Is there a difference in an Elevator Pitch & Cold Calling?

wifistudios

Cold calling is an art, but does your elevator pitch fit your masterpiece?Targeting your potential customers takes research, but getting them to respond takes a lot more practice and selling. I am opening up this forum to help people such as myself to either get over the fear of cold calling or just to be able to develop the best script for your product or service.The idea for this post was from a MSNBC video:Video: Advice on cold calls and paperwork~Basically saying that cold calling is not the way to go. They went on speaking on working with the contacts that you already have and asking them to see if they have any leads for you.Two problems with that comment. One, what if you are a new business and have no contacts? Two, why are there so many cold call centers if it is not profitable?There was another video posted on the same site that caught my attention too:Video: Marketing your message~This video mentioned that there is a specific order to sell your product or service. The model is based upon the golden circle, what, how, why?The bottom line:Does your elevator pitch have time to fit in a cold call when you already have someone on the phone thinking to hang up on another sales call?I open these questions up to you, my fellow startupnation.comers!Thank You.

wifistudios

Great definitions and thank you for responding.An elevator pitch and cold calling are not the same thing, but they both aim to the same objective. You use cold calling to sell and you use an elevator pitch to get investment, so in either case you are trying to part someone of money.A sale is a sale, no matter if we are talking about tracking down sales or an investor. Most of the time when we think of cold calling, we think of a salesman calling in the middle of our dinner to sell you something. The targeted cold calling I speak of is directed to a business that can very well use your services to prosper their business.Open question(s):Does your sales pitch answer these 3 questions? What, How, & Why?Would anyone like to share their format or outline of their sales pitch or calls?Thank You.

qsoundrich

Kregg, thanks for your reply to this topic.   I think the assumption that "Cold Calling is a waste of time" is simply not true.  I`m in a similar situation to the OP, and I am trying to refine my pitch because the list of possible interested parties in my case is very small, yet the amount of work available is potentially huge.  I am an engineering services business, so I`m working on nailing down exactly how to differentiate myself in the first 15 seconds of a phone conversation enough to keep the sales process going forward.  I can only assume that people who think cold calling is a waste simply have big enough networks/referrals to make their business somewhat profitable.  I think the elevator pitch is essentially the same thing.  It`s an introduction, and a statement of why you can offer them something better than anyone else.  I`m going to do something like (for example):Hi, I`m Rich from ABC Limited, and we do engineering services.  Mr. Importante, I am working with a team of Supermen from the planet Krytpon, who have also worked for companies in your industry.  I`m contacting people in the industry who could also use our services....Then pause and ask a leading question if I`m not interrupted.I think telling people I`m not going to take their time is sort of disingenuous.  I really want 3 minutes of their time and then about 30 minutes later that week to find out more about them/tell them more in person ideally.  Everyone is busy so I figure I`ll just get right into what I`m talking about.  Of course my biggest problem is jumping in and doing it.

pmccord

Wifistudios,
You`ve received some good information regarding the difference between an elevator speech and cold calling, but I`d like to point out an error mentioned by both qsoundrich and yourself--that to generate a large number of referrals requires an experienced salesperson with a large base of clients.  That simply isn`t true.  What is true is that most (about 85%) salespeople fail at referral selling.  They`ll get a few names and phone numbers, but most are far from qualified referrals.
But all salespeople--even new salespeople with few clients--can learn how to generate a large number of high quality referrals from clients, prospects and known others. 
One of the major issues is that many, many salespeople think getting referrals is simple--just do a good job and ask for referrals.  Fact of the matter is--that method just doesn`t work.  Generating referrals from clients and other is a whole process that starts the second you meet a prospect and continues throughout the sale--and long afterwards.  If done correctly, it is far more effective than any other lead generation system there is. 
This isn`t to say that you don`t use other lead generation methods.  Few salespeople are referral only--the super mega-producers.  But the way those superstars generate their business and the relationship they have with their client is far different than other salespeople`s.  But their techniques and strategies can be learned and implemented.
The methods they use can be used by any salesperson, no matter their primary lead generation method.  I work with salespeople involved in the most sophisticated sales process to those in the most direct and simple process.  With those involved in highly complicated lead generation processs to those using the most simple, such as cold calling.
I`d encourage you to investigate the process of referral generation and incorporate it into your marketing mix.  If done correctly, referral selling can add many, many thousands of dollars to your income in just a few months.  Learning to referral sell isn`t easy--but it isn`t impossibly complicated either.  Learn how to generate a large number of high quality referrals and combine that with your current prospecting methods and your income will increase significantly.  I`ve seen new salespeople learn how to referral sell and shoot to the top of their organization`s performance charts in only matter of months.