Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
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Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#2Cold calling can be extremely effective if you can make yourself do it. Some years ago I did that for a few weeks to promote a piece of software I wrote and I made a ton of interesting connections. Not just for my product but there are a lot of small business owners who are very willing to discuss business in general and you can gain a lot of business ideas that way. It can be very exhausting though if you don't enjoy talking a lot or take rejection personally.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#3Cold calling is wildly effective. It just takes making more than 2 calls a week. I tell my team "get 100 on the phone without selling something and I'll give you $100" been doing that for years and have never paid a rep the $100.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#4Cold calling is wildly effective. It just takes making more than 2 calls a week. I tell my team "get 100 on the phone without selling something and I'll give you $100" been doing that for years and have never paid a rep the $100.
What's your experience with people actually enjoying it or at least not hating it and finding such people? I have done cold calling myself but found it very exhausting to the point that I just couldn't do it anymore.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#5Are there any good resources on who to call and where to get phone numbers? Obviously it should be potential customers, but should it be the CTO of the company if it is tech product for example? And how do you get their phone number?
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#6Cold calling is wildly effective. It just takes making more than 2 calls a week. I tell my team "get 100 on the phone without selling something and I'll give you $100" been doing that for years and have never paid a rep the $100.
What's your experience with people actually enjoying it or at least not hating it and finding such people? I have done cold calling myself but found it very exhausting to the point that I just couldn't do it anymore.
Everyone hates cold calling. Everyone. Some people like the challenge and the reward of getting a total stranger to spend money. But no one actually like a cold calling.
But there are a lot of things we do professionally that we don't enjoy. Expense reports are a huge time sink and I hate doing them. But I hate not getting reimbursed even more.
If you are trying to hire salespeople who can cold call well then I suggest looking for people that are highly organized, process driven, friendly and good storytellers. During the interview try and pay attention to how many times they say "uh" "like" and "you know." Ask them their favorite experience from last summer and see if the way they tell the story is interesting. Try to get them to tell you if they have student loans, a mortgage, a family...anything that indicates a greater immediate financial need. Challenge something they said and see if they defend themselves (competitiveness). The best salesperson I know is crazy as a shithouse rat and rather unreliable...until I tell him I met a guy that's better at sales than he is. Then he gets to work and does things that will blow your mind (cold call to 5 figure deal in 2 weeks). The second best cold caller I know told me in the interview "I hate cold calls. But I love Chanel."
It takes a personality type but it isn't difficult work at all. Most people are just scared and/or don't spend enough time on the work.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#7Are there any good resources on who to call and where to get phone numbers? Obviously it should be potential customers, but should it be the CTO of the company if it is tech product for example? And how do you get their phone number?
My experience is only with small companies and there you can take any phone number and it will be easy to get to the boss. With bigger companies there is a lot of strategy needed to get to someone who can make a decision.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#8Are there any good resources on who to call and where to get phone numbers? Obviously it should be potential customers, but should it be the CTO of the company if it is tech product for example? And how do you get their phone number?
Yes. But you don't need them. You need Google, LinkedIn, a spreadsheet and time. Calling the main line of 99% of companies will get you to the person you are looking for. The other 1% are multibillion dollar companies that aren't going to buy from you.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's your experience with people actually enjoying it or at least not hating it and finding such people? I have done cold calling myself but found it very exhausting to the point that I just couldn't do it anymore.
Everyone hates cold calling. Everyone. Some people like the challenge and the reward of getting a total stranger to spend money. But no one actually like a cold calling. But there are a lot of things we do professionally that we don't enjoy. Expense reports are a huge time sink and I hate doing them. But I hate not getting reimbursed even more. If you are trying to hire salespeople who can cold call well then I sugge…
> Try to get them to tell you if they have student loans, a mortgage, a family...anything that indicates a greater immediate financial need.
Uh... Might not want to do that actually.
Re: Cold calling for my startup and how I learned to embrace the challenge
#10Cold calling is wildly effective. It just takes making more than 2 calls a week. I tell my team "get 100 on the phone without selling something and I'll give you $100" been doing that for years and have never paid a rep the $100.
Eh... I'm not sure about "wildly effective." A few years ago I started a business and cold called for several hours each day for the first four months. I didn't make a single sale, and I'm told I have an excellent phone presence.
What succeeded for me was SEO, direct mail, and email campaigns. I still had to do sales pitches, but I was working off warm leads from people that actually wanted to hear from me.
I'm not saying cold calling doesn't work. I'm saying it's an inefficient use of time. Yes, some people will buy, but there are far more efficient ways of reaching potential clients.