Comments on: Grow Your Business: No Cold Calls Necessary

By: Karalyn

Karalyn — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:51:02 +0000

I like your ideas and think you have hit the nail on the head. I am constantly looking for new leads, but I have also learned my best clients come from referrals, not cold calls. I don’t appreciate cold calls — not even from a car salesman. In fact years ago I wrote the president of a car dealership in SoCal and complained about one of his salemen who had gotten my email address and bombarded me daily. The emails stopped immediately.

Most of us network in some fashion anyway — and getting a referral via a social network is totally acceptable. In the end, word-of-mouth advertising is still the best advertising there is. When one of my clients refers someone and says something like “Call Karalyn; she’ll take good care of you.” that person feels comfortable calling me. And they expect good service as their friend would not have steered them wrong. Because I don’t want my original client to hear bad things about me, I work hard to keep the new client happy. It’s a win/win situation and does not require cold calling on my part.

By: PizzaForADream

PizzaForADream — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:43:14 +0000

I’ve been in the advertising business for years and have gotten to the point where I haven’t had to make cold calls in a long time. It’s all about reputation and customer service. Follow thru with your promises and take care of people and they will send more business your way than you can handle!

By: Sell Better

Sell Better — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:53:10 +0000

I like the ideas you present in this post, but I think you are doing you audience a disservice by telling them â€œNO CLD CALLSâ€. Cold calls are a vital and practical part of any revenue generation process, and done right could take the great tips you highlight to the next level.

The fear of rejection you mention only exists due to lack of preparation and competence. If they included cold calling in their plan and execution of the plan they could gain more revenue open more networks to tap into. Once prepared for the cold call they could face less rejection more success, and be able to deal with the outcome.

Look at your point 8. networking, imagine if they actually called the person on the card the next day, used the notes you mention, and extend any momentum from the event. A cold call is any call that the recipient dos not have on their agenda, which describes many of the people you garner through your great ideas. The question is how you convert conversations initiated into appointments or sales calls.

No method for engaging with prospects is perfect, and cold calling is no less perfect than others.

Thanks,
Renbor

By: Erek Ostrowski

Erek Ostrowski — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:01:29 +0000

This is such a great post! Many small business owners completely neglect their existing network simply because they feel as though they SHOULD be cold calling. The exercise you spelled out is an excellent way to break through the paralysis and start producing results!

By: Seamus Anthony

Seamus Anthony — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:49:23 +0000

This is a really great idea. thank you.