Let's Beat the Fear of Cold Calling

[Echizen]

Last week, after reading the thread of @Fox and the book "Breaking the time barrier", I was really excited to start creating websites to be financially independent and then be able to start my fastlane projects.

As I already created some websites from scratch and I'm not that bad with design, the development part is not the problem.

The sale part is.

Following the Fox advices, I contacted people with big following (300 000+ Youtube subscribers) to redesign their website (for free) and highlight the books that they published (I think it's a good added value, no?).
I get only one response "Thanks for the proposition. I think about it regularly but I didn't make a decision yet."
Without telling him, I redesigned his website and I sent him the url yesterday night. (no response yet. Should have use a tool to know if he opened the email).
Then, I mailed a few other Youtubers who published books with the url of the design I just did but no response yet.

I think now of cold calling businesses like lawyers.

I never thought this would be SO DIFFICULT to take the phone.

With a single line of script I finally called a lawyer and when she said "allo", I read my sentence with only one breath so I'm really not sure she understood anything... and then she said "sorry, this is my colleague who takes care of that and she is in vacation until august" - "Ok ty, bye".

I hung up and finally took my breath.

After that, I was looking for some motivation and advices on cold-calling so I watched "Pursuit of happiness", I read "Go for no!" and opened google sheet to prepare a list of 30-50 lawyers who need a redesign.

After reading "Go for no" I gave me the goal to get 10 "no" today.

So it is 11:52 am and I didn't do anything !!! I wanted to cold call between 9 and 12 but I didn't have a script so I said to myself that I needed it first. The real reason is that I am just afraid to call those guys.

Goals for today:
-> a little script to start cold calling with
-> 10 no's

 

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

[Alexlewter]

What worked for me early on was making a shift in my perspective.

You might be “cold calling”, but essentially all you’re doing (or should be doing) is meeting new people that you or your company align with.

That's it!

There should be no selling, pitching, etc on that first call. Quite literally, just introduce yourself and make a new friend!

Your call was unexpected to them, so feel out the conversation, but ultimately respect their time, grab any additional contact info, and work on the follow-up call where you can spend more focused time together.

It will get easier the more you do them, so grab your 30 seconds of courage and make some new friends!

 

[Echizen]

Quite literally, just introduce yourself and make a new friend!

When they expect you to be a customer, and that they quickly understand that you are the opposite, it's not the easiest thing to do ^^'

So today I called 11 lawyers and 1 luthier.
I got only 4 no, 1 maybe yes for september and 1 yes for free (but I emailed him right after the call and he didn't responded back so..)
I also cold emailing a few people but no response yet.
Not proud of myself

 

[hatedsalesrep]

When they expect you to be a customer, and that they quickly understand that you are the opposite, it's not the easiest thing to do ^^'

So today I called 11 lawyers and 1 luthier.
I got only 4 no, 1 maybe yes for september and 1 yes for free (but I emailed him right after the call and he didn't responded back so..)
I also cold emailing a few people but no response yet.
Not proud of myself

At least you did it brother! I cold called like 20 today and got 1 maybe and then went to 5 in person meetings and got 2 free yeses and one possible paid yes. Try going in person..Its almost always yes since they cant hide behind their phones/screens.

 

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

[Echizen]

At least you did it brother! I cold called like 20 today and got 1 maybe and then went to 5 in person meetings and got 2 free yeses and one possible paid yes. Try going in person..Its almost always yes since they cant hide behind their phones/screens.

Do you send emails before calling ? What businesses do you call? And (if you are in the webdesign), you call to schedule the meeting and you create mock up to show it at this moment?
Btw, right now, it's me who is hiding behind my screen haha

 

[hatedsalesrep]

Do you send emails before calling ? What businesses do you call? And (if you are in the webdesign), you call to schedule the meeting and you create mock up to show it at this moment?
Btw, right now, it's me who is hiding behind my screen haha

No emails. I'm calling used car dealerships which is not my favorite market but if you can COLD CALL AND SELL to one of the "sleaziest" jobs in terms of salesmanship in the world..You'll be able to sell to anyone.

I do digital marketing. I just promise to give them tangible results 3 weeks then we can talk reacurring monthly. I focus on being able to give them something that is actually helpful for them.

I'll disclose im no pro. I suck at cold calling and you'll be able to see when I post my videos but I am learning. Believe me going out and talking to people is even harder..Its mentally draining but now that I've cold called AND been in person I feel so much more comfortable cold calling...Its way easier over the phone.

It takes time but if you do this 4-5 times a week for 1 year...How can you not have a shit ton of clients and selling experience? That is the way I see it

 

[Tim Allen Jr.]

Last week, after reading the thread of @Fox and the book "Breaking the time barrier", I was really excited to start creating websites to be financially independent and then be able to start my fastlane projects.

As I already created some websites from scratch and I'm not that bad with design, the development part is not the problem.

The sale part is.

Following the Fox advices, I contacted people with big following (300 000+ Youtube subscribers) to redesign their website (for free) and highlight the books that they published (I think it's a good added value, no?).
I get only one response "Thanks for the proposition. I think about it regularly but I didn't make a decision yet."
Without telling him, I redesigned his website and I sent him the url yesterday night. (no response yet. Should have use a tool to know if he opened the email).
Then, I mailed a few other Youtubers who published books with the url of the design I just did but no response yet.

I think now of cold calling businesses like lawyers.

I never thought this would be SO DIFFICULT to take the phone.

With a single line of script I finally called a lawyer and when she said "allo", I read my sentence with only one breath so I'm really not sure she understood anything... and then she said "sorry, this is my colleague who takes care of that and she is in vacation until august" - "Ok ty, bye".

I hung up and finally took my breath.

After that, I was looking for some motivation and advices on cold-calling so I watched "Pursuit of happiness", I read "Go for no!" and opened google sheet to prepare a list of 30-50 lawyers who need a redesign.

After reading "Go for no" I gave me the goal to get 10 "no" today.

So it is 11:52 am and I didn't do anything !!! I wanted to cold call between 9 and 12 but I didn't have a script so I said to myself that I needed it first. The real reason is that I am just afraid to call those guys.

Goals for today:
-> a little script to start cold calling with
-> 10 no's

Hey Echizen,

Been there, done that, understand exactly what you're going through. First things first, you're already ahead of the game in the sense that you're willing to do the uncomfortable (very uncomfortable). For some it gets easier, for others like myself, it never did, lol. But 'sales' is a part of any business..... whether your making a call, responding to emails, or pitching potential investors.

A couple of specific items for you and then a couple of general tips that helped me:

1.) Be specific in who you contact (at least at first). Select 300k+ channels that truly have shitty work, channels you know you can immediately help. This will help you be more confident because you know you'll actually help people.

2.) You could outsource the initial funnel and focus on any leads that come through. I do this all the time, you can find people on Upwork for super cheap. This way you'll talk to people who you know need what you got, it'll be easier to talk to them.

3.) This may just be me - but be VERY careful doing things for FREE. If you are just trying to get better learnings or testimonials... cool... but move away from that as fast as you can. This if for a couple of reasons.
- You'll never know if your 'product' is valuable if if you don't get someone to pay you to do it.
- Your undervaluing yourself... which can lead to more undervaluing of yourself and product. Competing on price is never a great place to be in (unless you can afford to... ie... Amazon and companies of scale)
- This is from personal experience and after reading Marc Andresson - (link).

4.) Create a youtube channel and go through the steps. This way you live in their world, know exactly what they're going through, where hurdles creep up and the lingo they use.

5.) Others have mentioned this as well. Reframe your mindset. Call to learn, not to sell. But an eye opening experience for me was when I stopped trying to sell, and more focused on their business and challenges. Again...call to learn, not to sell. An example: I was tasked with fixing a product line and had to learn about what challenges this product could solve. When I called people, the conversation started (paraphrasing here) "I'm tasked with fixing one of our products, but I'm really just looking to get candid feedback/challenges of your world". People hate being sold, but love talking about their problems. When I made this simple mindset change, and truly forced myself to think differently, conversations lasted much much longer. Focus even more on learning their problems, less on what your product could solve, and even less on selling.

6.) Insurance companies do a great job of this. Ask for referrals (it'll be uncomfortable), even after a 'no'. This way you essentially double your 'calls' with little to no effort.

Some or all of these suggestions might not be applicable, but hopefully these help.

 

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

[hatedsalesrep]

Hey Echizen,

Been there, done that, understand exactly what you're going through. First things first, you're already ahead of the game in the sense that you're willing to do the uncomfortable (very uncomfortable). For some it gets easier, for others like myself, it never did, lol. But 'sales' is a part of any business..... whether your making a call, responding to emails, or pitching potential investors.

A couple of specific items for you and then a couple of general tips that helped me:

1.) Be specific in who you contact (at least at first). Select 300k+ channels that truly have shitty work, channels you know you can immediately help. This will help you be more confident because you know you'll actually help people.

2.) You could outsource the initial funnel and focus on any leads that come through. I do this all the time, you can find people on Upwork for super cheap. This way you'll talk to people who you know need what you got, it'll be easier to talk to them.

3.) This may just be me - but be VERY careful doing things for FREE. If you are just trying to get better learnings or testimonials... cool... but move away from that as fast as you can. This if for a couple of reasons.
- You'll never know if your 'product' is valuable if if you don't get someone to pay you to do it.
- Your undervaluing yourself... which can lead to more undervaluing of yourself and product. Competing on price is never a great place to be in (unless you can afford to... ie... Amazon and companies of scale)
- This is from personal experience and after reading Marc Andresson - (link).

4.) Create a youtube channel and go through the steps. This way you live in their world, know exactly what they're going through, where hurdles creep up and the lingo they use.

5.) Others have mentioned this as well. Reframe your mindset. Call to learn, not to sell. But an eye opening experience for me was when I stopped trying to sell, and more focused on their business and challenges. Again...call to learn, not to sell. An example: I was tasked with fixing a product line and had to learn about what challenges this product could solve. When I called people, the conversation started (paraphrasing here) "I'm tasked with fixing one of our products, but I'm really just looking to get candid feedback/challenges of your world". People hate being sold, but love talking about their problems. When I made this simple mindset change, and truly forced myself to think differently, conversations lasted much much longer. Focus even more on learning their problems, less on what your product could solve, and even less on selling.

6.) Insurance companies do a great job of this. Ask for referrals (it'll be uncomfortable), even after a 'no'. This way you essentially double your 'calls' with little to no effort.

Some or all of these suggestions might not be applicable, but hopefully these help.

I found that to be a huge thing. I think I am taking the "help someone" too literal and trying to just offer my services for free. I think when you say "free" its a way to shield you from being vulnerable and having the other person say "What?! No way I am paying for that". Its that mindset. Thanks for that reminder, I need to shift that mindset asap

 

[JAJT]

Here's my favorite little essay on how the successful sales people learn to love cold calling (PDF warning): http://www.amnesta.net/mba/thecommondenominatorofsuccess-albertengray.pdf

Hint: the pros never learn to love it either, they just do it anyway.