What is cold calling and how can it be used to change your community?
This guide aims to offer practical strategies your organization can use to forge new community partnerships and elevate them to new heights.
Cold calling is an unsolicited call to someone or an organization by phone in an attempt to sell goods or services. This call is without any prior relationship with the person or organization you are speaking to. Cold calling can be a powerful tool in sparking new opportunities or partnerships when you want to elicit change in a community. It can also jumpstart a great introduction and offer an easy way to follow up.
Cold calling can benefit all parties in the following ways:
It expands the people you reach and demonstrates the work you do.
It offers additional support and resources to community members.
It builds community and strengthens partnerships.
The work done together can expand a more extensive network, create brand recognition, and bring success to both companies.
The partnership could gain a better reputation and, in turn, create a more substantial impact.
Cold calling can also be very nerve-wracking. To better prepare yourself before cold calling, create a “call script.” Having a call script readily available will help you feel prepared when placing the call to sell goods or services or asking for their participation in a call to action. The call script will help communicate your objective and allow the receiver to make an informed decision at the moment (i.e., if they agree, would like further information, or decide to decline their participation).
Generally, any call script should include the following:
An introduction - who you are and the organization you are representing.
An overview of the information - purpose of the call.
A standard process for the person who declines to participate or is unavailable to speak with you.
Your contact information - email, phone number, or website.
Follow-up steps - to engage active participation.
If the receiver declines participation, do not feel discouraged, as this will not reflect every cold call experience after that. To have a better outcome when cold calling, try to remember tactics that have worked previously, or you can try using these tips below:
Find points of connection and use a pleasant tone to create a safe and engaging space.
Protect the privacy of the person you are cold calling.
Provide options where individuals can opt out of future calls.
Say thank you and provide your contact information.
Stay optimistic!
Lastly, a few alternatives to cold calling are sending out an email blast to introduce yourself and get all your talking points out in one go or going door-to-door in person, which is the quickest way to establish a relationship.