I ‘phoned a journalist the other day. He picked up the telephone (his landline) and sounded a bit scared; ‘Hullo’, he ventured. “Hi Michael, it’s Deb from Bay PR.” (BTW Michael and I have corresponded a lot over email and had met at a few launch events over the past few years).
“Oh Deb. Phew,” he said, “When the ‘phone rang, I thought it was my mother.”
And there’s the rub. Everyone these days is so heads down tapping away on their keyboard, emailing, posting, swiping and liking – there’s not much time for a conversation. When someone does ‘phone you, it can often feel like an intrusion in your already time-pressured day – as I discovered.
When I decided to try and grow my client base, I started by jotting down a hit list and then gave it to my junior.
“Get the marketing managers’ names and contact details and pop it into this spreadsheet,” I said.
A week later, I checked up on how she was going. She hadn’t had much luck.
“I can’t understand it. Why haven’t you made any progress?”
“They won’t give me the names,” she said.
So I whisked the list off her and tried myself. Turned out she was right. Not one secretary or receptionist would give out one incy wincy marketing manager’s name.
“Where are you calling from?” “What’s the purpose of your call?” “Is he/she expecting your call?”
It was like trying to scale Fort Knox. Just. Not. Happening.
These days, you have to book a time in with someone to make a phone-call. To ‘phone ‘off plan’ is just not the thing. A couple of times, I managed a ‘warm response’ when I did get through, even a meeting or two but mostly it was a lot of pain and no gain.
Which brings me full circle to the two best approaches I have found for getting new business: 1. Referrals from people you know and 2. Connecting with people you don’t. Cold calling, is well, cold.
This is why social media platforms such as LinkedIn, or industry events are great – they offer ways to connect that involve mutual agreement and a common ground – the sharing of information, ideas and experience – a more gentle, authentic approach. I would say that the saying ‘people buy people,’ is as true today as it ever was and that would be my preference and my recommendation for anyone looking to grow their client-base.