Cold Calling Sucks :(

So I have been in the process of starting a new offline endeavor. As a beginner I've decided to offer my services for free in order to build a portfolio and gain some local references, and also bolster my confidence in the services I provide. I have one appointment setup to discuss services, but every other location I've contacted has flat out said "I don't want to be on the first page of google" Seriously? I've been thinking about this very hard, and I know there isn't a single business owner on the planet who wouldn't want to be on the first page of google.


So I look at these situations from their point of view. I have turned into the creepy telemarketer guy. Our world is so saturated with these people, that someone offering to give free money away cant make it 30 seconds into a phone conversation without getting hung up on. I was bummed out for about 15 minutes, but now I have regained my enthusiasm after writing this post. The only thing an objection is to me, is another wall for me to knock down, another hurdle to jump, or another hill to climb on my journey to success.

Thank you guys for being here, I can't wait until I can give something back to all of you.

Telemarketers are very popular in the United States but there are countries (mine included) where people receive no such calls. Of course you want to look into english speaking countries.

i am from india . most of the time i end up abusing them on phone .

Find different ways to generate leads. Cold calling is always seen as the absolute 'only' way to generate business. Think email, direct mail, landing pages, give away free reports and etc. This way if you get a lead, you KNOW they want to talk on the phone and hear more about your service. They'll be warmer leads rather than 'cold call' leads who know nothing about you other than the fact you want their money. Hope this helps

I'm learning how to get people on the first page of google properly and have PLENTY of leads who are ready for me to get it done.... I guess were on 2 different ends of the playing field here lol.

hateandbreak said:

Find different ways to generate leads. Cold calling is always seen as the absolute 'only' way to generate business. Think email, direct mail, landing pages, give away free reports and etc. This way if you get a lead, you KNOW they want to talk on the phone and hear more about your service. They'll be warmer leads rather than 'cold call' leads who know nothing about you other than the fact you want their money. Hope this helps

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You took the words out of mouth, you really need a multi-media campaign to make those phone calls count otherwise you spend most of your time being rejected and not closing any deals. Offer a SEO guide and when they sign-up use the contact as a lead.

I think people are too quick to dismiss cold calling. The problem with cold calling is that everyone tries to do the same stuff when they call. They follow the same kind of sales pitch, and that won't do.

You want to be convincing, but NEVER pushy. People think that you need to push a customer into a sale. Look, if they really don't want your business, screw them. Call someone else. There are vast amounts of people who will take you on. Now, cold-calling is usually not as effective as most other methods, but combined with some other kind of contact will usually really increase your odds. Try e-mailing them before or maybe send a personal letter to them. Make sure they know you are not just some random person calling, but instead you are interested in them specifically.

People are not afraid of FREE. Everyone loves free stuff, but it can't seem like there is a catch, which they may be thinking. Let them know that you are a new and upcoming business after years of doing IM privately. Tailor your pitch to their business. Use their jargon, talk about what they can gain. Hell, offer them a cup of coffee at Starbucks to discuss what you'll do for them. If they start saying no, remind them that it is free and easy. Remind them that your services will increase their exposure online. Remember to always focus on what's in it for them..."Possibly more business, for FREE!"

Good luck. Remember, you need to sell yourself; not a product.

I get no less than 5 emails a day from some "SEO" company and the first thing they all say is "I will get you on the first page of Google." To me this is becoming cliche and I am probably not alone. In the past I dealt with mostly service type companies roofers, plumbers, lawyers, car transport, and others. Most of them could care less about getting to the first page of google too. Are they stupid for not caring, kind of but most of them don't know what that entails. When I boiled it all down the one thing every single one them cared about was me "making their phones ring." That meant money in their bank and a happy paying client. So my advice to you would be try another approach. Split test your script some, maybe instead of saying do you want to be on the first page of google ask them if they want more customers. It is easy to say no to the google question if you are unaware of what it means but what business owner is going to say no to more customers. Ask them if they want to see what tricks their competitors are using to get more customers. Get them saying yes and then take them to lunch so you can show them what you are talking about. If you are just getting your feet wet find a friend or family member with a business you can help. This will help get you some experience and not waste your pro bono efforts on some stranger. If you do them right they will tell others about you. Or pick a niche you feel you can gain traction in and go to work on it. When your efforts produce leads call potential clients with hot leads. The great thing is you have already done the work and once you get a client you are off and running. Let them know if they don't want the lead you are going to call their competitor and give it to them.

Maybe you will get some ideas from this but the biggest thing is to keep at it.

Why not use adwords and call the people spending a ton on PPC? They know about the first page of google.

Maybe your approach is too agressive? Try starting off soft and working your offer in casually. Identify common problems, get them fresh in mind, pound them in, then offer an immediate solution.

The OPs psychology is way off then. You need to study your prospects, and you need to exploit their minds against them. You also need to have a sales hook that is suited for their psychology, a perfect fit if you will. You need to list benefits for them in order to make the deal sound sweet, then back it up with testimonials, facts, examples, and even maybe hook them by giving something to them for free. Too many times people think that every client is the potential client, but that is not the case. your psychology needs to be aimed at one specific seo group type, not multiple. You are picking up on noobs that care less about seo and more about real world tactics. You need to introduce a solution that will fix a problem that they currently have. Psychology is king, and you sir don't have it fighting in your favor.

Cold calling is 99% script. Eliminate the objections in 30 seconds or less, get them saying yes as soon as possible.

I just happened to be on a site where an ebook on the subject was
being shared, so I thought I would pick up a copy for you. Check it out:

Download From Sendspace:
NOTE: When you get to the Sendspace page, avoid all of the Download buttons
except for the one in the blue rextangle that says: "Click here to download
from Sendspace."

Virustotal - 0/46 - 100% Clean:

Hope it helps!

Cheers! - "Wiz"

I just happened to be on a site where an ebook on the subject was

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Thanks Wiz for the share.

I think when you can school the prospect on what is involved with SEO and what benefits will come from SEO then you are more likely to close. If you can entice them with the email, then send them more info, and call them, then it is a warm lead and straight out cold...

Cold calling is horrible but it's an experience that every salesman should be forced to endure for at least a day in their life

I get calls like this all the time, I don't even let them get to their sales pitch because IMO if you had the ability to rank your site, you would just rank your site and you wouldn't be calling me.

If you've got the skills, prove it by ranking your site. That's just why I don't care to listen to a cold call.

I use to do this awhile ago.... I'm trying to get back into it again if I knew a lot about SEO. My leads were from yellowpages, the company I was working for, and I had a buddy who was supplying information from people who applied for business licenses in the local area. So I already knew they were fresh right off the gate. I was getting paid $300, JUST TO SET UP A MEETING. God only knows how much they would make if they closed the sale or not.... I think it was anywhere from 2k-10k.... It was websites, marketing, the whole 9 yards. I was able to get the clientele just from simple networking of knowing people offline. Plus, I have a lot of connections with builders, lawyers, and etc. Then they know even more people in the same field and eventually the word goes viral. They basically just tell their friends, "I know this guy whos a beast with a computer". Even though I don't know much at all except how things sort of work. I can talk a good game basically...... the words you use and who you know really does go a long way. Cold calling doesnt really bother me if it goes south anyway.

When I was working with this company who was mainly into internet marketing strategies back in 2003-2004, as someone said, we studied our prospects first. Just do it as you would normally do it. Go to google, lookup the keywords and local marketing strategies for your future lead. Draw out a plan as if they are about to purchase this from you. Don't spend hours upon hours on one prospect, but I would say a good period of time is about 30 minutes.

If they have a website already(most likely they do, but back then it wasnt like that), tell them how you will make it better, just give them small examples of what you can do for them. Don't expose the whole plan, but just feed it to them slowly so they can bite and take your word for it. Examples such as google places or yahoo business. You'd be surprised how often people don't have a page on google places or yahoo business. Unless this is where you are grabbing your prospects from.

Again, as someone said "first page of google", be more specific on exactly what you will do for them. Then talk about how the result of your marketing will get them to the first page of google. Most of the people you are talking to won't be computer savvy at all. Unless you are talking to the marketing manager(which is who I would personally ask for when making the call). Even now a days, you can convince a bigger/mediocre company that they need to make room for a CDO. (Chief Digital Officer). Someone who maintains all the digital marketing plans, website, and etc. It's possible that you might be able to get a salary if you can convince a big enough company. Set up a portfolio of websites you have managed in the past, etc.

Well, I'm burnt out, it's late and if anyone likes where I was going with this. I am very much interested into getting to know more about SEO again and could possibly help out if anyone is interested in this venture. Maybe I should've made my own post... but whatever.

cold calling is purely a numbers game, 1 in 100 is about the ratio of closed clients. as said above mix it up with email, social media etc and you % will incease. Also incentivize current customers to gain new customers who are friends or business associates

I am in the same situation now.. I find myself dialing numbers upon numbers. I try not to get discouraged because i know during this process i'm tweeking my sales pitch to these businesses and figuring out what works and what doesn't. I also see it as a numbers game also.. You may make 100 calls but if that one call you make is worth the $$$$ then maybe the extensive cold calling is justified. What I would like to know, is their a public database for local areas where people have access to who applied for business licences?

As someone who owns two businesses, I regularly receive cold calls offering a variety of services. If you are going to market your services this way, I think it is very important to be able to point to a high-quality website that I can review later if I am interested.


Here is an example, in my opinion, of doing it the wrong way. Even though I have told them repeatedly not to call me, I get one phone call a day from Elliott's web offering to "help" me with Google. If you Google this Chicago company what you find is a simple static website that looks like it was designed in 2000. In short, this company's web presence does nothing to complete the sale. If I was in the market for somebody to help me these people would be the last people that I would choose based on their inability to apply lessons on marketing to themselves.

Is spending all that time calling worth it though? I prefer to find potential clients and simply walk into their store/business/whatever. Ask to speak with the manager (or whoever is in charge at that point) and go from there. You'll need to be a decent salesperson though. If I have to drive somewhere I try to do a little bit of research regarding that town (or area of a city) and find potential clients. Might as well spend an hour trying to get sales while you're in the area.

My personal favorite is handing someone 2 business cards. Tell them one is for you and the other one is to give away (literally mention this), you can offer a discount for their next service if someone refers them. If you have a great product/service, people will use that business card to give away. It's pretty much a combo between word of mouth and those ancient cards.

EDIT: My perfectly normal text is being filtered by BHW, seems like a solid system..