Ever cold called your way to greatness? (funding/connections/etc.)

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mpbiz

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Apr 29, 2010
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Two of my favorite entrepreneurs, Gurbaksh Chahal and Nick Swinmurn, both started their businesses (Click Agents and Zappos) with a cold call.

Chalal landed his first insertion order for advertising over the phone and Swinmurn landed funding and ultimately good friends and valuable connections with a cold call as well. In fact Swinmum ended up leaving a voicemail.

I'm in a period of down time right now where I'm trying to save as much money as possible for a new product I want to launch. One of my side hustles is gaining some traction, but not enough to where I still don't have some spare time that I want to put to good use.

I've been thinking about trying to find some of the phone numbers of people in my industry (the one I want to enter with my product) who might be willing to connect me with the right people, meet with me and talk, etc. Who knows where it could lead and I have nothing but time right now...

So out of curiousity have any of you guys ever kick started your dreams with a cold call, or even by knocking on someone's door, or something similar?

Looking for some motivation and inspiration here.
 


My wife and I hit the pavement hard when I first branched out to the local clients. It can be brutal cold calling on clients, as most of them you can't meet with the decision maker. I was more then happy though to get a name and the email of the receptionist so that I could send them more info.

Once I got the receptionist's email, I usually could guess the email of the decision maker then. It didn't always work, but at least you have an a foot in with the email that you probably won't otherwise.

All I can say is keep working and don't be scared to hear no. You will hear it over and over again, and people will be dicks to you. Ignore it, call them peasants or whatever after you leave and move on. Just keep your eye on the money in the end. Sales will come, it is all a numbers game. The more businesses you hit, the higher the odds.
 
moratraffic, I just got back from distributing sales letter to local businesses on foot. Any more advice? Someone mentioned not to go out on Fridays because the businesses are too busy and focused on the weekend, is that true in your experience?
 
pinchyfingers said:
moratraffic, I just got back from distributing sales letter to local businesses on foot. Any more advice? Someone mentioned not to go out on Fridays because the businesses are too busy and focused on the weekend, is that true in your experience?
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Here is a tip. Two actually.

1. Never try to do business with a brick and mortar after lunch on a Friday.

2. People make better decisions early in the day, and are more likely to dismiss you late in the day when they are suffering from decision fatigue. Hit them early every day of the week rather than later.
 
get a hoovers account, you can hagle them down to like 5k for the year you don't have to go through the guess work of finding out who the decision maker is. You'll be able to target businesses effectively.

I made a ton of money from cold calling, in the mortgage/real estate and brokerage business.
 
I've done cold calling before, Tip to get through to secretaries, Try to sound important and offical, and say the person's name who your calling in a familiar way. Then when they ask who calling just say your name nothing after so it seems as though they should know you.
 
guerilla said:
Here is a tip. Two actually.

1. Never try to do business with a brick and mortar after lunch on a Friday.

2. People make better decisions early in the day, and are more likely to dismiss you late in the day when they are suffering from decision fatigue. Hit them early every day of the week rather than later.
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I'd actually test out calling them on Friday. When I used to do telemarketing, Fridays, holidays etc could actually be very productive for cold-calling, because most people follow the "don't call on a Friday" advice above, as salespeople are happy to take any excuse not to prospect.

You often get through to less decision makers, but those you speak to more up for talking to you because they haven't had 10 other people calling them today. Also, in small businesses the receptionist often goes home early on Friday, meaning that the owner picks the 'phone up.

We used to go to a hotel bar, get loaded up on a few G&T's, and cold call using our mobiles. Calling from a public place/your car can be good because people don't associate noise around with a cold call. Great for getting past gatekeepers. Probably not so hot for your liver though.
 
amateursurgeon said:
We used to go to a hotel bar, get loaded up on a few G&T's, and cold call using our mobiles. Calling from a public place/your car can be good because people don't associate noise around with a cold call. Great for getting past gatekeepers. Probably not so hot for your liver though.
Click to expand...

Wow never thought about this, quite cool. There is Gold in STS from time to time.
 
pinchyfingers said:
moratraffic, I just got back from distributing sales letter to local businesses on foot. Any more advice? Someone mentioned not to go out on Fridays because the businesses are too busy and focused on the weekend, is that true in your experience?
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Guerilla hit the nail on the head with when not to call on the businesses. Weekends are weird, as most of the time, the main decision maker may not be around, depending on the business. However, some businesses in the sales field are dead on Saturday mornings, such as car dealerships, and are a prime time to catch the sales manager to chat up (at least in my area). In bigger cities, that might not work.

If you dropped the letters off today, you better be calling tomorrow morning. The more time the business has to think, the less of a chance you have to schedule a meeting for two reasons. One, they simply forget or lose interest in the idea and two, you are giving the manager more time to possibly look at other competitors. Now that he knows about these services, he may be looking to pull the trigger now and starts looking on his own.

Don't leave messages for the decision maker, you will rarely hear back from them.

Don't be a dick to the receptionist. Any info you give her will be dropped straight into the trash. Chat her up/flirt if you want. Business is brutal, grab any advantage you can.

Just be confident man. Confidence exudes whenever you talk to someone, whether it is on the phone or in person. I know these are all just basic tips, but every little detail can be important in landing those clients. Good luck.
 
moratraffic said:
Guerilla hit the nail on the head with when not to call on the businesses. Weekends are weird, as most of the time, the main decision maker may not be around, depending on the business. However, some businesses in the sales field are dead on Saturday mornings, such as car dealerships, and are a prime time to catch the sales manager to chat up (at least in my area). In bigger cities, that might not work.

If you dropped the letters off today, you better be calling tomorrow morning. The more time the business has to think, the less of a chance you have to schedule a meeting for two reasons. One, they simply forget or lose interest in the idea and two, you are giving the manager more time to possibly look at other competitors. Now that he knows about these services, he may be looking to pull the trigger now and starts looking on his own.

Don't leave messages for the decision maker, you will rarely hear back from them.

Don't be a dick to the receptionist. Any info you give her will be dropped straight into the trash. Chat her up/flirt if you want. Business is brutal, grab any advantage you can.

Just be confident man. Confidence exudes whenever you talk to someone, whether it is on the phone or in person. I know these are all just basic tips, but every little detail can be important in landing those clients. Good luck.
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Another tip - with a little Googling, it's often possible to pick up the DM's cell # these days. No more gatekeepers, but you MUST be respectful of their time if you do this, otherwise they'll just block you.

Oh, and if you want to see one a great role-model for selling, watch Columbo. Everyone expects sales people to be slick and confident. If you're more like Columbo, it catches them off-guard and you'll get a lot further.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNvzRnotGsY&feature=related"]Columbo - One More Thing - My Wife (Pilot Episodes) - YouTube[/ame]

I've done the deliberately turning up to sales meetings with no pen/pencil, it's hilarious.
 
Oh a thread relevant to my interests? Awesome, I introduce to you WF a beast!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbS-y0L3gRI"]Deric Lipski vs a Really tough Expired Listing Cold Call LIVE!!! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVksDPd5gfM"]Getting pumped for cold calls with Deric Lipski - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrWLV6CPrUA"]Deric Lipski vs FSBO (for sale by owner) Live Call Prospecting - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbS-y0L3gRI"]Deric Lipski vs a Really tough Expired Listing Cold Call LIVE!!! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PziYqHINbrM"]How I find buyers doing Cold calls with Deric Lipski - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nI-ikG3PbE"]Deric Lipski vs a Really tough Expired Listing Cold Call LIVE!!! - YouTube[/ame]


Observe everything in these videos. Observe how he is standing up, not sitting down and becoming fully engaged into the calls. These are real live calls and this guy, Deric Lipski is a master closer. Watch the videos, go out and destroy

Prospecting with Deric Lipski - YouTube
 
Nice - I've only watched the first one, but you'll notice he doesn't try to "sell" them. He just patiently asks questions, and lets the prospect sell themselves. Great pain-finding :)
 
amateursurgeon said:
Nice - I've only watched the first one, but you'll notice he doesn't try to "sell" them. He just patiently asks questions, and lets the prospect sell themselves. Great pain-finding :)
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Correct, you'll notice he does a lot of pacing with the prospect first, asks them questions that aren't really pushy, then drops in the lead after a few paces. You'll get less resistance this way
 
Im loling at this sleezebag in the first video, id blow my brains out having to do this shit everyday to make some coin.
 
BlokBlok said:
Im loling at this sleezebag in the first video, id blow my brains out having to do this shit everyday to make some coin.
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Cold calling sucks, no doubt, not my gig, would rather work on positioning. You know that saying, work smarter not harder. If it has anything to do with closing, I want to know about it. Stay cold out there bros
 
I definitely respect his hustle, but you cant do that shit forever, at some point you should have customers coming to you.
 
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