Cold Calling : Calling Cold

Ahhh. Cold calling. With the internet and tasting capabilities the hustle of cold calling is drifting into the realm of lost art forms. It’s like looking at the classified ads for a job, remember those days?

I’m not sure why they call it cold calling, but I presume that it’s based on the frigid emotional blast of rejection that one must resist. It’s like ice that flows through the fiber-optic lines for your unwarranted disruption to someone’s day.

During summer breaks in college I worked at a three man printing outfit. I was a customer turned employee: “hey, you guys hiring?” Although I’m telling this story which highlights a couple of instances, the overall experience working there was awesome. It was tough, but I am appreciative and blessed for the opportunity. I scanned and compiled large scale building plans, coil bound thousands of project proposals, picked up items, made deliveries, and ran errands. I was always on the go but for a small shop we did quality work and had fast service.

During the second summer, things were slowing down. I was given the task of calling all the local firms and capturing their business. Printing is a tough business to break into. The large companies already had contracts with establish printers, most located within a few blocks of their offices. I understood the task but did relay this reality and my reluctance.

I spent time brainstorming about how to deliver a great pitch, short and sweet. I wrote up a script, got a phone list to gather, got a notepad set up to track calls made and received, and got started.

Calls, messages, follow-ups, polite deflections, and rude terminations - it’s all a part of the process. After some time I was making no headway.

It’s interesting because cold calling is a strange progression. At first you’re nervous. You can hear and feel the anxious modulations of your own voice as you’re speaking. In some cases you slip up and say something off script or become too cordial in an attempt to stave off the nervous tension.

There are moments of a sort of silent frustration where your spirit is sagging. Oddly, rejection is not a major issue. Being told to piss off sucks but you get over that too. You’re stuck in the sand and the tires are spinning. Who has the plank to get some traction?

Then something life altering happens to those that stick to it. You begin to get comfortable on the calls. You can weave on and off script and inject a subtle amount of junior and unassuming pleasantries. Your confidence is building and then you begin to sell. You begin to believe what you are selling and that belief is engulfed in all your actions.

“We deliver quality work and our turn around times are fast and reliable.” Hell, when your out there working away between calls you live up to your words. You start going the extra mile and that added reach is expressed in your phone calls.

By this time, your fully off script. Your feet are on the table and you’re getting into the economics of deal making. Your pitch becomes more of a question? “How is your current service?” “Tell me, are there things that could get better?” “You say everything is great, but let’s pretend that there was one thing that could be improved: what is it?”

You still receive the hang ups and the “get losts” but those are dodged with a smile. Man, I should be a stockbroker! This is the break through, when cold calls become hot calls. You have a service and this is an opportunity for reinvention and change.

Getting through to this point changes you forever, it’s like riding a bike. You begin to thirst for improvement. I remember getting the “Art of the Deal” audiobook by Donald Trump. I was excited to get better. I began to realize that you can push through many things and overcome adversity to accomplish great things. This was possible not because I was particularly gifted but because I knew that other people were doing it and they went through similar challenges.

The great Author and speaker Tony Robbins always says that the most important thing is progress. These are all things that you have the ability to control. You must make adjustments and find ways to progress, shift, modify, and adapt. You begin to learn and understand that those small steps is where the fun is. The arrivals at destinations are great, but you must locate the minute grains of movement in life’s sea of sand. Remember, the best place to run is that line where the sea meets the land. Under foot is compact enough to gain speed but soft enough to absorb the shock. Drift away in either direction and you are sitting in sand or swimming in the breakers.

Cold calls, Hot calls, Cool and Calm. After a while I was starting to get in with a large company. It was interesting because they were willing to listen. After about two bumps up the chain of command I secured a meeting with the owner of our printing company and their senior decision makers. It was exciting. This was an international engineering firm generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

We set up the meeting and I went into preparation mode. I prepared our best works and booklets describing our company. We found what everyone liked to eat, ordered a lunch and confirmed the delivery for the meeting date.

Monday was here! I arrived early to the shop to make sure everything was ready. Eight a.m. and I’m working away in the empty shop. Nine a.m. and the boss wasn’t in. I call the big boss but no answer. Maybe he’s running an errand. The delivery car (his personal car) is still here so we don’t have to worry. Ten a.m. passes and still nothing. I call and leave messages. Nothing. This is a lunch meeting so my concern is growing.

Then a call comes in. “Hey man it’s me. Ahh shit I forgot about the meeting.” He said

“Alright that’s cool. We still have an hour and a half.” I replied.

“Well I’m not going to make it. I’m still in Vegas. You guys are going to have to take over.”

I was shocked. All that work and for it to be thrown away just like that. My coworker returned from his delivery and I conveyed the news. We were nestled between stoic and frantic. The boss knew all the ins and outs of the workings of the business so we were at a bit of a loss. We decided to take it in stride and go together and I would make the pitch with his support.

Everything shows up fine. The lunch is there and our materials are in place. We begin our presentation. Then the question I had been waiting for and dreading. Before I divulge their question, I must say that I was surprised that this company took the meeting because their contracted printer was right across the street. It was a great challenge.

The managing guy asks: “We have a printer right across the street. Why would we switch to you?”

Knowing where there service was coming from ahead of time and being prepared still required a pause. I recall speaking about the comfort and complacency of being so close. Yes, we were two miles away, but we were centrally located and could still respond just as fast and we are more cost effective. They are a large company with many shops. We are a smaller shop but that means you get personalized service. If I’m doing the work and there is a problem, you’ll speak with me directly.

That statement was sort of one of those bullshits that are true, let’s call it “true-shit.” How could you really compete with the guy that crosses the street and is at your door?

We sure gave a good go of it. Personally, I learned a great deal, not about cold calling, which in the world I’m in now, not a supremely successful tactic, I learned about communication and self improvement. I believe this experience shifted me to thinking in more detail about mind set and how one’s internal structure pervades your external realities. Once you think like this I believe the uncertainties that cloud your destinations still remain clouded, but the focus become prominent on the small things you can control.

I also found that action is not always work. When moving forward there can be just as much energy allocated to thinking and focus than the actual movement of work. Internal movements and external activities both result in progress. External work creates measurable gains and internal thoughts focused on strategy and process creates the map where external movement becomes navigation.

As my thinking evolves to include thoughts of economics and finance, I realize that wealthy folks do a lot of internal work. This honest internal reflection is required to make external work impactful and effective.

The beauty is cold calls now have communication colleagues that travel as fast as a voice signal can travel across the air but with the subtly and grace of a written letter. A text and email can provide that safe buffer that in some cases creates a sense of comfort which absorbs the brunt of large ideas which can be overwhelming when blasted over the phone.

”Hi, my name is Albert Williams. I’m an Architect and I’m interested in your property at...”