It’s kind of interesting when people tell me they couldn’t possibly telephone companies for freelance or consulting assignments because they can’t risk the rejection.
It’s interesting because I got into telephoning (or as others call it, cold calling) to avoid rejection.
Let’s start at the beginning.
I’ve been terminated from “good” corporate jobs four times. Once I was on disability leave. I’m fine now (that was many years ago) and it didn’t sting because them’s the rules.
The other three times were not plant closings or massive right sizing. Just little ole me and hugely painful. Big time rejection.
It’s been many years and I still feel the rejection. Fortunately my mental health is satisfactory, but I’m just saying. For me, getting terminated is worse than getting divorced.
My divorce in 1993 was big-time messy, but losing jobs has been, for me, far worse.
My next most important experience with rejection was in looking for a full-time corporate job.
I don’t know if “rejection” is the right word. What I experienced was less personal than rejection. I simply didn’t exist. I fell into the black job-market hole repeatedly.
I submitted carefully tailored resumes and cover letters. No response, usually. I did telephone and in-person interviews. No response, usually, unless I was hired. I waited for their follow-up call that was promised early next week. Nothing.
The experts said I should be looking for a full-time job 40 hours a week, but I couldn’t think up enough useful activity to fill the time.
“They” said I should discover unsolved corporate problems and get meetings with executives to show my solutions so they would create jobs that did not yet exist.
Huh?
Still haven’t figured out how to do it.
I was a financial writer for mutual fund companies. Their “problem” was that the marketing copy was dull and uninspired. The reason was that industry regulations prohibit effective writing. So the best way to demonstrate that you don’t know what you’re doing is to show them how you can improve their writing.
Furthermore, I had—and have—no idea how to identify and solve problems that company insiders can’t solve and even less of an idea about how to get in to talk with corporate executives for this purpose without relying on false pretenses.
Most everything I knew how to do to get a job was well-known to be a waste of time (especially sending in a resume for an advertised opening).
And since very little was working, I felt rejected.
So to fill up some time and generate some income, I started telephoning for freelance and consulting assignments. Yes, I turned to phoning to avoid activities that were causing me to feel rejected—or even invisible.
How much rejection have I experienced while phoning for freelance and consulting?
Well, someone hung up on me once. A few people have said “no” somewhat curtly.
And of course, many people have not answered and have instead allowed the call to roll over to voice mail.
I’ll take this level of rejection over the alternatives any day!
For more information
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The whole “phone phobia” thing is interesting. I think those of us who are reluctant to contact prospective clients via telephone are afraid that we will come across as telemarketers.
Thanks for your article. I really enjoyed reading and really relating to what you’ve written. I’ve found over the years in my business that the rejection in cold calling for project assignments was way less than the rejection I received when trying to get a full-time position in “Corporate America”. After a while, I just stayed with what was working. And cold-calling simply works.
Thanks again!
Janet, Thank you for your thoughts.
I define a “telemarketer” as someone who markets by telephone. Since I market by telephone, the label fits.
The problem with telemarketing as frequently practiced is that practitioners are calling big lists of people who are unlikely to be interested, they are inappropriately pushy and they have no perspective of trying to help people.
I’m innocent on all three counts and I’m proud to offer help to the people and companies most likely to take me up on my offer. Being paid for my help makes it no less helpful. Everyone gets paid for working.
-d
I’m with ya, Vickie!
Having run a school that trained telemarketers, telemarketing is a career path for people who want to call on behalf of others.
I get frustrated with cold calls because getting to the right people is a challenge both because of the gate keepers and because they are difficult to get at their desk.
I don’t like cold calling because of rejection but because it is such a frustration of time use – I much prefer some form of warm pre-introduced as you can get through LinkedIn and referral intros.
It is, as you say, a matter of perspective. Most of the prospects you speak with on the phone don’t know you well enough to “reject” *you*. They aren’t even necessarily rejecting what you offer, as there are many reasons why people say “no.” They may not actually be good candidates for your offer for reasons you could never anticipate. Or maybe the timing is just bad.
As for rejection on the job front, I always think back to a story about my wife. She was fired from a position and was feeling rejected, until she went home and her roommate at the time said “Congratulations. Now you can get a better job.” Gotta love that attitude.
We all have a tendency to cling to the past because it is familiar. But we can only explore our true potential by taking a little risk now and then and getting out of our comfort zone. Instead of thinking “what’s the worst that could happen,” we need to think “how far can I take this?”
Roberta,
Yes, warms calls are great, especially referrals.
How are you using LinkedIn? It sounds like you make phone calls to LinkedIn connections? Do you only phone actual connections? Do you propose a phone call online before actually making the call?
Good for you!
-d
This was a great post! I tried cold calling, way back when, and was not in the least bit successful. But even I know that it was more because I had such a negative attitude towards getting ready to do it, that I couldn’t be surprised it didn’t work. But I love that you used it as a way to avoid rejection. That would never in a million years have occurred to me.