Cold Calls - Not So Terrifying As They Would Seem

Calo Marketing & Design

If you have a small start-up business like mine the first thing you'd want to do is create sales and lots of them. So in order to create more sales and build a customer base with real prospects you really can't get any more basic than doing cold calls. It's a straight up hustle, sweat, blood and tears and probably the most cost effective way of doing it. Here are a few pointers if you are jumping in the deep end like I did.

* Turn your fear into motivation. Know that you will get rejected and that's ok. The more you practice the easier it will get.
* Make sure you know who you're calling. Develop a target market and make sure that the products and services you offer are appropriate to the market you're targeting. Do your products or services meet the needs of your customers?
* Instead of reading down a list of services, explain how your services will benefit their business. Will it help them get more customers, increase visibility or minimize costs?
* Make a list of specific questions to ask. Now that you have their attention you need to pin point what their needs are.
* Listening is also very important and is a genuine gesture that says you do care about your customers and your business and that your not out here just to make a quick buck.
* Last but not least, if they say "No" then accept it and move on. There is nothing more annoying than telling a sales person no thank you more than once. Besides, the fact that you talked to them, said your piece and respected their "No" will most likely put you in the forefront of their mind when they do need your services. Every customer touch is a potential opportunity and first impressions are important.

So go for it! Jump right in! Or maybe after you develop a marketing strategy, website and SEO you will have a better idea of who needs your products and services and where they're hiding.

Google going after small businesses on both sides

Why is Google going after small business? Why not? There are over 7 million small businesses in Texas alone and more than half of them don't have a website. They have virtually unlimited funds to roll out this campaign and not recieve a dime for a whole year. Pretty bold move if you ask me. If they can shell out $500 million in chump change to settle with the government then I'm sure a free website campaign can be funded from the change they find in their couches. This is bad for small businesses like mine that have been going after the same customers. My start-up business rolled out the same offerings and we offered it cheap. We wanted to break into this niche of small businesses that are virtually unseen on the Internet and show them how valuable a little website can be. Initially some customers were skeptical of the low price and wondered if quality was as good as the value. Then here comes this mammoth of a company and offers free websites and customers just follow suit like lemmings. No hard feelings because their brand pretty much sells it for them. But it’s like and ant going up against a rhino! They are helping small business and at the same time hurting them. They now know what we know but can they deliver the personalized service and value that we have based our business on? Good question. More to come...

Goals

My business partner brought up a good point today. We need to focus on setting goals otherwise we get scattered and go off to other things without getting anywhere. In business this is a big no no because without goals you might as well be chasing your own tail. I've just recently started doing this with college this past year because the last few classes start to get challenging and without goals I don't do so well. So what I started doing with my business is writing goals for the next 2 days in a journal. I try to be as specific as possible and if they change during the day then I go back and change it in my journal. This is a major help for me because I've gotten more things accomplished this past week than the past month not using this system. So goals are great and all it takes is a small notebook and a pen. Try it out for a couple of days, then go back and read all that you did. You will be amazed at how much was accomplished in such a short time.