| When I was in seventh grade, we had a project | | | | Bookmark it. Find out everything you can about |
| to expose us to the job search. In pairs, we | | | | that company. And then set aside a bit of time |
| needed to create resumes, cover letters, fill out | | | | each week to e-mail or snail-mail or call the |
| applications, and contact the prospective | | | | companies you've checked up on." |
| employers by telephone. These were all | | | | After talking about it for an embarrassingly long |
| businesses that volunteered to give | | | | time (O'Moore-Klopf posted this advice one year |
| seventh-graders work tasks for an afternoon, | | | | ago), and avoiding the task, and procrastinating...I |
| and our teacher presented us with the list of | | | | faced my fear today. |
| contact names and numbers. | | | | Re-reading the advice didn't get it done, but did |
| My partner and I took the hospital administration | | | | propel me to scribble a basic script for my calls. I |
| position, in the accounting department, and it was | | | | read it aloud to myself, changed a bit of wording. |
| up to me to call the contact person. | | | | Read it again. |
| I had a fear of speaking with strangers on the | | | | A little internet research revealed the name and |
| telephone. Going to the other room so my | | | | title of the person I needed to contact at the |
| mother couldn't overhear me making a fool of | | | | first company I targeted. Before I could lose my |
| myself, I dialed the number I'd been given at | | | | nerve, I snatched the phone off the cradle and |
| school. The switchboard operator answered, and | | | | dialed the number and prayed for voice mail. |
| asked for the department. I told her the name I'd | | | | Hands shaking. |
| been given. | | | | Heart palpitating. |
| "We have no one working here by that name," | | | | Palms sweaty. |
| she said. I explained that I was calling for a school | | | | Nausea hovering. |
| project, and this was the contact name I'd been | | | | I did it. |
| given. I spelled the name out, repeated it, said the | | | | I made a cold call. |
| department. That woman would not agree to put | | | | The receptionist answered, and I asked for the |
| the call through. "What is this regarding?" she kept | | | | name I'd written down, the Communications |
| asking. I had no idea what that word meant. All I | | | | Director of a local promotions firm. |
| could do was repeat that I had a school project, | | | | I didn't get voice mail. She answered. I greeted |
| and- | | | | her by name and launched into my script. The |
| She cut me off. Hung up. | | | | lady didn't laugh. She didn't slam down the phone |
| In tears, I explained to my mother what the | | | | or make derisive comments. She didn't use big |
| operator had said. Being Mommy, she fixed it for | | | | words I didn't know. She didn't even utter the |
| me. She called the hospital and managed to get | | | | word "no." Nothing I feared happened. |
| transferred to the accounting department, and | | | | Instead, she greeted my introduction with a |
| found out the correct name of the contact. | | | | cheerful, "All right." I asked (forcing myself to |
| Someone somewhere had misspelled or misheard | | | | speak slowly and succinctly) would she like me to |
| the name, and I had been given a badly garbled | | | | send her a letter of introduction and some |
| version. | | | | business cards? |
| My friend and I did get the "job," filing invoices by | | | | She said, "Why don't you send me an e-mail and |
| number and other such busy-work, and even got | | | | some writing samples. We don't usually use |
| to share the office treat of chocolate-covered | | | | freelancers, but we'll certainly keep you on file in |
| strawberries. Yet the lesson to me in all this was | | | | case we have overflow work." |
| that telephoning strangers was scary and fruitless. | | | | I verified her e-mail address, thanked her for her |
| Many, many years later, I am launching a | | | | time (keeping a smile in my voice), and hung up. |
| freelance career, completely unrelated to my prior | | | | Immediately, I typed out a follow-up e-mail to her |
| work history. Any contact I make for this new | | | | with the materials she'd asked for, and sent it to |
| career is a new contact, and to become known in | | | | her. The very first sentence referenced our |
| my community, the fastest ways are driving | | | | phone conversation and the date (in case she |
| door-to-door, handing out masses of business | | | | didn't open the e-mail the moment it arrived. That |
| cards and wasting precious gasoline, or cold-calling | | | | does happen at a busy office). |
| prospective clients. | | | | Maybe this won't generate work. But it did |
| Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, of kokedit.com, | | | | generate confidence. And my business name was |
| recommends creating a list of potential clients and | | | | exposed to a potential client or list of clients. And |
| cold-calling them to introduce yourself, then | | | | tomorrow I'll call more potential clients. |
| following up with a letter of introduction containing | | | | To construct your own basic script, answer the |
| more than one of your business cards. This | | | | questions of who you are, what you want, and |
| procedure for getting your name in front of the | | | | what you can do for the business you've called. |
| people who can be a source of paying projects | | | | O'Moore-Klopf says further, "Let them know |
| will work for any small business, not just writing | | | | you'd like to be of service to them; never ask if |
| and editing. | | | | they can give you work. In other words, always |
| O'Moore-Klopf says, "Investigate new clients | | | | approach them from the perspective of their |
| constantly: Absolutely every single time a potential | | | | needs, not yours." Offer to send more |
| client's name comes up on an e-mail list, in a news | | | | information, or simply send it anyway after you |
| story, in a magazine feature, or anywhere else, | | | | verify e-mail or postal address. Remain polite and |
| search for the company's web site online. | | | | professional, and be brief. |