Should I be cold-calling to generate projects for my video production business?

Introduction

If you're a video production company owner, videographer, or filmmaker, you may have tried and put off the dreaded cold calling. But without projects to work on, you don't have a video business at all. So should you be cold calling? If the answer is yes, how do you do it so it's not a painful process? Does it actually work? What should you be saying? Is there another way to drive regular work into your video business?

The mere mention of cold calling is enough to send shivers down any video professional's spine. You got into this game because you love creating beautiful video content – you probably didn't get into the video world because you absolutely love picking up the phone to random strangers and asking them to spend money with you.

What You'll Learn

• Why cold calling is ineffective for video businesses – Understanding the buyer's journey and why less than 1% of your audience is ready for a pitch.
• The difference between cold and warm calling – How to transform painful prospecting into productive conversations.
• How to warm up prospects – Creating content that moves people through the buyer's journey.
• A better system for generating leads – Using lead magnets and targeted content instead of phone bashing.

The Problem With Cold Calling

Cold calling potential prospects is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. That may be a very lucrative, expensive needle and they are out there, but in order to find that one project, that one client that is ready to go and can be swayed by a stranger calling them, you have to do a lot of leg work. You have to make a lot of calls and you have to face a lot of rejection. And that, believe it or not, is not fun.

The whole idea of having a script is totally alien to us in our industry. We work in a creative world, not one where you have to make 50 cold calls a day to be told "No, I'm not interested," "Now's not the time," or "We already have a supplier."

Understanding the Buyer's Journey

Less than 1% of your target audience will be in what is called the decision stage of the buyer's journey. These are the people that are aware of an issue they are facing or an opportunity that's presenting itself to them – and they've already decided that video is the vehicle that's going to take them to their goal.

So when you're cold calling, you're in effect trying to find that fraction of your target audience that are ready and open to hear what you have to say. The vast majority of your target audience – the 99% – will not yet be looking for a video provider, but they still have the same goals and desires as the 1%. They still need to drive more opportunities into their business, generate more leads, make more sales, raise more funds – but they just aren't ready for a pitch yet.

The Solution: Warm Calling

You have to warm them up. Did you hear that word? Warm. The opposite to cold. Yes, you do need to talk to your prospects in order to win work from them. But why spend all that time receiving all those pushbacks and excuses when you can warm them up and pick up the phone when they are warm?

Here's what you should be doing instead: You create content or post messaging that taps into the core desires and fears of your perfect prospect. If they engage with that content, something has resonated with them and they probably have an issue or opportunity that your service – video – can help to fix or achieve.

The Warm Calling Process

If they engage with that content or that post or that blog, you can then serve them content that shows how video (not you yet) can help them achieve that opportunity or fix that problem. Then – and only then – when they engage with that content, do you pick up the phone.

You'll use something called a lead magnet to capture their data. Then every phone call that you make is no longer trying to convince someone who has most likely never heard of you before to spend money with you. At this stage, they're already convinced that they need video content. And that turns the phone call from a pitchfest to a constructive, helpful conversation. It's a warm call, not a cold call.

The Benefits of Warming Your Prospects

You should be warming your perfect prospects up with your content, your messaging – which is 100 times cheaper, 100 times easier, 100 times more scalable, and 100 times more enjoyable. And when they are warm, you pick up the phone. Conversion rate goes through the roof. Opportunities and projects become consistent. And you don't have to spend hours being told no, to go away, or trying to bypass gatekeepers.

Anyone that tells you that cold calling is a vital part of building a video business is either lying or just doesn't know what they're talking about, particularly when it comes to marketing a video business.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:41:00
If you're a video production company owner or a videographer or filmmaker, you may have tried and put off the dreaded cold calling. But without projects to work on, you don't have a video business at all. So, should you be cold calling? If the answer is yes, how do you do it so it's not a painful process? Does it actually work? What should you be saying? Is there another way to drive regular work into your video business? Well, in today's Q&A, I'm answering that very question. And I think you'll be pleased to know that there are easier, less soul destroying ways to drive opportunities into your video business. Should I be cold calling to generate projects for my video production company?

00:00:41:00 - 00:01:28:00
So, the mere mention of cold calling is enough to send shivers down any video professional spine. You got into this game because you love creating beautiful video content or you love a certain part of the video production process. You probably didn't get into the video world because you absolutely love picking up the phone to random strangers and asking them to spend money with you. So, is it all it's cracked up to be? Does it actually work? And if so, what should you be saying? What should your script be? The whole idea of having a script is totally alien to us in our industry. We work in a creative world, not one where you have to make 50 cold calls a day to be told, "No, I'm not interested." Now's not the time. We already have a supplier. So, I'm here to tell you that you really don't need to be cold calling. You can if you want, but you don't need to be.

00:01:28:00 - 00:02:07:00
It can be effective. I actually used to hire people to cold call for me. I used to hate it. But here's how I see it. Cold calling potential prospects is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. That may be a very lucrative, expensive needle and they are out there, but in order to find that one project, that one client that is ready to go and can be swayed by a stranger calling them to tell them about how great they are, you have to do a lot of leg work. You have to make a lot of calls and you have to face a lot of rejection. And that, believe it or not, is not fun. So, you can scour the phone book looking for numbers and spend hours a day by picking up the phone, but that's a fool's work.

00:02:07:00 - 00:03:05:00
Now, if you've engaged with any of my other content, you would have heard me talk about the buyers journey. I have a separate video which I've linked to below that goes into a lot more detail on this concept. It's a vital concept for us as video production professionals to understand. But in short, less than 1% of your target audience will be in what is called the decision stage of the bias journey. These are the people that are aware of an issue that they are facing or an opportunity that's presenting itself to them and they've already decided that video is the vehicle that's going to take them to their goal. Less than 1%. So when you're cold calling, you're in effect trying to find that fraction of your target audience that are ready and open to hear what you have to say. It's the same thing that happens when video production professionals or freelancers post their showreel on Facebook or Instagram and see little to no engagement. The vast majority of your target audience, the 99% will not yet be looking for a video provider, but they still have the same goals and desires as the 1%.

00:03:05:00 - 00:03:55:00
They still need to drive more opportunities into their business, generate more leads, make more sales, raise more funds, but they just aren't ready for a pitch yet. You have to warm them up. Did you hear that word? Warm. The opposite to cold. So, yes, you do need to talk to your prospects in order to win work from them. But why spend all that time receive all those push backs, excuses when you can warm them up and pick up the phone when they are warm? Makes sense, doesn't it? But how? How do we warm them up? Well, first of all, you understand the concept of the buyer's journey and why it's so important to video production professionals. You can watch that video via the link below. But you need to have a system in place that serves your perfect prospects the right content depending on where they are within the buyer's journey. That's actually very simple when you know what to say and how to serve it.

00:03:55:00 - 00:04:50:00
I'll come on to that. But anyone that tells you that cold calling is a vital part of building a video business is either lying or just doesn't know what they're talking about, particularly when it comes to marketing a video business. I'm sure it works in other industries, but why spend hours upon hours bashing the phone trying to convince people that clearly have 101 other things on their mind? It doesn't make sense, does it? Here's what you should be doing instead. You create content or post messaging that taps into the core desires and fears of your perfect prospect. If they engage with that content, well, something has resonated with them and they probably have an issue or opportunity that your service video can help to fix or achieve. So, if they engage with that content or that post or that blog, you can then serve them content that shows how video and that's video, not you yet. So how video can help them achieve that opportunity or fix that problem.

00:04:50:00 - 00:05:47:00
Then and only then when they engage with that content do you pick up the phone. You'll use something that is called a lead magnet to capture their data. Then every phone call that you make is no longer trying to convince someone that has most likely never heard of you before to spend money with you. At this stage they're already convinced that they need video content. And that turns the phone call from a pitchfest to a constructive helpful conversation. It's a warm call, not a cold call. So, no, you don't need to cold call. You shouldn't be cold calling. You should be warming your perfect prospects up with your content, your messaging, which is 100 times cheaper, 100 times easier, 100 times more scalable, and 100 times more enjoyable. And when they are warm, you pick up the phone. Conversion rate goes through the roof. Opportunities and projects become consistent. and you don't have to spend hours being told no to go away trying to bypass gatekeepers.

00:05:47:00 - 00:06:14:00
Now, if you'd like to build this system into your video business, I want to offer you the framework that has now been implemented by over 3,000 video production companies and freelancers around the world that's called the lead generation machine. And it's totally free. It's one of three courses that I've made that teach sales, marketing, and retention strategies to video professionals like you. So, go ahead, use the link below this video and check it out. Have a great day.