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90 Day Cold Calling Challenge

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

jpanarra

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Loving the Hustle in this,

Forgive me If you've already mentioned this, I couldn't find anything other than you cold calling. I'm wondering if you've sent emails ahead of time, I've noticed that people tend to warm up more and are likely to give you a few minutes because they recognize you from an email you sent earlier.

I sell websites via email/cold-call as well. I've started this route in Jan 2017 and have gotten my share of sales.

20 dials per day tells me you're hustling big. However, you're on your 25th day, which means you're at 500 dials and you don't have a sale just yet tells me that you're lacking in some spaces. What I've noticed that helped me the most is taking your time with the prospecting search and qualifying those prospects prior to dialing and knowing who to contact. At worst your rate should be 1/100, so you should be around 5 sales at this point..

Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help
 
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ManlyMansNegator

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Day 26 Summary

Dials: 24
Reached: 9 (37.50%)
Leads: 1 (14.29%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

Okay, so I really want to start recording my calls since a lot of people suggested it. I couldn't find a call recording software for the particular app I am using to call people, so I decided to just call myself with the computer. I can't hear the other person but I think it might be even better as I can focus 100% on what I say in isolation.

I edited out a couple bits of my opening pitch so please take a look and share honestly what you think. Please be as honest as possible!

This week I am calling carpenters. What I plan to do today is make a short video (slideshow) of explaining why a website might be useful to you. This is because I feel that a lot of people don't really trust me enough just from phone conversations to pull the trigger and buy, so if they could see me on a video at least, I think it would help in the sales process.

Crazy GG
Not an expert but i feel as if you seem to almost "ramble" on the pitch.

The incessant uses of "yeahs" would make me cautious due to lack of professionalism. Speak with a level voice without too many "buzz words"(yea , you know etc). Words like umm, yea etc change a person mindset from being enchanted by your pitch to being bored. If you don't believe me, watch the Martin Luther speech with a yeah or an umm after every 10 seconds.

I am no marketing expert nor have I read much on sales, however, i have been told i am persuasive. Initially, after introducing yourself, you mustn't focus on yourself, you do not matter until you both meet or its an "About page" on your website. The only time you speak of yourself in depth is if the person is interested or you are using it acutely as a MARKETING SPIN. This might be arguably dependant on a scale but either way the introduction "...A young entrepreneur.... a shot in the dark .... i wasn't really sure... have you thought about getting one" is all about your shortcomings. Not everyone cares where you found them, nor about how many shots in the dark you have taken etc and DEFINITELY no one cares about your shortcomings everyone wants the sweet lie. Furthermore, would you trust your website with a failure?

Once again I am no expert so feel free to criticise me as well but this is how you could go about it.

"Hello. <name>, this is GG incorporated specializing in custom website design for small businesses. We recently found out that your website design doesn't seem to be up to date, is there a reason for that"

See how I end off with a question? he must answer and it leads to open-ended conversations.Do not ramble from there, just meet him/her with utter silence.

possible response:

"blah blah blah ... we have had no need for a website as we are catered in the area"

"That is understandably so. however, it seems many of your competitors have been using advanced website design to feign better prospects. They do less work for better pay, is that not a better outcome?"

Never attack the ego, to insult the ego of a small businessman is detrimental (personal experience).In fact, you should always support his ego in your own way. A slight supportive remark should suffice , once you do that create an us vs them atmosphere. Always push to competitor measuring, think of it as a keeping up with Joneses like. In the second part, you expose the tricks those tricky Joneses are using against your business. You show how they are inferior to a hard working gentleman such as him yet alas its an unjust world. The latter reaffirmed in "They do less work for better pay" finally finish off with an open ending question which they will definitely answer.

Unfortunately, this is how much information I can really confidently give, the rest is simply adaptive.Pushing for your credibility should come next and then a quick close.


A general method you can try to either support my claim or refute it is:

Extremely straightforward and brief intro ending with a lead question.

Support ego fuelled remarks in a positive light.

Create us vs them the system and/or create a world where people without your product are "less"(COVERTLY OFC)


Build short credibility


Close(i always fail here)

tips:

stop destroying your credibility, no ramblings, no ums or oohs, you are a story teller.
 

todonelist

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I edited out a couple bits of my opening pitch so please take a look and share honestly what you think. Please be as honest as possible!

Slow down a bit. You're zooming through your script and it seems to make you stumble a lot. The occasional "um" can create a natural feeling to the conversation but you're definitely saying it way too much. It makes the person on the other line feel as though you are not confident in your ability.

Have confidence in yourself and adopt a mindset that you truly have something that will help their business grow and it should started being heard through your confident tonality.

Lastly, always remember that business owners get contacted ALL the time by people selling them shit. Most of them are all talk and can't actually provide the company with any real value so it shows in their tonality and in the choice of words in their script. All business owners care about is: "Can this guy get me results or not?".

Also really good advice from @ManlyMansNegator
 

Crazy GG

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Loving the Hustle in this,

Forgive me If you've already mentioned this, I couldn't find anything other than you cold calling. I'm wondering if you've sent emails ahead of time, I've noticed that people tend to warm up more and are likely to give you a few minutes because they recognize you from an email you sent earlier.

I sell websites via email/cold-call as well. I've started this route in Jan 2017 and have gotten my share of sales.

20 dials per day tells me you're hustling big. However, you're on your 25th day, which means you're at 500 dials and you don't have a sale just yet tells me that you're lacking in some spaces. What I've noticed that helped me the most is taking your time with the prospecting search and qualifying those prospects prior to dialing and knowing who to contact. At worst your rate should be 1/100, so you should be around 5 sales at this point..

Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help
Yes, better lists and qualifying is something I need to be looking into...

Could you please share
Not an expert but i feel as if you seem to almost "ramble" on the pitch.

The incessant uses of "yeahs" would make me cautious due to lack of professionalism. Speak with a level voice without too many "buzz words"(yea , you know etc). Words like umm, yea etc change a person mindset from being enchanted by your pitch to being bored. If you don't believe me, watch the Martin Luther speech with a yeah or an umm after every 10 seconds.

I am no marketing expert nor have I read much on sales, however, i have been told i am persuasive. Initially, after introducing yourself, you mustn't focus on yourself, you do not matter until you both meet or its an "About page" on your website. The only time you speak of yourself in depth is if the person is interested or you are using it acutely as a MARKETING SPIN. This might be arguably dependant on a scale but either way the introduction "...A young entrepreneur.... a shot in the dark .... i wasn't really sure... have you thought about getting one" is all about your shortcomings. Not everyone cares where you found them, nor about how many shots in the dark you have taken etc and DEFINITELY no one cares about your shortcomings everyone wants the sweet lie. Furthermore, would you trust your website with a failure?

Once again I am no expert so feel free to criticise me as well but this is how you could go about it.

"Hello. <name>, this is GG incorporated specializing in custom website design for small businesses. We recently found out that your website design doesn't seem to be up to date, is there a reason for that"

See how I end off with a question? he must answer and it leads to open-ended conversations.Do not ramble from there, just meet him/her with utter silence.

possible response:

"blah blah blah ... we have had no need for a website as we are catered in the area"

"That is understandably so. however, it seems many of your competitors have been using advanced website design to feign better prospects. They do less work for better pay, is that not a better outcome?"

Never attack the ego, to insult the ego of a small businessman is detrimental (personal experience).In fact, you should always support his ego in your own way. A slight supportive remark should suffice , once you do that create an us vs them atmosphere. Always push to competitor measuring, think of it as a keeping up with Joneses like. In the second part, you expose the tricks those tricky Joneses are using against your business. You show how they are inferior to a hard working gentleman such as him yet alas its an unjust world. The latter reaffirmed in "They do less work for better pay" finally finish off with an open ending question which they will definitely answer.

Unfortunately, this is how much information I can really confidently give, the rest is simply adaptive.Pushing for your credibility should come next and then a quick close.


A general method you can try to either support my claim or refute it is:

Extremely straightforward and brief intro ending with a lead question.

Support ego fuelled remarks in a positive light.

Create us vs them the system and/or create a world where people without your product are "less"(COVERTLY OFC)


Build short credibility


Close(i always fail here)

tips:

stop destroying your credibility, no ramblings, no ums or oohs, you are a story teller.
Wow, tons of valuable advise here!

I know I shouldn't talk about myself too much, it's just that I try to share a bit of background to develop trust. I am not sure if it's correct, though, because as you mentioned they are only interested in themselves.

I love your advice about story-telling. I have definitely thought about ways I can make my script in a way that it grabs more attention and talks about them. At the same time I have fear of sounding too salesy and I think that's why I use all of the phrases ('shot in the dark') to sound more 'normal'

I will look to try out your stuff, however. Thanks a bunch!
 
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Crazy GG

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Slow down a bit. You're zooming through your script and it seems to make you stumble a lot. The occasional "um" can create a natural feeling to the conversation but you're definitely saying it way too much. It makes the person on the other line feel as though you are not confident in your ability.

Have confidence in yourself and adopt a mindset that you truly have something that will help their business grow and it should started being heard through your confident tonality.

Lastly, always remember that business owners get contacted ALL the time by people selling them sh*t. Most of them are all talk and can't actually provide the company with any real value so it shows in their tonality and in the choice of words in their script. All business owners care about is: "Can this guy get me results or not?".

Also really good advice from @ManlyMansNegator
Yes, tomorrow my number one goal will be to reduce stumbling! :happy:
 

Crazy GG

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Day 27 Summary

Dials: 22
Reached: 8 (36.36%)
Leads: 1 (12.50%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

From yesterday's feedback, my biggest goal today was to stop the "Uhms" and I paid a lot of attention to that. When I listened to my recording, it seemed like I did improve but I know I need to pay a lot more attention to that in the next following days so it becomes a habit.

I also noted that whenever a person says a "No" in one form or another, I lot of times I jump to prove my point instead of agreeing with them, validating their point and only then sharing my opinion. This is the second thing I need to work on.

I will share another recording in a couple of days so you guys can hear the actual progress. I feel like doing it every day might be too much, and maybe you would be able to note an actual difference if there are a couple of days in between.

Crazy GG
 

Crazy GG

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Day 28 Summary

Dials: 20
Reached: 8 (40%)
Leads: 4 (50%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

Okay, so today was definitely an eventful day.

Because I had a trial shift today at my work, I wanted to make the calls before so I started calling at 8AM. I managed to dial 13 numbers before I had to go and I already had 2 leads which was sick!

After I got back from work and ate, I was so, so tired but I had 7 more dials to make and I got 2 more leads.

I recorded the two last calls where I got the leads and uploaded on soundcloud again - could you guys take a look at them and share where am I missing?

The previous feedback definitely helped - I try to use less 'uhms' (obviously still have those) and I try to agree more with the person and build rapport.

Here is my opinion where I could improve:

  1. I talk too much about myself (I am a young entrepreneur etc.) and I say that I can build a really nice site for not much money
    • Some people mentioned that you shouldn't take much about yourself as people are only interested in themselves which is very true, but I still find doing it since I think it builds a bit of trust. (he is an entrepreneur like myself instead of huge website company). With money thing the same.
    • Do you guys think I should leave it or switch it up?
  2. I don't push for the sale - I push for the email
    • When they sound interested, I usually say "I obviously don't expect you to make a decision right now - just take a look at it". The reason is that I feel like when they actually see what I have done, it will be a lot easier to sell them on it. The downside of it is that I am avoiding going for the sale and that I keep chasing them afterwards. I want to push for the sale but I think it's very unlikely they will go ahead without first seeing my work.
Looking forward to your feedback,

Crazy GG

P.S. Today's work was so f'in hard! It's 6 hours of approaching strangers in the mall to sell them photo-shoots. I thought that in cold calls they reject you without considering you - when you work in a stand people automatically ignore you. Even when I just said "hello", they would respond "not interested!" It's hard but I think there's a lot to learn and I can make a bit of money on the side so hopefully they will give me more shifts
 
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Crazy GG

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Day 29 Summary

Dials: 20
Reached: 10 (50%)
Leads: 2 (20%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

Another session done!

Ever since I started recording my calls, I can actually note the difference on how I speak and how I change depending if I am having a bad/good day or I am calling in the morning/evening. Even though I am only recording my side of conversation, it still helps massively, so no complicated software is needed to record!

I started using @ManlyMansNegator script part of "You're absolutely right, you might not need it. However, it seems many of other carpenters have been using their websites to increase their company image and attract better-paying clients. They seem to be doing less work for better pay, is that not a better outcome?". I used it twice and even though I felt like I would be offending the people, they actually did not take offense and it wasn't that bad. So I will continue trying it out.

One of the leads I got today apparently doesn't do carpentry but has a property management company. He talked a lot and mentioned he's flipping houses for millions of pounds (even though profit isn't high, the numbers themselves are quite impressive for me), so he would be a great case study if I can get him.

At this stage I feel like I can get leads but where I am missing is a proper sales process. I keep chasing the leads - lot of times they tell me to call back and a lot of times they don't pick up.

Is it because I don't do a well enough job on an initial call of developing a need? Or is it because I don't push hard enough for a specific appointment time when I manage to talk to them? I don't know but something is wrong with my sales process.

But even though I am not getting any tangible results (i.e. sales), I feel like I am improving on my calling ability, so I know my work will pay off in one form or another in future.

Crazy GG
 

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Madame Peccato

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I check this thread every day, and every day I'm here hoping you finally get your sale. I admire you sir, and I learned a couple things about cold calls too.

Have some rep, you earned it, keep it up.
 

todonelist

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Love the improvements in your confidence and tonality! Your results should start improving soon if you keep it up! Keep being nice but direct. Dan Lok has lots of great videos on being straight to the point and not letting prospects bullshit you.
 

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Day 30 Summary - Halfway Through The Challenge

Dials: 20
Reached: 8 (40%)
Leads: 1 (12.5%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

First of all, I have come to halfway of the cold calling challenge. It's a bit confusing because the 90 days was meant to be the total time period (90 days = 3 months) and I am calling only on work days so there are 60 actual calling days. It's not that important but I am just explaining just in case anyone is confused.

And thank you so much to everyone who has been following and giving their advice - I really appreciate it.

About the calls

Today nothing much happened. I only had 1 interesting conversation but the guy doesn't seem to be a good lead as he didn't even want to give me his email and told me to text my details. But that's sales in a nutshell - some days just won't give you much.

However, I listened to my recordings and I am stumbling a lot less, so that's a win!

One thing I noted for myself is to stop focusing on what I am saying but rather actually try to listen to the other person. Apparently that redirects your attention and it's actually easier to find what to say (I learned this in an improv class).

Today I have a lot of follow ups to do. I haven't had much success with follow ups so far (they either don't pick up or tell they haven't looked at it yet), so now when they say that, I am trying to get a specific time from them to call back and send them a calendar invite. When they don't respond to a calendar invite, I will call them 2 days before and ask to accept it.

Crazy GG
 

Crazy GG

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BIG UPDATE

Looks like I made my first sale from cold calling. :innocent: :halo::playful:

Details:

So yesterday I called a carpentry company. The guy told me that he doesn't do carpentry anymore and he has switched to property management and joint ventures (basically buying a house, renovating it and selling it).

We started chatting and he said he has a site but he hasn't done anything with it for a year because a guy from Fiver had messed it up.

I told him my usual spiel about looking for testimonial work and he seemed quite interested and told me to send over the details.

He got back to me the same day by email (usually doesn't happen to me) and I called him back.

I told him what I could do for him and he seemed happy. When it got to the price, I quoted 650 pounds as he would be my first UK website client. He said he was thinking less - 500 pounds - and I agreed instantly as I felt money wasn't the most important thing at this point but the testimonial.

However, I told him I wanted something upfront so I can see he was committed. He said he wasn't comfortable paying me money as I was a random dude on the phone who he met just that day PLUS he had been burned many times before by other developers.

He offered to put money in escrow but I didn't know if you could do it without upwork and quite frankly I wanted him to send money straight to me not an escrow.

So I told him that I understand that trust might be an issue, and said "Listen, I understand where you're coming from but at the same time I don't want to take all the risk by doing the work for free and then you just bounce off - I need some commitment. So transfer me something as a sign of commitment, even 20 pounds will do."

Obviously I was quite desperate (I mean 20 pounds is nothing) but I still thought that if he sends something over, he means business.

And he did. Right now!

So right now I need to do a good job and get that testimonial. Apparently the dude has a Facebook group of over 24K members and I was thinking that if I do a good job he might give me a shout out.

So that's that! Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far - your support means a lot.

P.S. How would you guys handle this situation (now wanting to send over money because he doesn't know me + has been burned before)?
 

Longinus

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You have a paid client in 30 days, but that's nothing in compared with what you learned in that short period of time. THAT's the big win actually

Congrats!

P.S. How would you guys handle this situation (now wanting to send over money because he doesn't know me + has been burned before)?

I only have met my clients in real life and they never made a problem of a down payment. Except one, he was ok to do a down payment but no 50%. (Proposed 25% and still waiting for his agreement.)
 

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First of all! Congrats Man!!!

Well deserved and keep it going! It's just a start.

This week I am calling carpenters.

People are saying here. You aren't making it easier for yourself calling these type of businesses. What's your goal with calling sole traders such as plumbers / carpenters? They are usually 'not the best'. Would you tell us here? Thanks @Crazy GG


Day 30 Summary - Halfway Through The Challenge

I was to pick on it, when you explained below. I hope you won't stop after this.

This thread has so much value now. You have started using different techniques, tools etc etc... This is brilliant.

Listen, I understand where you're coming from but at the same time I don't want to take all the risk by doing the work for free and then you just bounce off - I need some commitment. So transfer me something as a sign of commitment, even 20 pounds will do."

My take here:

You shouldn't use (no one should) this structure "I understand ...., but ....". You either understand, without any "buts". Another thing is. Do you really understand his situation (have you been in his shoes)? It's better to say "this is interesting" or something else neutral / positive.

"Sorry to hear you haven't got the results before "... and then saying that "let me see what we could do so we are both happy, as you said you don't know me, I also don't want to take 100% risk...". You can google a solution (it exists 100%) and solve it, let him know later. You will have it for another time, when it happens (if).

Btw I say 'I understand' way too much. And I hear "I know ...., but..." or "I am sorry..., but.." way too many times a day in my personal life. I always break the sentence after hearing 'but' and ask "ok so you know /you are sorry or you don't know / you aren't sorry ? There are no buts'... You can only do it in an informal conversation btw....
 

Crazy GG

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First of all! Congrats Man!!!
People are saying here. You aren't making it easier for yourself calling these type of businesses. What's your goal with calling sole traders such as plumbers / carpenters? They are usually 'not the best'. Would you tell us here? Thanks @Crazy GG

I completely agree - it's just that I find it easier not having to deal with gatekeepers and chasing the decision-maker all the time. In the past I called beauty salons and 90% of time I wouldn't catch the owner. I know that calling a small business I wont be able to get a big number but I figured I could at least get a small sale and that's still better than just chasing the decision maker.

What kind of companies do you think I should go for and how do you think I could deal with not having to chase the DM?

First of all! Congrats Man!!!
You shouldn't use (no one should) this structure "I understand ...., but ....". You either understand, without any "buts". Another thing is. Do you really understand his situation (have you been in his shoes)? It's better to say "this is interesting" or something else neutral / positive.

"Sorry to hear you haven't got the results before "... and then saying that "let me see what we could do so we are both happy, as you said you don't know me, I also don't want to take 100% risk...". You can google a solution (it exists 100%) and solve it, let him know later. You will have it for another time, when it happens (if).

Btw I say 'I understand' way too much. And I hear "I know ...., but..." or "I am sorry..., but.." way too many times a day in my personal life. I always break the sentence after hearing 'but' and ask "ok so you know /you are sorry or you don't know / you aren't sorry ? There are no buts'... You can only do it in an informal conversation btw....

This is priceless - thanks for pointing it out. I will need to practice this
 

Crazy GG

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Day 31 Summary

Dials: 20
Reached: 5 (25%)
Leads: 2 (40%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

I recently red Jeb Blount's Fanatical Prospecting and he mentioned that prospecting should be part of your daily routine no matter what.

Usually right now when I finally got a client I would spend all my time with that project but that means when i would finish the project, I wouldn't have anything to work with. This is why the 90 day challenge helps because I have to keep calling no matter what.

Today I didn't reach many people but I got 2 medium leads which means that I have gotten quite okay with getting them at least mildly interested.

I still need to work on getting them really, really interested so they would actually buy today or the next day but one step at the time!

Crazy GG
 

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I completely agree - it's just that I find it easier not having to deal with gatekeepers and chasing the decision-maker all the time. In the past I called beauty salons and 90% of time I wouldn't catch the owner. I know that calling a small business I wont be able to get a big number but I figured I could at least get a small sale and that's still better than just chasing the decision maker.

What kind of companies do you think I should go for and how do you think I could deal with not having to chase the DM?

Your approach is correct. I just wanted to know more about your plans and background.

You are doing it quite right. For high ticket items you will need to chase them though. For 500 GBP websites should be easier, but you still might have to chase them.

And (I come from Poland) life in Eastern Europe is unpleasant enough. Why make it more difficult ;)

It's definitely easier to get a decision maker on the phone, have a decent chat, in a small business. Yet, when you want to advance, and I hope you will advance (not only 'want'), you will start chasing bigger companies with gatekeepers or people that don't answer phones that easily...

I am looking at these guys here - most of them have a website, most of them could do better (might not want to, need to...). It's our job to find these who want. But as you said, it will take more calls, follow ups, chasing etc etc etc... Hence, I would assume at least a month or two, from the initial touch to the sale...

https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchA...&keywords=engineering&location=United Kingdom
 
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Hi @Crazy GG.

I've just read the gold thread that i think you could benefit from:
GOLD! - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

The tip that struck me most (from your business perspective) is that @Sean Marshall instead of calling clients directly, did this:
One thing I've found really helpful is to approach the presidents of industry associations. Example: let's say you want to focus on contractors. Then based on where you live (or where you want to focus your efforts), you can reach out to a president there. Let's say you're in Southern California for example. I'm sure (without looking it up) that there's some kind of So Cal Association for Contractors. Those associations all need to provide value for their members. You can offer to host a webinar, or do a free website analysis, or give a series of videos, or whatever to those members. All with the intent of helping that president help his/her members grow their businesses. You're there to help them get their phone ringing more.

This post is here, on page 3:GOLD! - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days
 

Sean Marshall

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Hi @Crazy GG.

I've just read the gold thread that i think you could benefit from:
GOLD! - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

The tip that struck me most (from your business perspective) is that @Sean Marshall instead of calling clients directly, did this:

It's kind of like the 'ol fishing with a net thing. By approaching one person that has access to many people, I saved time. Plus, I came in with a recommendation. Win the top person over and they'll sing your praises to their people.
 

Crazy GG

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It's kind of like the 'ol fishing with a net thing. By approaching one person that has access to many people, I saved time. Plus, I came in with a recommendation. Win the top person over and they'll sing your praises to their people.
Right now I am building a site for someone who has a Facebook group of over 24K members and he seems like a pretty big authority. But yes, I am definitely aware cold calling is not the most effective way of getting big clients, so when I finish this project I will be looking to switch up my methods.
 
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Crazy GG

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Day 32 Summary

Dials: 20
Reached: 7 (35%)
Leads: 2 (28%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

Two more leads in the pipeline.

I think that in my initial calls I need to do more than just briefly talk to them and get their email - I need to get their interest way up.

Otherwise on the follow ups I cannot reach them and it's where I lose pretty much all my leads.

So after getting their email I think I should ask 1-2 questions about their business and what's most important for them.

Crazy GG
 

MakeItHappen

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Otherwise on the follow ups I cannot reach them and it's where I lose pretty much all my leads.
Do you shedule the follow ups?

So after getting their email I think I should ask 1-2 questions about their business and what's most important for them.
You have to make sure that them giving you there emails isn't a way of getting rid of you!
"Sent me more information per email" can be a way of ending the phone call for them same with a unsheduled follow up.

Before you sent them an email or shedule a follow up make sure the prospect really is aware of the PAIN which you can solve for him.

If he is just "interested" in maybe having a new, better looking website your chances of you closing him are slim imo.

However if he is interested because he told you his pain points and what it would mean to keep losing x$ every month because of his shitty website while the competition is geting "his" customers instead you can be sure that your odds of closing him have increased 100x.


Great thread and keep going. If you keep taking action and keep improving your skill set cold calling can be worth it.
 

Crazy GG

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Do you shedule the follow ups?


You have to make sure that them giving you there emails isn't a way of getting rid of you!
"Sent me more information per email" can be a way of ending the phone call for them same with a unsheduled follow up.

Before you sent them an email or shedule a follow up make sure the prospect really is aware of the PAIN which you can solve for him.

If he is just "interested" in maybe having a new, better looking website your chances of you closing him are slim imo.

However if he is interested because he told you his pain points and what it would mean to keep losing x$ every month because of his sh*tty website while the competition is geting "his" customers instead you can be sure that your odds of closing him have increased 100x.


Great thread and keep going. If you keep taking action and keep improving your skill set cold calling can be worth it.
I try to schedule the calls with them but they always say they are working all day and they don't know when they will be free. I know that it's mostly BS and I just haven't gotten their interest.

Actually it's me who suggests that I will send them an email because I want them to see some of my sites so they can actually visualize what I can do for them. But I think I should keep going after getting their email and then actually hit the pain points as you say.

Also, I really need to switch up the way I follow up with them. When I call them back, I usually say "Hey, this is Crazy GG, what did you think of my case studies?" . Even if they have looked at them (I can see they have opened my email), they say they haven't and just tell me to call back another time. I know that the real problem is my initial call and not hitting their pain points but to be quite frank the way I follow up with them is super weak and I need to think of a better opening question and something to respond to their "call me back another time."
 
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lowtek

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Missed it on Friday, but congrats on the first sale. I think they'll come easier now, since you're over that hump. It can be demoralizing to keep dialing and getting shut out, but once the money rolls in it's a little easier to believe in the power of the cold call.
 

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Day 33 Summary

Dials: 20
Reached: 5 (25%)
Leads: 1 (20%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

The reach rate wasn't great today, and a lot of companies have been bust apparently but I guess that's what you get for calling of the Yellow pages.

So as many people have already mentioned, I need to build up the pain point with my customers. So with today's lead, after I have built a bit of rapport and gotten his email, I asked him how much he is charging for his services and if he wanted to charge more. I mentioned that website is pretty much all of the image you have online and that companies with better image obviously can afford to charge more.

I think he wasn't fully sold but he agreed the image is important, so let's see how the follow up goes.

By the way, I will be asking the same question on the follow ups when people try to brush me off to build the pain points and urgency. Hopefully it will have some positive impact.

Crazy GG
 

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