10 Reasons You Should Be Cold Calling

With 10 years worth of projects behind us, Firstborn gets most of its sales based on our reputation, industry buzz and referrals. Even so, we still have a solid business development process in place in which we’re consistently reaching out to existing clients and new prospects. This discipline has enabled our company to triple our revenues since I joined Firstborn back in 2000. Cold calling, while no longer the primary instrument in our business development tool kit, continues to be used as an effective means of helping to keep the train rolling.

Let’s be honest, no one likes doing sales, especially cold calling. But if you’re passionate about your company here are 10 reasons this activity can be an effective means of generating business so you can get to do all the fun stuff.

1. You’re Never Too Busy
Take a look around you. Have more work than you can take on? Good for you. Think it’ll last forever? I wouldn’t bank on it. Taking time to do some calling even when you’re busy, especially when you’re busy will improve the odds exponentially that you’ll continue to have a steady stream of work. Those lulls can be a killer and that’s the worst time to be scrambling.

2. You need to determine your positioning at some point anyway
Calling strangers for fun and profit requires you to be as concise as possible when describing what your company does and what you have to offer. You’ve only got a minute or less to distinguish yourself from your competitors. This is what’s known as the elevator speech. Cold calling forces you to formulate and polish your positioning statement that can be used not only on the phone but in all your marketing communications.

3. It’s easier than just showing up
Walking in to a company that you’re dying to work with and begging the receptionist to see the CEO will not win you any sales brownie points and, if taken to the extreme can earn you a trip to the local police precinct. As long as you’re judicious about the frequency of your calls or e-mails, it’s a lot easier to get your foot in the door by working the phones.

4. Your competitors are doing it
The creative landscape has gotten more and more competitive. Here at Firstborn we’ve certainly seen that in the interactive space. While some companies don’t even have dedicated sales people, most do and you can bet they’re also calling the people you want on your client roster. Why let them get a leg up on you? Fight fire with fire.

5. You’ve got to start somewhere
Your first contacts with a potential client might as well be on the phone or via e-mail. The odds are of you getting stuck in an elevator with a prime prospect are pretty remote. Cold calling, while not the only means of marketing yourself is certainly a very doable option, especially if your business is new. It’s also a lot cheaper than taking out a full page ad in the New York Times.

6. You need to establish relationships
The goal of cold calling is ultimately the sale. But in between you need to build a relationship with your prospect. In addition to introducing your services you should try to get a meeting, even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes. Your potential client may not have a specific project to talk about right now but at least you’ve started a person to person dialog that will eventually lead to work.

7. You’re the best spokesman for your work
If you’re really passionate about what you do it’ll come through on the phone and at a subsequent meeting as the result of a call. Some day, you may have a sales department do it for you but for now, who better to talk about you than you? At Firstborn, we don’t have a team of telemarketers working in a boiler room in the basement but you can bet that each one of our business developers knows well and loves what we do.

8. The most successful business people started in sales.
Think about it. How did Bill Gates start Microsoft? He wasn’t just handed a multi billion dollar empire out of the blue. He worked his tail off selling his company to customers (and he still does). Same with Steve Jobs and a whole list I could rattle off. Remember, you’re in business to pay the bills. There’s no shame in doing sales and cold calling. The big boys have done it.

9. The phone won’t ring by itself
It sounds simple but you can think of it in terms of physics. If you don’t put anything out there, you’re not going to get anything back. If you just rely on work being thrown in your lap, you won’t be in business very long.

10. You can target specific clients.
The more focused you become on the type of customers you want to go after, the better your odds will be. At Firstborn, we decided to target ad agency work and today that has become a large part of our business. Casting your net too wide won’t get you much fish but going where the prospects are lurking will surely get you some bites.

Making cold calls is not high up on most people’s lists of how they want to be spending their time. However, the more you do it, the easier it becomes and the more chance you’ll have of getting meetings with the clients you want in your portfolio. It’s a skill like anything else that can be learned with practice. Used consistently it can be a means to jump start your business and keep it going. Set aside some time everyday whether it’s an hour or 10 minutes. With enough effort, you’ll eventually get results.