Tim Klabunde has written a provocative and useful blog entry, “Warming up COLD calls,” in which he advocates a two-postcard advance marketing strategy when he wishes to connect with individuals he doesn’t know.
He says the process takes time and requires two memorable post cards sent a week apart before he makes his first call, to offer additional information. For this call, he says, he must actually speak with the person (no voice mail). Then he focuses on developing the relationship
He writes:
Remember when you are working a cold contact that most people fail because they call someone else for personal gain, rather than laying a foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship. Instead of focusing on your personal objectives consider helping your new friend to reach their objectives. The result will be a relationship based on trust and and an individual that wants to help you succeed..
Several readers have commented on Klabunde’s ideas in the Construction Marketing Ideas group on linkedin.com (If you are not a member, you will need to apply to join the group, which is free.)
Rob Smith, owner of ROB printing and Creative Director & Partner at Rob Advertising, writes:
I drives me batty when I here people say that printing is dead. I like integrating some of my calls. I really don’t like cold calling either. I do a few things and integrate print, video/audio page on my site, postcard/letter/greeting card. A lot of the time, I like calling and most of the time I leave a message and follow up with a postcard/letter/greeting that has a simple message in it. I also make a web link in the card for them to go to just to here an audio/video message as to what I wanted to tell/sell them. This way they can get an idea what I am about and how I can help them. If they are interested at that time I will insert a direct response form on the page. If they input their information, I get a email or text right away and I know they are interested. I usually give a bonus on the next page to encourage the submit form.
I will follow up with a phone call regardless. Just if they don’t opt-in it might be a day or two.
By the time I call, they feel like they already know me.
These observations suggest a marketing rather than sales focused approach to “cold calls”. And they provide a clue about where marketing is most effective; and that is when it is understood in terms of the actual selling/business cycle.
Creataive, highly targeted campaigns to relatively small groups of people (that is, the group must be small enough that you can truly initiate and follow up on the early calls) is often highly effective, in part because you’ve thought through your strategy, and in part because your creativity and name recognition development directly relate to and channel into your marketing and selling initiatives. I still recall how sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer told a struggling sales rep, who had no luck “reaching decision makers”, how he does it. He simply phones, introduces himself, and is put through right away; Of course, within the sales and marketing community he has enough name/celebrity recognition that you most likely would return or accept his “cold” call.
Tim Klabunde is also correct that the focus must be on relationships rather than selling, and you will succed with this process when you figure out what you can do for the person, rather than what you expect to receive. In fact, your best “selling” results will often occur when you build your foundations of trust by having absolutely nothing to sell to anyone in the community you are reaching — then when it is time to enter the space, you are well-connected and can achieve great results.
In the next two postings, I’ll share some thoughts about what not to do, and how you can enhance the warming up process.
