Cold Calling Advice ~ J Durham, Kanigan, Iamnameless, KenMichaels Claude

I am not one of the pros you are asking for but I can tell you I agree with your question about wasting time with to much research.

My advice is look up business on manta yellow pages google them just to name a few. Or use infofree.com and just call them if they don't have a website listed where you found there number.

Hey joe I didn't see your website listed in your listing do you not have one?

Actually we don't

Well joe I have a web design company and would love to give you a quote

I have tomorrow afternoon available to talk more in depth if you are busy now?

If I were you I would do a DirectMail campaign first and then try a follow up. I think you would decrease the initial resistance in this way. The base advice I think would be to start doing something (not research). The process will guide you.

Good Luck!

Watch this:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...beginners.html

Then watch this:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ccess-tip.html

And go use the Little Unsure technique in there...you won't have to know anybody's name before calling. I really have spelled it out for you. Have fun!

Smart post, and smart questions. Look in your local Yellow Pages first, just so you can mention that you are local. It doesn't really matter that you're local, but it's another way to justify having you do the work.

Just start making calls. Now. Any more advice will be far more valuable after you have made a few hundred calls.

And don't wait. Waiting will kill the energy you have now. Not one more WSO, not one more expert. Stop reading this post!

Start calling. A half-assed call is far more profitable than no call.

Tomorrow, hopefully some of the guys more experienced here (Kanigan, Iamnameless, Durham..you know who they are) will offer you more and better advice than I.

But, if you are serious at all, you'll make calls for at least an hour (I know it's late). Want to really prove yourself? Call California small businesses. Just do a Google search. They'll be open for a few hours yet.

I'm counting on you.

Added a little later: I very much appreciate that you put my name with the greats in the thread title. But I don't really do cold calling anymore, except to business organizations to book speaking engagements. So my input is not expertise. I'm just tickled pink that you are doing something.

1: Go to the yellow Pages

2: Pull out two straight pages of roofers

3: Two straight pages of beauty shops

4: Two straight pages of attorneys

5: Two straight Pages of Auto Body Shops

Look through the yellow pages at all the different industries. Get excited about choosing the ones you want to call.

Pick 4 or five that seem to go with your mood or personality ... Dont make it a complicated uptight thing...the more pressure you put on this, the more pressureful it will be... just pick some industries you think you would like to call. This should take 10 minutes or so.

After having chosen a few industries and torn out ten pages, each page should have 100 or so listings front to back , and you have two pages each of about 5 different industries. Now its time to have fun...

You should have a phone in your hand, a remote control at your side, a small basic outline of a pitch in front of you, an envelope or ruler, a pen, a highlighter, a piece of scrap paper , and your list, all situated around you.

Doesnt even matter if you have it all spread out on a bed and you are calling from your bedroom.

A: Start calling, but dont expect anything your first 150 calls, just get warmed up to the idea, and only expect to have a nice time saying "hi" to some people. You would be amazed at how well that can go...

B: Try 25 listings in this industry, 25 listings in that industry

C: If you like the direction then keep going in one, but if you think you are kicking a dead horse, then switch to another... You have 5 industries in front of you. Call each of them just as long as it feels good to you...if not swap to a different industry.

D: Be easy going, make THAT your research.

You should get something within a couple of hundred calls, and within a week you should be getting a couple or more within a hundred calls.

Now, Huskerdarren...

I SWEAR TO GOD, thats exactly what I have done and what I would DO to make thousands of dollars within a few days...

If I were in your shoes, I wouldnt buy a special list, I wouldnt buy a dialer.

I would tear 10 pages out of a phone book. Two pages per industry.

I would get out a ruler, or envelope, to help me guide myself down the page and cross out not interested....or call backs...

I would write out a basic paragraph outline of whatever basic script I wanted to use and have it sitting within eyesight...

I would turn Bobby Flay on the TV low in the back ground to keep me from feeling weird and alone while I dialed...and I would casually watch the cooking channel while I dial and swap back and forth between industries till something started feeling good.

I would watch Bobby Flay while dialing, Learn how to make avocado salad, and write 3 or 4 appointments within a couple of hours.

I have done this, and you can too. Its a real experience, it really happened, more than once... and I could really duplicate it on any given day...and more importantly "You can too!"

Hope this helps!

Ps. At the end of the session, tear out Tomorrow's ten pages.

It is easier for some to sell website upgrades then it is to sell websites to established
business that don't have a website.

and if 500 is your price point, and word press is your flavor. I would skip over
trying to sell them a upgrade, because in a lot of cases, word press isn't going to cut it.

Maybe a mobile website?
Email system for existing customers?
ect , you get the idea.

as far as research ahead of time.

That is nothing more then a personal preference, that you will have to
decide on, after you start making calls.

Some people can just call, and wing it.
Others lock up if they don't know everything ahead of time.

You wont know which you are, until you start dialing.

FYI ... sometimes research is just a crutch in disguise.