THINKing

New Business Primer: Speak Up

New Business Primer - Part 1

New Business Primer - Part 2

New Business Primer - Part 3

New Business Primer - Part 4

New Business Primer - Part 5

New Business Primer - Part 6

New Business Primer - Part 7

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the Little Red Book of Selling, can sell anything to anyone. He and I agree on a number of things, but the one I want to talk about today is this: cold calling is a waste of time and there are better ways to spend your time.

According to Gitomer, “the cold call is rarely effective. Voicemail and security have taken away all the fun. Successful penetration is sporadic and there are better avenues of approach. Have a creative opening that wows people and gets through to the decision maker. If this isn’t you, then neither is cold calling. Substitute networking and public speaking at civic groups. They are more fertile prospecting ground.”

Networking and public speaking at civic groups - that is where the action is. When I went out on my own, I hit the rubber chicken curcuit, delivering talks on a wide variety of marketing and PR topics. At the close of the talk I asked for business cards so I could send attendees additional information about the subject and sign them up for my email newsletter. What could be better? You usually get a free meal and you get to advertise yourself for free in front of a group.

Admittedly, this is the slow method of growing a business. However, you tend to have a higher close rate and the clients you get typically are the right ones for you. No client churn is a good thing.

My advice, get some speaker training. Client Ty Boyd is - in my opinion - the best at helping you find your voice. Once you are trained, start talking. It worked for me and will work for you, too.