Instagram Management: Cold Call my way to 100 clients

[Ziad]

Hey everyone.

Most of you know me from my Instagram threads on this forum. I've finally set up a team of my own to be able to handle more clients.

I am going to be cold calling 30 businesses every single working day and ask them if they need an Instagram manager.

I will be charging $850, whereas I normally charge around $1,500 but since I am aiming for 100 clients $850 is the price I went for.

Me as an Instagram manager would include scheduling and managing your Instagram account, including an exclusive network of influencers to interact and engage with your posts in order to push your content viral on Instagram, weekly consultations to ensure your page is growing and so is your business with it, maintaining the quality of posts to ensure your page can attract maximum leads for your business etc.

30 calls a day. This thread will track my progress and I won't be counting the current clients. So I start this with 0 clients and I won't stop till I reach 100.

 

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[Ziad]

I will be posting my daily results every day in detail but for last week here's a quick report:

Day 1:
30 Calls
2 leads

Day 2:
30 Calls
1 lead

Day 3
30 Calls
2 leads

Day 4
30 Calls
2 leads

Day 5
30 Calls
0 leads

Overall I was a typical beginner. Stuttered a bit here and there on the phone but managed to pull several leads in who asked me to email them details.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I will be charging $850, whereas I normally charge around $1,500 but since I am aiming for 100 clients $850 is the price I went for.

How do you normally get clients? If you normally charge $1,500 why not do more of that? I don't see any reason the price should decrease just because you're meeting people on calls. If anything it should increase because of the extra work and time you're putting in. I assume you're calling established businesses, so once you get your sales process down there's no reason they won't pay your normal rate or more.

I don't have much advice regarding cold calls. Maybe send an email first and follow up with a call later when you say you will. Then it's not a total cold call. You've at least primed them for the call. Maybe they won't read it, but those who do will have a heads up. Then you could just call to schedule an appointment to discuss your services later. But I don't do cold calls, so take it for what it is.

 

[Fox]

$850 a month or that is a one-off fee?

Could you use Instagram to warm up some leads and then call in.
Any way to use your IG knowledge to make that work?

 

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[Ziad]

Day 12

Calls : 30
Leads 9

Day 13

Calls : 30
Leads: 3

Day 14

Calls 30
Leads: 6

Day 15

Calls: 28
Leads: 8

I have also started to send cold email with audit reports of their Instagram page attached. It's working well so far but yet to close someone

 

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[Zcott]

Good job so far Ziad!

Cold calling is tough and you are improving.

I used to work in a cold call environments (telemarketing, recruitment and telefundraising), and I've got some tips if they provide useful at all.

I don't know if you are doing it or not, but I recommend recording your calls and playing them back to yourself to see where you are going wrong, what is working well for you, how you can improve etc. Are your questions are closed or open? Write down what objections you frequently come up against.

If you are getting email objections, you could say 'Absolutely, I'll send an email, I have loads of information and brochures of how we can help you. And so you're not overwhelmed, what aspects of instagram management are you most struggling with?'

There are also loads of closes you can do. No conversation is the same so it makes good practice to learn a few, might help you get a few more leads.

For example, what's called a thermometer close, you can pitch them and close by saying:
'on a scale of 1 to 10, how interested are you in this service?'
'about an 7'
'7 is quite high, but it's not 10, how can I help make this a 10?'

Or alternative close. Offer them two services in your pitch and close by saying 'which service would you like to go with, X or Y?'

There are loads of closes, Google it and you might find something of use.

Hope this works out well for you. 100 clients @ $850pm x 12 months = $1,020,000. Smash it in the face!

 

[Ziad]

Week 2:

Day 6
Calls: 30
Leads: 4
Clients from Cold Calling: 0

2 of the leads gave me their head's email. 2 of them asked for a 2nd call. Experienced cold callers: is it better to push for a 2nd call or do email followups work just as good?

 

[Ziad]

Day 7

Calls: 30
Leads: 6

One of my best days. However, all of them still said "Our manager can help you out but he/she is busy. Let me give you her email" I'm not sure if email works just as well. I am sending out emails to all the leads I've received so far. Let's see

 

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[Ziad]

Day 8

Calls: 30
Leads: 4

Day 9

Calls: 30
Leads: 3

Day 10

Calls: 30
Leads: 4

I'm getting a hang of this now. A lot more confidence in my voice and no slurring or umms or hmms. Most of these people are giving me emails though. "Here's our manager's email. Send him/her an email and he/she will get back to you."

 

[Ziad]

Have t updated this thread because Ive been super busy.

I managed to land a digital marketing agency who will be sending all of their clients our way at a cheaper rate for $600/month.

They’ve started off with 1 client and will send the rest when they see our results.

 

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[BlueMoon]

This sounds awesome. I'll be following your journey.

Just curious, how will you handle the fact that some businesses will be requiring product specific images (e.g. a furniture shop that sells special furniture of some sorts for example).

 

[Ziad]

Day 0

Created a Spreadsheet and collected my first list of businesses I will be calling. Will be calling at least 30 businesses every work day.

 

[Ziad]

How are you selecting the businesses to call? Are you checking to see if they have an existing Instagram that's underperforming? Or are you going by industry or location?

Good luck on the cold calls - it can be tough but if you master this skill you'll be bulletproof.

Checking their Insta and if it's underperforming I will be calling them.

 

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[DrunkFish]

This is my hitch. I need local cannabis info and events, so I guess I can supply all the photos, but couldnt I just optimize myself a bit? I dont know though, I do really suck with my Instagram page but have put zero effort in strat as all my attention is elsewhere and could use some sort of help.

I would set up a dropbox for them to submit their own pictures, or hire a photographer in the area to take pictures.
With the first option, I noticed some people are literally so out of touch with tech they cannot follow a video tutorial on uploading a picture to dropbox. So be weary when going with that option. They were unfuriated (despite me saying ahead of time that i was going to set them up a dropbox to upload pictures to, they didn't even hesitate, but when it came time to put it into play they were totally up in arms about it because "not every is as tech savvy as me")

Also note it was literally a slow, step by step, recorded iPhone video tutorial with written instructions. My grandma could easily do it. So yeah.

 

[Ziad]

$850 a month or that is a one-off fee?

Could you use Instagram to warm up some leads and then call in.
Any way to use your IG knowledge to make that work?

Most of these people are already making money (surgeons, lawyers etc.) that they would be tough to convince through Instagram. Despite their Instagram being bad (I only go for poor Insta activity pages), they aren't concerned until I speak to them on call and convince them that they could generate even MORE money from social media.

Edit: it's $850 a month

 

[Ziad]

How do you normally get clients? If you normally charge $1,500 why not do more of that? I don't see any reason the price should decrease just because you're meeting people on calls. If anything it should increase because of the extra work and time you're putting in. I assume you're calling established businesses, so once you get your sales process down there's no reason they won't pay your normal rate or more.

I don't have much advice regarding cold calls. Maybe send an email first and follow up with a call later when you say you will. Then it's not a total cold call. You've at least primed them for the call. Maybe they won't read it, but those who do will have a heads up. Then you could just call to schedule an appointment to discuss your services later. But I don't do cold calls, so take it for what it is.

I've partnered up with an advertising agency and we agreed on the $850 price. Besides, I will be making almost the same amount of money as I was with $1,500 as our costs of management have reduced as well.

 

[Roli]

"Our manager can help you out but he/she is busy. Let me give you her email"

Great, thanks! I'll mail her to let her know I'll be calling back.

... or words to that effect.

Send an email is an objection you have to overcome.

 

[Zcott]

Thank you so much for the tips. What's your best advice on getting past the gate keeper? Most of them usually tell me "our marketing manager can help you, let me give you his/her email so you can reach out"

Thanks a lot again. Your post is extremely useful.

No worries, happy to hear it was of use!

Getting past the gate keeper can sometimes be as easy as 'Hi, I'm here to talk the marketing person, thank you.' It comes across authoritative and sometimes the gate keeper will just put you through.

If you don't know their name, you can also scout the company on social media and LinkedIn beforehand to see if you can ind some names with relevant titles, then phone up and say 'Yeah hi, I need to be put through to Joe Bloggs, thank you.'

It is also important to remember that in telemarketing a lot of what you do is information gathering. If you don't know the name of the person and the gate keeper tells you who to the name of the person you need to talk to, write that name down. Then when you phone up again you have a name and you sound more authoritative.

I am a bit rusty on telemarketing, it's been a few years since I did it, but when I was in any kind of sales I often look to YouTube. It's full of great sales tactics to use, this one is great and you can easily adapt it.

 

[Charnell]

If you don't know their name, you can also scout the company on social media and LinkedIn beforehand to see if you can ind some names with relevant titles, then phone up and say 'Yeah hi, I need to be put through to Joe Bloggs, thank you.'

In my experiences cold calling, drop the last name if the firm is small enough or the name is unique enough to not have multiple "Joe"'s there. If they do ask which Joe, I would chuckle a bit, apologize, then say their full name.

"This is Justin calling for Joe." Probably worked ~90% of the time.

 

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[Ziad]

Have you considered changing your approach and cold-emailing the marketing manager first?

I don't know much about marketing to Instagram but maybe that's just the process most businesses are comfortable with.

Also, would a page with a dedicated marketing manager really need someone to manage their page? Do your current clients have marketing managers?

This is what I'm going to do now. Send cold Instagram audit reports to the company and then follow up with a call.

No worries, happy to hear it was of use!

Getting past the gate keeper can sometimes be as easy as 'Hi, I'm here to talk the marketing person, thank you.' It comes across authoritative and sometimes the gate keeper will just put you through.

If you don't know their name, you can also scout the company on social media and LinkedIn beforehand to see if you can ind some names with relevant titles, then phone up and say 'Yeah hi, I need to be put through to Joe Bloggs, thank you.'

It is also important to remember that in telemarketing a lot of what you do is information gathering. If you don't know the name of the person and the gate keeper tells you who to the name of the person you need to talk to, write that name down. Then when you phone up again you have a name and you sound more authoritative.

I am a bit rusty on telemarketing, it's been a few years since I did it, but when I was in any kind of sales I often look to YouTube. It's full of great sales tactics to use, this one is great and you can easily adapt it.

Thank you once again! I wanted to ask you, what if I cold email Instagram audit reports to companies? My audits are pretty good by the way, where I send a detailed report on whats good and whats bad with their Instagram page, followed by recommendations. Would it be better to send these audits to the company email on the website, or should I call first asking for a marketing manager or sales manager's email and email it to them?

Good point, I have come across situations where people just say "we just hired marketing manager who will take care of all social media" ... it seems to me it's about having a "body" to take care of social media. As soon as they can afford one, they go for it - it's cheaper, plus they can throw as many tasks as the person is willing to absorb...

Yes this has been the case with me on a couple of calls. They say "we already have someone handling that" but then I tell them all the benefits they can get and more and then they say ok I'll give you an email send us your proposal there.

In my experiences cold calling, drop the last name if the firm is small enough or the name is unique enough to not have multiple "Joe"'s there. If they do ask which Joe, I would chuckle a bit, apologize, then say their full name.

"This is Justin calling for Joe." Probably worked ~90% of the time.

Will try this, thanks!

GOLD! - A new marketing tool I'm using with ridiculous ROI

Worth a try.

Thanks for this link! Will go through it.

 

[Thoelt53]

Some cold calling tips for dealing with gatekeepers:

• Always try to get a name at least, whether it's from their website, LinkedIn, or by asking for it. This will help when you call/call back. Asking for the person you need to speak with by first name will sometimes get you put straight through. "Hey this is Mike, did Joe make it in yet?"
• Persistence is key. For whatever reason, occasionally gatekeepers will let you by after calling for the nth time. I'm not sure if it's because they're sick of you, or if they feel that you must really need to talk to the owner. Sometimes it just works. You may even get friendly with the gatekeeper after a while, and at one point they have mercy on you.
  
• Ask for help. People naturally want to help one another. "Hi I'm hoping you can help me. I'm having a problem with your Instagram page and would like to speak with the person who is in charge of that." Be careful how you word this, the wrong wording will cause this method to backfire.
• I mentioned calling between 7-9am and after 5pm in my previous post. Oftentimes the business owner is there first and leaves last. Calling either early or late may give you an opportunity where the only person there to answer the phone is the owner.

The biggest takeaway is be persistent. Unless you get a flat out 'no' or 'stop calling me,' keep trying the same businesses every few days or weeks depending on how the call goes. I've had people finally take my call after months of calling simply because I was "the crazy insurance guy who keeps calling," and they want to see what could be so important as to warrant the dedication.

You have to remember that you're just a stranger calling them. They don't know who you are. Touching the business multiple times slowly familiarizes them with you. This is the same reason why you might want to run a FB ad campaign to raise brand awareness before you start targeting people with direct response offers.

 

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[Paladin]

How are you selecting the businesses to call? Are you checking to see if they have an existing Instagram that's underperforming? Or are you going by industry or location?

Good luck on the cold calls - it can be tough but if you master this skill you'll be bulletproof.

 

[Ziad]

Week 2:

Day 11

Calls: 30
Leads: 6

Way more confidence speaking now.

By the way, a few people have told me to simply buy lists from sites such as InfoUSA it's worth it 100x. Has anyone done this?

 

[RazorCut]

Well done, your interest rate is moving up nicely. It's a shame you haven't been able to close any yet.

Have you followed up any of the emails you sent out to the managers with a phone call? I'd be inclined to do that, and, if they say they are busy, tell them no problem, you're both busy people so let's book a specific time and date for a call. Then you can send them a call schedule confirmation via Google Calendar or whatever.

The follow-ups are where a CRM really comes into its own.

 

[mws87]

Week 2:

Day 11

Calls: 30
Leads: 6

Way more confidence speaking now.

By the way, a few people have told me to simply buy lists from sites such as InfoUSA it's worth it 100x. Has anyone done this?

Be careful with lists. I've heard a lot of conflicting things about it.

One thing I could recommend is checking out sites like buzzfile & manta to find businesses. Both sites give you an estimate of what the company's revenue is probably like. Doing this has saved me tons of time weeding out unqualified prospects.

 

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[vshetty.vs]

Most of them usually tell me "our marketing manager can help you, let me give you his/her email so you can reach out"

Have you considered changing your approach and cold-emailing the marketing manager first?

I don't know much about marketing to Instagram but maybe that's just the process most businesses are comfortable with.

Also, would a page with a dedicated marketing manager really need someone to manage their page? Do your current clients have marketing managers?

 

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[maikooo]

Have you considered changing your approach and cold-emailing the marketing manager first?

I don't know much about marketing to Instagram but maybe that's just the process most businesses are comfortable with.

Also, would a page with a dedicated marketing manager really need someone to manage their page? Do your current clients have marketing managers?

Good point, I have come across situations where people just say "we just hired marketing manager who will take care of all social media" ... it seems to me it's about having a "body" to take care of social media. As soon as they can afford one, they go for it - it's cheaper, plus they can throw as many tasks as the person is willing to absorb...

 

[Johnny boy]

GOLD! - A new marketing tool I'm using with ridiculous ROI

Worth a try.

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

If you're having trouble, you can also ask to be sent to their sales team. Talk to them about THEIR inbound marketing, THEIR successes and failures with it, and if it's even a tool that the sales team has at their disposal.

You can go a long way by first building champions in the company, who will help you sell your services.

Sidenote: I was a machinist at a very high end performance shop here, and they hired some "millenial" to run their entire social media campaign. It drove me nuts, because she was stupid and lazy. I talked to the boss, and basically trained her how she should be showcasing the business. After basically chewing my bosses a$$ and then hers about how People LOVE seeing the "behind the scenes" of companies, these were the results:​

She was instructed to showcase the mountains of car parts that we were shipping around the world, with a list of different countries for that day. (that overcomes the "do you ship to bum F*ck egypt?")​

She began taking pictures of the cars being worked on in the shop. (Wow you work on some really cool cars)​

She began taking pictures of the cars on the dyno with skyscraper horsepower charts. (Holy cow that's another 1,000 horsepower car)​

She began taking pictures of the machine shop and custom parts in raw material/mid machine/finished.​

She took videos of the test drive with people shitting their pants at how fast their cars were afterwards. "Scary. Too much power. My car isn't even fun anymore." Aww give it a month, you'll want a bottle of nitrous on top of that... (Those usually didn't get posted, because the owners were embarrassed about their reactions to their own cars)​

He even had a video go multi-million viral, when we dyno'd a friendly cop car before a huge street racing event in town. We then pulled up a dyno chart of a 800hp E55, instead of the pathetic 235 the cop car actually made... ​

And the sales jumped significantly.​

If they have one, try working with the sales team first, and get them buzzing about the idea before talking with the boss.

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

Good luck sir. Using any software for lead gen?