Yes, it's cold calling!
As is often the case, the shortest way to success is the most distasteful.
But I can tell you from personal experience that making that call (until you
get enough clients), can shave months off your start-up marketing efforts.
When I first began freelancing, I combined direct mail with follow-up phone
calls, so I wasn't "hard core" cold calling. But even then I remember mailing
100 letters and getting no response. However, I always followed up those
letters with a call until I got so busy fulfilling requests for my background
materials, that I couldn't make any more calls.
I always kept track of
who I mailed to and who I followed up with. (At the time, I kept track of my
campaigns with ACT contact management software).
To understand how
powerful it is to make those follow-up phone calls, I recall that my most
successful campaign mailed out 100 names with no responses from the letter call
to action.
However, after making some follow-up calls, I had 12 viable
potential new clients on my list! And with the statistical rule of thumb that
one in 10 will convert, I knew that one of them would become a new client.
Conducting a direct mail campaign and then following up the names you most
want to work for is a very effective way to gain clients, as long as you have
unique positioning, a very strong offer, and a very good list. (Some of my
students get about 10 responses from their very first mailing!)
However, cold calling a good list will yield faster results at less cost,
as long as you do it right.
In today's world, direct marketing is a
person-to-person activity. You need to have a good reason for contacting
someone...a reason that offers them an immediate promise of benefit.
For instance, I teach my coaching students to create a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) for themselves, and then contact only those companies that
strongly relate to that USP. The phone conversation might go something like
this:
Copywriter: "I've been looking at your Web site for some time
now and have been planning to call to check the spelling of your name and make
sure you're at the Houston office so I can send you a letter..."
Potential Client (who is flattered and curious): "Why have you been looking
at our site?"
Copywriter: "Because you direct market Corvette parts
and accessories and I am the world's only copywriter specializing solely in
exotic cars. I felt that we were well matched."
Potential Client:
"Yes, it would seem so. We have to write most of our copy in house because we
can't find anyone who can talk 'corvette' or handle the technical aspect of the
writing..."
A "master salesman" knows that the highest conversion
rates come from face-to-face selling. For the master copywriter, the corollary
is one-to-one communication.
Marketing directors and agency creative
directors understand the sales process and have heightened respect for the
copywriter who follows its tenets...as long as the message is relevant.
So if you've got the gift of aggressiveness, try cold calling. I promise
that it will evolve from awkward and intimidating to fun and exciting in about
10 calls. (In fact, the last time I cold called I got a "live one" on call
number 10.)
If you think like a salesman and view it as a numbers game
("I must get nine "no's" so I can get to the one "yes"), you can become so
engrossed in the process that getting a copy job feels like an interruption.
About the Author Master copywriter and coach
Chris Marlow publishes a free ezine for copywriters who want to quickly build a
profitable business. Visit:
www.FreelancersBusinessBulletin.
com 
