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Are you cold-calling for new clients?
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[Michael Hancock] “Clients never need just “a video”. They need a way to communicate their message. Now if a video is the best way to do that than it’s the route you take, but producing a video for the sake of producing a video to get a paycheck will end up being the last video you make for someone. If it doesn’t effectively communicate a message that drives predetermined results (direct sales, name recognition, sales leads, etc…), it’s just wasted dollars. “
Michael,
Keep in mind that Ron can offer a certifiable and quantifiable audience to the potential new customers that he cold calls. We can’t do that in the video business.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[Steve Kownacki] “While getting new clients is nice, maintaining current clients is far more profitable. There’s a huge cost to gaining business. Keep your customers happy.”
This is a great point, Steve.
I once knew one of the board of directors of JCPenny Co. and used to talk with him regularly. He had all duaghters and no sons and the way I loved business, I sort of became his surrogate son. He taught me tons of great things over the years.
One of the greatest was that he told me that JCPCo had done a study in which they found that it takes SIX TIMES the amount of time, money and effort to woo and land a new customer, than it does to keep an existing one and get them to buy another product or service from you.
SIX TIMES.
That is an incredible bit of knowledge which every business owner or manager should tattoo onto the inside of their eyelids so that they don’t forget.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry -
David,
I can’t do that when it comes to record business, video business, animation, magazines that I launched against the tide and against “expert commentary” as to the insanity of such a thing today, etc., etc., etc.
I am ALWAYS swimming against the tide in case you didn’t notice.
I have ALWAYS overcome the obstacles no matter if it’s that I want to make music videos for companies in England — when I live in California — or sell a website that the manufacturers know that they are getting the advantage of, for free.
I don’t know if you quite remember the old saying of: Why buy the COW, when you can get the milk for free — but there have been PLENTY of times when I have been up against the wall and have gotten the firing squad to turn the guns back on themselves by a well supported and convincing argument.
I wish it was as easy as you think it is — that by waving a flag of raw numbers, the people line up and pull out their wallets. But that is simply so simplistic and myopic that it is inherently untrue. Though I wish it were true, as I would then have a smooth road in front of me — not to mention a lot less work to do.
What you see as the COW, did NOT come from a bunch of companies volunteering to support it, for the most part. For every one that did, there were a dozen that fought tooth and nail to not be here. (Oh, and most of those that did sign on were NOT swayed by numbers. Few people are. In fact, most of them wondered if the numbers were true as they were so much bigger than everyone else’s numbers, and some outright called us liars because they couldn’t believe that we were bigger than all of our competitors, combined.)
It has NOT been an easy road to be bovinian.
I do the same thing when it comes to magazines that people say that there are enough of, record companies that people say are a thing of the past, training companies that are dying on the vine, and so on and so forth.
Some people look at the donut and all they see is the hole and what is missing. Me? I look at all them greasy, sugary, deep-fried calories and all that blood thickening goodness that is there…just sitting round the hole.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry -
[Ron Lindeboom] “I wish it was as easy as you think it is — that by waving a flag of raw numbers, the people line up and pull out their wallets.”
Ron,
I never said that your job was easy. However, the fact that you have built a well-known entity that is certifiable and quantifiable does make cold calling somewhat easier.
Of course we both know that your job really starts when customer says “no.” And, I’ll bet that’s where you really shine…
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] “I never said that your job was easy. However, the fact that you have built a well-known entity that is certifiable and quantifiable does make cold calling somewhat easier.”
Yes, it has made it easier but I was the same dogged and relentless refuses-to-accept-contrary-conclusions kind of sales animal that can be this way because I know I care about my customers and I will prove that my work flies, or they can have their money back. When you have that kind of confidence, it shows and is quite regularly contagious — sorta like a cold for businesspeople.
In the end, the important thing is what I said about donuts: some see the hole. Me? I try hard to see the whole.
Oh, and David, I do video, audio, and many other kinds of projects. I just don’t put up my work anymore as Tim Wilson would tell you that even in the beginning many years ago, my critics tore me to shreds online trying to discredit me. As Tim mentions somewhere in one of his recent posts: some people never forgive you for being right. They don’t. Some of the “old guard” that used to be some of the big names many years ago, refuse to play here and whine and chide the COW for its commercialism — yet, they won’t offer a single thing for free and expect to get paid every time they open their mouths. Hypocrites. They deride me for moderating but they themselves have publicly lied and vilified people — and unlike me, who does apologize when I get out of line — I have yet to see them do so. (Even when they tarred and feathered a guy up in Toronto whose only crime was that he didn’t understand a process which he was mental blocking on and asked for repeated clarification.)
I am too busy making stuff, building things, to bother with my critics any longer. I don’t have to make demo reels anymore. I used to. Now, I just show them some of my completed projects and they get the idea.
When you set out to build something, many people cheer you on until it starts succeeding, and then they won’t forgive you for your success.
Ah, human nature.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry -
I want to get some info about regional manufacturing companies so I’ve gone to the “Reference USA” website and started looking through their massive database. After filtering for sales and number of employees and other variables I came up with a handful of companies that might be worth looking deeper into.
One problem I’m seeing though is that some of the info may be a bit outdated and not entirely accurate. For example, after I got tired of looking into “widget making” companies I took a break and thought I’d check out some local video production companies and saw a wedding video biz that showed annual sales of $3 million! Wow, and this was a single person operation! That’s some seriously upscale weddings!!!
Have you used this type of reference database before? Was it helpful? Any suggestions on how to best utilize this data in “researching” a company (in spite of somewhat exaggerated sales figures!)?
Mark
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[David Roth Weiss] “Michael,
Keep in mind that Ron can offer a certifiable and quantifiable audience to the potential new customers that he cold calls. We can’t do that in the video business.”
I actually never considered that Ron could use the COW as a quantifiable audience. This is a niche website (although that niche is obviously growing). If he’s cold calling a corporation that makes wood flooring, they don’t care about the COW. They care about selling their flooring, and that’s where the importance of focusing on the message and not the medium comes into play.
What I liked most about Ron’s post was that this is a communication business, whether you’re doing video, print, web, podcasting, etc… It’s all about the message, and that message either works or it doesn’t. Now if he was doing a project for AJA or Apple or Avid or Adobe, the COW would be a huge asset to point to and say, “I have X number of people who use your products and go to my site. I can deliver them to you”. But outside of video/audio/graphic production the COW probably doesn’t apply when cold calling.
As far as offering a quantifiable audience–I work for an ad agency with in-house production, not a production only house, so we can offer an audience that’s quantifiable. We can target via print, broadcast, cable systems, satellite, web, etc… But if we don’t deliver the right message the audience won’t buy. That’s something we consider when we cold call–where are they advertising now, and are there better ways to spend their money to increase when their ads are seen, who sees them, and how often.
If the client is buying directly from the media outlets it gives us a huge leg up on a cold call as we can make their jobs easier. Instead of the marketing person dealing with multiple reps and having to determine where to buy and when, they give us a budget and tell us to maximize it. We do the legwork, negotiate often lower rates than they could get on their own, and if they have a problem with media they contact us and we take care of it. That alone can get our foot in the door and land a face to face meeting. That said, I despise cold calling. All the respect in the world to those who do it and do it well.
Michael
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I’ll be working late. -
[Ron Lindeboom] “Yes, it has made it easier but I was the same dogged and relentless refuses-to-accept-contrary-conclusions kind of sales animal….”
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of “Blink,” observed that people only remember how the David. vs. Goliath story ends, but forget the two steps that led to that. The first is that David tried on the traditional helmet and armor, but couldn’t even walk in it. There was no point in trying to dress like a soldier. Second, there was no point trying to act like one either. Instead, he ran straight at Goliath.
“The sudden astonishment when David sprints forward must have frozen Goliath, making him a better target,” the poet and critic Robert Pinsky writes in “The Life of David.” …David pressed. That’s what Davids do when they want to beat Goliaths.
The point being that, while the Cow has a lot of traffic, it’s still a very small company, certainly relative to its advertisers, and certainly smaller than the parent companies of our competitors.
For people who know us, the Cow’s success is an impediment to potential advertisers. As Ron points out, they already benefit, so getting them to pay is tough. And for people who don’t know us, ours can be a hard story to tell.
To mash up Ron’s posts with a couple from Mike’s listening thread…
- Research potential targets. Start with their websites and brochures.
- Listen to what they say their strengths are, which will also tell you their weaknesses. (Hint: they are identical.)
- Find stories of their success to learn what their needs are. (Hint: they are identical.)
- Speak the way they do about what’s important to them. Sell what they want to buy.
You’ll also find that once you get into that mindset, you can optimize your time and effort. You’ll more easily and accurately place jobs on the graph whose axes are “jobs I’d want” and “jobs I can succeed at.” Zero in where the lines cross.
[Ron Lindeboom]Some people look at the donut and all they see is the hole and what is missing. Me? I look at all them greasy, sugary, deep-fried calories and all that blood thickening goodness that is there…just sitting round the hole.
Mmmmm….donuts…
Here is very nearly the only thing to justify flying through LAX….
randysdonuts.comGratuitous, but hey, we’re talking about donuts…
Tim Wilson
Creative Cow Magazine!My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”
Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!
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[Tim Wilson] “For people who know us, the Cow’s success is an impediment to potential advertisers. As Ron points out, they already benefit, so getting them to pay is tough. And for people who don’t know us, ours can be a hard story to tell.”
Selling for the COW, if that is what DRW was alluding to and I am reading him correctly, has been the TOUGHEST set of closes that I have ever had to master.
Instead of being easy, as Tim points out, our numbers are an impediment to the majority of potential advertisers, as they seem almost comical when comparing how a small independent site can eclipse the combined footprint of every major trade publisher combined.
It is NOT a story that plays well…commercially.
BUT…
If we didn’t use it, we’d be right back where we started from, wherein there would be no need to buy the COW when they are enjoying the benefits of the growth seen from the milk served here.
We have to use some pretty hefty closes here and it’s given me a viewpoint on marketing/sales that has given me a whole new set of tools from which to draw upon.
Therein is the secret: as Tim points out, flexibility is its own advantage. There is no single answer, there are only answers — and the more of them that you can use and master, the better.
Ron Lindeboom
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