8 Easy Steps to Warm up Cold Calls

Guest post by Jennifer Woodard @ http://wordzopolis.com/ …

The biggest obstacle when starting a freelance business is getting your first clients. Everyone is touting social media marketing and it is a great way to connect with potential clients but it can take time to see the efforts of social media marketing bring in paying clients.

One way to gain clients quickly is through cold calling. What do you do if you are afraid of cold calling? Start by warming up your cold calls.

Going from cold calls to warm calls

A few years ago, I started my freelance commercial writing business and I was in need of clients. I did not want call businesses unexpectedly so I came up a plan to warm clients up before I made my phone call. I am going to lay out the steps I used to warm up cold calls.

Step 1: I decided on what industries I wanted to target.

At that time, I wanted to work with small to medium sized businesses that could afford to hire a freelance commercial writer but maybe did not have a dedicated marketing staff. I also chose to target graphic designers, website designers and marketing agencies.

Step 2: I spent time researching business websites. I took out the list of Inc. 500 companies and wrote down the name or website address of any company that I read about that seems like a possible candidate for freelance work.

Step 3: I searched websites for names and email addresses of the person who would be likely to hire freelance commercial writers for the company. I wrote down the company address and phone number. If I could not find the email address and phone number of the person that I was looking for I called the receptionist and asked for the person’s email address and/or phone number. Most receptionist gave the email address or phone number of the person I was trying to reach with no questions, they are usually very busy and need to get you off the phone.

Step 4: I devised a LOI, letter of interest outlining who I was, my background and the services that I offered and a link to and online portfolio that I had put together. I would put in the letter that I would be contacting them in a few days to talk about any writing needs that they may have, but they were welcome to email me back or call me if they needed help right away.

Step 5: I created a contact database with the people’s name, contact information, contact date, how the first contact was made, and what happened.

Step 6: I waited a couple of days and then I called the person, reminded them of the LOI that I had sent them, and asked them if they had a couple of minutes to talk. If they used freelances but did not need one at that time, I asked could I keep them on my contact list and add them to my newsletter list. Most people will say yes. I then went about creating a short monthly newsletter.

Step 7: I used a cheap service that does post cards and had eight post cards made, each post card describing a service that I offered and I mailed a post card to my list of people who said I could keep in contact every eight weeks.

Step 8: I repeated and rinsed until I built a clientele. I created my list in batches of 50 and mailed emailed out 10 a day for each day. Then I went through and began calling all the names on the list. I did this repeatedly until I picked up enough clients to sustain me and built a list of contacts I could keep in touch. It was not hard work just took time, which I had since I had no clients.

Would I do the same thing right now? Yes, I would do the same thing, even the post cards because so few people are using snail mail that you have a better chance of standing out from everyone else. Everyone talks about standing out above the noise, but of the most time, it is the small consistent things that you do that gain you clients.

–Jennifer Woodard strives to help clients grow their business with effective, cost efficient marketing. She understands that marketing can be overwhelming and works to help create marketing plans that are easy for clients to implement and manage. She teaches clients how to make long-term marketing goals manageable by eating that elephant one bite at a time. She helps clients create marketing programs that draw in prospects and increase quality leads. Using of Inbound Marketing techniques, clients use tactics that bring customers to their website, blog or brick and mortar store.

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