The Savvy Entrepreneur

This past Wednesday, I hosted the kick-off session #1 of the Get Clients Now!(TM) program with a small group. During this 90-minute session we cover a lot of ground:

1. Effective marketing strategies
2. Defining your goals
3. The marketing cycle
4. Choosing where to focus

My recommendation, no matter where you’re stuck in the marketing cycle, is to always include Direct Contact and Follow-up (that is, contact with prospective clients) in your action plan for 2 main reasons:

1. People do business with people they know, like and trust. If you are not contacting people in your network regularly, how will you achieve any of these?
2. Tactics that focus on Outreach are proven to be most effective for service professionals.

That being said, one participant was reluctant in selecting Direct Contact and Follow-up as a strategy to employ during the 28-day program. Why? One of the tactics listed is cold-calling and this person is more than uncomfortable cold-calling. Maybe she thought I would pressure her into feeling like she had to add cold calling to her action plan.

My personal and professional position is that cold-calling is the least effective tactic. If you have absolutely not one person in your pipeline, then I would agree that maybe you should consider cold calling. But even then, I would much rather attend a networking event where I know no one, make a few connections, gather a few business cards and start warm calling. Besides, there are many more ‘palatable’ tactics to choose from, that you don’t have to resort to cold-calling if you don’t have to.

My persuasive argument eased this participants’ hesitancy, and she decided to add Direct Contact and Follow-up to her plan.

But that’s my own opinion.

Should I have stated my views so strongly? Do you agree with me? Or does cold-calling work for you? Why does or doesn’t it work for your business? Any horror stories to prove me right? Any success stories to prove me wrong?