Short and simple worked for me

Welcome to Week 33 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.

Yesterday, Ilise sent out a Quick Tip about keeping it simple when you make cold calls so I decided to try an even shorter approach than my normal script.  (If you don’t get Quick Tips, sign up here, they’ll inspire you.)

This week, I didn’t know the names of my prospects. I found their websites online and couldn’t find contact info. So here’s my quick, painless and nameless script:

“Hi, my name is Deidre. I’m not sure who to talk to, but I write copy for websites– and I wanted to see if you ever outsource copy writing work?”

Of the five calls I made, I left two messages and spoke to three prospects. Here’s a recap of the in-person calls:

• One said, “Send your contact information over and we’ll be happy to keep you on file.” I tried to engage her in a conversation, but she sounded busy or rushed (but not rude). I thanked her and sent a follow up email. 

• The other two were extremely interested and very friendly. We talked about their businesses, my rates, and how I work. I sent them both samples. One wrote back and said, “the writing samples are extremely clear and focused” and he “would love to send some work” my way. He said he’s going to start promoting the fact that he can offer copy writing services to his customers, and that most of his customers “definitely do need better copy.”

I continue to be amazed at how responsive people are to my calls.

And this week, short and simple definitely did the trick. Have you tried short and simple? Does it work for you?

Week 34 Recap: It felt good to get back on the cold calling train this week. I had taken a short break to focus on getting my new copy writing website done. (Thanks to everyone who commented.)  It's still a work in progress, and I've called in some help to make the design look more professional. I'm still thinking about a name (and domain name), but I'm getting there.