I finally figured out why my cold calls were going nowhere

Was sitting in my truck outside a warehouse on 118th Ave after getting hung up on 8 times in a row when I realized I was pitching tree removal to a property manager who didn't even own the building, so now I check city tax records first and my close rate actually went up, anyone else waste weeks on the wrong contacts before catching on?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotm701d ago

Man @alice_hart your buddy's story hits real close to home. I spent a solid six weeks cold calling small business owners about website design services before I realized half of them were renters with no say over their online presence. Total facepalm moment when I finally checked the county business records and found the actual decision makers. Feels like we all have that one dumb blind spot we have to crash into before the lightbulb goes off, right?

alice_hart1d ago

A buddy of mine did the same thing with pool cleaning - spent two months pitching to renters before he figured out he needed to track down the actual property owners. He said it felt like the biggest facepalm moment of his career.

umar591d ago

Hear me out though, I actually think there's a silver lining to that mistake. Hitting the wrong target first can sometimes teach you way more than getting it right away. You learn the questions to ask, you figure out the subtle differences in tone between a renter and an owner, and you build a thick skin for rejection. Plus, if that renter ends up buying a place down the road, they remember you as the person who was eager to help, not the one who blew them off. It's not efficient, sure, but it's not a total waste either.