Friday, July 15, 2005

Cold calling: The Big Chill down your spine

Entrepreneurs are dauntless businesspeople who dare all and fear nothing in their quest for success, right?

Wrong. Their knees buckle at the thought of cold-calling. Oh, the fears of rejection and insecurity that cold-calling arouses in even the stoutest hearts.

Of course, there are a few courageous entrepreneurs who dare to call people they don’t know to sell them on their services and arrange conversations and meetings. But even those don’t tend to do it very well.

Enter Susan Aldridge, Queen of the Cold-Callers, an Ontario entrepreneur who is building her own consulting business around cold-call training and outsourced cold-call services. Helping cold callers with cold feet: talk about a hot niche!

I devoted my column in the June issue of PROFIT Magazine to Susan’s business, and her cold-calling tips. Check it out at
http://www.profitguide.com/sales/article.jsp?content=618

My favorite of Susan Aldridge’s cold-calling tips:
Find an Accountability Buddy. Tell them your goals and give them progress reports.”

To keep your cold feet to the fire.

2 comments:

aleah said...

This is by far, the worst part of being in business for oneself. At what point, though, would you suggest hiring a professional sales person? I have heard mixed reviews on whether or not the principal(s) should be making these calls.

Like the blog! Good to see a fellow Torontonian.

Rick Spence said...

If you can afford to hire professionals to do your cold-calling for you, sign them up now. In the early stages, most entrepreneurs are the only affordable sales resource they have, so they keep up the calling for as long as they can.
Rick Spence