If you cannot sell, you cannot be an entrepreneur. If you cannot sell, you cannot raise money. if the thought of sales terrifies you, get a job at a dept. store and start there. Or get a job with a company like Xerox that requires that you go around to businesses and knock on doors. As your courage increases, you may want to try a company in network marketing or direct sales that is willing to train you.
Approaching people for work has not worked for me. People who came to me with work has worked.
I marketed pens - on the phone. But the beauty of the gig was that you had to call these strangers and say, 'Hi, how ya doing?' You made up a name, like, 'Hey, it's Edward Quartermaine from California. You're eligible to receive this grandfather clock or a trip to Tahiti.' You promise them all these things if they buy a gross of pens.
Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's here in the United States.
Many people have been able to get pitch meetings by just cold calling, especially the smaller networks and especially with the reality shows.
One of the challenges in networking is everybody thinks it's making cold calls to strangers. Actually, it's the people who already have strong trust relationships with you, who know you're dedicated, smart, a team player, who can help you.
I once spent a spent a summer selling encyclopedias door to door.
When a copier sales person cold calls a purchasing manager whom he has never met is it any surprise that the purchasing manager will most likely never return that call?
We went to - I guess it was a legitimate boiler room, and I sat in front of this guy who literally was on the phone with two people at once. They call it double fisting.
Can I call up any actor in Mumbai? I can, and they can say wrong number and hang up!
I didn't feel like reading that night, so I went downstairs and watched a half-hour long commercial that advertised an exercise machine. They kept flashing a 1-800 number, so I called it. The woman who picked up the other end of the phone was named Michelle. And I told Michelle that I was a kid and did not need an exercise machine, but I hoped she was having a good night. That's when Michelle hung up on me. And I didn't mind a bit.
I worked a telemarketing job. I always worked those because I always knew how to talk to people and I always knew how to sell because my father was a salesman. He used to sell vacuum cleaners, payroll services to companies, so that was natural for me to go into sales.
I can't say that while I sat at my desk cold calling or trying to help people re-mortgage that playing for England was a real achievable goal.
I was networking every day from 21 to 28 years old. I sent 10 letters a day, which means I reached out to 3,000 people in a year.
Any time I meet someone or learn about someone that's really interesting or inspiring to me or has a story that really resonates with me, I just cold call them, and I try to meet him or her.
Fundamentals are right down to earth. And one fundamental is: You have to make calls. Nothing happens until you make a call. It’s that fundamental!
I'm a reporter; you can't subpoena people to talk to you. If you write to them and try to call them on the phone and they don't answer or so forth, then take them unawares.
Oh God, I've done telesales. It doesn't get much lower than that, really. That's the job I enjoyed the least.
I didn't have capital and influence in this industry. So I bought yellow pages and knocked each door of the company located at industrial parks.
I couldn't knock on people's door; if they answered the door and said, 'I don't want to speak to you,' I'd be like, 'Oh, OK then - I wouldn't either, to be honest.'
I had this job where I had to cold call people, and that was terrifying to me, and that was on a far different level than invading their space.
It's much easier to get a reception from someone if there is an introduction versus randomly trying to get in front of people.
I did telemarketing for years, starting at the age of 16, just selling steak knives to old people. Old people go through a weird amount of steak knives. I also sold straight meat over the telephone.
Telemarketers tell me I sound like Bill Cosby.
I went door-to-door selling cable television subscriptions when I was in college. Not to date myself, but cable was just coming on. I had terrible territories, and they would give me $25, if I got somebody to let them come and just put the little cord in their house.
