Is there a cure for the common cold call, or should we just let it rest in peace?
Before you start reading, let’s do a quick experiment. In a moment I am going to list four things.
As soon as you see number one, simply label your very first response as either positive or negative and move on to the next word.
Are you ready? Here we go:
– Telemarketing
– Cold calling
– Do-Not-Call Registry
– Networking
So, what’s your score?
Do you think your reaction is unique or universal?
Paul,
Great information here. I did a couple of podcasts on marketing for voice talent that probably overlaps about 80% of the core of your message. What I still don’t understand is why the average voice talent wants to make cold calls, whether by phone, robotic social networking invites or e-mail blasts.
Not a single person I know who hires talent tells me that these marketing efforts worth a lick and yet, if you believe any of the stories that propagate on various forums and groups, you would believe that cold-calling is the holy grail.
In these days, where it’s so easy to identify individuals and businesses with a few clicks and then often with just a few more clicks discover their interests, beliefs and core modus operandi, there is no excuse for anyone to cold call anymore.
I think it is also very cool that you met the love of your life online, and how in a not-so-strange way, it’s because of your ability to remain not only relevant, but to exploit the tools that you have to reach goals and milestones.
My guess is that the path we as a people are walking down will make it almost impossible for someone to attempt a cold call in the not so distant future. Phone solicitations to my home often end up with a slammed phone and always end up with the number being placed in out blocked caller list, unless no number shows up on caller id, in which case, the call is simply ignored. Various software products help me keep out much of the spam and phishing attempts.
–j.s. gilbert
Great minds think alike, J.S.!
My six suggestions are by no means earth shattering revelations. But even the most familiar information won’t do you any good if you don’t do anything with it.
We all know people who buy business books by the bushel only to let them gather layers dust.
For those of you interested in one of the podcasts mentioned by J.S., here’s the link you’re looking for:
http://podcasts.voices.com/voiceoverexperts/js_gilbert/
And here’s a great example of strategy number 4:
http://www.prlog.org/10104988-js-gilbert-helps-voice-talent-become-problem-solvers-on-voice-over-experts-podcast.html
As always Paul, your advice and hard-earned wisdoms are pure gold… and clearly from the heart! I’m just starting a videogame development company (with my wife, who I also met through the magic of the web!) and this article came at exactly the right time to help me focus my thinking! Thank you my friend!
Congratulations on both counts, Nikolaius! I can’t wait to see what wonders The World of Carathica will bring. You seem to be knowing quite a bit about dragon slaying!
If you’d like to follow this magical journey, check out http://nickayo.com/
It’s really simple for me. I hate to be solicited — I hate to get cold calls or cold emails — so I never make or send them. Do unto others.
I do try to keep my current and past clients happy and do encourage them to make referrals.
I’m with you, Michael. And why do these people always have to call while we’re at the dinner table?
My wife -a lifelong Yankees fan- is going to be thrilled that you stopped by and said “Hi”.
For those of you who don’t know: Michael is the image voice of New York Yankees Radio. If you’re curious what this voice looks like, click on this link:
http://blog.rickwenner.com/headshots/michael-schoen-head-shots/
Rick Wenner’s work is pretty amazing!
Cold calling jump started my VO career in 1980 after a few years as a merchant seaman. My approach: postcards, demo and then a cold call was a fresh approach in that Top-10 market. It sank like a rock a dozen years later in DC.
A guy’s always got to be ready to do a cold call (read elevator pitch) if they stumble across an opportunity, but mostly the biz wants a little more finesse today.
Good piece, Paul.
Another home run, Paul. I’ve never been at all comfortable with the concept of cold calling. The idea that it has joined the Dodo on the list of extinct species is cause for a hearty “Good riddance!”
J.S. has a good point, as well. Technology will soon make it nearly impossible for cold callers and telemarketers to get through the defenses of those of us fed up with interrupted dinners with our families. I’ve already installed call blocking software on my mobile phone that blocks certain telephone numbers and area codes.
Your networking tips are on point. Having joined my local Chamber of Commerce just a few weeks ago, your advice comes at the perfect time.
Thanks for the new ideas and the reminders!
Great points, Paul…and it’s interesting to note the ‘tricks of our trade’ can be used outside of the studio, as well. I, too, met my wife online, through Match.com, 3 years ago – because of my copywriting skills.
Before signing up, I read lots of profiles of men searching for women. So when the time came to create my profile, I decided to play up my Unique Selling Proposition and catch women’s attention right from the very beginning – by humourously stating the OPPOSITE of what every other guy was saying. I said things like, “Why does every guy in the world seem to like long walks on the beach? I’d rather be playing in the waves!” And it worked – my wife came across my profile, thought I was the most interesting guy she had seen, immediately contacted me, and we’re now happily married.
The reason I mention this, is to show we can promote and market ourselves in other ways besides cold-calling. Even if you contact a business you haven’t before, if you present yourself the right way, try to identify their needs or concerns ahead of time, and know well in advance the BENEFIT you can provide them (not your service – the BENEFIT of your service), no call needs to be entirely ‘cold.’
Paul~
Insightful as always!
I’m so glad you decided to write an article about this.
Your beginning quiz says it all.
The negative reactions to both telemarketing and cold calling coincide with my
instincts that there are more effective ways to establish relationships and generate business.
Thank you for posting the link to J.S.’s podcast!
I look forward to listening to it!
Have a lovely week!
Lauren, I wonder what your cold calling experience has been so far. I’m sure we’ll come across a colleague or two, claiming to have landed a major gig out of the blue. It might even be Maxine Dunn:
http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=5kegz3y2
Reading her article, you’ll find that she’s not really advocating cold calling either. I would call her method “lukewarm calling”.
On a different note: if anyone’s up for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding in Utah, you should watch this:
http://www.utah.com/parkcity/park_city_ski.htm
That’s Lauren’s voice, by the way! It’s a small step from the Poconos to Park City. Well done, Lauren! Have fun in the Red Room on October 6th!
Steve H.: I believe cold calling was still very much in vogue in the eighties. That was before the rise of social media, text messaging and even email.
Having been bombarded with unsolicited calls for decades, I feel that people are thoroughly fed up. We have a do-not-call registry for households. Businesses have phenomenal gatekeepers to filter all incoming calls.
I’m happy to hold on to the elevator call, although I can’t remember ever being addressed in an elevator. Usually, people suddenly shut up and start staring at the floor lights.
Steve W.: Glad my tips came at a good time. What have you personally done to drum up business? Signing up for P2P’s doesn’t count…
Matt: You’re absolutely right. My tips are meant to be helpful to the whole spectrum of small business owners. Most of my readers are freelancers, and not necessarily voice-over pros. That’s another way I apply strategy 2.
I’m so happy to hear that you’ve found love online as well. Congratulations! Keep on playing in the waves of life!
Another thorough, helpful, and thoughtful write-up, thank you! Agree with the comments already made, and would add that the focus on what can be done locally and making oneself attractive and useful are vital. Be the natural fit for your environment and community, instead of the cold call square peg trying to squeeze into the round hole.
Perhaps it’s in part that cold calling is trying to make the market work for us, whereas we need to make ourselves work for the market.
Wise words, indeed, Sir FreeLance-a-Lot! We cannot cold call perfect strangers into submission. Statistically, there will always be doormats, ready to be walked all over, but at what price?
What people tend to forget is this: if cold calling only has a 1-3 percent success rate, 99-97 percent of businesses called, are left with a negative impression. That’s a fast way to build a magnificently horrible reputation that should leave no one cold.
Well Paul, to answer your “what have you done to drum up business” question, so far, the Chamber of Commerce networking opportunities have brought in at least one on camera gig (didn’t see that one coming at all!). I am finding other ways to involve myself in the local community, as well. The local high school theater department and Rotary are two such recent additions to my activities. In addition, I’ve contacted some production houses and landed quite a lot of repeat business from them.
Though you said that signing up for P2P sites doesn’t count, I’m in the midst of a very large project that came in partially as a result of being on one of them. It’s taking up so much time that I have little time left over for much new work right now.
I get your point that P2Ps don’t really count, though. Too many folks tend to rely on them to bring in business. The fact is that it is highly unlikely that one will ever bring in enough business to survive if that is one’s sole marketing strategy.
Congratulations on landing these fabulous gigs, Steve. There’s a reason why you got that on-camera job as a result of a face-to-face meeting. You are living proof of the points I was trying to make. And you’re right: all of this can be accomplished in addition to being listed at P2P’s and working with agents. I’m a big believer in stacking the deck.
Paul- The timing of your article couldn’t have been better. I recently completed a cold call to a large corporation in the Seattle area. I was very anxious about the process because I hate getting calls from telemarketers during dinner.
Before I made the call, I was stuck trying to decided the best time to call. I had outlined a few details I wanted to share with whomever I talked to so I was ready with info. I didn’t know who to ask for, bad me, so I decided to be general and ask for the Director of Corporate Training or Marketing Director.
The first time I called I was put on hold, indefinitely. Ugh! So I waited a few days and tried again. While I was instantly put on hold before I could get a word out, the receptionist did come back this time. I was able to get transferred to a great assistant in marketing who talked with me a few moments about their voice over needs and that they were currently being filled by a production house in the area. I asked if I could send my contact info and link to my demos and she provided me with her e-mail address and said that she’d pass my info along.
The Pauly Anna side of me thought that she would do exactly as she said. However, one of the little voices in my head told me that she was just a filter and my info would be promptly deleted once received.
So, I went through the process and felt good that I was able to get my info out to somebody in the company. I was lucky. Will I do it again? Your article confirmed what I already instinctively felt. Nobody likes making cold calls and nobody likes getting them.
Thanks for sharing your excruciating experience, Christopher. Hopefully, your efforts will pay off. If you risk nothing, you gain nothing. But some risks are more worthwhile taking than others.
As a society, we are so busy catching up… we have to prioritize to get the important things done. In order to protect ourselves from overload, we build walls around the (virtual) office and pay gatekeepers to filter and limit what’s coming in.
I sometimes try to contact my clients using their corporate email address, only to find out that my message was bounced back. These are signs we cannot ignore.
J.S. Gilbert is right: we already have the technology to make the information gate even narrower and cold calling will get an even cooler reception.
After a day of virtual communication, wouldn’t it be refreshing to deal with a real person for a change? What’s wrong with shaking someone’s hand, looking them in the eye and start with some small talk?
Well Paul, if I can fault you on anything, it’s that you should be blogging more often. What an excellent topic and lots of interesting stuff flying around here.
I would like to chime in on a couple of things. One, the use of the term “P2p” or “Pay to Play” as opposed to “Online Casting Site”. Talent agenst recieve cuts of 10% and can go considerably higher. They may also choose to pass on certain costs that might inclde a $75 or higher fee to beincluded on agency website. Additionally, many casting agencies require payment from talent to register with them. Nobody works for free, and the sooner we start focusing on what the reality of online casting is, the sooner we can work it to our advantage. As for not being able to make a living from said “P2P” sites, that’s also not entirely true. There is a relatively tight lipped contingency of individuals who are making way beyond the curve almost entirely on utilizing online casting services. Many of these people have been doing it for 2 – 3 years. I personally know of individuals who have earned $35,000 – $75,000 strictly from online casting sites. I have one client I got in January from an online casting audition that I have already billed over $25,000 to. That’s one client.
On a seperate note (not related to Pay2Play, my personal sense is that the process of handing out attaboys and pats on the back that takes place in many of the online forums, shields many talent from the simple truth that they may be quite mediocre, require additional training, etc.
This all comes down to the basics that voiceover work has always been about “getting an invitation”. For good or for bad, there has also usually been many levels of buffers that would keep out many participants. The concept though, that if you were auditioning for something, it meant that at least one other person thinks you could book the job, seems to be lost on a new breed of hyper-entitled individuals who wish to both reinvent the world of v.o. and dismiss anything that tends to not agree with their personal esthetics. This aspect of invitation tends to be missing from the online casting process and tends to be highly abused. As someone who might care to hire via online casting, I do not wish to have my time wasted by individuals who use this sytem as a means of jamming their foot into the threshold of a door shutting in their face. No, I have no interest as a hirer of talent to hear you use my audition process as “practice”. Simply consider whether or not this audition is one you might be invited to do, were the mechanics such.
There are many changes taking place, some of which I am very unhappy about. You roll with the punches and you work on whatever iti sthat you can improve. But in the end, those standing tall, will be the one’s who behave like they are invited guests.
Thanks for paying me a tremendous compliment, J.S.! I do write about four articles per month: two for Double Dutch and two for the international section of http://www.internetvoicecoach.com. Internet Voice Coach is for members only. A few days ago, I wrote a spoken blog for IVC about the absurdity of “neutral English”.
Thanks also, for highlighting online voice casting services as another way to connect with clients. Your personal experience proves that membership of these sites can be a very important and lucrative investment. I belong to a number of these sites and -with the exception of one or two- it has been worthwhile. Of course I should also mention my agents in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and in New York.
At the end of the day, it’s important to have various channels at one’s disposal that all generate leads. I am very thankful for the support I get from my own voice-over community. Whenever there’s a Dutch or German job posting floating around in cyberspace, I always get a few emails from colleagues telling me about it.
I like your idea of “invited guests”. It nicely contrasts with the uninvited, unwanted interruption of the cold caller.
If only we were obliged by law to supply evidence along with our marketing expertise articles. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Would THAT shut most of the “How to..” bloggers up?
We appear to have an Expert Epidemic.
Dear Philip, just like you, I strive to entertain and to enlighten… and seriously, I never take myself too seriously! My readers are cordially invited to poke holes into my wild theories, and I encourage them to present dissenting views. Double Dutch is not only a game. It is a team sport and a form of exercise.
I don’t ever presume to offer any revelations, but I do hope that my stories strike a chord because they are relevant to my readers. Ultimately, they will decide whether or not my offerings are of any value. If my articles are nothing but frolicky fluff, busy people will find other sources of entertainment and information, and I would run out of readers in no time.
You also brought up the issue of evidence. That’s a great point. Regular readers expect to find links to sources and resources embedded in my articles, and even in my responses to comments. It allows people to trace back where my information came from, and often, it could be a starting point for further investigation and exploration.
Secondly, you will find a lot of anecdotal evidence coming from personal experience. I have been behind the mic since I was 17, and I’ve been a freelancer all my life. I have lived and worked in four very different countries and in different capacities.
This blog is my way of I’m passing on what I have learned along the way, interspersed with quotes and ideas from others that happen to resonate with me.
For example, I have worked in the international call center of one of the major market research companies in the world, as a phone interviewer, monitor and coach. I have also trained call center representatives for Wachovia (now Wells Fargo).
As a linguist, I have translated many cold call scripts and handbooks. Although I wouldn’t be as pretentious as to crown myself an expert, and my knowledge isn’t necessarily based on academic research, I do know a little bit about the subject matter I choose to blog about.
What you and I (and a bunch of other folks) are left with, is a smörgåsbord of different dishes. Some of them you’ll love and some of them you might not like so much. I encourage everyone to give them a try. Hold on to the ideas that work and let go of those that don’t. No expert can tell you what to do. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, even if it’s from Yorkshire!
Thanks for your kind comments and for registering, Kirk. It’s very encouraging to see so many positive responses. I truly enjoy writing these articles, but if no one would read them, it would be the like the sound of one hand clapping. Even though I don’t write for the applause, it’s nice to know that people seem to be enjoying my blog. Please stay in touch with Double Dutch!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a valuable post. I will be using many of these points as they seem very possible.
Congratulations on your success and wish you much more to come!
Deyson Ortiz / Video Editor
This is invaluable information! And it comes at the right time for me. I just walked out of a 10-year long translation partnership and have been trying to establish new business contacts. I loved every word you said, lots of common sense but it’s great to find it all so ably put together! Chapeau!
As a side note, where I come from, cold calling is abusive; it can make you sick. And the phone keeps connected throughout the call, even when you hang up, so you have to pray for no emergencies!
With your permission, I would love to translate your article into Spanish for it deserves reaching other communities.
Deyson and Graciela, thanks for finding my blog! You’ll find more resources to the right of this column, under the heading “Freelancing”.
Graciela, it is wonderful that you would like to translate my article! You have my permission to do so and I can’t wait to see what I sound like en Español!
I did incorporate an option for automated translation in one of the other boxes at the right of this text. But I’m sure it produces a pretty robotic and distorted version of the article.
Paul, this is a FABULOUS article — one of the best I’ve seen on the subject in many months. You should put it on VoiceOverXtra and Freelance Folder! I’ll be tweeting it tomorrow – waiting for National Freelancer’s Day.
One of your points was proven just by how I found this, which was via the VU group in Linkedin. Now I will send it along my own the social network branchlets, as will other people . . . . It looks like you often use Linkedin Group discussions to expand the reach of your blogs — posting them, in other words, as Discussions. Is this something that is okay in most groups, or do some group administrators not like it?
Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for finding me, Heather! You’re probably the first Doctor of Fine Arts commenting on my blog. With 20 years as a professional journalist, arts critic, publicist and copywriter under your belt, your words mean a lot to me! It’s also nice of you to share my article with others.
You’re right: I do use LinkedIn to reach more people, in particular those outside of my voice-over community. My stories are often written as starting points for discussion and they’re not meant to be the final answer to whatever topic I am writing about.
As I said to my friend Philip Banks: Double Dutch is a smörgåsbord of different dishes. Some of them you’ll love and some of them you might not like so much. I encourage everyone to give them a try. Hold on to the ideas that work and let go of those that don’t.
On a different note, I did notice that you’re based in beautiful Oregon. Are you familiar with Gretch-Ken Industries, the makers of sound isolation booths? They’re operating out of Lakeview.
Paul,
Your articles are always well-conceived, well-written, and usually provocative. You have an excellent sense of issues that deserve discussion. I love the dialog going on here.
I also agree with Philip that “experts” are running rampant. But what “evidence” would you require to prove your expertise? That’s debatable. The most egregious present-day examples come in the area of “Social Networking”. I take great care to state I’m only an avid “student” of Social Media…not an expert.
Most recognized professions have some sort of egg salad of accreditation acronyms to tag after the name. I’m a working broadcast journalist of 30 years, but have never taken so much as one journalism course from any accredited university in my life. Even if I HAD a journalism degree, that’s still not a certification. so, that’s ONE field that could use some standards.
Voice-overs are in the same fix. The only attempt at setting a VO standard (verging on what JS was saying) comes from SaVoa, the Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists.
This nascent organization is not perfect, but at least it makes an attempt to set a standard of quality in voice production. After all, cosmetologists, plumbers, teachers, and welders must pass certification. Why not voice talent?
The natural result is an attempt to separate the rabble from the pro, although it’s not stated as such. Still, the person casting for a project may at least assume a certain level of professionalism when choosing from the SaVoa roster.
I realize this is a tangent to the thrust of your original article, but such is the stream-of-consciousness that arises from forums like this.
Thanks for your patience with my verbosity.
Dave Courvoisier
(CourVO)
Well Dave, what bonds us is that both of us are more impressed with substance and less with titles. In the newsroom we meet and interview so many “experts”. Some of them truly deserve that title even though they don’t have a PhD or an MA. Others just bring their entourage, their inflated egos and self-gratifying smalltalk. Here’s the fun part: we get to pop that balloon!
I honestly wish we would start to see past the labels, titles and degrees, and look for merit, inspiration, kindness and humility. All of us are discoverers and learners and teachers. We’re simply trying to figure some things out along the way and share a few words about the experience with the world.
Yes, at times you and I will stick our necks out and throw a pebble in the pond. But we’re not doing it for the splash. We’re doing it for the ripple effect and the sheer joy of watching circles expand and interconnect beyond anything we could ever imagine.
For those of you ‘reading over our shoulders’, here’s the link to the SaVoa site:
http://www.savoa.org/
Hey Paul,
Great article. I actually drum up a HUGE amount of my voiceover business by cold calling, or cold keying (i.e., via email). Of course, those jobs lead to more jobs, and referrals, and so on. But most of it started out cold.
CC Heim
Hi CC, it’s nice to hear a different opinion! My philosophy: If it ain’t broke (for you), don’t fix it. But all of us want to know: What’s your secret? Do you really pick a list of companies out of the yellow pages and you start dialing? Do you use a script? How do you get past the gatekeeper? How do you handle objections? How do you deal with ‘less than positive’ responses? What’s your conversion rate?
Thanks, Paul;
So glad to have read all the posts here….
I especially appreciate your reminder to mind and mine my clients for referrals, and am grateful for the language with which to make the request!
Best to all,
Debbie
Wow… you read all of them? I’m impressed! Glad you liked the referral verbiage. Your client list is impressive, Debbie.
Just as a reminder, it’s very simple to subscribe to my blog and get updates as soon as they’re available.
Either click on the orange RSS button at the top of the page, or on this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/nethervoice/kmaX
On a different forum, one of my readers reminded me that some cold calling sales systems have generated millions of dollars in new annual advertising contracts for broadcast stations. Here’s my response:
There’s no doubt that telemarketing is a billion dollar industry. However, what has not been calculated yet, is how much time, money and productivity is lost by the interruptions, distractions and diversions from unsolicited sales calls and unannounced visits from salespeople. If we would subtract that loss from the telemarketing revenue, I wonder how much or how little we’d be left with.
If you’ve read my response to Philip Banks, you now know that I have worked in the international call center of one of the major market research companies in the world as a phone interviewer, monitor and coach. I consistently had one of the highest dialing and completion rates in my department.
I have also trained call center representatives for Wachovia (now Wells Fargo). As a linguist, I have translated many cold call scripts and handbooks.
Part of my job as a market researcher was to collect feedback from heads of IT about a computer system they were already using. First of all, it was almost impossible to get through to these people, and the walls companies put up to screen these calls, are getting higher and higher. Secondly, there were four reasons why respondents would eventually succumb to my calls:
1. to get rid of me
2. because they felt sorry for me
3. because I did not treat them as a number and I did not sound like a robot
4. because we bribed them with a gift or a donation to a charitable cause
Most people have no idea how many times these managers get interrupted by unsolicited calls. In my case, the company I was calling for had an established business relationship. However, some respondents told me that they were seriously considering switching to a different brand for one reason only: to get rid of the annoying phone calls. And mind you: I wasn’t even selling something!
Thankfully, my department was closed down because phone interviews were replaced by automated rating systems and email surveys. Somebody finally got the message!
By the way, there now are digital solutions that allow businesses to funnel unsolicited calls and unwanted visits from sales reps. One of those solutions is http://www.connectionforce.com/
I have to go now. I believe the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Latter Day Saints just knocked on my door…
Is there a Do-Not-Call Registry for those type of visits?
That would be a godsend, wouldn’t it?
For a very different perspective on cold calling, read Martha Retallick’s article: Freelancing 911: Turn Your Business Around With Cold-calls:
http://freelanceswitch.com/the-business-of-freelancing/freelancing-911-turn-your-business-around-with-cold-calls/
Many thanks to Martha for sharing her philosophy, her system and her scripts!
Greetings Paul,
All of your blogs, in particular ‘ Why You’re Leaving Money on The Table’, ‘ The Secret to Landing ANy Freelance Job’, and “Cold Calling Is Dead’ are terrific. The bald-faced truths and common sense you share about the VO business, inspires me to take another good hard look at my business model. And it needs a major overhaul right now. You do indeed deliver what I consider the ‘last word’ in how to further one’s VO Business and be a good citizen of the VO community . In my 20 years in the studio trenches, it IS all about the relationships (clients) past and present that I am privileged to serve.. Thanks so much for sharing your vision and wisdom.
That’s so nice of you, Mark. Can you put in a good word for me with the folks at Atlas talent :-)? My business model is probably as fluid as yours. It’s all about being flexible and client-focused. Or -as actress Anne Hathaway once asked her director- “What color would you like me to be on your canvas today?” I have come to the conclusion that there are no magic bullets as far as running a freelance business is concerned. But it helps to take out the right gun and be clear on the target you want to hit. You’re right: relationships are key! That’s so appropriate for today, Valentine’s Day!
Hi Paul,
I finished reading your final installment on your booth building adventures, from which I learned some tips to improve my own basement (cave) office and recording booth, but was drawn again to this post on serving other people. At least that’s my take-away. It’s a great reminder as a newbie who has improved his skills enough to actual do a professional demo and put up a website that highlights my emerging skills.
Thanks again!
Carl
Congratulations on reaching those milestones, Carl! You’re absolutely right. The old business model was based on selling. These days, it’s all about serving. May you masterfully serve many magnificent clients, Carl!
Rest in peace cold calling. You will not be missed. Thanks for some tips on how to do it better and more effectively.
One of the most salient points you make is “If people don’t know that you exist, they will never hire you.” That’s been my number one obstacle and I would argue that your suggestion to offer free talks or by writing a blog or a column should be offer free talks AND writing a blog AND a column AND do everything else you mention in the article because just because despite what pop culture would have us believe, just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come.