Did you notice I did not say Cold Calling? I said Network Calling...more on that in a minute.

Like so many people, when I went out on my own, I knew that my marketing plan would include various techniques; definitely networking, one-one close contact lead generation, referrals, partner programs, direct mail (maybe), third party telemarketing (maybe). But one technique I was not prepared to do, nor did not want to do was the infamous Cold Calling.

Whether knocking on doors, or picking up the phone, cold calling was just that. COLD!

Digging deep to understand my angst towards it, I realized I did not want to be one of those intrusive ‘dinner time’ phone callers, intruding on my dinner or family time. It was rude, and I would become rude, often hanging up on them. Why would I ever want to become ‘that person’?

Then three different experts gave me three different pieces of advice that changed my entire view on this specific technique:

The first, Nancy Davis, President of Be Healthy, Wealthy & Wise – Nancy had me play out in my mind all of the various (nasty, rude, abrupt, nice, easy) responses from ‘business owners’ that I expected to hear. Then she had me replay those images through a second, third, fourth, even fifth time. To my absolute surprise, by the second time, and definitely the third, the nasty, rude and abrupt (hang ups) responses I was receiving no longer had an effect on me...they were no longer a big deal, they no longer mattered. WOW!

The second expert, Leslie Wells, of L Wells & Associates made me realize that ‘cold calling’ was NO different than the Networking that I was doing on a regular basis:

Walking into a strange room, restaurant or office, walking up to complete strangers and having a conversation with someone using my 1-3 minute introduction to inform and qualify someone as a prospect. I realized the approach was exactly the same on the phone, or walking through the door. And on the phone, you DON’T have to be face to face. That’s easy, right?

Lastly, the third expert, Linda Bishop, President of Thought Transformation, gave me the most impactful advice, as it hit where it means the most – my BANK ACCOUNT!

She simply told me that ‘the shortest distance (and time) between me and $$$$ was a phone call!” When push comes to shove and you need to make money and get clients, get on the phone and get an appointment (or sell something). Plain and simple...it cuts out the time, travel and smoozing that go on with traditional networking. WOW!

So, my advice to you, get over the angst of Cold Calling and consider it Network Calling. Put your networking skills to work.