Chilly Phones

I went cold-calling yesterday for work. Cold-calling is one of the techniques I will be using to find customers this summer who want me to paint their house. I guess it's how I will get most of my jobs this summer, probably because it is easy to do and I can identify houses that have obvious problems with their paint. In a nutshell, cold-calling is like trick-or-treating, except instead of asking for candy you are asking to (in my case) paint the person's house, and there is a less likely chance for success with most houses. This trick-or-treating analogy is easier for me to make because the first neighborhood that my district manager and I worked in is essentially in my backyard, thus making it our prime trick-or-treating territory. Yes, it was a little weird to walk through this neighborhood trying to make money rather than scheme candy, but it was a good place to start. One of the fun things about doing cold-calling as a painter is that many of the target neighborhoods have obscenely large houses, since these are the most profitable houses to make. After practicing in my Halloween neighborhood, we aimed solely for the small cul-de-sacs where money grows on trees. Unfortunately for my painting endeavors, these beautiful houses were also immaculately painted, but we took solace in the fact that we got to see dream houses that actually existed.

I got a little off-topic and you probably still don't know what cold-calling is. When cold-calling as a painter, one locates a target neighborhood and just starts knocking on doors. Rather than asking for candy when the homeowner opens the door (or stares at you through the locked door), one introduces oneself, explaining the nature of the company. Dropping the word one now. If you're lucky, the person owning the house is indeed looking to have the house painted again and is not a self-proclaimed painter. Usually you aren't lucky. Because of the nature of cold-calling, you are able to hit many houses in a short amount of time, thus increasing your chances of getting a lead and a potential job. That is all I have to say about cold-calling.

Explanation of title: I feel obligated to title this post and now I need to explain my dumb title. Cold-calling is not necessarily done over the phone, and then I guess I played with words a bit and came up with "Chilly Phones." Great.