Dear Direct Response Letter Subscriber:
Is cold calling to get new copywriting clients a good, bad, or terrible idea?
EF writes:
"I did have a question that I thought you might be able to answer. I've been receiving a lot of mail attempting to sell me credit cards from big names like Discover, Capital One, and Chase.
"But I've noticed the writing is rather poor--it's a statement of features, sometimes of benefits, but with no real attempt at persuasion. I've done some brainstorming and believe I could rewrite these in such a way as to increase sales for these companies.
"My thought was to try cold-calling/emailing these companies and attempting to sell them on my idea of rewriting for greater persuasion. So I was wondering if you had any advice, ideas, or tips on the best way to go about this--or even if it's a worthwhile idea!"
My bad news for EF is: cold calling to get copywriting clients is a terrible idea - probably the worst way to go about looking for copywriting clients ever devised.
There are 5 reasons why I urge freelance copywriters to avoid cold calling at all costs.
1-Clients want to work with vendors whom they perceive as busy and successful. By logical extension, if you have nothing better to do than sit at your desk dialing the phone and asking strangers to hire you, clients conclude you are not busy, successful, or in demand. So right away you cause the prospect to be repulsed by your seeming desperation rather than to be attracted to you and your services.
2-When you quote your fee, the client whom you find through cold calling will almost always try to beat you down. Why? Because they know you need the work. Otherwise, why would you have called them? Cold calling destroys your leverage.
3-If you tell them you are calling because you have received their marketing campaigns and believe them to be ineffective, you risk making a fool of yourself, because the marketing you say stinks may in fact be working like gangbusters. You don't know.
4-Another problem with telling potential clients their copy stinks is that the person you are speaking with may be responsible for it and not agree with you. So you start off the relationship by arguing with and insulting her. Is that smart?
5-Cold calling is a form of telemarketing, a marketing technique that has slowly fallen out of favor over the years because it is overly intrusive and interruptive. Lots of people hate telemarketers, so for you to become one does not position you favorably with your potential clients.
The bottom line: cold calling is a bad idea because it violates the Silver Rule of Marketing, formulated by my colleague Pete Silver, who says: "It is always better to get them to come to you than for you go to them."
Sincerely, |