1 in 100 could be closed and I think that is realistic. It is better than email but takes longer vs. a simple cold email mass spammed. Personally I hate getting cold calls because the average cold caller is horrid. But if you know what you are doing this method is more likely to get results vs. cold email.

Pros: Cheap & Easy
Cons: Prospects still have a negative view of. And many cold callers can't handle rejection so don't get the calls in to play the numbers game.

Direct Mail: This is a classic. And is at times used for branding but in our case we will focus on the prospecting version. So who uses this? Well for me the companies I get the most direct mail from at work are Google, Facebook, and Training Companies. Google and Facebook are two of the biggest people in the "Offline" marketing space. They get millions of small businesses to buy ads and this is honestly how they get a lot of them. I have tried various services of theirs because of these direct mail pieces. And I have attended trainings because of direct mail pieces we have receieved.

But how do I view it? I guess first and foremost I view companies that direct mail as big players because that is who normally does it. The costs are two high for the new and small players to play the game so I have build in trust that the company knows what they are doing.

Can you use direct mail to get business? Of course you can and I would recommend it as part of your overall prospecting. I think a great direct mail piece followed by a warm (slightly chilly?) call is a great way to get into a conversation with a potential client.

Pros: Prospects view you as a bigger name because you are spending real money. Can be super targeted. And of course you can learn to test it if you do it in large enough numbers.

Cons: Cost is the biggest issue. Also to do direct mail right it needs to be part of a campaign. Either mixed in with calls or just multiple mail pieces(normally a branding method).

Cold Walking: This is a method that has follow out of style but that is what makes it so powerful. You know who cold walks us? Bill boards, radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, and of course the phone books. What do all those groups have in common? They all live and die by their advertisers. So when a company values each and every client they put their best face forward, literally.

This method takes more time than cold calling but not as much as you might think. You can walk a street with businesses and hit 5 plus an hour if they are saying no. But if they are open to what you are selling you can present right there or schedule a time to come back (if you or the prospect are busy).

I always personally suggest this method because it does a few things. First it shows you are a local business professional (personally wouldn't pitch as the business owner myself but up to you). Second I can tell you right now that in nearly all cases they have never been cold walked by someone selling SMS or websites. This makes you stand out in the crowd. Third since the companies that normally cold walk are prefessionals with higher prices they will naturally be open to you providing a premimum price point. You can be the expert and charge expert prices. I always suggest having a small/cheaper package that you can use to close the price conscious but just because you have packages starting at $299 doesn't mean they will buy the $299 package because they will listen to the expert (you) who will explain how their needs would be best met by _______ at a cost of $$$$.

Pros: Puts you ina group of professionals they are used to buying from at premium prices. You will stand out from your competitors. You will be able to read all their communication (body, voice, etc) and thus better know when to cut your loses vs. pressing further into the conversation. And for you personally this is the selling you are used to. The only difference is they came to you in real estate.

Cons: This takes the most time per prospect. You should get a higher closing ratio to offset this but if you don't this method will lead to failure. This is why this board always suggests cold calling first. For many offliners this is the scarest method so like cold calling it is outside their confort zone.

In closing every method will work and the best laid plans will likely include 2 to 4 of these cold methods used together.

Example/ Sample from Google:
Direct Mail piece with sticker about how we are a "Favorite Place"
Direct Mail piece including a coupon for $100 credit to try a new local version of Adwords.
Cold call to make sure I recieved the coupon. (in my case this lead to a 20 min phone call)
Follow up email with more information.
Follow up call (in my case told them I would think about it more)
Follow up email (he told me he would send ths)
Follow up call (he told me he would call back on a certain day and he did)
On that last call I agreed to try it out and he set up the $100 credit.

Now we didn't think the ROI was good enough so we didn't continue past the $100 but think how many companies would get a good ROI. Do you think if they were getting good leads they would keep going and likely get a real adwords local budget going? You can bet they would.

So as you move forward figure out who you will be marketing to. How you should be prospecting and have a solid plan of attack like google did. And if you are marketing locally I really feel cold walking should be part of your plan. And if you are not marketing locally cold calling should be (at least as a follow up to a direct mail or email). You need to speak with people to close them and you can only be semi-passive for so long. Maybe your email caught my attention but not enough for me to call you. When you call me or show up at my office it shows you are serious.

So if you are serious you owe it to yourself and your business to cold call or cold walk. Stand out as a professional.

Karen, if I really want to play the guitar, but I dont want callouses on my fingers... then I better go for the flute or something instead. Cold calling IS the quickest way to a result.

This post isnt to tell you that you have no balls...and cant make it without them. However, I think that unless you can suffer a long learning curve, and have money to invest and time to not make money for awhile... Then cold calling IS the best way to get the quickest results.

You may just have to find a different way to wrap your mind around it like "the Truth", and forget the stigma that people attach to the idea. The truth is that its not "selling", or at least , doesnt HAVE to be... Selling is more for inbound calls and appointments at its best.

Like some others have said here, and I will agree with Jason, think of it as "prospecting", not "selling".

I have been saying that since the first telemarketing report.

I dont sell on the phone personally, its too much work. I just say hi to people and "prospect". Im not trying to create interest, Im trying to "find" interest.

If you arent interested, no problem "You werent my market", no reason to get upset about that.

If you have a few hundred dollars to invest you can really hire any teenager to come to your house everyday and sit on your phone and "prospect" for you.

it doesnt work as well hiring remotely...because there isnt as much accountability and it may take you weeks to find the right person. But if you just hire someone to come to your house for two hours per day and sit on the phone, and pay them an hourly to do "prospecting", then you will get some appointments every week.

You dont have to do it yourself.

In any event... Its not selling, there is no pressure, you dont have to be a motor mouth as Ken Caudill stated, you just need to be nice to people, tell them you have an offer and say you just called to find out if they would be interested. No pressure either way, move on to the next number, and everyday you will run across people who ARE interested.

On another note... in any given endeavor, we have to play by successes rules , not our own, and if cold calling is the way its done, then thats the way you need to do it...Maybe just look at it differently, or hire someone to do it for you.

-JD

@Karen - You don't have to cold call. Dan Kennedy is fairly well respected around here and he detests cold calling. He is a very good copywriter and direct mail expert however. There are many other ways to reach your audience.

Karen,

Let me start off by saying that I do not like to cold call, or talk to business owners at all, but cold calling is the fastest and most direct way to get in front of as many businesses as I can. Sales is always going to be a numbers game that the odds get better with skill.

There are 2 ways to get in front of customers.
1. Generate Leads
2. Cold Call.

The thing about generating leads is that in the end you have to call them. SO why not just skip all the in between and do that minus the (ads, web form, email campaign)

But if you prefer to talk only to warm qualifies leads then you can:
1. Do craigslist and other classified ads
2. PPC
3. Blogs, Articles, Press Release, Video
4. SEO
5. Will Rs Local Lead Page -(email)
6. Email
7. By lists of businesses and spam their ass
8. Hold a get together female style (wine, cheese, soap) at your house and invite female business owners. Do a presentation. Collect their information. Girls are great at these.

I prefer to generate leads myself but If I cant generate enough to have enough people to talk to in order to make sales then cold calling it is.

Also a lot of time and thought has to go into the above list to make it effective. I would rather just be making sales.

Same back atcha Lion! Love the username too!

Karen:
Try newspaper ads, Facebook ppc ads targeted for certains owners, joint to Linkedin groups and search for business owners who need help, contact those already are spending money in re-designing their website, (I landed a $2,000 deal doing this).

In short the best way to get clients is contacting by MAIL those who are needing your services or making them to call YOU throughout ads.

Cold calling job is for some people AKA talemarketers only, or salesmen, car sellers, home sellers, etc. For internet marketing the worst technique is to interrupt the someone's work to try to sell them something or making an appointment. Try to get them look for you to to help them instead of getting so many "I'm not interested".

-Anthony

If cold calling does not work for you, there are other way to get those leads. Try email marketing, social media, snail mail. The first thing you need to know is where your target market mostly go. Then see what marketing channel can be used to reach them.

There is way too much traffic out there to ever consider cold calling. Don't embarass your self and ever make a cold call again

John, that's why telemarketed leads have such a horrible reputation across a variety of industries where "Mom and Pop" shops buy 20 leads a week versus the mega-agencies that buy 2000 a week...

Lol. She said "Toe Stickers"....rotflmao