Getting Rid of Cold Calling Anxiety Using Brute Force

[Vilox]

Day 20
This is it. I am done. It took a little more than a month, but today I made my 1000th call! Didn't get another sale unfortunately, but I'm still fairly ecstatic about how things turned out.

In short, the whole experiment has been a resounding success. I'm still a little hesitant before making my first call each day, but it's nothing compared to how things looked when I started out.

If you're thinking about getting into sales yourself, do it! It's actually really fun once you get the hang of it. I'd like to point out that the quality of my first few calls was atrocious. Even now I'm light years away from being on a decent level. Yet I managed to get nine sales within a month. I said it before, but if I can do it, so can you!

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who generously provided their expertise and read the thread. Knowing that I was accountable to people really helped, and I can't thank you enough.

A heartfelt "thank you" (in alphabetical order) to:
@axjjj, @broswoodwork, @cini, @Denim Chicken , @Era, @Fid, @Fox, @FREEWOLF, @GMSI7D, @guitmg, @JAJT, @jilla82, @LRG, @MakeItHappen, @NewYorkCity, @OldFaithful, @Ravens_Shadow, @Roli, @SindbadtheSailor, @sparechange, @SquatchMan, @The-J, @TheKing, @Thiago Machado, @Van Halen, @Waspy, @ZF Lee

 

[Vilox]

I've got some free time on my hands and decided to get some sales experience. I'll be the doing cold calls, since the mere thought of doing them terrifies me.

Inspired by @Fox's thread, I decided to "sell" websites. That being said, I can't build a site. I don't even know someone who could build one. Then again, that's not the point.

I also don't have any sales experience whatsoever, although I did some reading over the last couple of days. I have thrown a sales script together and used a web data extraction platform to get a few hundred leads from the yellow pages.

I'll start on Monday (5/22) and will stick with it for a month. Setting a baseline of 50 calls per day, that's 250 calls a week or 1000 calls over the whole month.

For accountability purposes I'll post the number of calls I made during weekdays, and a short review of what I learned on the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

 

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[Denim Chicken]

That's an interesting way of looking at it. Thanks for your input. And for dropping some incredible knowledge over in Fox's thread.


I heard that quite a few folks tested whether their idea was valuable by calling a few hundred people and evaluating their interest before even manufacturing the product. I thought that if someone else can sell something that doesn't exist, so can I. I now realize that they had a big picture in mind (starting production if customer base was there), and I don't. But that's an issue I will take care of.

Your only goal for the first call is to introduce yourself and schedule a time to talk in the future.
Also because you are calling them cold, it helps to have a good reason as to why you are calling.

When prospecting, make sure the list you have is targeted based on what you are looking for and what your clients may need. You COULD pick up a phone book and start dialing local businesses, or you could spend a little time to compile a list based on certain constraints such as company size, # of employees, industry, etc. which will inevitably cut down on wasted time.

Don't pitch the prospect on the first call. The so called "pitch" is the first thing new salespeople want to get to quick, almost like they're dying to get it all out before they explode. Your first call is simply a qualifying call. This is as important for you as it is for them. Right now looks like you enjoy the phone time and experience but later you are going hate when you work a lead and spend an hour talking about this or that, pitching, following up and then finding out you forgot to ask him simple qualifying questions.

First call - Quick intro, qualify prospect, see if there's a fit. If no, move on. If yes, book a meeting.

Say something like "... if thats something that sounds of interest to you, I'd be more than happy to schedule a 10-15 min call to give you a [Free trial, free consult, website analysis, go over the details on how to..] "
If yes, book a time together. I try to make every barrier as painless as possible. So have some open slots ready or just lead them with "I'm free anyday after 1pm, would Wednesday work for you?" I hate it when people are like "I'm free any time" and then you suggest a time and they're like "oh can't do that".

Also, WHILE you are on the phone with them discussing a time, open up Gmail Calendar (I suggest you use it regularly or a CRM) and say "Great. Wednesday at 1pm sounds great. I'm actually going to send you a gmail calendar invite so I don't forget to call you. I'll also send over [a PDF, marketing material, brochures, portfolio, etc.] so you can take a look. I'll talk to you on Wednesday at 1pm Jim, have a good one."

Second call - In Gmail, I changed my default calendar settings to send out a reminder email 1 hr or 30 minutes before an appointment. People forget. So Wednesday at 1230 or 12pm they get an email that says something like "Bill and Jim, Web Design Consult. Wed 1pm" from Gmail Calendar.
It makes it a lot more likely they will pick up when you call.

This call will consist of deeper qualifying questions, find out everything there is to know. Once you listened to their pain point, then go into your "pitch". If you pitch before they tell you anything, it doesn't seem genuine at all. The way this feels as a prospect is, "you didn't listen to any of my problems and you're pitching? How do you even know what I need?"

Always end a call with an objective or a "next move" suggested. You never hang up and say "Ok great call. bye". Promise them you will send them a RFP or Quote with a breakdown and the contract and you'll follow up with them in a few days.



You can also see that with a little minor adjustment, you can hand off a qualified lead after the first call to a more experienced salesperson/closer so they close on the 2nd or 3rd call. In the tech industry, the appointment setters are usually called SDR sales dev reps and the closers are AE/Account Executive. Usually get paid per appointment set and have quotas each month and account executive start with qualified warm leads but their quotas are set based on revenue closed.

My point is, if you have a qualified lead (After call #1) and you have a network of other people, you can pass the lead or referrals on. Maybe someone who is a better fit than you are for the prospect. A lot of agencies or designers do this when they have smaller budget clients or if they flat out are maxed out and can't take on any more projects.

You can also teach that part to someone to outsource appointment setting although I personally wouldn't like to, especially internationally. The closing and follow-up is the more difficult part.

 

[The-J]

Some stuff I've learned cold calling:

1) Gatekeepers are a good thing. A gatekeeper will never tell you to go F*ck yourself and to never contact them again on threat of prosecution. Owner operators will, though.

2) It's easier to sell a strategy call than it is to sell a meeting or a sale. Although most people know that strategy call is code for 5 minute interactive sales pitch.

3) I like 'no' and 'not interested'. It's 2nd only to a yes. Maybe is the worst. Writing a proposal takes time and proposals not accepted = time of mine wasted.

4) With a gatekeeper, they're looking for the best messages to pass to his/her (mainly her) boss. Their job is to screen sales calls because they get them all the time. However, the gatekeeper knows more than you think: they're not completely blind to the issues of the business. If they're privy to some information about what the business needs, they'll be more receptive to your pitch.

Hope it helps. I'm very inexperienced in cold calling but I've learned a lot quickly.

PS Mileage may vary depending on your market

 

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[Vilox]

Day 19
Another day in the bag. And we're getting pretty close to my 1000th call. That's really strange to think about if I'm being honest.

Follow-up
One thing you should do once you get started is follow-up with people. And not just once, but as many times as is necessary to get a clear answer.

I get it. Truly, I do. You're already afraid of being rejected, so the last thing you want to be is annoying. But I wouldn't have gotten half of my sales if I had only contacted people once and waited for them to get back to me.

If someone tells me they're busy, I ask them what would be a good time to contact them. If someone tells me they need three days to think it over, I mark it down in my calendar and call them three days later. If someone doesn't give a clear 'yes' or 'no', I keep pinging them until I do.

I can't really overstate the importance of this. You already made the initial contact. Don't drop the ball now.

 

[Vilox]

Day 13
Honestly, at this point making the calls isn't nearly as hard as collecting the leads. Gosh, that stuff gets boring. I wonder how real sales people get their leads for cold calls.

A Proper Introduction
I already mentioned that having a sales script helps tremendously. It's not only the content that matters, though. The delivery, the way you convey your message, is even more important. You gotta be a little enthusiastic when you pitch. If you're not excited about what you're selling, why should they be?

The following is working well for me right now.

Hey, this is Stefan [one second pause]
I found your company through the Yellow Pages [one second pause]
In a nutshell, we help companies acquire and retain customers through their website. Does this sound interesting to you?
​

Making the pauses in the beginning is important. They don't know you, and they don't know what you're selling. I found it way more effective to give people a moment to process what they just heard.

Next, regardless of whether they answer the question Does this sound interesting to you? with yes or no, I ask them how they currently go about acquiring customers. From there, a conversation develops quite naturally. At this point, it's more important to ask the right questions and just listen. Once you know about the issues they're having, you can show them how your product solves said problems.

 

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[Denim Chicken]

This is a great way for you to hate sales. Trust me, if you dont have product, how are you going to answer the most basic questions that come up like "how long would it take for a website to be made?" or "how much do you charge"?

Find a good product (yours or someone else) that you know isn't the problem, and then go into sales. Otherwise you will never know whether you just suck at sales or whether people dont want to buy whatever it is you're selling.

You seem to have the drive and determination which is good. But getting good at sales also involves the following:

1) Having a good product offering
2) Perfecting your process
3) Keeping track of data and analyzing where you can improve

You're working backwards.

And if you want to go the high probability selling approach of hitting the phones every day, then go for it. But that method sucks and what I learned in sales is that it's not the number of leads or calls you make, it's how much physical and emotional energy you are able to maintain in the gas tank. And calling 50 cold leads a day without a product offering will wear you thin.

 

[JAJT]

• Make pauses: Self-explanatory. Never even thought this would be a problem, but judging by the recordings, it is.

Pauses are powerful. People hate silence.

If you get an answer that's short and not to your liking - just stay quiet for 2-3 seconds. Something like 80% of the time (if I had to pick a number) they'll continue talking to fill the silence and the first thing most people think of on a negative answer is how to solve it and make it a yes, so they'll probably even try solving the problem they just gave you! Or at worse they'll expand on it more and give you ammo to go back at them with.

People are terrible at staying quiet. You'll feel uncomfortable staying quiet. But it works.

 

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[Vilox]

Day 15
750 calls. Six sales so far. This may not be much for the experienced sales people out there, but it sure as hell is a success to me.

"The price is too high"
I don't negotiate on price. That was my policy from the beginning, since I didn't know how low the designer was willing to go. The policy still stands, but the reasons have changed. I want their main concern to be the value I provide, not the price I ask of them.

A lot of people appear to hide their true objections behind the price issue. To solve their problem, first ask a few questions to get to the bottom of this:

• Do you have budget constraints?
• Is this not the right time? Do you have a contract with another IT guy?
• Honestly, are there other reasons?

You'd be surprised how often price is not the real issue. Remember, the solution you're offering will earn them money in the long run. If they don't see that, then you didn't push the right buttons in the first place.

 

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[JAJT]

"Send me an email with more information"

Make sure you also tell them that you'll be calling them back in a few days to follow up on the information.

This lets them know they haven't heard the last from you and that they should read or pass on the information and not just mark the email as read, because you'll be talking to them again.

Don't let them off the hook. If they say "honestly, we're pretty busy and I might not get to this immediately" you ask them what information would make it easy to review quickly in their schedule, you ask when a better time to call back will be, you ask what would have to happen to make this more of a priority or ask who is ultimately going to review it and what their schedule looks like, etc...

Or my favorite - ask them to open up their calendar while they are on the phone with you so you can both find a time that works. Suggest next tuesday at 10am, "Do you have anything going on then?". Most people "give up" trying to brush you off when you try to problem solve for their schedules. It forces them into a situation where they have to say "look, I'm not interested" or "sure, let's talk then".

 

[Vilox]

Day 4
Back after a long weekend. Today's conversations got me another appointment to talk about a new website (yay!). I had a similar follow-up call last week that initially went very well and actually lasted longer than 30 minutes. Pretty sure I botched it at the end when I asked them about their budget, though. I wasn't prepared for the ensuing conversation and made too many mistakes to list here.

Today I started recording my calls. Listening to myself talk makes me cringe. But I'd like to think that I'm doing better compared to how I performed on day 1. I just noticed how often I use "ah", "oh" and "um". And with "often" I mean "all the time". Really gotta do something about that.

Starting with this post I'll include a short piece of advice that worked well for me. Remember, I'm no expert. But everything that I'll post will have given me better results than what I've been doing before. So let's get started:

Pricing
Quite a few people bring the issue of pricing up quite early. They'll say something like

"There's no reason for us to waste our time having this conversation only to find out that your service is too expensive in the end. So just tell me your price."​

Reasonable enough, right? What I learned is that giving them a price early doesn't make sense, since you don't know anything about them and their needs yet. By giving them a price early you transform your service into a commodity and make them focus on cost instead of value. What DOES work is giving them a reason as to why you'd like to know their budget. Something like

"Well, what's your budget? We can structure the deal in different ways. If you tell me how much money you're willing to put into this, I can tell you if and how we can make it work."
​

The question shouldn't be: How much does this cost? The question should be: How much will my return on this investment be?

 

[Vilox]

Day 10
Made a conscious effort today to follow @JAJT 's advice and not be the one to break the silence whenever a short pause comes up. You'd think that keeping your mouth shut would be easy, but think again. I screwed up pretty often. I'll keep a close eye on my behavior over the coming days in order to improve on that front.

The second sale went through! That's one sale for every 250 calls made. Still a shitty ratio, but nonetheless an improvement!

Thanks
I'd like to thank everyone for reading the thread. I'm halfway to the finish line (500 out of 1000 calls), and I certainly wouldn't have made it this far without you. Knowing that I'm accountable to people really helps, not to mention all the incredible advice that I've received. I can't really express how grateful I am.

Thank you!

 

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[Vilox]

Day 5
I had my first angry person on the line today. Guess he had a really bad day judging by how furious he was.

Still haven't made a sale, but my conversations last longer and and I perceive things to flow more naturally.

"Send me an email with more information"
That's a phrase I heard multiple times by now. It sounds like a fair request, but I haven't gotten a reply to any of those emails so far. People seem to say something along those lines in order to end the conversation. A good reply is

I certainly will. But can you tell me about XXX? Just so I know what to include in the email.
​

I usually ask them whether their websites attracts enough customers. The point is to prevent the conversation from ending before it really began. I got a few people to hook and give a reply.

They might also ask you to send an email after you've been talking for 20 minutes. I haven't experienced that scenario yet, but after you've been talking for quite a while you should be able to send them an email that fits their needs.

"I don't have time to talk right now"
Again, another way for them to end the conversation quickly. And who can blame them? What has been working for me is:

No problem, when is the best time to reach you for a short conversation? Shouldn't take longer than three minutes. Just to determine whether we're a good fit before we start talking at any length.
​

About half of the people I talked to managed to find three minutes right then and there.

 

[Andy Black]

GOLD

Well done just going for it.

There were well meaning naysayers at the start, and you didn't even bother to argue. You just did it anyway.

You got uncomfortable, did something new, made sales, and left breadcrumbs... all in just over a month.

 

[Vilox]

Day 1
Alright, done for today.

The plan was for me to start at 9. Well, at around 8:30 I started pacing like a caged animal through my apartment. After doing that for the better part of two hours I managed to pull myself together and got started. I can't really say what makes me so nervous about the whole thing. On a purely rational level that's ridiculous. Doesn't change the fact that my emotions are in turmoil, even now that it's over.

Here are a few things I observed and learned today:

• By far the most common sentence I heard was "we already have a guy doing that". I spent some time yesterday to make sure to only call companies whose sites are in desperate need of a rework, so I feel like that shouldn't have stopped me. I'll have to do some reading on how to overcome common objections. My response to hearing that so far has been ("Nothing you can do. Thanks for your time, bye!")
• The sales script definitely helps, but the structure is terrible and doesn't really flow with the conversations I'm having. Definitely need to make some adjustments.
• I agree with what people said earlier: It would definitely help to sell something that exists and provides real value. I got quite a few messages already from people asking me to do sales for them. And while I appreciate the offers, there are two issues:

1. I'm in Europe and can only make calls in the morning, so hitting up companies in the US doesn't work due to time zone differences
2. As of right now, I'm a stumbling mess who can't close shit and get's a nervous breakdown just by thinking of getting back on the phone. But that's something I'll get over real soon. In the meantime, I'll reach out to a few local folks who do good work and offer to help them sell their product

And some minor things:

• I printed the names and numbers of the companies I wanted to call on a sheet of paper and had my computer turned off the whole morning. Pretty sure I would have managed to get lost on the Internet if I hadn't done that.
• I use Skype on my iPad to make the calls. But entering a number manually and waiting for Skype to connect takes around 30 seconds per call. Doesn't sound like much, but definitely adds up with increasing volume. But since optimizing workflow is the least of my problems right now I'll push that issue back a little.

Overall, I'm quite happy, even though it was a rocky start. As with everything in life, making the first step is the hardest, and I'm really glad that I managed to catch myself before procrastinating the whole day away. I'll reply to all the kind folks who volunteered their time to participate in this thread or sent me a message, and then I'll go for a long walk to clear my head.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Vilox]

As for people sending you PM's what kind of products do they need selling?

Exclusively websites so far.

Read Perry Marshall's book 80/20 Sales And Marketing, it will serve you a thousand times better than what you're doing.

I don't see how reading a book can help me get over cold calling anxiety.

Seriously though, I've been guilty of reading for hours on end without ever doing something. Reading -- at least for me -- is dangerous in the sense that it gives me the feeling of having done something useful when in fact I just found another way to procrastinate. I've come to realize that it's better to do some basic prep, dive right in and fix issues as they come up.

I do appreciate the book suggestion and will definitely look into it. Thanks!

 

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[The-J]

Rep+++

This should be marked #notable in my opinion.

I can't stand cold calling. I'm willing to do it, but I don't like it. It scares me. But you've proven that cold calling isn't just for people who 'get off' on it; it's also an excellent way to generate leads without paying a dime. Not only that, you've proven that it's worth it.

Is it more efficient to pay for traffic? Most likely. But what you've done is stumbled onto a proven system, of your own, for selling a service... without needing to spend money.

You're a hustler now. That's to be applauded.

 

[JAJT]

Not sure how people make cold emails work.

1. Keep them super short.
2. Nail the pain point.
3. Sound human
4. Separate every new thought into it's own line. NOBODY reads paragraphs.
4. End it on a question.

Something like:

Subject: Re: Your Website (natural sounding title)

Hey there,

Have you folks looked at your website on a smart phone recently? (interest)

I only ask because it doesn't look very mobile friendly (problem), which is a huge problem because:

1. 60% of all browsing online in 2017 is on a smart phone. (fact)
2. 80% of mobile visitors leave non-friendly pages immediately. (problem)

I'd genuinely suggest you forward this to your web guy to get your own company's stats but I highly suspect it will be close to this. Should only take them 30 seconds to look up. (trust)

My company does nothing but help fix mobile customer leaks like this and we're really, really good at it. (solution)

Is this a problem you'd consider fixing this year? (question that begs to be answered)

Or something like that anyway. The trick to email communication like this is to play around with everything. Make it shorter. Kill the stats. Add pricing. Reword a sentence. Try scaring them. Show them what they can gain. Etc... After a few hundred emails you start to notice what triggers seem to be working.

Then send a follow up a week later saying "Hey, just wanted to ask if you checked with your web guy on those mobile stats? Were the mobile numbers much higher and worse than desktop like we suspected?"

Personally I got very good at cold emailing in my sales career.
It's never as fast or as effective as calling of curse but it's a tool like anything else.

 

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[Vilox]

Day 12
Had a really hard to time to get started today. I may be bad at sales, but I'm world class when it comes to making up reasons as to why I don't have to do anything productive. I'll get some sort of routine going over the weekend. Not making calls for 48 hours really throws me off track. Luckily I managed to collect myself eventually. I even lined up another potential client.

No piece of advice today, because I can't think of anything useful right now. That being said, if you're thinking about improving your sales skills, just start. As with everything else in life, you'll get better the more often you do it. I was absolutely terrible when I started out. I probably still am. But within three weeks I somehow managed to make not only one, but three sales already. Not to mention the number of people who contacted me and offered me a job. Once you got the basics down, this seems like a pretty easy way to make some money. Not because it's hard, but because relatively few people are willing to do it.

 

[Vilox]

Day 3
There's still some initial resistance before making my first few calls. That being said, it's nothing compared to what I felt two days ago, and I don't have to make a conscious effort to keep going anymore. I'm pretty happy, considering that getting rid of said feeling was the whole point of this endeavor.

I finally got someone who seems genuinely interested in what I'm saying. We scheduled a call for later tonight to discuss the details. Considering that two of the designers I contacted got back to me I might actually sell a website. I always expect the first tries to go awry, but it's nice knowing that there's at least a chance.

Tomorrow's a public holiday, so I won't make new calls until next Monday. I'll use the time to incorporate all the feedback I've gotten and do some more reading.

Thank you very much. I truly appreciate your input and support.

 

[Vilox]

Day 6
I think I might be pretty close to selling a site. I just wanted to set a regular appointment, but the person I was talking to was really interested in what I had to say. We ended up talking for 20 minutes, to the point where he wanted me to send him an offer. I referred him to one of the designers I talked with earlier last week. Now things are out of my hand. Granted, this was more or less a freebie, but I'm still pretty elated. Only took me 277 calls to get to this point haha.

Effectiveness
Obviously I'm still learning, but over the long run making one sale every 300 calls is... well, shit. @Denim Chicken suggested earlier to track data and find ways to improve from there. I did some reading and here are three metrics I like. I've also included a few suggestions on how to improve in the respective areas:

Activity:
The number of calls you made. Someone making 200 calls a day will see more success than someone making 10, assuming the same quality of leads.

That being said, if you're talking to a mailbox 70 percent of the time you're just wasting breath. Try calling at different times or calling different numbers altogether.

Quality:
How many people did you talk to that were allowed to make a decision? Talking to secretaries is nice for practice, but ultimately you want to get that sale. In the same vein, how many companies actually needed what you sell? Pitching them a new website when they just got a new one is pointless.

If you're having problems with quality you'd have to revise your customer profile. It's pretty straightforward in my case, since you can tell whether a website needs a rework.

Close:
How many of the decision makers actually took the next step? Doesn't even have to be a sale. For my purposes I'll count the people willing to talk to one of my designers.

That's my main issue. Unfortunately, the ways to improve are pretty straightforward here:

1. Improve your script
2. Delegate sales responsibilities and focus on setting appointments
3. Get a new job

For the moment I'll blame the fact that I'm still learning on my disastrous performance.

God damn, bro! You're really doing the hard part first and the easy part last, if at all. All with an awesome attitude too.

Thank you very much! I truly appreciate you and everyone else who reads this thread and tags along on the journey.

 

[Waspy]

I admire the drive the get better at sales, but wouldn't it be better making 50 calls a day selling something you can actually deliver?

You would be getting the same experinace, and perhaps even gain some genuine clients.

 

[Vilox]

Day 2
Done for today.

You'd think that after one hundred calls you'd at least get a lukewarm reaction. Well, didn't happen so far. My longest call up to this point lasted 2 minutes and 33 seconds. On average, my calls last less than a minute.

But hey, at least I got a secretary to connect me to her boss. That's something. And I'm getting to a point of where I'm less afraid of making calls. Instead, I just want someone to be at least somewhat interested in what I'm selling. I'd call that progress.

Here in Germany there's a public holiday coming up on Thursday, so I'll get a long weekend to do some more reading. Right now, my method is apparently utter garbage.

For tomorrow, I plan to introduce myself saying something along the lines of 'I help companies aquire and retain customers through the Internet' instead of 'I build websites'. The latter obviously doesn't work at this point in time.

I also got in touch with three designers who I think do good work, offering to do sales for them. Didn't get a reply just yet, but things will work out somehow.

As always, thanks for reading.

 

[Vilox]

Day 7
Remember the kind gentleman I wrote about yesterday? He bought a website! I made a sale!

In other news, I ignored my alarm clock this morning. It's probably the fact that my whole routine got screwed with, but I feel like people are far more receptive if you call them in the morning rather than in the afternoon. But I pushed through and even managed to set another appointment for a more detailed talk.

Behavior
Since I started recording myself, I've been experimenting a little to see how my conversations change. Here are a few fun techniques that I've been using recently:

• Use their name: Whenever I bring up an important issue, I make a conscious effort to say their name beforehand. Just to make sure that I still have their attention. Apparently that's supposed to help, though I haven't noticed a difference so far.
• Make pauses: Self-explanatory. Never even thought this would be a problem, but judging by the recordings, it is.
• Make sure the important points stick: Whenever I have a longer conversation, I end with

"Let me ask you, in our conversation, what was the most important to you?"
​

If they missed something that I want them to take away:

"You're totally right. The two issues you mentioned are incredibly important. Another thing that I want you to take away is [...]".
​

I usually use the last one in order to reiterate that they're losing potential customers every day, just because of their website.​

But are you getting paid per qualified lead? Meaning at this point when you hand it off to your designer, are you getting a % of the sale or a fee?

I'm getting paid whenever someone I referred buys a website. Truth be told, I didn't quite think this one through when I first approached the designers. I never intended to earn money with this experiment. Rather, I wanted to get rid off an irrational fear and work on a useful skill. For now, I'll focus on getting my 1000 calls. If I end up pursuing this endeavor further, I'll definitely take your recommendation to heart and get something in writing.

 

[Vilox]

Day 9
I forgot to look for new leads over the weekend. So I compiled a list earlier this morning. That being said, I wholeheartedly recommend making calls during the day and looking for new leads in the evening. Doing both in the early hours of the day is mind-numbing. At least it was for me. On the bright side, I'm pretty close to making another sale.

"We already have a guy for that"
As mentioned a couple of days ago, this is by far the most common objection I hear. I found two ways to handle this that work well for me:

1. "Looks like things are pretty good. But you don't sound very enthusiastic about it. What would make him amazing at his job by your standards?"
The idea here is to get them thinking. Ideally, they arrive at the conclusion that the guy they currently employ only does the bare minimum. Reasonable enough to assume, considering that I only call companies whose sites are in desperate need of a rework.

At any rate, I can usually initiate a conversation at this point about how a website should be more than just a "thing you have to have".

​

2. "Great! If you don't mind me asking, why do you have such a good relationship with him?"
I use this line when they expand on the original objection (e. g. "we already have a guy, and we're pretty happy with his work"). Usually the guy is an employee, or the decision maker has built the site himself a couple of years ago. Whatever the reason, it's an innocuous question that gives you a better picture of their mindset.

The more you get them to open up, the more issues will present themselves. Your next task is to show them that you have a solution that'll solve those problems and earns them money in the long run. Still struggling with that last part. But I'll write an update as soon as I have a routine that works.

 

[Vilox]

Day 11
Another very good day. That being said, I won't make calls tomorrow to deal with a personal issue. I'll check back in on Monday.

Provide More Value
@LRG came up with the idea of providing some more value up front. If you encounter an issue with a site (that's not related to how it looks), it usually fit's in one of these categories:

• Performance: How long does it take for the page to load?
• Mobile: Is the site responsive?
• SEO: Are the pages titled correctly? Is there a meta description?

There are various websites out there that do the job for you. Just google "website grader" and choose a site that picks your fancy.

In the past, I only focused on how many customers the site attracts. I argued that if your site looked shitty or wasn't optimized for mobile devices, you'd miss out. That's certainly true, but not the whole story. You can have an awesome site, but if it takes 10 seconds to load a lot of people will never see it.

Anyway, whenever I finished a conversation (> 3 minutes) with someone who didn't want to buy I said to them:

"That's okay. But let me tell you again: You really should take care of issue X. You're missing out on potential customers every day. Please don't hesitate to call me again if you change your mind and I'll help you find someone who's a better fit for you"
​

Haven't heard back from anyone yet, but I like the idea. It showcases that you're primarily concerned with helping them.

 

[cini]

Man... i just wanted to say this thread is inspiring as F*ck. You just picked up the phone and figuring it out as you go.
Also what you said about taking in too much information can be detrimental, that is very true and many of us especially me are guilty of that.
keep going!

 

[CROJosh]

The problem with cold-calling is that, in the REAL world, it simply DOESN'T WORK. It is BY FAR the most ineffective and at the same time the costliest way of acquiring new customers.

For the sake of my own business, I hope all of my competitors agree with you.

Email gets deleted faster than junk mail and most social is garbage drama - even linkedin is becoming saturated with bro marketing.

But when I call people, they answer. And when I can solve a problem, they appreciate it. And when I overdeliver, they recommend me.

 

[SquatchMan]

That being said, I can't build a site. I don't even know someone who could build one. Then again, that's not the point.

What is the point of selling if you don't have anything to sell?

If you're gonna cold call businesses, then have something to sell and don't waste people's time.

This is like knocking on doors selling girl scout cookies and then if someone says they want some cookies... "lol sorry I don't have girl scout cookies. I'm just practicing."

 

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[CareCPA]

I followed this thread from the sidelines. I just wanted to say how inspiring it was to see you actually achieve your goal of cold calling 1,000 people, especially to sell a product you didn't have and weren't an expert in.
This should prove that no one has an excuse not to pick up the phone and make some sales. Great job @Vilox .

 

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