Do you ever get a cold call that you welcome?

Welcome to Week 49 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 12 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a website copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning from my group experience.

This week, my group and I are crafting our research calling scripts. (We call them “research” calls instead of “cold” calls because it’s a lot less scary! And because they’re a little different. Colleen explains the difference here.) Anyway, I thought I’d take this opportunity to get your input on calls that you’ve received.

I’ve made some research calls in the past, and they’ve gone pretty well – but I know there’s room to grow in order to make the best impression possible.

Back when I was in the corporate world as a Marketing Manager, I received cold calls all the time. And I’m reflecting back on what I liked and what I didn’t like – in order to make my own calls better.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

Super- salesy people. When people were blatantly trying to sell to me, it turned me off. I always wanted to work with real people, not sales machines. When people started “selling” the minute I picked up the phone, I already knew there was no chance.

Being my best friend. I couldn’t stand when people pretended to be my best friend, or tried to trick me into thinking I knew them! Has this happened to you?

Not having a clue. It always cracked me up when people called me and had no clue about the business. It’s like they had never even visited the website to see what we did. Did they just have a list of random phone numbers they were calling out of the blue?

Wanting to come in. I never understand why people would ask to come in and meet with me before figuring out if I even had a need for their services. If they “qualified” my need first, and then wanted to come in, I’d say “sure.”

Being Impersonal. While I didn’t want the callers to be my best friend, I was also turned off by anyone too robotic or unfriendly.

Assumptions. I found callers who assumed that I needed their products or services to be rude. Even if their product or service was “the very best,” it didn’t necessarily mean I needed it.

Here’s what I did like:

Questions. I much preferred callers who asked questions instead of making assumptions.

Friendliness. A genuine, friendly nature can be picked-up over the phone – and you really can “hear” a smile. When people sounded friendly, I would always talk to them.

An introduction. Whenever someone asked me if they could introduce themselves, I warmed to them. It was polite to ask, and reaching out to make an introduction is admirable. 

Persistence. It really does pay off. I was always straight forward with people. If I didn’t need their services, or I didn’t like their approach, I would tell them no. If I did potentially have a need in the future, I asked them to call again. The people who called back really did get the work.

So tell me, what do you like, or dislike about cold calls?

What kind of cold calls do you welcome?

Comments

[base de datos empresas]

your web is excelent.

abrazos

[TurtleBlueBird]

Since I make cold calls (research calls!), I try to be extra nice to people who call me.

It is amazing how robotic too many of them are, tho'.

One example - last week a guy called me and his first line was, "Hello, I'm _____. How's your busines doing?"

When I asked him why he was calling, he said, "I want to help you."

I love the style that Ilise and Peleg teach - about being direct & friendly. Not like that guy. (BTW - I asked him one more time and I still had no idea of what he did. I bet he HATES cold calling - he must get a million hang-ups.)

Makes it seems like it's SO easy NOT to be a bad cold-caller.