This was posted in our Facebook group.
Do you think cold calling to sell a funnel-ready website is slightly silly?
“Why wouldn’t you just use a funnel to find them?”
That’s a question I’d think would come to mind, but my cold calling skills aren’t too bad, might be worth doing both?
Michael Killen any success with this? I know you love 10x and the big GC, so wondered if you took your hand to this ever?
Possibly in the beginnings?
David, this is an absolutely brilliant question and one that I wanted to take some time to address. In fact, I’m going to do a video and podcast episode on this exact question.
First of all you’re absolutely right, I absolutely love uncle G. And to that end I believe that his approach to cold calling is probably where to start. Cold calling is not about making an offer, it’s about finding the decision maker. The only possible reason that you should have to cold call people, is to get the contact details of the decision maker. No one is going to buy a $10,000 marketing funnel, straight off the back of the cold call.
However, many businesses will absolutely come to a networking event booking a time for you to talk to their management team or open up a conversation with you through a cold call.
Many coaches and teachers will tell you that you shouldn’t be cold calling. I absolutely understand that a marketing funnel, on full automation, should be able to get your clients. The massive fundamental difference that people fail to understand time and time again however, is that cold calling is one specific stage of the process. It is exactly the same as an advert or an initial outreach campaign. It’s the same as networking and introducing yourself. If you have a well-defined niche and a specific problem to solve you will have a far higher chance at success rate with cold calling.
If I call up a random business and say “hi there I was wondering if you were looking for a new website or if there’s anything I can help with with your digital marketing?” They are going to tell me to go away and stop bothering them. It’s absolutely possible that someone might say yes. However I still need to get through to the decision maker.
on the other hand, if I call up and say “hi there we work with door hinge manufacturers to be able to get them to be installed on more newbuild homes, can I ask who would be in charge of supplying partners and sales?” I’m more likely to get through to the right decision maker and to book a further appointment.
At its core your business should always be making offers. You might not get it right the first time. You might not choose the right method the first time. But unless you are making offers, you’re never going to make sales. Where businesses and “marketing experts quotes turn their noses up at cold calling, is the belief that there marketing funnel will take care of everything for their own business. However, I work with a lot of these businesses and I fail to see them take product offers or sales offers through email, social media, telephone calls or networking.
People might turn their noses up at cold calling, but at least you are attempting to reach out grow your network and make offers. Many people believe that just having a marketing funnel which is automated, will magically create customers. You still have to make offers and close deals. Sometimes that means getting on the phone anyway. If that means reaching out via a cold call and asking to speak the decision maker, even just to interview them or ask them some questions, you’re doing much more than people who say you shouldn’t do cold calling but also don’t make offers via email or other methods.
You going to have to make offers somehow, it might as well be with cold calling when you start. In summary, you must have a firm niche and problem that you are solving. It’s no good offering what you do, you have to offer something that they want. I hope that helps David.
