I have been working with small and medium sized businesses for longer than I ever thought I would. Most of that time was concentrated on sales and marketing.
Right from the beginning I didn’t like (read hated) cold calling; because I didn’t like it I never practiced and because I never practiced I never got good at it.
Don’t get me wrong — I know the value of cold calling. Every sale starts with a cold call somewhere. What I could never get my head around was calling someone from a list, hoping they would answer the phone and when they did, trying to get them interested in my product or service within the first 30 seconds.
One of my early business mentors told me that all a person could invest in their business was time and money — and you better do it right. The old style “dialing for dollars” cold calling didn’t seem a good use of either.
So I would do everything I could not to do cold calls. I found my “cheats.” I attended every networking event that would invite me (and some that didn’t). I would go to conferences — not to listen to the speakers but to talk with those in the crowd. To me it wasn’t cold calling because we all knew why we were there and it was to meet new people.
Those new contacts led to sales calls and often sales. I knew I was really cold calling but, to me, it was better than calling people out of the blue — no matter the cost in time and money…
When LinkedIn appeared on the scene it was manna from heaven to me. I had found the ultimate tool to avoid the old style cold calls. I could reach out to people, ask them to start a conversation and sometimes it even led to a sale. What could be better?
What could be better came with my introduction to BitWide. LinkedIn had started out as a way for employers and employees to connect and it did that well. The challenge was that LinkedIn was not designed for Business to Business sales. It wasn’t long til LinkedIn figured that out too.
With the introduction of Sales Navigator business people (myself included) could say goodbye to old style cold calling forever. Using new tools and computer programs BitWide ushered in the opportunity to meet with professionals that I wanted to speak with, real potential customers who didn’t turn in to sales once in a while but regularly.
By searching for, and delivering, the type of potential customers its customers choose BitWide ensures that every lead is, at the very least, a warm one. No cold lists, no talking to the third receptionist twice removed. Just solid, vetted leads.
With COVID preventing the networking “work around” and with BitWide putting solid “warm” leads in my mailbox is it any wonder I am a BitWide fan?
