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Having established my small web design business, I have submitted my details to many online directories for SEO and marketing purposes. Unfortunately, this also has the side-effect of being bombarded by cold callers anxious to sell me their wares.

As much as I hate being on the receiving end of cold calls, I don't have anything against the people or companies making the calls. The tele-sales people are only doing their job after all. I've read many reports and articles that testify that cold-calling is a great sales and marketing method and I have no evidence to support otherwise. I guess cold-calling must be successful, otherwise the companies wouldn't do it - I'm actually considering learning how to do it myself or hiring someone to do it for me.

Anyway, I thought that it may be interesting to some folk to read who I (as a young small business) have been getting cold-calls from. I've written my own personal experiences of the companies that have called me, but depending on the individual that calls, your experience may be different. So without further ado:

08453677200: InfoServe/Yahoo
This is company called Infoserve that act on behalf of Yahoo for the UK to sell online advertising space. Contrary to other reports I've read, they are a legitimate company and they will only contact you after you fill in this form to be included in Yahoo's Local Search (so perhaps not really a cold call).Unfortunately, to ensure your business is listed in Yahoo Local, you have to submit your details and take a call from them.

Most of the folk I've spoken to at InfoServe were fairly friendly and not too pushy. I've found that you have to pretend you're interested in buying the advertising space to ensure they put you in the correct category and geographical location but that's just my experience.

01903765181 - Federation of Small Businesses
Not sure exactly how these guys got my details but I'm guessing they found me in an online directory. They are legitimate and help owners with all aspects of running their business for an annual membership fee. I am seriously considering joining up as I think they have a lot to offer, however we keep missing each other's calls.

They called me first and left a message on my voicemail, I called them back but there was no answer. Someone else from the FSB called me a few days later and left message, I called them back but they were on another call. This happened a few times until I gave up. I still get calls from them about once a week but, by sheer coincidence, they only call when I'm away from the phone!

0870500660 - CreditSafe
This is a Welsh company that sells a searchable and downloadable databases of businesses. They are very persistent, although not altogether rude, but it can be quite difficult to get them off the phone. Their product looked quite interesting. They gave me a demo over the phone and I thought the potential of having a list of local businesses would be useful for direct mailing and cold calling purposes. Their main selling point was the credit ratings they give to the businesses along with director names, and CCJ's - although this wasn't a very good selling point to me as I always get payment up front.

After telling the guy I was slightly interested but wouldn't be buying today, he got quite pushy and kept offering me more and more discounts. I think it went from £400 for a list of my local businesses to £70 to free access for two months with a host of added extras. He made analogies that didn't make sense such as telling me I spend more on milk and pens than marketing my business. When I replied that I'll spend £1 on milk for a week but £40 on a newspaper advertisement he got a little upset!

01315618480 - BT Tradespace
I get quite a few calls from BT since I set up what they call a TradeSpace on their website. I'm not quite sure exactly what they're selling (or, to be honest, what the point in TradeSpace is) because I've not been around when they've phoned. I think it's something to do with networking but, on first impressions, it isn't very compelling. Perhaps I'll be persuaded after talking to them.

01189603979 - Yell.Com
Not really a cold call as Yell contacted me after I submitted my details for free listing in their directory. Only had one call from them, in which I said I was only interested in the free listing for now. They were very friendly and professional and I've not heard from them since.

01252516111 - Thomson Directory
Same as Yell (above). Very professional and courteous and not pushy when i said I was only interested in the free listing.

There's been a few more, but I can't remember them right now. I'd love to hear your experiences of cold-calls from the companies listed above to see how they vary from mine. Feel free to drop a comment with your experiences of cold calls from other companies,too.

I've been running my own website design business in Nuneaton, Warwickshire for two months now and I'm enjoying every moment of it. It feels great to be free from the shackles of the normal 9 to 5 routine giving me a lot more flexibility around my family. Some of the advantages include:

• I get to spend more time with the kids in the daytime
• I can take the kids over the park (and give my wife a well-earned rest)
• I can go to the bank when it's actually open!

Of course, it does have it's disadvantages including:

• Insecurity (no guaranteed wage slip at the end of every month)
• Lack of work - Some weeks, I've had to turn work away because there's simply too much and others (like this week) it's very quiet so there's no money coming in
• Work environment - In the first few weeks I had a lot of distractions from family members - I resolved this by turning my loft into an office and hiding up there

I still have a couple of months-worth of redundancy pay, which gives me a cushion as I work to build my business up. Hopefully, by the time it expires, I'll be a little more well-known in the area and have lots more work in my portfolio to back up my claims.

As well as my website design business, I have a few websites that are generating a little income each month. Both businesses have potential and I'm still working out how much of my time should be spent on each.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try and keep this blog updated a little more frequently in future as I discuss my experiences and lessons learned.