My Encounter with Cold Calling

I am someone who is looking forward to be an Entrepreneur and the area which I am interested in is Marketing. Though I have people asking me, if you like marketing then what is it about you being an Entrepreneur, you can always take up a job in marketing. Ya, that’s a good option but it’s just that I like to be my own boss and make sure that lot of the decisions which the company makes abide by my moral values ; which I find is lacking in the corporate world(there are a few exceptions though). So, I quit my decent job in the corporate world where I was running along with everyone else like a flock of sheep(Pointless & Aimless) where there is very less chance of me making a difference anywhere(neither in my company nor the world) and eventually (after starting my own company) here I am taking up a marketing/sales job in a small IT company which lets me learn more about marketing and Entrepreneurship.

cold-calling

The first thing which I encountered during my new job was “Cold Calling”. Though I have Cold Called for a small duration in my career, I have never made a sale over the phone(which I feel is not possible in today’s savvy world) and I got to know how difficult it is to even speak to a prospective client when cold calling especially to big companies outside my country. Though I am doing a lot of talking everyday over the phone it is not to any person, so now if you are a sales professional I am sure you’ll be able to know what I am talking about. Yes, its none other than my only companion “THE VOICE MAIL BOX”. Though, I get to speak to a very few people who I call, all I get is a big “NO”. An NO after spending so much time collecting details about the concerned prospect & their company and practicing the pitch over and over again(though my pitch is currently bad) thinking that I will speak to my prospect(though the conversion rate of speaking to the prospect is as low as 3%) and after all this I get an NO.

I am not trying to sell a sub-standard service not am I trying to cheat anyone. Though I have all the right intentions, I am not able to connect to the person who picks up my call and in just 20 seconds says “BYE” to me.  Hmmm, I guess, I am doing it all wrong. What should a genuine sales person with all good intentions looking to actually help a customer overcome his problems do?

Well, at this point of time I just don’t know and boy, it doesn’t look easy but I am trying to do just that. And somewhere down my heart says I will find my way 🙂

If you are interesting in Marketing & Sales but haven’t (or have) tried your hand at it, do suggest me on what you think will work. I will try it out 🙂

 

Entrepreneurship – A way of life

Inner peace

Entrepreneurship, is something I see as a lifestyle rather than an occupation. I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I don’t know from where I was stung with this idea but somehow I knew that entrepreneurship is what I will be settling down for life. I guess it is because that I always had this problem with authority, I just can’t follow orders from someone asking me to do dumb things ( I adore mentoring but not authority). This is what was happening with me during my tenure at an Engineering company for a span of two years.

I was an average engineering student from a middle class family without any aspirations in life. I went to school & then college because everyone I knew did it and engineering for a middle class family was like a prestigious life saving profession (a ridiculous stereotype which resulted in more than 500 Engineering colleges with despicable standards from the place where I come from). I had no realisation on what I wanted to become or what I am doing at school and college everyday but I was a capable student who studied just because my parents were spending their hard earned money on my education. One day, I finished college which also landed me a job in an engineering company (I ridiculed IT corporates, but later repented on seeing the “crowd & lifestyle” IT companies offer). It took me only few months to know that what I was doing is not what I wanted to do the rest of my life. Then one day it just happened that I quit my job and planned to be self-employed(Though the statement is simply put, the process of me quitting was a long one indeed). Luckily, I had a set of close friends who were Entrepreneurs themselves so I had the opportunity of started a venture jointly with one of them.

Though, it has been only a very short run so far in the boots of an entrepreneur, I am starting to enjoy the like of it. It is very early to say how good an entrepreneur I become but I am happy that I choose my own path and did what I feel is right for myself, rather than to find excuses in living the life of many others. That’s when I realised that one’s passion alone can change his life as he wants it and for me it has been through a way of life called entrepreneurship.