Cold Calling Residential

I have a ton of B2C experience. I admire your courage to do this but be prepared to deal with a lot of angry people on the phone. Even scrubbed lists are going to generate do-not-call complaints here and there as well.

If I were selling computer repair services I would get a list of my most common customer profile and pitch them on an offer for a free service like a package that speeds up their computer. I would definitely offer some kind of free service that you can upsell them once you're in their home.

You'll probably run into people saying "well you know, I have this problem with my computer that needs fixing too..." which will be guaranteed money.

I would also highly suggest calling as local as possible, which will make the calls less threatening to them.

Me personally, I would never cold call residential. That's too invasive for me. I cold call businesses all day, but thats because what I am selling relates to their business. You should give a shot at calling some local small businesses. They may have some computers they need repaired, or even some other work you could possibly do, like hooking up a printer. When you call you could also say that you will give a discount to any employees of that business who need repairs done at home.

My suggestion... Don't cold call residential, you're just going to get beat up.

I wouldn't call residential at all. (Cash89, we were writing at the same time)

Corner signs will do well...community bulletin board announcements...networking events. Find your local BNI and start meeting people. How about offering a free course at a community center? Get out of the house!

Residential calling has too many hassles and grief to make it worthwhile. There are easier and friendlier ways to develop referral residential business opportunities.

The problem with service businesses like yours is that you never know when someone is going to have a problem and need your help, and in your case, I don't know that you could even buy a list of computer owners from anyone like you could buy a list of car owners if you owned an auto repair business.

Even if you had a list of computer owners to call, what are the odds that any one of them is going to have a need for your services right now?

I'd say the quickest way to get business would be advertising with adwords, but even then, you'll probably miss a large number of people who wouldn't think to go online to get help.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be writing a weekly or monthly email newsletter article with helpful computer tips that you could offer to those you contact who don't have a need for your services right now, but may in the future. Once you have a few issues written I'd approach a local newspaper about running a computer advice column that you'd write for them, and you could use the same articles you use in your email newsletter.

Just getting printed in the paper would immediately give you a lot of credibility and get your name in front of many people who might need your services now - and if they don't need you right now, they might signup for your newsletter and contact you down the road when they do have a need.

I know that doesn't help much if you need the business NOW, but you need to be thinking longterm too and start building a list of prospects as soon as you can.

What about using direct mail to blanket an area? I know Canada Post has a program like the EDDM program in the US and you could probably reach a few thousand with an offer of a free pc tuneup or something rather inexpensively.

HTH,

Steve

"Kurry25"
If you are going to take the advice of the above first two posters (and not cold call), take a look at a KILLER way to use craigslist the "right" way to kill your competition.

His name is Ewen and his post can be found here http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...out-water.html

Good luck with getting more clients.

Fridge magnets and the smallest print ad that that you can afford (ie classified) that you can run on a permanent basis. We have a few small advertising papers that come to the door every week. Most people look at them and when they have a problem they will go looking for your add. If it isn't there someone else gets the work.

Thanks for the advice
I decided to try distributing flyers around my neighbourhood this evening.
Now I just have to come up with a catchy flyer

I'm late here, but cold calling for computer services/repair, would ONLY work if you were calling a list of people that had opted in off a flyer/postcard or some other method.

Calling homes looking for business would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Great choice to try another method!

If you already have customers then give them some cards to handout to their friends and family. On the back of the card have a coupon for $10 off on thier first repair. This will have a tendency to grow. You could even offer the original customer a discount for anyone they refer.

Funny note: My son does computer repair...when he was starting, he used to go hang out near the "geek" people, and when people LEFT the line because the prices were enormous, he'd nab customers Worked well.

I think it will be time consuming vs the number of clients you actually pick up. Your going to get most of your clients from word of mouth, craigslist advertising can be good but again your competing with a million people. Also make sure your aware of whatever the local or federal laws are regarding calling and do not call lists and all that.