There’s a reason why Spanx founder Sara Blakely can teach us so much about cold calling, and it has nothing to do with how great she is at creating inventions. Before becoming an entrepreneur herself, she sold fax machines in Florida for seven years, where her insight into this specific skill set became invaluable when starting up.
It was her knowledge of cold calling that turned out to be pivotal in landing her first sale of Spanx, as she cold-called the buyer for Neiman Marcus and landed her first large order of Spanx. She also used cold calling to find her patent lawyer and apparel manufacturer, which were both critical to her ultimate success as an entrepreneur.
Here are three specific cold-calling lessons we can glean from her experiences on her entrepreneurial journey.