My 2,000th Post: For Cold Calling Beginners

Whenever I think "Prospecting" , I think of gold mining......

I like gold....

Awesome video.
I have working in sales and finally I got to the same conclusion - you first calls are not to sell anything .They are to qualify/filter if the prospects are your market or not.

i've been lurking here a while but i wanted to post and say thanks for your advice, jason. you along with guys like ken michaels have provided some really helpful information. i'm relatively new to sales but i do a lot of cold calling for a small government contracting firm, so the more confidence i have the better. your advice on how to open a call, the "unsure who i need to speak to" is absolute gold...in fact i had been using something similar before i came across your videos but seeing you give a label and name to it just makes it easier to apply. i open pretty much every call with it now.

again i'm relatively new to cold calling but when i face this situation i'll usually ask when they are expected to be in - if they respond with something like the above i say, "no problem, i'll try back another time - who should i ask for?" and 9 times out of 10 you will get the name of the business owner. now you can call back and know exactly who to ask for which will get you past the gatekeeper almost every time. from there, you just have to figure out when the best time to call to actually reach the person is. try varying up your times and you may have better results: early morning, late afternoon, lunchtime, etc.

Like I said in the video...the averages are...

Half the people you call won't be in.

Half the people who pick up the phone can't actually talk right now.

If the owner "isn't in much," I would start asking who takes care of the kinds of decisions that you deal with...because an absentee owner is not able to do so. If it turns out this "invisible man" is the person who makes such decisions after all, you probably want to decide whether this is actually the kind of business owner you want as a client. If they aren't around often, how much do they really care about the company? And are they going to take the time to give you the info you need?

In these cases you are likely to find a trusted individual who gathers data and makes recommendations to the owner on what to spend money on. Keep digging!

You're welcome.

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post5993360

I link to a guest blog I wrote about the 30-second commercial.

Don't push...just get on the phone and start sorting.

What this individual says or does who you're talking to right now...doesn't matter. Answers, doesn't answer; isn't interested, wants to buy; doesn't matter. Don't get excited. Keep calling.

<low whistle>

...

OK, let's talk about action for a minute as related to making calls.

Here's what I recommend you do.

Call for two hours, twice a day.

Don't freak out about '100 Calls'; just do two hours twice a day. Two in the morning, sometime between 8AM and noon, and two in the afternoon, between 1:30PM and 5:30PM.

Two hours has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can see the end before you start. In contrast, how long are those 100 dials going to take? Who knows?!

Make your calls like a training Olympic athlete. Every day, no matter what, no matter whether you feel like it or not, you're there. Show up. There's no substitute in life for showing up.

Think less about your "offer" than what problems your market is experiencing which you can help fix. That's your lead-in and credibility.

That's correct. Start by sharing a few problems that you have solved for this niche specifically. For anyone wanting to see how that is structured, click here.

Yeah, after I moved to the US and wasn't allowed to work during the immigration period, I had to do something to jumpstart the process. You try sitting out the better part of a year and see what happens to the perception of your resume. Most people didn't even read that I came from Canada! But they sure would see this huge employment gap...and not ask any questions. I made that video in the summer of 2010...I wrote it, my wife shot it, and a super schoolkid friend of my sisters-in-law edited it on his Mac (he's now at some fancy college for filmmaking and Arts). That's how you get things done when you have NO budget. And it looks like a million bucks.

That video and the free google site it's on have gotten me serious offers, including a defense contractor role supporting the US Marines in supply chain development. I keep it there as an example and it still attracts attention. MARKETING. Whatever everyone else is doing...I tend to be moving in the completely opposite direction and getting better results.

Much better than the junk people keep throwing out there. And unlike the majority of onliners (you being a big exception, John), I don't hide my background, my name or my expertise.

Fast forward to today...I have a made-for-me role with a company that beat oDesk on Inc. Magazine's Top 5000 list...a growing online rep...and I live in the greatest country in the world. I'll take it!

https://sites.google.com/site/jasonkanigan/

That's one of the places our "friend" gets his "dirt" from for his squidoo lens.

The only thing I'd do differently is wear a solid color tie :rolleyes:

And I've been helping people with their resumes and job search for a long time...since 2001. When Sept 11 happened, I was coaching jobhunters by mock interviews. When I interview, I'm offered the job about half the time. It's getting those "at bats" that's the challenge to overcome.

Anyone wanting more info about my approach and free help with their job search can visit www.kanigan.ca.

Thanks, Rain!

There has been some question lately about whether cold calling works; well, it does. Like any skill, you have to stick with it and develop it. The concepts I talk about in the top post and the other one linked to at the end of that post explain an approach for how to stick it out.

First you have trouble with the gatekeepers. Then that disappears, and you have trouble talking with the decision maker. Then you become comfortable with your process. Now you can really start selling.

Being relaxed and taking all the tension out of your voice is a huge key to calling success.

If you are confident that what you offer is valuable, you can easily do this.

If you are not concerned what this individual prospect says or does, you can easily do this.

Call, be calm, know your value, qualify In or Out.

Have you stuck with it? Any results?

I think that's a terrible idea: it's like email spam. I delete anything I receive that way. It's another form of hiding from prospects and hoping some fancy Click-A-Tron system will do the work for you. It won't.

It's also NOTHING like a call--there's no conversation, no chance for feedback. Most unsolicited communication goes straight into the trash.

The list you make yourself (or guide your VA to make, or make through Mobile Renegade or something similar) will be the most useful. For maximum effectiveness, build your list of companies in one niche, eg. bakeries, accountants or web design firms--but not mix and match. Stick to one niche and call it to death.

What you'll find is that you will have the same few conversations over and over. And once you get to know the typical problems business owners in that niche have which you solve, you will be able to get their attention and get instant credibility with your 30-second commercial.

Contrast with jumping all over the place, from niche to niche, never developing any specialized knowledge.

As to when to call people, call them when they are available to hear from you. When they are in their offices. If they're in their offices at 6PM, it's OK to call them then.

If you cannot make it work locally, pick a different time zone. I have a client who is in Florida but works full time so cannot call businesses there. Instead, we started calling roofing companies in Colorado. Interesting thing...within the first dozen dials, he got the marketing manager of a larger roofing business, who explained the roofing business in Colorado over a 20 minute conversation. Free. All that knowledge...all those pain points...just because he picked up the phone. Next when he spoke with other roofers in Colorado, he could say those specific things and start the calls off right.

Thank you soo much for your video.. all i have to do for now is try and be confident .Thank you soo much