Cold calling vs Cold Approaching

[Warrior]

I called several businesses for my moving company website yesterday and all of them hung up after I told them that I'd like to promote their business on my site for free.

There wasn't any time to ask them why they're rejecting either.

Would it be better if I went to these moving companies myself and asked them if they want to join my website?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JackWood]

I called several businesses for my moving company website yesterday and all of them hung up after I told them that I'd like to promote their business on my site for free.

There wasn't any time to ask them why they're rejecting either.

Would it be better if I went to these moving companies myself and asked them if they want to join my website?

What was your pitch? Also several calls isnt enough to get a good idea of how to approach your sales.

 

[theag]

Call 100 more

 

[Formless]

I have a part time job that gave me perspective on cold calling. We call people to set up appointments where they get FREE QUOTES on windows and doors.

Every day, I call (give or take) 300 people, in a 3 hour shift. And sometimes you get 2 leads in a day, and sometimes there's a drought for weeks.

If you have the money, here's what I recommend (IF YOU ARE TIED BY GEOGRAPHICAL AREA, YOU CAN DO THIS YOURSELF):

1) Clearly define the criteria that makes a business a potential customer
2) Find a data-mining freelancer(s)
3) Get them to find and assort a HUGE list of businesses that MATCH YOUR CRITERIA
4) Split test. Call them, refine your script. Try emailing some. Try doing BOTH to some. Chart progress in excel or something. That's how you'll start seeing patterns.

POTENTIAL OBSTACLE:

'Can I trust this freelancer to actually find the businesses according to my criteria?'

When you have a big list, you can start trying different approaches, monitoring what works best. Because big numbers build reference points. Maybe cold emailing. Maybe cold calling. Then using those venues to warm up your leads and then visiting the businesses. Then you can start figuring out what's not working.

- Maybe your script
- Maybe your value prop
- Maybe you just didn't call enough (this is always the answer)
- Maybe E-mail is better than phone



EDIT:

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/predictable-revenue/ - You may find this very valuable.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Deleted21704]

I called several businesses for my moving company website yesterday and all of them hung up after I told them that I'd like to promote their business on my site for free.

Yeah, post your pitch. There's no reason for them to hang up on you that quickly. I called CFOs at mid-size companies for my job during the last few weeks of the year (the time they're frantically closing the books). There was much rejection, to be sure, but still, almost no one hung up.

If you're not comfortable posting your pitch, read Smart Calling. It's like gold.

 

[TWR]

I called several businesses for my moving company website yesterday and all of them hung up after I told them that I'd like to promote their business on my site for free.

There wasn't any time to ask them why they're rejecting either.

Would it be better if I went to these moving companies myself and asked them if they want to join my website?

If it's free for them why are you asking their permission?

Just go ahead and set up your website as if they have said yes and then send an email saying this what you've done and if they have any objection, they need to contact you.

 

[tafy]

I often get calls to set up a profile on some new directory, F*ck that! If they set it up for me and said its done and any complaint and they will remove it I would consider that a job well done.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jazb]

Its harder to sell something for free, thats just the way it is. crazy i know.

 

[tafy]

Well its not selling tho is it, you are asking a business to list on some site which takes like 30 mins, for no guaranteed benefits.