By Peter Bowerman
Action or Results? Two copywriters both start cold-calling at 9:00 a.m. Copywriter #1’s goal? To land two new writing projects or three hot prospects by 5:00 p.m. Copywriter #2’s goal? To make 50 calls. Now, tell me – who’s going to have a more stressful day?
In my seminars, I’ll ask, “When starting a cold-calling campaign, should you focus on action or results?” Many immediately yell out, “Results!” Why? “Well, we’re judged on results,” they’ll reply. But I say “Action” is the right answer. Think about it. What’s true of action that isn’t true of results? If you answered, You can control action, but you can’t control results, go to the head of the class.
Assuming you’ve built a calling list targeting prospects that are a fit for your offer (as opposed to opening up the phone book and starting to dial…), for the most part, you have little control over the results of any given phone call or email. Nor how that person on the other end of the line will react to your contact or whether that individual will think your portfolio is good enough to consider hiring you.
Yes, you can improve your results by, say, getting more comfortable with your phone skills, and perhaps beefing up your “book,” but still, fundamentally, the one thing you have control over is the actions you take.
For example, take our two copywriters above. If 2:00 p.m. rolls around, and #1 has landed neither gigs nor interest, you think the desperation is going to start seeping into his voice? How do you think that’ll work out for him?
Meanwhile, #2, cool as a cucumber, makes his 50 calls – unconcerned about the outcome (that would be focusing on results again!) – and he’s done.
Here’s the key: Make those 30, 40 or 50 calls a day, and the results – hot prospects and writing jobs – will come. Minus the anxiety. The Law of Averages is ironclad. And I don’t care how those calls turn out (i.e., live contact, voice mail, message left with a secretary, appointment, dinner date, etc.). Keep calling and the results are assured.
Just a “Telemarketer”? Really? Another thing. In a seminar I did a few years back, a woman raised her hand and said, very earnestly, “I just hate the idea of cold calling, because I don’t appreciate telemarketers, and I think most people feel the same.” Whoa.
I gathered my thoughts, looked at her and asked, “Is that who you think you are? Just an obnoxious telemarketer—no different from the people who rudely interrupt your dinner to peddle aluminum siding, carpet cleaning, and a zillion other things you have no interest in?”
Get this or fail: Assuming you’re a competent, reliable writer, if you pursue this business, you’ll be a professional marketing a valuable and needed professional service to other professionals. Period. While the people you call may not need your services (80 percent won’t) or even have the time to talk to you, I promise they will not be viewing you as an irritating telemarketer. So, don’t dare view yourself this way.
Action, Not Results…Again When I sold books door-to-door in college, our goal was 30 demos a day (the equivalent of phone calls made to prospects), a demo roughly defined as pulling the books out and beginning our pitch—either in the house or at the door—whether or not we got to finish it. Making sales the goal (i.e., results) would’ve introduced unnecessary anxiety into the process. They knew if we made 30 honest demos a day or close to it, the sales would come. And they did. Same here.
There were days as bookmen where we’d put in our honest 13½ hours (8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday; insanity, yes, but character-building insanity) and come up with…bupkus. Growth and Development Days, we called them. Very, very rare. Our sales managers would congratulate us on having a G&D day, adding, By the way, you DO know that you’ll sell the first three houses you visit tomorrow, don’t you?
And I’m telling you straight here, we always did, because, I’m convinced we were, well…convinced. On my first call one morning following a G&D day, I remember approaching someone getting in their car in the driveway, briefcase in hand, about to head to work, and absolutely knowing that, despite the unpromising-looking circumstances, this person was going to buy a set of books (a $40 purchase).
I guess he knew it too, because he did. Approach cold calling with that same bone-deep belief in the Law of Averages and you can’t help but win.
Have you tried cold calling for your writing business? If so, how did it work?
If not, what’s kept you from trying?
Have you focused on results too much, instead of action?
Have you made the mistake of equating a business call to a prospect with “telemarketing”?
(An adapted excerpt from The Well-Fed Writer (2010; Fanove) by Peter Bowerman)
Love to write but hate to starve? Visit www.wellfedwriter.com for a free report, ezine and blog on the lucrative field of “commercial” freelancing – writing for businesses and for $50-125+ an hour. All written by Peter Bowerman, veteran commercial freelancer, writing/publishing coach, and the author of the three award-winning Well-Fed Writer titles, the self-published how-to “standards” on lucrative commercial freelancing. He chronicled his self-publishing success (currently, 60,000 copies of his books in print and a full-time living for nine-plus years) in the award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living.
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Nice! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Peter, this really helps puts things into perspective! I am planning to kick off a cold-calling program in December…I was so happy to hear the phrase ‘Growth & Development Day.’ I’m going to write this on an index card and keep it in the ‘cold call’ folder so I can see it once I start the calls. I have a feeling there will be more than a few days that will feel like I’m not getting ‘results;’ it’s good to know that at the end of the day, I can at least feel sastified I took ‘action’ to move things forward…and keep faith that the results will follow.
Thank YOU, Cindy, for weighing in. And oh yes, there will definitely be days when you won’t feel you’re making progress, but you are. And check out my earlier comment about the no-charge teleseminar tomorrow (Wed. 10/12) on cold-calling. Might want to check it out!
PB
Thanks Susan,
Cold calling is one of those things that really spawns high levels of anxiety, fear and loathing, and the longer one puts off trying it, the more anxious and fearful one can become. To the point where you’ve turned it into this dark, gnarly and downright terrifying notion. Sound familiar to anyone?
That said, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from writers who were in that boat: who’d put it off and put it off, until they’d worked themselves into a lather of panic and paralysis. But then, in a moment of brain shutdown (sometime that’s what you have to do: just shut down your reasoning centers and do it), they hit the phones, with a goal of making say, just five calls. Just to get past that initial hurdle.
And lo and behold, it’s not anywhere NEAR as bad as they’d envisioned (the human imagination is a very powerful thing; as one of my favorite sayings reminds: “Your own mind is dangerous neighborhood; don’t go there alone.”).
They email me almost giddy: “I didn’t stop at five. I actually ended up making 20 calls! And, it wasn’t that hard! And people were actually nice! And no one yelled at me! And I even got some interest!” Is there an echo in here?
No, it’s far from the only way to build your business (think direct mail and networking – both grapevine and in-person, for starters…). AND, yes, it can be a big-ass waste of time if it’s done haphazardly, without a good strategic game plan or serious thought given to the ideal client you want to reach.
Anyway, just so happens that, tomorrow, Wednesday, 10/12 at 4 p.m. EST, I’m teaming up with Wendy Weiss (a.k.a. “The Queen of Cold Calling”) for a complimentary teleseminar on cold-calling. It’s entitled (you’re going to love this…): “Cold Calling for People Who Hate (Even the Idea of) Cold Calling.”
Wendy’s the guru in this department and yet, the women did NOT start out in sales or cold calling. She was a ballet dancer! You need to hear her story.
Check out http://wellfedwriter.com/seminars.shtml for more details and registration info (it’s no charge, but you must register…). Hope you’ll join us!
PB
It’s what I tell folks on my blog – market every day. Results will come from action, not force.
I do little cold calling, but I combine calls with email follow-ups. Seems if I open the door – just a crack – I can get myself and the prospect in a better position to move forward together.
I think during lean times we all focus too much on results, but maybe that’s because we allow the lean times to happen. Better to market when we’re busy (and every day) than to be sitting idle scrambling for gigs.
I’ve never equated calls with telemarketing. The difference is I’m making contact, not sales. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t freak me out so much.
This is all so true. If you just open the door a bit, they will come. You don’t waste time by trying, you waste time by not doing anything. I always follow-up with prospects and that gets me good results about 90% of the time.
one thing that makes the whole idea make sense is, as you point out, having a strategic plan, knowing what you have to offer and giving thought to who would be good prospects for it at the start. then the action stage just supports your direction, as a professional offering services to another. thanks for the reminder, Peter (and Susan).
Anna,
I liked your line, “You don’t waste time by trying, you waste time by not doing anything.” How true. When you cold call, often, it can seem like a waste of time, if you’re not getting anywhere. But, it’s not. Of course, that assumes you have built a good list of qualified prospects to call, not just opening up the phone book and dialing away (I’m hoping no one would actually do that!)
PB
Great commentary, with lots of food for thought. I’d never consciously thought about it as action vs results, but you’re so right – the “action” goal definitely reduces the stress levels, as opposed to the goal of attaining results. Thanks for sharing your insight.
I make B2B calls. Trying to get past the gatekeeper always made me nervous. If I can find a direct dial it makes things much easier. Jigsaw has been a great resource.
http://www.jigsaw.com/join/NowItsFree
Great points there Peter. Quality is important than Quantity. Who cares if you call 50 and all of them are not good. When generating leads, it is important that the leads can be converted into clients.