My Experience With Cold Calling

[mrmike2020]

My first experience with cold calling dates back to pre internet days. I'm talking 1977. No cell phone just big clunky phones and huge phone books on the desk beside it.

I was just a teenager who had the opportunity to make a whopping $3.00/hour. All I had to do was call people and ask them to buy light bulbs that supported some charity. I got paid the same day so I was all game to dial for dollars.

What shocked me was that people were actually committing to buying the bulbs. Nothing special about them. Just light bulbs.

Later in life I found myself engaged in the same tactic for insurance and even b2b with equipment leasing.

Today I prefer digital marketing but don't knock cold calling because it can work.

Believe it or not referrals work wonders also. I have a friend who is a financial advisor and hated cold calling or networking meetings. He took traditional referral marketing and tweaked it to where he doubled his business and never had to talk to anyone who didn't want his services.

So it' not about what you are using but more of how you use it to be successful.

 

[Lawsonhj1]

I was setting appointments age 16 for Trane Air Conditioning residential division there had 10 offices across California minimum wage was around $3 I was easily cracking $12 hour on phone my friends at McD's couldn't understand how I could cold call while they flipped burgers for a few bucks. Then one one Saturday they had a couple no shows on the van crew that was a another world welcome to the streets. Then months laterI was a senior in High School instead of taking us to the ghetto they took us up in the hills the rich people one door slammed after another on us that was the day the LA Times article came out and soon no more Trane residential in California. That was my welcome to the streets 40 years ago. I can't even google find the news article but it was one of those ones that started on page A1 and then A3 and A5 etc one house after another poor people losing homes from liens high pressure sales sob story lots of ugly pictures.

 

[Life Hawk]

So it' not about what you are using but more of how you use it to be successful.

Yep, everyone talks about they skin a cat the only way that it can be done properly. Been around too long... when you start yapping like that you're doing what has been going on since sales began, selling the easiest people to sale to... the salesman.

 

[DayTimer]

Today I prefer digital marketing but don't knock cold calling because it can work.

My first "proefessinal job" at the age of 16 was working for a telemarketing company. We did everything from surveys about household products and television programming to calling to set appointments for real estate agents, insurance agents, and home improvement contractors.

When I went into the real estate business 20-odd years ago, I was fortunate enough to have a broker who hired Mike Ferry to train us up. I also had the opportunity to learn from Bill Nasby, a Mike Ferry door-knocking disciple.

What follows is from https://www.mikeferry.com/main/files/05-10-13_Prospecting-The_Never_Ending_Challenge.pdf

In the mid-1990’s, I was invited to speak before a group of approximately 30 large independent Real Estate company owners. I was excited about speaking to this group because each of these companies was not only very large, but very prominent and very successful in the Real Estate marketplace. I had flown across country and gotten in late the night before. Early the next morning, approximately an hour before I was to go downstairs and address the audience, I received a phone call from one of the members stating that the group had changed their minds and they were not going to have me speak that particular day. Needless to say, I was quite surprised and when I asked why I got a very vague answer. I then said to the gentleman, “Fine. Please bring up the check for my speaking fee and expenses,” to which he said, “We’re not paying you if you’re not going to speak.”

One of the challenges that I have addressed for many years in the Real Estate industry is the fact that too often our industry does not understand basic business principles and practices. Throughout the calendar year of 2012, I addressed this particular point time and time again in working with audiences all over North America.

I said to the gentleman, “Since we have a contract and I have fulfilled my portion of it at this point, I expect to be paid.” He then stated, “Let me call you back in a minute or so.” He did call back to say, “Since you’re demanding to be paid, then we’re going to have you speak.” I took the 3 hours of notes I had prepared for this group and threw them in the trash can. I then had about 45 minutes before I was to speak (to what appeared now to be a somewhat hostile audience.) I took a piece of paper and I wrote the following words across the top, “I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND!”

I SPENT THE NEXT 30 MINUTES simply writing all the things I did not understand about the Real Estate business. Remember, this was the mid-1990’s and here we are today near the end of January 2013 … and I actually think I understand less today than I did back then! I then went down and addressed the audience by stating to them that there were 30 different things that I didn’t understand about the Real Estate brokerage industry and that hopefully some of them, as they were very bright people, could help me understand some of these unusual things that take place in what many people say is a direct sales field … listing and selling Real Estate.

I went through my 30 points with them and I want to share with you what point #30 was. “I just don’t understand why so many great broker/owners like yourselves who started in Real Estate and built your businesses through what we would call direct prospecting, and then built your companies over the course of the last 30 years through direct prospecting, now do not teach prospecting to the people who work in your companies. It also seems that you actually discourage people from doing the very thing you did yourself to build your business and company.” I then smiled and said, “Thanks 1 © 2013 The Mike Ferry Organization. All Rights Reserved. for your time,” and walked off the platform to the door. Interestingly enough, six of these companies approached me immediately and hired me to speak to their companies about this very strange, unique, and what appears to be somewhat weird activity called … PROSPECTING.

In doing the work I’ve been doing for more than 37 years, there is one thing that has remained constant in every message I’ve delivered. That constant is “if you’re not talking to people every day about listing and selling Real Estate, it’s going to be nearly impossible to build a substantial business in this industry.” Because I’ve stayed with that message … and in case you’re wondering, I will stay with that message for as long as I’m asked to address groups … you need to understand that if you choose to be an agent who is involved in any form of direct prospecting you are not going to be the most popular person in the office. But you will end up being both the most productive and the most profitable person in the office.

Today's DM houses and lead vendors and up lines who sell leads are thnkful thata almost no one in the insurance business today is teaching agents to hit the bricks like "days of old."

I'm also thankful as there is zero .... ZERO competition out there.

Cold doors are a superior method of prospecting, That's right. knock on 100 cold doors and your bound to come up with at least one deal. How would you like to start out in the morning knowing that you'll have at least one deal that day? Everybody would. But everybody is not willing to work for it. The superstar is willing to knock on those doors. Why? Because superstars determine their own destiny. They, and nobody else, are going to decide how much money they're going to make. -Mike Ferry

 

[Lawsonhj1]

I would go as far as to say cold doors almost any industry 2 -3 hours prospecting should generate at least a deal and that is for almost anyone. The problem is they won't do it and they don't understand the process. What I mean is if someone does that constantly the 2- 3 hours prospecting will soon turn into a full day with overtime potential. In my business all the good ones overdosed in prospecting in the beginning and walked into naturals through action.

 

[DayTimer]

I would go as far as to say cold doors almost any industry 2 -3 hours prospecting should generate at least a deal and that is for almost anyone.

Yes.

The problem is they won't do it

Also yes.

and they don't understand the process.

And a big yes here too.