There are many misconceptions surrounding cold calling, from the effectiveness to the best techniques and more. You don’t want to overlook this method of marketing your services because of a myth that was started by somebody you don’t even know.
It Never Works
Let me be the first one to tell you that this is a lie. Simply put, cold calling can help you drum up new business. Are you going to make a sale every time you pick up the phone? Of course not. That being said, you are definitely putting yourself in position to land new clients.
Over the years, I have found some of my best clients through cold calling.
Everybody will be Rude to me
There is no denying that some people will hang up on you. Worse yet, some people will cuss you out and then hang up. But guess what? These people are in the minority. Even when I am told no thanks, most people are friendly and courteous in doing so.
Note: don’t let a few rude people stop you from cold calling in the future. If you get screamed at or hung up on, simply move to the next call.
It Takes a lot of Time
The only phone calls that take a lot of time are the ones that could lead to a project. Otherwise, you are probably on the phone for no more than a minute at the most. People who don’t have any use for you will not keep you on the phone for the fun of it.
By avoiding these misconceptions, you may find yourself falling in love with cold calling!
So true. Cold calling doesn’t have to be scary. But I do think it takes confidence. If you’re not confident, it will come through as you speak to someone.
My tip is for freelancer is to begin with ‘cold emailing’ before cold calling. This way it will give them a chance to build up their confidence to reach out to business owners. If they don’t hear anything, they can always pick up the phone and call. Once they get over their fear of speaking on the phone, they can implement cold calling as part of their marketing strategy.
Good stuff, Chris,
A few of my own observations…
Yes, cold calling definitely works, and in my experience in the commercial field, assuming you’re calling the right kinds of people, 80% of those you call won’t be interested. 4 of 5. Those numbers seem to be borne out by many others as well. But if you know that going in, it’s no big deal.
Doesn’t mean that 20% will hire you on the spot. Just means that, in my (and many others’) experience, 1 in 5 will have an ongoing or occasional need for what we offer. And then we nurture those contacts through direct mail, email, further calls, relevant articles sent to them now and then, new samples of relevant work, etc.
As for being being rude, I can honestly say that in the course of many thousands of calls I’ve made, while I’ve had a few people be short with me (heck, they’re busy, and you no doubt interrupted whatever they were doing when you called), but I can count on the fingers of one hand, minus a few, the number who were outright rude. Hang ups? None. Ever.
Biggest tip I can offer for cold calling: focus on action, not results. Focus on making the calls (20, 30, 50 a day), NOT how those calls turn out. The first you have total control over, the second far less. Control what you can control, forget the rest, and let the Law of Averages take over and work in your favor. Meaning, make enough calls, and regardless of how they turn out (i.e., voice mail, not interested, nice conversation, appt, you name it), and you’ll eventually land the business.
PB