Tuesday, August 3, 2010

A Very Succesful “Cold-Call”

I sent a letter to the publisher of a local paper, and ended the letter with this:
  • Call To Action: None. There is nothing you need do. I will telephone you in a few days to learn of your reaction to this letter.

I called the 19th at 10:25 and got voice-mail. I don’t like leaving voice-mails when we’ve not previously spoken.

  1. I left my letter clipped to the paper near my phone.
  2. I called the 21st at 9:15 and got voice-mail.
  3. I called the 23rd at 11:55 and got through!

I asked first off “Do you have two minutes?”. Yes he did, just two. It is, after all, just before lunchtime on a Friday.

I reminded him of my letter. He told me the focus of the paper was on “events and happenings”; I think that is an objection.

I acknowledged that my offering was not about events, nor about happenings, and maybe there was not a good fit.

He came back then and asked for specifics. I gave him a 20-second overview, reminded him that my 2 minutes was up, and asked if I could send him an email with 6 short samples.

Sure!

That’s success.

Talk to Me !

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