Cold Calling for Web Design - My Current Process and Questions

[PRT]

EDIT: I've just had a mindset shift after speaking with Andy Black and some others, please read the edit below. Thanks!

Hello all! I'm currently pursuing Web Design. I've taken a bit of action, but now I'm quite confused as to what I should adjust and I have a lot of questions. I've detailed what I'm doing right now along with my questions.

------------------------What I'm Doing Right Now------------------------

I know that I have the skills to build a website and add value to businesses and I want to leverage this. Right now, I'm trying to reach out to local landscaping businesses (landscaping because it's blue collar, service-based, and they serve high-value customers) and do one website for free, so then I have the social proof and experience to help other landscaping businesses. I've already made one website for a friend who's doing SAT tutoring, he hasn't made it live yet but you can see it here.

Here's my process:

I go onto google maps and look up "landscaping", I go down the search results and open all of the websites. Then I page through each website and see if I could improve their website significantly.

Once I have some websites that I can improve upon, I grab a phone number & email from the website and grab the owner's name from reviews on Google or somewhere else (I get the owner's name so I can get through gatekeepers and also be more personal on the phone).

Now that I have a list of prospects who I know I can provide value to, I call them. And here is where I could use some help (and also more experience, which will come with time). I will say, I SUCK at this, like REALLY BAD. I'm stumbling over my words, my voice has no confidence over the phone, and quite frankly I have no idea what the F*ck I'm doing. However, this is to be expected, this is just the beginning of my cold calling and it's the first thing I've ever done that is remotely close to sales, and I'm sure that I will get better with time.

So far I've only called 7 businesses, 4 of which didn't respond (it went to voicemail) and 3 said they weren't interested. Here are the three (embarrassing) calls I made where the businesses said they weren't interested.

Call 1 - They said that their current website was good (it wasn't), but I didn't know what to say
View attachment Call 1.mp3

Call 2 - The guy said he's planning to retire (LOL)
View attachment Call 2.mp3

Call 3 - I switched to pitching the website for free, the guy said he flat out wasn't interested and I didn't know what to say
View attachment Call 3.mp3

Here are two scripts that I have made, I've been following the first one so far (but not very well bc I have great anxiety on the phone) but I wrote the second one today. I think the second will be more compelling for business owners:

Script #1:

Hi it’s Prady (abbreviation of my name) can I speak to [Owner]

Hi [Owner], [My name is Prady] I just wanted to give a quick call about your website

I do web design and I noticed that your website seems [Problem 1] & [Problem 2] and customers might [lose trust / click off / be confused] which might lead to losing sales. I have experience designing websites and I can build a custom professional website for you that solves these problems and gets you more sales.

Right now I’m building my portfolio, so I will build you a new website for free if you’re interested.

I’ll send you an email with more information, does that sound good to you?

Script #2:

Hi it’s Prady can I speak to [Owner]

Hi [Owner], [My name is Prady] I was going to send an email but I just wanted to give a quick call first

I noticed that your website is a little outdated and is losing you potential customers. I can build you a customized website for free since I’m building my portfolio right now.

I’ll send you an email with more information, does that sound good to you?
After this call, I will send an email with more information about what exactly I will do for them, how it will benefit their business, why I'm doing it for free, and finally, a calendly link (or something) to schedule a proper sales call (but I'm not sure if I will do a sales call until I start charging for my services). I stole this process from one of Fox's videos.

Honoring the process principle (& Kaizen principle), I'm making calls every day. I started with 3 yesterday, today I will make 4, tomorrow 5, etc.

------------------------My Questions------------------------

Here are some questions that I have. I'm really inexperienced and I'd appreciate any advice.

Cold Calling:

What times are good to call these businesses? Is any day of the week fine or only weekdays? What time frame during each day?

If the call goes to voicemail, should I leave a voicemail? Should I send an email instead? Or should I call them again later?

About my script, I'm not really sure what I should be saying on the phone. Should I even mention the problems that I see with their website? What can I say instead to be less sales-y?

When the business owner objects, should I continue to try to convince them? Or should I only do so if I think there is a chance that they might change their minds?

Other Questions:

Should I deliver any other services besides web design? I read $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi and I created this value offer:

Core offer: Custom, Professional website that will get you more sales

Bonuses: Pain-free website deployment, Free website maintenance for 2 months (I may change the time period), Email funnel setup, Conversion analytics and streamlining during the 2 months of maintenance, SEO, Online listing optimization (google businesses and other listings)

Guarantee (which I will use when I start charging): I will take 50% upfront but I won't take the other 50% until I make you $X, Or I may just not do a guarantee

Should I even cold call? Should I cold email instead? I'm not very confident on the phone, but I think that I will get better over time.

Should I target local businesses in my selected niche or just any businesses in the niche?

I just did 3 calls yesterday, but I'm going to continue to do more every day. Today I will do 4, the next 5, etc. How many calls per day would be a good target?

Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate any advice you guys can give. Cheers!

EDIT: I was just on a call with Andy Black and some other awesome folks. After getting some feedback from them, I'm going to change my approach.

Andy pointed out that cold calls, messaging, emails, etc. disappear after they happen. Meaning that other people can't see your interaction and the value you are bringing.

Andy then brought up Facebook groups and how I could possibly help people in Facebook communities: help people, be seen helping people, and then get invited into groups by people as "the guy who does web design".

I'm going to join some facebook groups tomorrow and start trying to help people. Maybe after a week or so I will offer a free website as well, and see where that goes. Maybe after having some social proof I can do cold calling. After I have a good project and testimonial I can call more effectively by pointing at work I've already done, not to mention that I will have more conviction in myself.

 

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[Oso]

What times are good to call these businesses? Is any day of the week fine or only weekdays? What time frame during each day?

Call if they're open.

If the call goes to voicemail, should I leave a voicemail? Should I send an email instead? Or should I call them again later?

Yes. And email them still.

About my script, I'm not really sure what I should be saying on the phone. Should I even mention the problems that I see with their website? What can I say instead to be less sales-y?

Yes. Immediately pointing out subtle issues - without coming off as overbearing and/or condescending - is massively beneficial. It adds to your credibility while simultaneously "getting to the point." To ditch sales speak, simply treat the conversation like a personal conversation. It's easy to sell to people when you stop actively trying to sell them something.

When the business owner objects, should I continue to try to convince them? Or should I only do so if I think there is a chance that they might change their minds?

Define "objects." I've taken people from saying, "F*ck you, Oso" to that same person begging for my services. Ultimately, the answer to this question lies in your people skills and your confidence in them.

Should I deliver any other services besides web design? I read $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi and I created this value offer:

Core offer: Custom, Professional website that will get you more sales

Bonuses: Pain-free website deployment, Free website maintenance for 2 months (I may change the time period), Email funnel setup, Conversion analytics and streamlining during the 2 months of maintenance, SEO, Online listing optimization (google businesses and other listings)

Before selling my agency, I offered ~3 services. The same ~3 services that every marketing agency offers. The answer to this is up to you and your agency. Can you overdeliver at all times, regardless of the service being offered? If yes, offer more, if no, offer less.

Guarantee (which I will use when I start charging): I will take 50% upfront but I won't take the other 50% until I make you $X, Or I may just not do a guarantee

Do this the moment you start taking payment.

Should I even cold call? Should I cold email instead? I'm not very confident on the phone, but I think that I will get better over time.

The data says it isn't worth it. I say it isn't worth it. I did it for a handful of days before stopping. I hired a sales team, paid them via commission, and never looked back.

Should I target local businesses in my selected niche or just any businesses in the niche?

Businesses in the niche.

I just did 3 calls yesterday, but I'm going to continue to do more every day. Today I will do 4, the next 5, etc. How many calls per day would be a good target?

For the handful of days I cold called, my target was 50 calls/day. Keep in mind I'm next to one of the largest US cities.

Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate any advice you guys can give. Cheers!

EDIT: I was just on a call with Andy Black and some other awesome folks. After getting some feedback from them, I'm going to change my approach.

Andy pointed out that cold calls, messaging, emails, etc. disappear after they happen. Meaning that other people can't see your interaction and the value you are bringing.

Andy then brought up Facebook groups and how I could possibly help people in Facebook communities: help people, be seen helping people, and then get invited into groups by people as "the guy who does web design".

I'm going to join some facebook groups tomorrow and start trying to help people. Maybe after a week or so I will offer a free website as well, and see where that goes. Maybe after having some social proof I can do cold calling. After I have a good project and testimonial I can call more effectively by pointing at work I've already done, not to mention that I will have more conviction in myself.

Andy is 100% right here. But I encourage you to both join Facebook groups AND reach out to people.

You want to be seen while being seen.

Cheers.

 

[Scott Millner]

Call if they're open.

Yes. And email them still.

Yes. Immediately pointing out subtle issues - without coming off as overbearing and/or condescending - is massively beneficial. It adds to your credibility while simultaneously "getting to the point." To ditch sales speak, simply treat the conversation like a personal conversation. It's easy to sell to people when you stop actively trying to sell them something.

Define "objects." I've taken people from saying, "F*ck you, Oso" to that same person begging for my services. Ultimately, the answer to this question lies in your people skills and your confidence in them.

Before selling my agency, I offered ~3 services. The same ~3 services that every marketing agency offers. The answer to this is up to you and your agency. Can you overdeliver at all times, regardless of the service being offered? If yes, offer more, if no, offer less.

Do this the moment you start taking payment.

The data says it isn't worth it. I say it isn't worth it. I did it for a handful of days before stopping. I hired a sales team, paid them via commission, and never looked back.

Businesses in the niche.

For the handful of days I cold called, my target was 50 calls/day. Keep in mind I'm next to one of the largest US cities.

Andy is 100% right here. But I encourage you to both join Facebook groups AND reach out to people.

You want to be seen while being seen.

Cheers.

Thanks for sharing! I'm also new to cold calling and have had little to no luck with this. I'm leaning more towards SEO and then upselling them on a brand new website when I offer SEO. I'm going to put more effort into FB prospecting. I feel a PM to their FB Page, or an email is better than cold calling. That way, they can read the message during their own time and not feel like their day is interrupted by a "telemarketer." Am I wrong for thinking that? I'm definitely not a smooth talker on the phone and will often stutter and get twisted up in my own words. Is it worth to continue cold calling to get better at it? Or am I better off just sticking to more subtle approaches like email and FB messaging? Or should I wing it and hire a salesperson to do my selling for me and pay commission only? Here is my website: SEO Company Athens, GA |SEO Marketing Strategy