Took Action; Feel Great!

[Chas]

Hello Offline Gold Forum!

It took me awhile before I started taking action. I wanted to get all my ducks in a row so to say, and it is helpful that I did because of all the learning that I did I was able to talk to clients and answer their clients quite easily. But I took far too long to start getting into it. Because this stuff is absolutely easy!

I made a website and everything but I haven't even needed it to this point, though I should note I've been cold calling and not prospecting online.

I didn't make business cards, though I'm only a week into getting clients. What I'm trying to say is this business gets really overcomplicated! And I want to thank guys like Dexx and Bayo. Constantly encouraging others to take action now! Thanks guys, and that's why I'm posting this right now.

Here's how my taking action began. I used an online lead finder, where you put in your city and a niche and it scrapes the internet for phone #'s. I created a macro to copy all the business names and phone numbers into an address book software (just because I had scraped around 1000 businesses). For easy access and adding notes to all the numbers for meetings, owner names, when to call back, etc.

I started calling them up, at 8:30, I was a little nervous (everyone usually is on their first cold calling session) but I had a good and simple script for when I got the decision maker on the line. Which only happened 1 out of 5 times, but every time I talked to a business owner, I got an appointment! Getting through the gatekeeper was really easy as well for me.

Here's my gatekeeper script:

Hello how are you today?

if they ask how you are Fine thanks for asking.

May I speak to the owner please? they usually put me through right there!

if they ask in regards to what? This is Justin, I'm calling in regards to setting up a meeting with your boss so I can discuss opportunities available to help your business. then I got put through or left a message or asked for business owners name and when to call back when they would be in

Here's my owner script:

Hello this is Justin. I'm a business consultant in _____. How are you today?

if they ask how you are Fine thanks for asking.

Has my name been mentioned to you at all recently? it wouldn't have, I never sent a mail piece but it didn't matter, it's just to get them thinking about your name, to focus them on the call, etc. so they would always say no

Well, fine. The reason for the call today is I have recently developed a service to help business owners like yourself improve their visibility, getting them more customers and increasing their profits. And I'll be happy to drop by and give you the opportunity to learn about what I can do. I'm calling today to let you know I'll be in your area __day__ around __time__. Will you be available for seven minutes?

yes or rescheduling if they're interested but not available then

Okay I look forward to seeing you __day__ around __time__.

Goodbye.

The script is excellent in my opinion, I got it from a man named Allen Pease from an audio cassette. It's hard to find online so I'll upload it if anyone wants it. But the script above is all you really need from his teachings.

Now the first meetings were actually fun! Fun because I was finally getting out there, doing what I wanted to be doing, helping businesses, talking to people, letting them know who I was!

I didn't bring the questionnaire, just an appointment book and some materials for them to keep. The materials I gave were a cover sheet with my unique selling proposition, a small bit of information about my business and my contact details. Sort of like a business card. There were also two pages of brief explanations of all the services we can implement after the consulting period. It wasn't technical, it explained the benefits only. Something any business owner can understand. They all boiled down to "MORE CUSTOMERS!"

I also explained right there that if they were interested in proceeding to the next step that I would go through a one hour long consultation with them. And if they were interested I'd schedule one for a few days later. Some of them needed to talk to their loved ones but they were all very interested and assured me they would call again a few days later.

The first meeting was very short, just an introduction to myself, I asked what they were doing with advertising, if it was performing, I didn't bring up a website, they usually did! Some had websites that weren't performing well and I'd mention things about how most traditional advertising is far too expensive and not cost efficient, that none of it is really track-able and they agreed. It all went very well and like I said, was pretty fun. Some also asked about rates and I explained it's different for everyone but that after the consultation I would have different plans like bronze, silver and gold so they can choose what's best for their budget.

Out of the five clients I had a first meeting with today, only one wanted to go through with the consultation which is booked next week, but the others were interested, they just had to talk it over with their partners. Keep in mind I only made around 30 calls, which got me through to 6 business owners, which got 5 meetings, to 1 consultation. It's all about numbers, and in my town with a population of only 80,000 or so. There's at least 5,000 businesses. Do the math. Get out there. Make money for yourself and these businesses.

Peace!

[Dexx]

That was AWESOME Chas!

Way to just throw your fears away and TAKE ACTION--and I bet nobody tried to kill you or hunt you down either?

At the end of the day someone will either say Yes, or say No, to meeting with you...then it just becomes a numbers game!

Way to take action and I can't wait to read about the first $1,000+ deals you sign!

~Dexx

[Jesse]

That is GREAT man!!! That is motivation plus for me! Have fun!

[jvalentin1]

Wow, very inspirational. Definitely going to give it a shot.

I love your cold calling script. I plan on using it. Would you mind sharing your coversheet explaining your USP as well as your other materials?

I am just starting out and I am in desperate need for materials to give me an idea how I should structure my literature.

Thanks for sharing.

jvalentin1