27 minutes or less: How to cold call prospects while dealing with a dayjob?

[Siddhartha]

Howdy all,

Lately I've been re-engineering myself to create value, and right now in my journey, I have an interesting problem in uncharted waters.
I'm working to develop a real web-design business from the ground up. To do this, I'm working on filling my pipeline via prospecting and winning real projects in the small bits of time I can carve out during my work week by leveraging my lunch break.

I've been working on putting myself out there with pro-active outreach via phone during said lunch break, but I'm finding one thing may be holding me back:

I only have 27 minutes or less every day to make cold calls.

You read that right. Because of my job's schedule, I only have a half-hour to make calls to prospects within business hours and win their attention (if they're not at lunch themselves, lmao).
So far, the best I've done is 4 calls in one lunch period, which is good in it's own right, but I still feel that there have to be better ways to bootstrap and really get the engines going, since other TFF members have managed it before.

Has anyone else here been in this place? Facing these same limitations while being trapped in a dayjob?

I'll admit, I don't have any type of e-mail prospecting at the moment, but only because I've been led to believe it's worthless and ends up in the spam box (based on readings of Fanatical Prospecting by James Blount and New Sales Simplified by Mike Weinberg.).
I would LOVE to be able to use my weekend time to pro-actively reach out and offer to help these prospects, but a weekend is a weekend and I'm not sure how they'd take it. Research hasn't turned up much, since most online sales resources tend to either be targeted/guru courses, or aimed at people working sales as a dayjob, NOT bootstrappers like me.

Big shoutout to @Fox for paving the way with his excellent videos, especially the ones on finding first clients and SPIN selling; and then @GuitarManDan for taking the leap, making it, and documenting his journey on the way to leave breadcrumbs for the rest of us.

 

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[peterb0yd]

I'm in a similar boat. I've got a few options for ya. It's not easy, I'm still working on the process myself.

- Hire someone to do cold calls for you. Train them to close deals.

- Build an online sales funnel with a calendar booking widget and send out cold emails / LinkedIn messages that direct leads to your funnel

- Combine both! Build the sales funnel and have the booking widget create meetings with your sales rep instead of you to close the deals and get the project reqs.

 

[peterb0yd]

Another option is to target clients that are located on the opposite coast and schedule your day to make calls during their morning/afternoon. I haven't done this but it makes logical sense.

 

[Siddhartha]

Another option is to target clients that are located on the opposite coast and schedule your day to make calls during their morning/afternoon. I haven't done this but it makes logical sense.

Playing timezones does seem like a great opportunity most wouldn't pay heed to. How do you think pushing for the capture would work out if you wouldn't be on site to do the sales meeting in person though?

 

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[peterb0yd]

Playing timezones does seem like a great opportunity most wouldn't pay heed to. How do you think pushing for the capture would work out if you wouldn't be on site to do the sales meeting in person though?

Man, if you're expecting to be on-site for each client meeting, you're going to have a hell of a time. Web design isn't a $100k business anymore, unless you're working with enterprise clients.

Book a call with you -> verbally close the deal over Zoom/Hangouts/Skype -> send proposal immediately -> send invoice -> start work

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Who are you selling to?

Blue collar industries, the decision maker is in from 7am to 9am typically, and then heads out. So perfect to pitch them.

Just start calling before work. See what happens.

Otherwise, just call during lunch. Work with what you have. No real way to change that unless you quit your job or hire someone else (which you probably can't since you can't afford to quit your job).

 

[CoderSales]

Tough situation. Here's what I would (and have done) do: send cold emails on Sat & Sun. Keep the emails to 3 lines! Nobody reads email pitches/presentations that are 4 paragraphs long. Just short and sweet, 'here's what I can do for you' format, provide them value. In the event you get a response, schedule the call during your lunch break. Also, DM's are typically the last to leave the office which means what you can do is wait for the secretary to leave then call the CEO's direct dial. It's going to take some homework to gather everything BUT a huge way to maximize the little time that you have. So depending on what timezone you're in, just call after 5:30 to the DM when you get home from work. Remember, a lead isn't a lead until you have 3 things: a company name, the DM's (always target the CEO and never talk to muppets) direct dial and a compelling reason why they would pay you for web services. NOT just something like "yeah, I do web design and your website looks like a huge turd" something that emotionally will get them to make a decision. It's a big task but if you want to maximize the 30 minutes you have during your work day, that's what I would recommend. Happy hunting!

 

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[Siddhartha]

Also, DM's are typically the last to leave the office which means what you can do is wait for the secretary to leave then call the CEO's direct dial. It's going to take some homework to gather everything BUT a huge way to maximize the little time that you have. So depending on what timezone you're in, just call after 5:30 to the DM when you get home from work. Remember, a lead isn't a lead until you have 3 things: a company name, the DM's (always target the CEO and never talk to muppets) direct dial and a compelling reason why they would pay you for web services.

That right there is gold. Even in my own limited experience, most if not all higher positions stayed after work hours. This may yet be a powerful ingredient in the successful prospecting formula.

Your point with the e-mail's is also really good, IIRC, fox too recommends to just send a short 2-3 sentence e-mail stating you want to help, and that you'll call (this can also serve to warm up a lead a bit).

I'm going to implement a system to try to give at least one touch to a prospect per day, but preferably two, with one touch after hours in that 4:30-5:30 window, and see what happens.

 

[CoderSales]

That right there is gold. Even in my own limited experience, most if not all higher positions stayed after work hours. This may yet be a powerful ingredient in the successful prospecting formula.

Your point with the e-mail's is also really good, IIRC, fox too recommends to just send a short 2-3 sentence e-mail stating you want to help, and that you'll call (this can also serve to warm up a lead a bit).

I'm going to implement a system to try to give at least one touch to a prospect per day, but preferably two, with one touch after hours in that 4:30-5:30 window, and see what happens.

Generally the CEO is an alpha type headstrong who works late. Another good reason to go to the top is because when the CEO wants something done, it'll get done. Something like... investing in a new website because it can result in XYZ; which is where you step in to bridge the gap to XYZ. If your angle is spot on then your pitch doesn't even have to be that good... as long as you're talking to the CEO. If they like it, they'll basically close themselves on the idea. Sell with emotion and close with logic, right? It's so much easier when you go straight to the top. Happy hunting!

 

[Choate]

Business hours where? Hawaii is 2 hours behind California. Australia is 3 hours behind Hawaii. And Singapore is 3 hours behind Australia.

On the other side of things, most of Europe is 5-6 hours ahead of New York.

$14/mo for 2,000 minutes on Skype to call 63 different countries.

Every country in the world has a business out there that needs a website. And hey, the weekend is a great time for sales (Saturday, at least). You just need to get someone on the other end of the phone, which might require a little more due diligence.

 

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