Going in person to any type of sales meeting can be incredibly intimidating! I can’t say I ever became fully confident in this strategy, but it is a strategy I utilized often - whether it was going in person to a vet clinic, apartment complex, or networking with strangers - there is a lot of benefit to being willing to try a cold-introduction strategy to benefit your company.

Before I get to the scripts, I’ve found that there are some soft-skill tips that can also help a cold introduction go well. Here are some of my best tips for a cold in-person introduction:

1) Mindset - mindset is going to make or break the success of this strategy for you. I encourage you to try to fight for the mindset that your current actions are feeding the bigger picture of what you are building for your business. So often in these moments, our focus pulls us into insecurities of the moment - “how do I look, do they think I’m awkward, etc.” Try the best you can to elevate past those thoughts - think about the long-term impact of forming the relationship right in front of you, and how you can form a genuine moment of connection with them.

2) Energy - you have about 2 seconds when you open the conversation to “anchor” the energy of the conversation. People feed off of the energy of other people, and so you’ll want to make sure that you are bringing the right energy into the room. If you bring an anxious or timid energy, that will not only affect the emotional state of the other person, but it also will communicate to them that they shouldn’t consider your business as a good option. I encourage you to try to aim for a warm, open, and excited energy - you don’t need to be over the top, but a warm presence will take you very far! (If this specific point if difficult for you, it’s okay! This is something that gets better with practice, but you have to practice to improve.)

3) Genuine Curiosity - so often when we do a cold introduction, we immediately jump into a pitch of everything we want to say so that we can just get it over with. The problem is that this makes the person at the other end of the conversation feel like a means to an end, rather than someone you actually want to connect with. It communicates “I’m only here to get what I want” rather than “I genuinely want to provide value to you, as well as share what I’m working on.” We want people to feel a genuine sense of connection, warmth, and interest from us - otherwise, they will try to end the conversation as quickly as possible. The best way to circumvent this is to cultivate a genuine curiosity for the person you are talking to.

As far as the in-person connection, here are some tips for a successful first encounter:

1) When you first walk in, make eye contact with the first person you see (that clearly works for the establishment).

2) Smile immediately. If you look nervous and unsure in this moment, the energy will quickly change in the room and it’ll be difficult to recover.

3) Approach them (if they aren’t talking with someone else), and have an opener line ready. It should be short and have a clear point to it.

a) Example: “Hey, my name is Michelle Kline and I’m a local business owner - I own a dog walking team in the area and I’m hoping to connect with you guys about X.”

b) My best tip: try to find a relevant opener. Something they would care about, but doesn’t feel salesy. So for example, if you are walking into a vet’s office: “I own a local pet care company, and I’d love to give some information for if you ever have clients that need help exercising their dogs when they come see you”.

4) Once they start talking to you, immediately switch your position: you are now there to ask questions and hear more about what they have to say and what they need.

5) If they aren’t giving you much, your follow up should be something that makes the pitch feel like it’s something you always do. So for example for an apartment complex: “we work with residents in your building and would love to find a way to make things even more streamlined for them!” or “we work with a lot of the downtown apartment complexes with our dog walking services and make sure their residents have easy access to care, and we’d love to do the same thing here.” You want to add social proof to what you are doing.

6) Leave the conversation on a next step. This is a big one. Often times, I see companies trying to make a full “close” in this conversation (i.e. - getting an apartment complex to agree to send them referrals based off of a first conversation.) This isn’t how this goes - you are looking to build rapport and to make a connection point that you can capitalize on again. Your goal in this conversation is to find an organic follow up that doesn’t feel forced.

a) Example: say you are talking to a vet office and they are like “oh yeah, we do occasionally have people that need information about exercising their dog.” Instead of saying “great, here’s my website”, say “awesome! I can put together some materials and drop them back off on Friday - would that work?” This gives you the chance to show that you will do what you say you are going to, and to give a second touch point with them. It also gives you a chance to really personalize what you are offering them,and include a special treat just for the facility (like doughnuts.)

Here’s an example transcript of how I would approach walking into reception at a new apartment complex:

Me: Hi! I wanted to pop in super quickly and introduce myself - my name is Michelle, and I’m the owner of XX Business - we are here all the time walking dogs for your building residents, and I figured it was time I hopped in to introduce myself!

Apartment: Oh, hi - yes, we’ve seen you around!

Me: Yes, I’m always with one cute puppy or another - it’s a great job, haha. Oh actually, now that I’m in here, I did want to mention - since we work with a bunch of the downtown apartment complexes, sometimes we will come onsite to do a dog-friendly event for their residents, like a yappy hour at your dog park or a themed party or something like that! If that’s something you’d ever be interested in, we’d love to come do one for your residents, too!

Apartment: oh really? That sounds really cool, I didn’t know other places did that!

Me: Yes, they’re super fun! Sometimes we bring dog ice cream or dog beer and treats, and it’s just a good time for the dogs to play and the residents to meet each other - sometimes the apartment complexes provide food or beer, but it’s totally up to you, we just love to provide a way for people to meet each other! And us, of course, if they ever need dog walking services.

Apartment: yeah, I could see us being interested!

Me: awesome - would there be a good way for me to follow up?

From there, I would DM them on Instagram and say “thank you for the impromptu meeting, we love connecting with ya'll!” and then would follow up however they told me.

If they didn’t take the bait, I would make it a point to walk through the office every time I came to walk a dog there and say Hi, and eventually work up to a second ask.

The point is, this takes time - you’ll need to be patient and play the long game. Focus on relating to them, providing value, and finding ways to show proof that your business is awesome to work with!

Michele Kline

DogCo Launch