Cold Calling clients?

[DaveGears86]

I've never liked it and I hate doing it!

In my eyes, cold calling is a lost cause as the people who answer the phone are never responsible for the actual website (as they are just employees and end up brushing you off). Besides, it is VERY annoying and I wouldn't do it if I didn't need to but desperate times cause for desperate measures.

It does feel like my only option at the moment as I have not established a credible clientele yet and I am worried that I will never be able to! So I am here to ask ...

How did you establish a clientele/find cllients? .. by friends? industry contacts?

did cold calling pay off for you?

Any advice would be very welcome as I feel as though I am at a dead end, I'm driving myself crazy trying to find my next client!

Thanks

[bigdave]

Cold calling a reception desk is about as much use as chatting up a bird because you fancy her mate. If you want to do business with company you firstly need to know about that company, what they do and who they do it for. And then you need to find out who it is within that business that you actually need to do business with. If you can get to the right person and convince them that you can save them money and/or make them more money, then thats 1/2 the battle won. Plus when you know what it is you can actually do to improve another business, it doesn't so much like cold calling.

I know a bloke who walked into high street shop to get a battery for his watch, and while he was there told the owner that the company is losing £X,XXX a year in online sales because his site lacked A, B and C... and walked out with a new battery and a £5k e-commerce deal. Just through researching the business and the people behind it. That's a very rare occurrence and involved a great deal of luck and fast talking but it does show what can be achieved with a bit of background research.

[bigdave]

With regard to the rest of your post about finding clients, there's been hundreds of posts on the forum about this and it always comes down to 2 things. Exploitation of your existing contacts and networking to make new contacts.

[Katedesign]

Easier than cold calling is 'warm' calling. Send potential clients a letter/leaflet/gift (I have sent a mini box of smarties in the past) and then follow up with a call. Your first cold-call will be a name-finding call -nothing else. eg. "Just updating my contact list and want to send some information to the right person about my company..." Most of the warm- calls will still fall on deaf-ears but business is about establishing a relationship and getting your name in front of the right person at the right time.

[printbar]

With regard to the rest of your post about finding clients, there's been hundreds of posts on the forum about this and it always comes down to 2 things. Exploitation of your existing contacts and networking to make new contacts.

There's a third thing: common sense. You presumably know what would and wouldn't work on you, and that should be a guideline.

When I was involved with another start up a few years back one of the guys running it insisted that everyone needed to be making cold calls - finding out what businesses there were in each city and approaching them alphabetically (!) The thing was, we couldn't very well tell him that nobody liked this approach, because he bloody loved it! In the end he was buying unnecessary 'seo' just to prove that the cold call approach worked....

[Katedesign]

The latest thoughts are about driving people who want your services to your website by having 'useful articles' and posts on your site or your blog. Although I have some useful bits on my website I suspect they are looked at by other designers/printers etc. Most of my clients have come via networking.

[Minuteman Press]

In the early days we went out and knocked on business doors - 45% quotation rate - 8% of quotations converted - good if you have time to spare - as we did back then.

[ARRIVALS]

There's a third thing: common sense. You presumably know what would and wouldn't work on you, and that should be a guideline.

Good point here. I can't stand getting cold called for anything. Broadband, some new credit card, car insurance etc... Usually the call ends pretty swiftly with me pretending to be an answering machine.

I don't like it, and I'm sure most business people out there don't either. If a client wants a designer, and you're good enough, they'll go to you. If you have to ring and persuade them they need a designer, you're starting in a bad place as they're really not that bothered and may end up not investing time and effort into it, ultimately resulting in not paying or becoming un-contactable.

[Katedesign]

But they have to know that you are there.

If you have already got your name on their desk, on their wall, in their business card book, in their mind - then they might call you before Googling 'designer'. Networking and leafleting have to be a good way to start.

[ARRIVALS]

But they have to know that you are there.

If you have already got your name on their desk, on their wall, in their business card book, in their mind - then they might call you before Googling 'designer'. Networking and leafleting have to be a good way to start.

Indeed. But for me, cold-calling isn't the way to do that. I usually send a business card with a letter to someone I want to work with. They will always open mail, especially if it doesn't look like junk mail. Then your card is on their table. They can quite easily ignore a phone call, or forget your name once a call is finished.

Networking is brilliant. Especially when they take away your business card.

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