If you are wanting to start a business the best thing you can do is pick up the phone and start dialling.

No one will give you the answers more than your target market.

Far too many people worry about the wrong things. They obsess over their website. They agonize over their logo. They spend weeks designing a LinkedIn banner or setting up complex systems.

Perfection comes later. Revenue comes first.

When I first started out I had no offering other than the fact that I thought I could help companies sell better. I had spent years watching the mistakes many salespeople make as well as leading and selling myself.

I did not hire a web developer. I picked up the phone.

The Market Will Tell You What to Sell

After a few weeks of calling I kept getting the same feedback.

"You are a fantastic cold caller."
"I never stay on the phone to salespeople but you sound different."

I know that salespeople will do anything to not pick up the phone. We discuss this fear constantly in Overcome Call Reluctance. I have been in companies where "sales" people have made no outbound calls ever.

Then it hit me.

I shouldn't just be doing sales. I should be teaching cold call training.

My market gave me my product.

The First Deal

I went straight to the job board and typed in "SDR."

I called the CEO of the first company that came up.

I had no website.
I had no social proof.
I had no pricing structure.
I had no program.

I kept the CEO on the phone for half an hour. He asked for a follow up in two months.

Two months later a meeting was arranged. Within the meeting the sale was made.

I did not need a brochure. I did not need a proposal. As we covered in The Death of the Sales Proposal, if you can diagnose the problem and offer a solution you do not need paperwork to close the deal.

Cold Calling is Live Feedback

You don't need everything to be perfect before you start. I am still far off perfect and have so much I want to improve.

But cold calling is so much more than just booking a meeting or making a sale.

Every call is live feedback on your pitch and your service.

If you are trying to launch a new product or service you can spend six months building it in isolation. Or you can spend six days calling people to see if they actually want it.

We teach this validation process in our SDR Sales Training. You learn quickly what resonates and what falls flat.

Get On With It

If you want to launch a business stop hiding behind your laptop.

Worry about the website later. Worry about the logo later.

Pick up the phone and get on with it.

If you can sell your vision to a stranger on a cold call you have a business. If you can't no amount of nice web design is going to save you.

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