I want to talk about cold calling today. Particularly, I want to talk about cold calling on LinkedIn and one thing to avoid when doing it.
(Although, I guess if you’re not actually calling someone (or, phoning, as we say here in Canada), it’s probably not technically cold calling.)
I regularly receive cold calls in LinkedIn Messaging. I send them out myself sometimes, often in response to a new contact request. But there’s one thing I don’t like that some people do when cold calling:
Not customizing your cold calling intro
Here, let me give you two recent examples:
On the surface, these messages seem innocent enough (other than the opening lines seem hollow and cookiecutterish), but there’s one fatal flaw. Both of them are targeting me with services that my business is built on.
Hot Pepper Communications specializes in writing, editing, and social media marketing. These messages tell me that neither sender put in the research needed to customize their message for their intended target.
And if they’re going to use a shotgun, one-size-fits-all approach for their own marketing, how do I know they won’t use a generic approach to work they do for my company? I can’t afford to take that risk. Plus, if you contact a copyeditor to provide services on their behalf, you should at least get capitalization and punctuation right.
So I politely declined.
If you’re going to cold call, do the research. Show the recipient that you’re willing to put in the time and the work to craft a unique message, that you understand what their needs are, and that you know specific ways to address those needs. Sure it takes more time and effort, but it means more.