[thelist] Re: how do you drum up de business?

[Kevin Martin]

Cold calling?!
 
> My cold calling friend may be able to get through to the right person, but
> then she'll flounder and get you a meeting. You would presumably be worse
> at getting to the person, but when you do, you can talk intelligently
> about their current website.

I don't go after them; I let them come to me.

For instance, I got my best customer by dropping by the local PC
shop and telling them I was available to do web design and hosting.
The owner basically said "Oh, good. Here's a card from a chap who's
been hounding me and I don't want to be bothered.  Take him away
with my blessing!"  Said chap was indeed talkative and wanted a lot
of handholding ( = billable hours) but he's also a natural salesman
and keeps giving out referrals to all his friends -- which has led to 
another very satisfying deal, and THAT guy is now referring HIS
friends to me.

It takes a great deal of time to build up critical mass that way, but
I'm a low-key sort of person and cold-calling is right out for me.