This is often the response I get when I try to help a stranger:
"Cold approaching people is bad. It doesn't work."
And I used to think that way too, until J-Ryze taught me better. Now when I see someone say this, I know they’re slightly confused on how business works, that’s all. These days, when someone bashes cold-pitching, I ask them the helpful questions J-Ryze asked me.
"There’s no secret. I knocked on door after door. I showed my idea to 1200 people. 900 said no. 300 showed some interest. Only 85 people actually did anything. 30 took a serious look. And 11 made me a billionaire."
The first question I ask is...
What did the inventor of the wheel do?
Do you think Joe Caveman sat in front of his cave on some animal pelts, hoping and praying he might get to help one stranger benefit from his wheel some day?
No.
He knew he had something valuable that would help the species, and he took the time to put hunting & gathering on hold so he could make the rounds to other caves.
He went and showed it to everyone he could.
Some people saw him approaching and considered him a threat, and threw spears.
Some were less paranoid, more welcoming, but just couldn’t comprehend how a circle could be useful.
Finally, a few saw him rolling the stone, and knew this was worth their time, so they traded some food for their own wheel.
Even though this is basically the only way it could’ve gone down, people are still often skeptical.
"C'mon, that never happened."
I ask...
What do you think Nike, Spanx, & Windows did?
Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman cold-pitched runners at track-meets to start Nike. Sara Blakely cold-pitched Spanx to sexist businessmen who ‘hated’ her pitch. Bill Gates cold-pitched his plan to 1200 individual people. Even the Beatles only blew up once their manager began pitching them everywhere.
These people have built some of the most valuable, beloved brands in the world, all by cold-pitching strangers something they know is valuable, and ignoring the haters.
You gonna call them up and yell at them for ‘cold-pitching?’
You gonna tell them ‘Cold-pitching is bad. It doesn’t work.’
I doubt it.
I bet you’d put your trash-talk and bitter words away, shut up, and listen to whatever they told you.
Because just like any person you look up to, they know how business works. They understand cold-pitching is the backbone of any valuable business looking to do good work in the world. They know actively offering value to strangers is the foundation of business.
"Meh, cold-pitching's still bad."
Well, you’re welcome to hold tight to that opinion, but it won’t change the facts.
Have you ever actually cold-approached?
A pro golfer tells you you’ll hit the ball farther if you adjust your stance, do you give it a try?
A pro engineer tells you your inventions will be better if you draw blueprints first, do you ignore him?
A pro entrepreneur tells you you’ll make more money and bless everyone around you if you cold-pitch something valuable, do you try it?
It’s common sense. Cold-pitching not only works, but is essential for any successful project you can name. But for some reason…
…the people who hate on it the most, are the ones who’ve never tried it properly.
"Well, I messaged a few people once..."
Please. That’s like someone asking you if “you’ve ever tried swimming” and you replying “Well, I dipped my toe in a lake once.”
Would you offer a frozen man a blanket?
Say you knew of a neighborhood that lost power in the winter for a day or two.
Say you had a bunch of extra blankets lying around, but didn’t have enough gas money to get around the neighborhood.
Would you canvas the neighborhood seeing if anyone wanted to buy a blanket. Would you be ok charging to cover your gas money, maybe get a little food or buy their family a coffee?
This is literally cold-pitching value to strangers who are likely to need it.
Will every single human buy a blanket? No. But you’re fine with a civil rejection, and you move on to the next house.
For some of those people, you’re practically a lifesaver, and if you make enough you can do it again the next day and help more people.
"Doesn't sound so bad when put like that."
Sheesh. You think?
The real question is...
Why haven't you cold-pitched?
You can tell by now that cold-pitching is vital. It's meant to be kind. It takes courage. And the people you admire, all began with it.
So why aren’t you doing it?
Is it because you don’t believe your product is valuable enough to waste your time on?
Is it because you don’t believe your product will be seen as valuable to strangers once offered?
Is it because you’re afraid of rejection?
Or you ‘tried’ pitching once and got burned?
Or someone told you it’s “bad”, and you’ve internalized that belief without testing it?
"Hey, I don't have to take this!"
This is a common reaction. I’m here explaining some really valuable, important insights on the way the world works, and instead of feeling grateful, some people choose to feel attacked.
It’s fine. If someone’s that defensive when they’re given real truth, karma will get ’em.
"Entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful if they're able to be present while pitching their ideas. High stakes moments with some component of social judgment. Everyone has them."
Don't get all defensive...
Do you realize that cold-pitching creates jobs?
Cold-pitching introduces strangers to a product or service that may benefit them.
If it’s not a fit, the pitchee rejects the pitch and quickly moves on. (Hopefully politely!)
If it is a fit for them, the customer gains something of value, and the business gains a customer. Win-win.
In this way the business grows, creates more jobs, flows more dollars into the economy, and…
Creates a more prosperous, abundant world.
And doing this takes heart.
It takes heart to pitch hundreds of people a day, by hand, hoping to connect with someone who we can help.
And if a business does it well enough, they can hire someone else to help spread the word about the business. They may even be blessed to ‘stop cold-pitching’ and switch to advertising instead.
"Wow. This is eye-opening."
So what's the point of all this?
If you found this, it's probably because I cold-pitched you something valuable.
And, well… chances are you responded less-than-ideally to my offer.
And that’s totally fine.
I don’t expect this page to change your mind.
I don’t expect to ever interact with you again.
So let’s just be honest.
You’re afraid to try cold-messaging (pitching, outreach, whatever you want to call it). You’ve been told it’s ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. You’ve been pitched by spammers and hated it. It felt yucky when you tried it once or twice. Gurus keep offering systems for ‘magically’ attracting clients out of thin air, so it must be possible, right? Wrong. And it gets worse. The people in your biz-groups post screen shots of cold-approachers & shame them. They mock them for sending cold messages and you’re scared you’ll be mocked too. So you don’t dare send a cold DM.
But these “cold-approach haters” are confused about business. They might be ‘getting by’, but they aren’t really tapping into their dreams. And even if they are Oprah-rich… I bet they used cold-approaching early on in their career. Because cold-approaching has been the backbone of business since the dawn of time. Since caveman times, business has been thus:
“Persuasively offering value you believe in to increasing amounts of strangers, profitably.”
Most people hate cold pitching because they’ve A. never tried it or B. gotten negative reactions from it.
Let’s address the former. You wouldn’t say you “hated cycling” if you’d never pedaled, or that you “hate cooking” if you’ve never heated food. It makes zero sense to say you “hate cold-approaching” if you haven’t given it a proper try.
Now about the latter:
Negative reactions from other humans shouldn’t matter to you.
They’re the same as a skinned-knee during cycling, or a burnt-finger during cooking. All a negative reaction means means is your cold-pitch skills aren’t quite there yet.
Ray Kroc, The McDonald’s founder, estranged his wife to cold-sell shake-machines across the country. Lady Gaga sent her demo out daily and cold-approached countless clubs all over NYC. Tony Robbins sold door-to-door and later spammed infomercials. Kim Kardashian went out and hit-up clubs in LA every night like it was her job. She doesn’t drink. She wasn’t partying. She was WORKING. Starbucks didn’t even start selling brewed coffee. They started selling the beans and cold-offered brewed samples to get people to come in and buy the beans.
Every story of every founder you’ve ever looked up to began with cold-approaches.
It’s all pitching.
They didn’t have the internet so they hustled and figured out a way to get eyeballs. They didn’t complain. They were grateful for the chance to reach people. They embraced rejections with a smile. Today, we have the internet. And thank GOD I don’t have to stand outside and get people to pay attention to me in the snow, rain or heat. I can hop online in my jammies and cold-pitch the heck outta people. I’m so blessed! And I do it everyday BECAUSE IT WORKS.
Do you know why SPAM exists?
Do you know why you get message after message in your inbox, SMS, DM, etc?
Because it fucking works. It has always worked. And it will forever work. The same way tying your shoes works. Or doing exercise works. The people who are out there spamming? The ones you hate? They make money. They sell. They grow their business. Because they know that every ‘hater’ they meet, who reacts badly to their offer, moves them one hater closer to a client.
So I ask you…
- Are you going to churn out more content that no one sees?
- Are you going to post in dead groups no one cares about?
- Are you going to let a few negative comments hold back your dreams?
- Are you going to let STRANGERS run your business for you?
I don’t know about you, but I run my own shit. I’m not about to let some judgy-judy who calls me names run MY business. Eff that! I’ll give cold-approaching a PROPER try and draw my OWN conclusions. Ditch the ‘content is king’ and ‘magic client attraction without lifting a finger!’ B.S. That’s not how life has ever worked. What does work is caring enough to offer your services in any way you can, with whatever resources you have.
I have a massive goal to reach EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE and introduce them to Ryze. Why? Cuz I KNOW in my BONES and my SOUL that we can help them. People don’t NEED help but everyone could use it… even Oprah.
So when you see Jay and I on the cover of Forbes, or when you see us on TV, or flying globally to help people… you gonna call us spammy? You gonna turn your nose up at a cold pitch? Or are you gonna say, “damn wish I had joined their group, wish I had listened to what Cyn had to say.” You’ll all see exactly what cold-messaging can actually accomplish.
And for those of you who still hate it, you sadly don’t get it, and likely never will.
But I do hope I’ve managed to give you a wake-up call about life and business. As well as a healthier perspective on cold-pitching.
I hope I’ve managed to persuade you to stop hating on people who are courageously doing their best to build businesses, create jobs, improve the economy, and help strangers they’ve never met.
I hope you can appreciate the time, effort, and energy it took to create this free, uniquely insightful content.
You won’t find anything like it anywhere else on the net.
And you’re a valuable person, you have something to offer the world.
Perhaps one day, you’ll feel brave enough to pitch it to the people who need it.
Bonus: Cold Message Template
Most human-beings won't take offense at such a kind, well-worded message, but some still will. Some people get offended at anything. That's just part of life.
“A pitch is just a kind, win-win offer.”
― J-Ryze,
