"Cold calling is probably the single most feared and dreaded thing in the business," says Ed Harper a full-service investment broker with Prudential Bache securities in West Virginia. Harper understates his explanation a bit when he explains that "for most people it's against their nature to call somebody they don't know, and try to get them to give you your money." But take heart: "You get better at it as you go on. If you don?t get better at it, unless you're a motivational person naturally, you?re probably going to have problems."
In our rush-rush age of efficiency, FedExes and satellite offices, we'll all have problems if we can't use the phone effectively. We may not have to make hundreds of cold calls a day, but sooner or later, we'll probably have to make an important call that may be relatively cold, whether that call involves calling up a potential mentor, or making a pitch about the company we're starting.
Here are some tips on networking on the phone from those whose livelihoods depend on it:
"You tell them what you're doing, but first you ask if they might be busy, if there might be a better time," says Harper. "You say "This is so and so from here and here, do you have a moment to talk'?" This is the first important lesson of schmoozing on the phone. Just imagine that the other person has someone in his or her office, and here's some schmo yakking like there's no tomorrow. It sounds like a simple and obvious step, but unless you consciously check yourself, you can fall into it, propelled by nervousness or agressiveness. "I always ask if they have time to talk," Harper says. "One of the big mistakes people make, is, they'll introduce themselves, say "I'd like to interest you in this idea?" and they're off and running. There could be someone at their desk, and (the broker) doesn't even realize the prospect can't even talk."
So say the person you're calling is willing to listen. What next? On the phone schmoozing is a lot like in-person schmoozing. As a literary agent, Victoria Sanders often pitches projects to editors over the phone in a matter of thirty seconds. "You have to have a really hot and snappy pitch," she says. "The biggest thing is you've got to be able to give them a hook. The first question you have to ask is who's the market, who's going to buy it. You've got to help them sell this to the marketing people, because if they won't take it, it won't get sold. In major houses, it's about marketing."
Still, Sanders says that even in a short and intense pitch, one should try to build rapport outside a strictly professional relationship, and that if things go well or a relationship has already been established, a pitch call can be five to ten minutes. "It depends on your relationship with the editor. A lot of it's schmoozing - you talk about other things, and then you get to the pitch, or you talk about the pitch and you talk about the other things. It's all about personal relationships."
Sanders' comments point to the fact that even in a brief conversation, we can apply the major tenets of schmoozing that we are learning in this chapter. By concentrating on a "hook," Sanders is concentrating on what the relationship means to the other person, in this case, the editor. By making chitchat outside of the business talk, Sanders is applying the social first, or at least, social always, part of the schmoozer's mindset.
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