Cold Calling is Dead; The Myth Part III

Hopefully, I have inspired you to set your fears aside and pick up the phone and dial. An excellent source for your list of potential clients is Yelp.com. They list businesses in a local area by type of business so, no matter who you want to target, chances are you will find a list of them on Yelp. Let me remind you right now that you cannot take rejection personally and, hopefully, I will give you the advice that will make rejection less likely.

In an ideal situation, you will use this as one tool in your tool belt and you will use it when there is no pressure on you. Remember the term nurture. Nurturing is what you are trying to do. It doesn’t matter if they buy right now or not; especially if you are using a couple of hours per day. Remember it should be done by you or a trusted employee that genuinely wants to see your business grow. Also, it is important to stick to it. Don’t be sporadic. Set aside a time each day and do it.

When you get a live conversation you don’t want to sound like a sales person and you shouldn’t be thinking like a sales person. Be completely conversational. You can begin by saying that this is Joe from fill in the blank with your business name. It is important to identify yourself right away. You should do your homework before hand and you should ask them a question that will identify a common pain that your product or service can solve. When the conversation is going back and forth you can tell them about your product or service and tell them that you merely want to let them know about you. This is the time when you can say that you would like to send them whatever offer you have for them. It is a good time to get their email or fax so that you can send it to them. Email is preferable. If it is convenient to your type of business, ask if you can stop by some time and meet face to face.

You are not selling; you are building a relationship and nurturing a future customer. Over time this will put a lot of sales on the books for you and you will grow your business at the same time.

rijConsulting