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You guys are trying to scam me

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Kung Fu Steve

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I'm afraid to cold call U.S businesses due to my Nigerian accent. I have cold called them before though but didn't get any result

American women love an accent. Maybe you just got the wrong people!

How many calls did you make? Have you tried following up with an email every time?

Call, Email, Call, Email.

I could probably teach a masterclass on cold calling these days. What you think is your liability is actually your asset.

My mentor taught me to "mind read" the audience. Tell them the worst possible thing they could be thinking before they think it/say it out loud.

Why not have fun with it? "Wait! Don't hang up! I'm not a Nigerian Prince! ... my brother is... but I'm a web designer! I know there's never a good time to talk about getting leads and sales from your website... but is now a halfway decent time?"
 
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Cojo

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How many calls did you make? Have you tried following up with an email every time?
I made about 10 - 15 cold calls a day.


Why not have fun with it? "Wait! Don't hang up! I'm not a Nigerian Prince! ... my brother is... but I'm a web designer! I know there's never a good time to talk about getting leads and sales from your website... but is now a halfway decent time?"
Ahh, okay then :happy:
 

Kung Fu Steve

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I made about 10 - 15 cold calls a day.



Ahh, okay then :happy:

My man... I made 200 calls per day, 6 days a week.

I was NOT great at it but I knew if I made 200 calls, I'd get 2 meetings.

10 calls a day is not going to get you anywhere.

 

Dami-B

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I'm afraid to cold call U.S businesses due to my Nigerian accent. I have cold called them before though but didn't get any result
I'm Nigerian, I sell nocode development services, I have clients across 7 countries, i rely heavily on job marketplaces for client acquisition that focus on nocode.

A lot of the excuses we give regarding location being a major disadvantage are in our heads and just self limiting beliefs.

If you have great internet connection, confidence and valuable skill, you're in business and the world is your market.

I don't even have proper website, but what I do have is a list of happy clients and a portfolio of successful projects that speak volumes to credibility, I think that should be the main focus at first for every service provider regardless of your location, build a list of happy clients who would gladly refer your services, most people are terrible at what they do and yet they want to get paid for it. Build that list even if it means structuring your deals differently.

And yes it comes up, and prospects ask me my location, and if I get a slight hesitation from them or discomfort, IDGAF, off you go!!! Loooove firing my prospects. There's thousands of people out there that'd love to do business with me and those skeptics are a very very very very small minority.

Secondly, one of the things I'm doing currently for client acquisition beyond job marketplaces is to niche down into specific industries, I'm noticing patterns that show service providers being my best clients, so I'm working on something unique for those industries to attract more clients. So maybe try and niche down and see how you could add some unique value to an industry instead of being a web developer to everybody.

Keep going at it
 
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Raju Zodiac

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I'm afraid to cold call U.S businesses due to my Nigerian accent. I have cold called them before though but didn't get any result
Hey, I can relate to you. I am from India and feel like cold calling U.S. businesses won't work because of my accent and location too. Hoping to get over this soon.
 

Kung Fu Steve

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Hey, I can relate to you. I am from India and feel like cold calling U.S. businesses won't work because of my accent and location too. Hoping to get over this soon.

I understand your fear, but please hear me: 99% of people don't care that you're from India. (They only get upset that you're a telemarketer :rofl:)

Most of us business owners on the forum have hired Indian developers and had great, profitable results.

I've done some consulting with a company out here called ITServ. It's ALL Indian. VERY successful businesses in that group.
There's almost a prejudice in the U.S. now that "if someone is NOT Indian, they don't know what they're doing in tech."

It's not your accent that will make people say no, it's the uncertainty that comes through in the tonality of your voice.

Practice confidence in your voice, the tonality of your words, and get a strong script -- you can do this. But if you can't figure out how to create confidence in your voice -- use the written word (email, website portfolios, etc.)
 

Johnny boy

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My man... I made 200 calls per day, 6 days a week.

I was NOT great at it but I knew if I made 200 calls, I'd get 2 meetings.

10 calls a day is not going to get you anywhere.

I love that movie so much and that’s an understatement
 
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Raju Zodiac

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I understand your fear, but please hear me: 99% of people don't care that you're from India. (They only get upset that you're a telemarketer :rofl:)

Most of us business owners on the forum have hired Indian developers and had great, profitable results.

I've done some consulting with a company out here called ITServ. It's ALL Indian. VERY successful businesses in that group.
There's almost a prejudice in the U.S. now that "if someone is NOT Indian, they don't know what they're doing in tech."

It's not your accent that will make people say no, it's the uncertainty that comes through in the tonality of your voice.

Practice confidence in your voice, the tonality of your words, and get a strong script -- you can do this. But if you can't figure out how to create confidence in your voice -- use the written word (email, website portfolios, etc.)
OMG! Thank you so much. This has filled in me with a lot of confidence. Now I can go in knowing that my location won't be a limiting factor. Thank you again!
 

KSR

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I'm genuinely surprised this hasn't been brought up yet (not that I've seen).

Draft up a contract and get them to sign it before anything, this will resolve it because:
a) they're covered legally
b) you're covered legally
c) it becomes more than a hobby

Here's a template.
 
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