Cold faxing

[singingsleep]

Anyone have any luck approaching business owners via fax? I'm getting started with offline clients and am thinking about using this to supplement my mailing since I'm just starting and very low on funds.

If so, does anyone have any recommendations on fax services? I won't use faxzero again, I used them for over a year in the past and they were absolutely horrible in the end when I needed to close my account.

Thanks!

 

[Winchester]

I've had people fax me and my previous employer many times. It just gets thrown out, pick up a phone give them a call - or try apply [7878]'s letter method.

 

[bluematter]

fax is dead

 

[oxonbeef]

If you want a fax to work make it look as if it was sent to the wrong person
and you are in the middle of an exclusive too hard to resist business relationship.
Anyone with the slightest curiosity would want to know more.

 

[poweronics]

I think cold faxing is not a great idea. Better go for cold calling then faxing.

 

[singingsleep]

I appreciate the feedback guys

 

[Webghopper]

You can't fax in the US unless you have permission. You can get into trouble with the FCC

http://www.uschamber.com/issues/technology/fcc-proposed-commercial-fax-rules

 

[singingsleep]

Thanks, that's good to know. I'm not mass faxing or anything-- I do a lot of research to find clients and my faxes are very custom and personal to their business so I'd think they'd be interested and not look at it as a run of the mill advertisement, per se, but it's still good to know.

 

[Digital_Man]

I totally respect Ox's answer- that is outside of the box-----so do this if you are going to.......

that said,

As a business owner of a small business, I have to say it ticks me off and you would not get the time of day from me.....

cold call = picking up the phone..

 

[nojrellum]

You are all wrong. Fax is alive. You just have to be selling the right product. aaaaaaaaand that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[Digital_Man]

how is everyone wrong???? Ox gave a good tip

and I shared a honest opinion...

 

[jascoken]

The problem with cold faxing is that unless they're digital, it costs the owner paper and ink every time. And that P's people off. You'll get a LOT of complaints.

 

[Nick1]

It can work but if done on a mass scale (thousands and thousands), cheapest I found is aroud 0.10 $ a page which is a bunch.

I'm doing something with fax right now, but I have barely covered my costs. Unless I can find a much cheaper alternative, I don't think I will continue doing this.

Then again,I don't take the time to really research each of the company so YMMV.

:chicken_w

 

[imperial109]

Anyone who has done cold faxing, what's the response rate for an advertisement type fax or "accidental" fax?

I've prepared a 1 page letter and included the following features:
Professional look
Simple NLP
Call to action
Bluntly hinted at a benefit (screenshot)
Written to look as a follow up to an existing client

Did I miss anything, without making it look like an advertisement?

I'll follow up with my results and possibly a method thread if it goes well.

 

[bayshorekid]

I had this "company" faxing my office repeatedly trying to sell me something and my response was to return a 5 page fax of black paper to them! Soooo long toner!

The guy from the company called the very next day asking WTF and I said I have been having some issues with my darn fax machine...sorry! Never received any more faxes from them after that.

 

[suave]

even better next time that happens tape the end of the black paper so it runs in circles ha ha for sure it will kill the towner
also does anyone even use faxes in the US
Regards
Suave

 

[imperial109]

So...
Sent out 200
~15 were not actual fax numbers
~20 did not go through
~150 actually delivered

Results:
1 Person called telling me I got the wrong fax number - he was not pleased
2 Faxed back with a message saying wrong place

Did the accidental faxing method.

 

[Nick1]

By which method did you send them out bro? I assume by the low numbers it was by hand?
:chicken_w

 

[imperial109]

By which method did you send them out bro? I assume by the low numbers it was by hand?
:chicken_w

That's all I could scrape from my city that had potential.

 

[singingsleep]

Thanks Imperial, gave rep. I faxed about ten really personal, targeted intros to businesses 3 days ago with no result yet.