An old friend asked me for help. His business this past year barely made it. He lost several major clients and was having a hard time finding new ones. Sound familiar? It should. Every entrepreneur must ultimately confront the demon; how do I grow my business?
My friend attends at least two weekly networking sessions. He leaves with a handful of business cards, but little else. He tried direct mail; frightfully expensive and too scattershot. He tried newspaper advertising; no luck. Social networking may be great for dating and renewing friendships but not for converting prospects into clients.
COLD CALLING has long been the most effective tool for prospecting. Yet, lately it has become a dirty word. We’ve allowed ourselves to become seduced by the belief of “easy prospecting” by deluding ourselves into thinking that technology will allow us to reach a wide audience. That may be true. However, are we really reaching QUALITY and QUALIFIED prospects? Every successful financial planner, insurance salesperson, software developer, carpet and upholstery cleaner, you name it, understands the value of, and the need for making those cold calls, and, will devote a part of their day in pursuit of new clients. Anyone who has successfully built a service business will tell you that the key to their success has been a well-thought-out cold calling strategy!
You may well be saying that you don’t sell any of these services. Nonsense, you’re still selling an intangible. That cold call will put you face-to-face with a prospective client sooner than networking, passing out business cards, or even creating a great website.
I hope I’ve given you some “food for thought.” In future articles, we will discuss effective cold calling strategies with the ultimate goal of creating a “Prospecting Roundtable” where we can get together and help plan effective cold calling campaigns.
Let me know your thoughts.
Gabriel Siegel
For more information, please visit Gabriel's TNNW Bio.
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