Our VP of Business Development, Kaitlin Atkinson, shares her insights on the switchboard call…

According to LinkedIn ads, cold calling is dead. Cold calling is NOT dead. The phone is power.

Here is your challenge for the week.

You know the 1–800 number that a company posts on its website?

Call it.

Not only call it-create a new relationship out if it.

You need to know your audience before you even pick up that phone. Without understanding your audience or having a concise message for a 30 second pitch, you will choke on the phone and you will ultimately get hung up on before “Hello my name is…”

After you know your audience, here are two exercises to practice the power of switchboards:

1.) If you know which department your product is used for, call the main switchboard and listen to the WHOLE pre-recorded message. Many companies let you dial into departments such as marketing or sales. Just hit some numbers and you will be surprised, if you are nice, that you will get a contact in a few minutes. Crazy thing is-after you listen to these messages, 8 times out of 10, there is someone on the other end to help you.

2.) The second way to get through the switchboard is to have the contact already that you want to call on. The secret is to ask for the contact in a matter of fact way and say “please” and “thank you.” You will get to the person you need to get to.

There is no secret sauce to get through a company blindly. You just need to have a game plan, know your audience and a pinch of courteousness.