From "Cold calls" to "Cold emails"

Great post today from Chartreuse. Got me thinking when he wrote:

Everything is in play.No industry.No company.No country.Is safe against one person with a brilliant idea and the gumption to get it done.Everything is up for grabs.Now even I’ll admit that that is kinda scary.But it’s also cool.

Any PUTZ can change their life for the better with an internet connection – without the trauma of the cold call!

What made the movie “Wall Street” great (my top 5) was the “Gekko” call. The “Gekko” call was my fantasy, my twenty footer on the 72nd at Augusta to win.

The cold call is my “street cred”. In the old days (1997), some balls, a phone, a good number, an idea and persistence could get a meeting – maybe a sale. Problem was – weeks could be spent in preparation for a call. One call. The energy put into the perfect call made it virtually impossible to focus on more than a handful of “whales” at any one time.

Today, you need a connection and the ability to think. Talk about cush! No thinking on your feet and lot’s of editing. Now it’s the guy on the receiving end of your blog comment that may make the cold call – to meet you! I feel like the old man who says:

“E-mail!! When I was starting out, we had to wear CLOTHES to work, and pick up a phone, and have a written address book that smudged, and sweet talk our way past secretaries and housewives – IF WE WERE LUCKY – and don’t get me started with those 28k modem connections….”

My life has changed so much from the cold call. The first biggie came after I called some Investment Banker at Spencer Trask with my BOW WOW of a company MicroBase. We had Zip, we pretty much had cornered the market for Zip. That call set in motion a sale that got me out of credit card hell, a BMW and a chick (my wife).

Mark at Pro-Innovative was the next victim of the Lindzon cold call. That cold call put me on a wild ride selling Gripp’s around the globe. We were rockstar’s – only we partied with CARBS. Two soft, fat, QVC era entrepreneurs that ate their profits.

Lately, my time has been spent cold emailing in the internet golf space. Armed with Google and time, you can become learned on any industry – fast. The internet has given me the time and energy to do something else I love – making people laugh. Lately, if I can make tough business dudes laugh out loud whether it be on the phone, meetings, email, blogging etc…I have had a “good” day.

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of playing golf with an internet legend (in my books)- Scott Ingraham – founder of Rent.com Talk about “everything being in play” – Scott and his partner Alan Hunter took an old world, old money, highly fragmented market (apartment rentals) and turned it on it’s head. Than they sold it to Ebay.

Scott and Alan were kind enough to spend the day with some GolfNow guys and lend some insight. I was after a good laugh.

In a tight match, I happened to casually mention to Brett (as he started his swing) – not to “squirt” the ball right. Of course, more trouble was “left” – right where he hit it.

Unfair – YesPoor Sportsmanship – AbsolutelyEffective – Let’s just say Brett won’t forget. A rout ensued.

Nobody laughed louder than Scott. Worth more to me than cutting a deal. Made a perfect desert day, more perfect.

O.K. Back to the “cold emails”.