Cold calling.
I've been asked to talk more about cold calling so this blog post will give you an insight into how I cold call, what to do and how to approach it. It wont however tell you what to say or how to say it, that stuff is down to you.
So you're ready, you've worked hard and perfected your script and now it's time to get it out there and having read yesterday's blog you decided that cold calls are the way forward... what's next?
You could look at it like this, you have to pick up the phone and call a customer and get that customer to try your product. I prefer to look at it like I'm calling a friend who can make all of my dreams come true, that way I wont get angry and tell them to screw off!
First of all write a script, not the one you're trying to sell but one for the call, go over what you want to say over and over again so that when you are on the call you won't draw a blank. Think of possible questions that the person could ask you and come up with answers to them (DO NOT have “How much do you want for it?” on the list!). Make sure you're comfortable before you call, have a glass of water beside you in case you freeze up, then take a deep breath and dial the number.
Remember that the person who answers the phone will be at work, and will get dozens of calls a day from people that have bad scripts, bad ideas, bad manners etc so be nice, help them to have a nice couple of minutes on the phone with you and try to get a name. It's worth remembering that they don't care if you're a screenwriter/director/doctor/teacher/puppeteer so don't tell them, tell them the most intriguing part of your story and see if they bite. If they don't bite just say thank you and hang up, there are thousands of other people to call.
I can't stress highly enough that you should make it all about the person on the other end of the phone, right now they might be answering phones somewhere but someday they could be a studio head... these are people you want to like you. So don't be pushy, don't be arrogant, don't be nervous or shy just be yourself and talk as if you are talking to a friend, and try to honestly befriend these people.
Heres how my very first cold call experience went:
I came home from work (I live 9 hours ahead of LA!) and decided to bite the bullet, I got all of my papers ready, wrote my script, practiced my call, imagined it going very well, picked up the phone and froze. My heart was beating out of my chest, my breath was short and I was sweating with fear but I took a deep breath and dialed the number... a girl answered “Hello, Production company” (I'm not saying which company or which producer I called btw) and I hung up, my heart beat even faster, my breath got shorter. I took a long drink of water and a big deep breath and dialed again, this time I asked for the producer and was put through to his office.
The phone rang for what felt like a couple of months and when it finally had another voice on the other end I was choked up, I croaked “Hi, I'm Dave The Screenwriter and I have a story...Blah Blah Blah.. that I thought you'd be interested in” I was talking to an assistant, he was a nice guy, wished me well, said that the concept was excellent but that they were not in a position to accept it... that was the day I learned that you really shouldn't start by calling THE BIGGEST production companies in the business! Start with the smaller guys, they can get you to the bigger guys!
After that initial call, I dialed the next one straight away and my nerves were gone, the second call resulted in a script request... but alas after considering the script they decided that it was too close to a project they had done a few years ago.
So that's my story about cold calling, I still get nervous doing it but once the phone is answered I click into pitch mode! The best advice I can give you is to prepare, know the company you are calling, know your story, know the script you're going to say... be ready. OOH and BE NICE!
Hopefully this will cover what you needed to know about cold calling, if you have anymore questions or requests for the blog (please don't request that I stop blogging!) then email dthescreenwriter@aol.com
Write On!
Dave The Screenwriter
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