The direct marketing thread

[Moscow Mule]

I hate cold calling.

1. No
2. No
3. Fob off

I'm only three calls in and I'm totally demoralised.

Take heart - you'd never make it as an agent. That can only be a plus on your character...

[sasguru]

"More and more businesses are thinking in terms of business processes and aligning their IT with them, and not the other way around"


Nice one. Sounds like you took my advice on board. I will invoice you shortly

[suityou01]

"More and more businesses are thinking in terms of business processes and aligning their IT with them, and not the other way around"


Nice one. Sounds like you took my advice on board. I will invoice you shortly

Great, another invoice going the wrong way

[sasguru]

Great, another invoice going the wrong way

Seriously though am impressed with your "get up and go".

[cojak]

On the bench as of today. Market looks sh!te. You just don't know if the ads are real or not, as the pimps are playing games. As Obama said, never waste a good crisis. I am marketing my company locally as best I can on tight budget.

I have already developed an "elevator pitch" and hope to try this out at breakfast club next wednesday morning (I have never been to breakfast club, but a.n. other contractor tells me it is worth it)

I am hitting the phones tomorrow. I will post back on progress here and hope for this thread to encourage other contractors to do likewise, and swap war stories.

I'll prolly get flamed in the next few posts, but this is CUK right?

Let's get off our a*ses and drum up some trade.

Bravo that man!

Hope it works out for you....

[suityou01]

Seriously though am impressed with your "get up and go".

And Cojak can come in on this one.

Group

[cojak]

And to continue, here are a few books I'd recommend SY01...

Winning New business for Non-Sales People

Write Sales Letters That Sell

Cold Calling for Chickens (a particularly good book... )

[thelace]

If you're targetting local business groups, it's always a case of who you know rather than what you know.

Have you considered local groups like the chamber of commerce or the rotary club? You could join these, maybe ask to give a small talk at one of the upcoming meetings?

Good luck, always good to see someone get off their arse and promote themselves rather than bemoaning the fact that there's no work out there.

One comment I'd make though to your letter.

"More and more businesses are thinking in terms of business processes and aligning their IT with them, and not the other way around. A company with robust automated processes will always outperform a more manually process based competitor."

This might mean something to the IT crowd, but a simple businessman might not understand the benefit he might get from it? Why not put a small example or case study in here? Just a suggestion

[DimPrawn]

I hate cold calling.

1. No
2. No
3. Fob off

I'm only three calls in and I'm totally demoralised.

You might want to use a telesales company. Vivienne Hallett is a friend of mine.

http://www.e-face.biz/index.html

Give her a call and see about a paid telesales campaign to get you infront of the customers.

[suityou01]

If you're targetting local business groups, it's always a case of who you know rather than what you know.

Have you considered local groups like the chamber of commerce or the rotary club? You could join these, maybe ask to give a small talk at one of the upcoming meetings?

Good luck, always good to see someone get off their arse and promote themselves rather than bemoaning the fact that there's no work out there.

One comment I'd make though to your letter.

"More and more businesses are thinking in terms of business processes and aligning their IT with them, and not the other way around. A company with robust automated processes will always outperform a more manually process based competitor."

This might mean something to the IT crowd, but a simple businessman might not understand the benefit he might get from it? Why not put a small example or case study in here? Just a suggestion

Well I'm at breakfast club first thing in the morning. Thanks for the feedback on the contact letter.