No Calls on Fridays!

Good evening all,

Today is Friday the 13th. A great deal of superstition comes along with this date if you believe it. To me it was a great day for learning. Fridays are a HORRIBLE day to make cold calls! Let me say that again...avoid making cold calls to potential clients on a Friday. Its even worse when you are trying to build up the brand of a small companies.

I suppose I knew this already, but it was easier to make these mistakes when I was receiving a weekly salary. With each call the theme was generally the same such as "I didn't receive the information regarding your services, can you please send me more and we can talk in a few weeks." These calls set me back a month for the prospects I phoned today. I would have been better off planning these calls for Monday. In one case, I believe that I heard the words "...send your information and call AFTER the holidays." I was stunned since that is two months out for that prospect.

I should be happy that they didn't hang up the phone, but it was discouraging knowing that I already had a day of time into each of these prospect from last week. For example, walking into one office I found that the reception area was full of customers. I simply asked the reception staff to hand my materials to the administrator and I would follow up at a later time. Either she didn't hear me or wanted me to wait with the masses in their overcrowded waiting room.

A long while later the Administrator comes out looking for someone who has an appointment with them only to find that its ME just dropping off information uninvited. At this point, I couldn't run and I felt like the reception staff just threw me under the bus. Needless to say, the encounter was brief as I didn't want to make mistake number 2 that sales people make all the time "show up and throw up". This happens to sales people who have the need to "throw up" their product knowledge or service knowledge without even asking the prospect their needs.

As this day winds to a close, I know that the calls made today set me back at least a month. The only good thing is that there are more prospects in the pipeline. I only need to stay away from FRIDAYS!

Until next time...