Actor's Cold Calling
An Essential Research and Development Tool for Your Career Success
Here’s a term that strikes fear into many an actor’s heart. But fear not! Cold calling is just one more job that you, as the secretary of your company, must do. Most actors dread doing this necessary chore because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what they’re actually doing and why it’s different from being an ordinary telemarketer. But once you understand the basics of "actor cold calling", rehearse it and “screw your courage to the sticking place”…to quote Shakespeare, you’ll find that cold calling is very straightforward.
Setting the Record Straight
Now the cold calling that actors do is different from that of a telemarketer or salesperson. Whereas they are trying to get the person on the other end to buy something, actors are in the process of gathering information to be used in their research and development of a market or marketplace. The closest thing you could compare it to is what a pollster does when they’re asking someone to take a survey. This distinction is important, because it should allow you to focus on getting the answers to your questions and not trying to “audition” for the person on the other end of the phone…that is, trying to sell them something.
After you have read some material on cold calling, such as, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling, by Keith Rosen, you’ll be ready to develop your “phone script”. This will be the text you’ll refer to during your conversation with each person. One way of visualizing a phone script is to think of it as a flow chart. Here’s an example:
- “Hello, my name is John Smith. I’m an actor working in the Washington/Baltimore area and I’m calling to talk with the person at your (theatre, agency, etc.) who deals with auditioning new talent.” At this point, they would respond with something like, “Mary Hunter is the person that handles auditions.”
- “Would you please spell her name for me? Is she in? I would like to talk to her.” Assume the answer is, “Yes, she’s in. I’ll connect you.” Let’s assume she’s at her desk and answers.
- “Hi, I’m John Smith, I’m an actor working in the Washington/Baltimore area; and I was given your name as the person who sees new talent. I would very much like to be seen at the next round of open calls you have.” …and then you’re off and running.
By writing yourself a script with several subscripts, for the secretary, casting director or agent, you’ll be better prepared and sound more confident than you may feel; which is a good thing because they’ll be busy and will want to know exactly why you called.
How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice, Practice, Practice!! Just like an audition, the more you stumble or fumble around with what you’re saying, the more you’ll sound like an amateur. Even veteran actors should still write out a script before they start a new cold call campaign. If you are concise and can tell them what you want and why you called, it will make everything go smoothly. Have someone work with you and improvise doing telephone calls. Since you’ll be jotting down notes, it’s important to have something in front of you in case you freeze up or get distracted. You can look at the script and see what you need to say and make sure that you ask the right questions.
“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” - Tony Robbins
To read another article on this general topic, go to: Actor Marketing 101 - Understanding the Basic Ideas of Self Promotion
Actor's Cold Calling
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