Take the COLD out of Cold Calling…

For those unique few that relish the opportunity to venture out and cold call, well, my hats off to you.  I for one, really hate cold calling, perhaps it’s I hate rejection (I believe I was scarred by my first love at age 3, Margaret, I’ve never lived that down) or perhaps it’s that I am lazy with the process, truth is I just don’t like it.  Even though I despise doing it, as a sales professional I realize it is one of the many tool’s in your sales and marketing arsenal to keep the pipeline full of potential clients and opportunities.

As a salesperson, and one who does not like the actual cold calling process, I needed to find additional methods of cold calling with which I was comfortable. In order to gain deeper insights, I attended heaps of seminars and workshops delivered by noted creative speakers like Jeff Tobe in the promotional products world and gleaned as much about creative marketing as I could. I wanted to know how to more “effectively” market myself utilizing the same medium I preached my clients should use.  However, I took it a step further and quite frankly, so did my clients and many of my consulting clients, like Darrell McChesney from Team Iowa, and Paul Zafarana, from PICA Marketing Group, who collectively have racked up fifteen PPAI Pyramid Awards for creativity.

While there is nothing wrong with handing out calendars, pens, etc., taking these items, creating a theme, developing unique packaging and delivering a message in a creative, engaging way had more impact for me as a distributor than just randomly handing out products.  It raised the bar giving potential and existing clients a broader view of how to effectively use promotional products in a different (not better) way. Creating these unique door openers, helped me bridge my disdain for cold-calling and opened a whole new avenue from which I could work and sell.

Let me share a few examples:  In an effort to reach on-hundred and thirty-five new potential accounts, I created a direct marketing piece that encompassed a Swiss Army knife, a magnet and a custom creative box.  The outside of the box had some creative copy printed on it that drew the recipient inside the piece, when the piece was opened it folded out to reveal a multi-function Swiss Army knife fully opened in the center.  Around the outer borders was copy that spoke about my company’s capabilities, quotes from my clients and the right panel was perforated with a magnet attached to the back of the board, making the package more functional and sustainable. Once that portion was removed, the retained piece became a magnet with all of my company’s contact information which the client could display on a filing cabinet for easy reference.  The unique aspect of this piece was each of the components of the knife were described in detail as it related my services and how each function of the knife represented a function of my company. For example: 

• The Key Ring: “We’re there and available, always when you need us.”  

• The Toothpick: “We pick and probe to find the right promotional products that make you smile” 

• The Knife: “Always on the Cutting Edge of technology… and so forth. 

These pieces were sent out to 135 prospects in hopes to get their attention and perhaps entice them to give me a call, or at least be memorable enough that they would take my call when I followed up. In the end, the campaign garnered an 85% response rate. 

Another campaign, I designed and launched was a small pizza box, a customized pizza cutter laser engraved with the prospects name on one side of the handle and my company information on the other.  The copy on the outside of the box read: “Sometimes a slice of creativity…” and on inside of the box, “…is all it takes, another hot creative from Cliff Quicksell, MAS”; additional copy printed inside the top of the box stated, “ I’ll bet you’re wondering what this is all about, NO we do not sell pizzas but we do sell hot creative ideas and we would like an opportunity to get a slice of your promotional budget…”  The boxes, and pizza cutters were delivered by a local pizza delivery pizza company along with a medium cheese pizza. These were sent one at a time, twelve consecutive business days in a row. Of the twelve prospects targeted, twelve appointments were generated, seven closed sales and $27,000.00 in new initial business was written. When determining the overall ROI, including; the research & development time, pizza cutters, embellishment, pizza, delivery and tip cost about $20.00 each, and the results were certainly worth it.

$240.00 spent on the campaign, $27,000.00 generated in initial business;
the long-term revenue generated was substantially more.

Due to the success of this promotion, a subsequent program was designed this time using coolers, ice cream, spoons, napkins and bowls.  Eighteen soft-sided coolers with an additional zippered top were created, inside the cooler was a half-gallon of ice cream packed in dry ice.  In the top cavity, were ten bowls, napkins and spoons all with the theme of the program. Attached to the handle was a hangtag which revealed the theme of the program, ”The Ultimate Cold Call”.  Potential clients were selected, we would go to the store, fill the cooler with dry ice and a half-gallon of ice cream and walk in the door and say to the receptionist, “Hi, I have something here for Mr. John/Jane Doe, he may be expecting it”, (knowing full-well he wasn’t) and I would thank them and leave.  Multiple times, I would no sooner get into my car and the phone would ring from the intended prospect.  Of the eighteen sent I received 18 positive comments and secured 14 initial appointments, again not bad, but making my cold-call experience rather warm.

So for those of you who love cold calling the old way – well done. For those of you who are like me and find it a bit challenging, consider a few creative ways to get in the door and differentiate yourself. Remember my mantra, as long it does not hurt anyone, emotionally, physically or spiritually, the gloves are off, your goal is to get results.  Take the cold out of cold calling if you choose and enjoy the great sales and huge profits from creative cold calling.

As always, Continued Good Selling - Cliff