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The Estherpreneur Podcast is for faith-driven founders and Kingdom leaders who know they are called to build but refuse to do it disconnected from God.
Hosted by Edna Harding, Christ-Centered Business Architect and CEO of Favor & Wealth, this podcast is where biblical wisdom meets business strategy, leadership, wealth, identity, and spiritual alignment.
Here, we talk about what it really takes to build what God assigned to your hands: obedience, clarity, sales, stewardship, emotional maturity, spiritual warfare, and the courage to come out of striving.
Each episode will help you discern what is misaligned, strengthen who you are becoming, and build with excellence, favor, and wisdom.
Because you are not just growing a business.
You are stewarding an assignment.
And the leader God is forming in you matters just as much as what He is building through you.
Visit FavorandWealth.com and EsthersOil.org.
Edna Harding [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Estherpreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and Wealth, where we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light. Well, hello everyone.
Edna Harding [00:00:48]:
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the S Podcast. My name is Edna Harding, and I'm nothing but a messenger of hope, life, and truth here in the marketplace. Here I am live recording here in Huntsville, Alabama. Where are my Alabama people at? If you're in Alabama, please connect with me on LinkedIn. I need to make some friends here. It's nice and cold here today. And, you know, it's a beautiful day today. I just finished, wrapped up a group mentoring call with my clients this morning.
Edna Harding [00:01:24]:
And so I am excited to share some wisdom nuggets that I think will bless you and just help you with your particular season, especially in sales. Now, for the most part, a lot of times people depend on sales from networking events, from maybe your social media, Maybe from your YouTube videos, maybe from like, you know, knocking on doors and so forth. But the worst thing that nobody loves doing is cold calling. And if you guys don't know what cold calling is, cold calling, especially if you don't know sales, cold calling is when you pick up the phone and you call a number and you're trying to find a decision maker. Someone who you could speak to about your product or service. And a lot of times you're calling receptionists, right? You're talking to the gatekeepers. So this is more for a business-to-business environment, but I think it's also relevant to those who are doing business-to-consumer. And so today's episode is going to be very practical.
Edna Harding [00:02:44]:
Obviously there's going to be some biblical truths in here as usual. I hope you guys enjoy it when I give biblical analogies. But today's gonna be about cold calling. And I just want to say, get ready, guys. I hope we have fun and you apply it this week. For those of you guys who are new here, welcome. I am nothing but someone who just loves to share nuggets from the Bible on how to grow your business. So if this is something you're into, you're in the right spot.
Edna Harding [00:03:12]:
All right. So most of the time people hate cold calling. Okay. And it's not because it doesn't work, but because it's very awkward. It feels forced. People do not like getting hanged up on, right? Is anybody else in the building hanged on? We don't like being rejected. And it doesn't feel right that we're interrupting someone's space and then telling them to talk to us. And so it's even worse for someone who's a Christian, right? A Christian business owner.
Edna Harding [00:03:47]:
Because now you may think like, oh, is this being pushy? Am I being manipulative? Is this how God wants me to grow my business? There must be a better way. There must be an easier way. And I'm telling you, yes, there are other ways, but cold calling, I believe, is a dying sport, meaning no one's doing it anymore. And so when you cold call, when you pick up the phone versus other people who are actually just emailing away or sending messages away or sending messages or doing the directing versus picking up the phone, I think you have a better chance of getting through the noise because you stick out like a sore thumb. Another idea is, and I've done this in the past, where instead of like, if I can't get a hold of a person, but I know they're working there, The other thing I do is I also send them a note, like I send them not like a note via email or a note via LinkedIn, but an actual physical note, like a card, and I mail it to the organization, right, to the person and the owner, the owner, the CEO, or whoever the decision maker is. All right. And cold calling is, you know, simply at its core is you're reaching out to someone you don't know, and you're trying to offer help. That is very biblical because Jesus constantly approached people who didn't know him yet.
Edna Harding [00:05:18]:
He walked up to strangers and said, "Follow me," right? He met people at wells, he saw people at boats, where else he'd go? Tax booths, dusty roads, he always initiated the conversation. And today I'm gonna give you guys 5 cold calling strategies from the life of Jesus and other characters in the Bible that will change how you approach outreach forever. And I hope that you're encouraged by this episode. I'm really excited. This is like a topic that I absolutely love because everyone hates it. And in the beginning I used to hate it, but because I've had so many rejections from cold calling that you can kind of get used to, you kind of laugh, you could make a joke about it actually. I mean, make a game out of it, not a joke, okay? By the way, guys, in full transparency, I ate a lot of baklava, and so I'm stuffed and I'm so sleepy, so please bear with me. I'm really excited, but at the same time, like, I should probably take a nap.
Edna Harding [00:06:20]:
Okay, so the first tip I want to share with— I know that was probably too much information, but— is lead with service, not need. Okay, because most people cold call because they need money, right? That's a lot of the reason why, oh my gosh, you're cold calling is probably because you don't have enough customers. But that's not how Jesus operated, okay? He didn't approach people saying, hey, I need followers, or hey, I need disciples, right? Or hey, I need a huge crowd. No, he approached them saying, I have something for you. Okay, he had healing for them, he had truth for them. What else did he give? Freedom. What else? Direction, right? And in Mark 10:45, it talks about how the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve. And when you call from a place of need, people will feel the pressure, okay? They will feel the pressure and they will push you away.
Edna Harding [00:07:26]:
But when you call them from a place of service, people then feel relief. Okay? So they won't feel— like, you don't want to sound scripted. That's the worst thing you could do, right? Initially, you'll sound scripted, but after you do it for quite some time, then you'll sound normal. Okay? So to get practical, before you pick up that phone, Okay, before that call, I want you to ask yourself, okay, how can I help this person today? Okay, so for me specifically, I'm going to give you an example. So for me, so one of the services we provide is we actually do the prospecting and the cold calling and the marketing for the client, right? And so we do everything from coming up with a lead magnet, right? Some like some giveaway, something valuable and not like no fake stuff, but real something truly valuable. For the potential prospect to give them a taste of working with us. And then we, we present that as a way for them to get to know us. So you don't sell them away, you add value first.
Edna Harding [00:08:31]:
And so what we do is we actually go and, you know, work with those who don't have time to do any cold calling or prospecting. They don't have time to do research on their potential target client. They don't have time to do like anything to train their people, their sales rep or whatever, or they're maybe doing multiple hats and they just, they just don't have time to do that. And they prefer to just do the networking in person and they don't, they just don't have time, okay? Or they don't want to. And so what we do is when I think of people I'm going to call or speak to, it doesn't necessarily be over the phone. It could be in person is I always talk about Okay, well, there are some that I typically help people who are so busy with the day-to-day business stuff, they don't have time to look for new customers. Okay, they're serving their existing customers. They're looking for new customers, they don't have time to do the cold calling.
Edna Harding [00:09:28]:
And every single time when they hire someone, they're just not cutting it, right. And so they need a professional, i.e., me, right, someone who's a senior, like who sold pretty much everything and everything to corporations, from IT solutions to engineered systems to logistics, supply chain solutions. What else did we sell? Oh my gosh, my brain's gone. Like leadership training, staffing, like just a lot of different things for corporations. So we know the lingo. We know how to talk with people who are, you know, executive level. Because when I was, when I was in I'm going to give an example. So when I was in corporate, I was a senior, like I was a director of business development, right? And I think if I would have stayed and didn't leave my corporate job, I probably would have been VP already a long time ago.
Edna Harding [00:10:19]:
But I'm a senior executive, senior business development executive, senior marketing executive that is doing the prospecting, picking up the phone and speaking to potential prospects, warming them up, asking qualifying questions, connecting with them, and then passing them on to you. So how can I help this person today to ask the question is I literally save them time and money in the long run, because they don't have to train a newbie or someone who's not an expert in doing cold calling for corporate. They'll get results and then they get the qualified lead and the warm introduction, right? So that in itself, I'm solving a problem. Okay, does that make sense? So before every call, I ask, how can I solve this person's day? So you have to have that mentality. Then what problem might they be facing? Like, what insight can I offer? Right? And so then one of the things I could also explain, for example, for insight I can offer is that if you're depending on AI to do your marketing, that you're going to be like a loss. People know if it's AI generated or if it's a genuine person. People will know if it's a script or if it's a genuine person. Because I've been doing this for such a long time, it's very conversational.
Edna Harding [00:11:29]:
It's not very salesy. And people, I'm talking up here because I've done it since I was like, my goodness, like in my early, my late teens and my early 20s. I've been working with C-suite all this time. And so I talk to them like another person. I don't interact with them like, you know, they're anybody important, you know, because when I say, I mean, of course everybody's important, but I'm not intimidated by their titles, okay? Because I've done this for a living for a very long time. So that's one thing that's the insight I can offer. If you're depending on AI or a bot or a newbie to talk to C-level, it's going to be easier. It's going to be harder for them to connect or build rapport right away than someone who's already been there, done that.
Edna Harding [00:12:15]:
Does that make sense? So that's an insight I can offer, right? And so even though, yes, I'm more expensive than hiring an intern or using a bot, an AI bot, like a marketing or even like those those auto dialers and things of that sort. There's something about a person hearing another person, right? I'm not gonna give you all my secrets. If you want my secrets, go get my book, The Ugly Side of Sales 2.0, shameless plug, because I give some of my secrets there. Alright. So here's an analogy. Okay, so you have a beggar knocking on the door asking for money, okay? Where you have a doctor knocking on the door offering a cure. Okay, both of them are knocking, but then the posture is completely different. So don't be the beggar, be the doctor.
Edna Harding [00:13:01]:
All right, tip number 2, where go, go, where are the fish? Go where the fish are. Okay, Jesus didn't tell fishermen to fish in empty water. Okay, he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, Matthew 4:19. And fishermen know one thing, okay, You don't fish everywhere. You fish where the fish are. Okay? So many people hate cold calling because they're calling the wrong people. Okay? Why? Because they call random lists. They pitch to the wrong audience.
Edna Harding [00:13:35]:
Maybe they talk to the people with no need or budget. And then what they do, they say cold calling doesn't work. Well, no, it's not cold calling doesn't work. It's because bad targeting doesn't work. Because in the scriptures, it says, do not cast your pearls before swine, which means it's not about judging people. Because it's about discernment. Sorry guys, my throat. It's about discerning, okay, is this person worth calling? So a lot of times what they do is they just give them a list, but they don't do any research on the prospect.
Edna Harding [00:14:03]:
They don't understand, like, do they have the right revenue? Do they have the right employee? What kind of projects are they working on? Like, you have to do a little research before you even start calling them, okay? And so one of the things that I do differently with my team is We do research on— I tell them specifically, okay, these are the problems we solve. I want you to go look and see if they have any current projects that would need this, for example. And then we make sure that they have the revenue. So we'll do research. What's their revenue right now? How many employees do they have? Right? Like we look at data and then we decide, okay, should we take this person off the call list or keep them on? Okay, so we're not just calling everyone and their mamas. We're calling— it's a targeted approach. Okay. Before you call anyone, I always ask, okay, do they have a problem I solve? Maybe, maybe not.
Edna Harding [00:14:52]:
But if it's definitely not, then you remove them. Can they afford the solution? If you see that they're filing bankruptcy, obviously they can't. Do they have authority to decide? Is this a decision maker or not? And when in doubt, always call the CEO. I've noticed that every time when I call the CEO of the company, they're usually the one that I can get a hold of. And that usually makes my life easier because they basically tell their employees to make the decision for them, okay, to make and make the decision for them. Hey, use this person, okay? And also, even if they don't tell them to use that, the fact of the matter is the CEO referred you, then more than likely you already have an advantage off of someone who's just calling that was not referred by the CEO. Okay, always start from the top. That's just my rule.
Edna Harding [00:15:39]:
And it really does help me. Okay, so, so the question, okay, so here's analogy. You're not going to try to sell umbrellas in the desert, are you? You go where the rain is, right? So why are you going to sell umbrellas if it's a desert? Go where the rain is. Okay, so be specific on who you're targeting and make sure that you're not wasting your time. All right, the third thing. Speak in parables, not pitches. You know, Jesus rarely used complicated explanations. In fact, he had very simple stories like the lost sheep, the mustard seed, right? The prodigal son was another one.
Edna Harding [00:16:18]:
Good Samaritan, right? Why? Because stories bypass resistance. And you know, in most cold calls, unfortunately they fail because they sound like scripts. Hi, I'm calling to offer blah, blah, blah, blah. Or immediately, or like they try to pitch something. Hi, I work with founders, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like if you are pitching right off the bat and you are sounding so robotic, like, hope you're doing well today. How are you? Hey, you know, like, I look for me, this is back then I used to say like, you know, and hey, Sean, hey, I know you weren't expecting my call, but do you just have a few minutes? I understand you are the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, give them a title. And then I'll say stuff like, you know, I, you know, typically I said, so the people that I work with have XYZ, like one or two problems I listed.
Edna Harding [00:17:17]:
Is this something you guys are dealing with right now? And if they say, sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no, but I'm asking a question, not pitching, okay? So If you're pitching right away without asking any type of question, you're already going to get hung up on, I'm telling you, okay? So the best thing to do is ask questions, don't try to pitch and keep going. All right. But once you start asking questions, and you start giving them examples, then you tell, give them like stories, right? Obviously, like a past client or a common mistake, a quick before and after example. So for example, if you Talk about, and I have plenty of examples, so I'll talk about a client who used AI bots, right, to do the auto calls, right, or even depend on AI like ChatGPT to create their marketing collateral when it's not the same, right? You have to tell it what to think. You have to be creative in your approach. And just remember this, that a pitch feels like sales like a sales brochure. You don't want to sound like your brochure, right? You want to sound like a conversation over coffee, like very generic, very casual, not so pushy, right? Hi, how are you? My name is Anana. Like, you don't want to sound like that, okay? It's like saying, I'm grabbing a brochure right now.
Edna Harding [00:18:48]:
Let's see what mine's saying. Hi, my name is Anna, and I provide— I found— I provide out-of-the-box business growth strategies tailored to your business, people, and target audience. We have new business development programs to help you get in the door, market research, brand positioning, qualified leads, shorter sales cycle, onboarding, secrets to networking, etc. Inside and out. Like, you don't want to sound like that, okay? You just sound like a regular person, okay, conversation. But honestly, I feel like the best thing to do is ask questions. Ask questions, and then when you answer with the point, share a story and then share the point. Never tell a point without a story, even if it's a short story, okay, tell a point, okay, tell a story, sorry.
Edna Harding [00:19:34]:
All right, number 4, ask questions, which I talked about earlier. Ask questions like Jesus did, okay. Jesus asked questions like almost every single time. What do you want me to do for you? Who do you say that I am? Why are you so afraid? Like he asked questions like, what is it? And it's because questions are the ones that create engagement. Okay, when you make a statement, it creates resistance. So what happens to most cold callers is they talk too much. Okay, they talk too much. You don't want to be the talker.
Edna Harding [00:20:07]:
You want to ask questions, okay? And so in Proverbs 25, it says the purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insights draws them out. Proverbs 25, okay? So here are some questions that you could ask on a cold call, okay? So for example, you know, what's the biggest challenge you're facing right now in this particular area? So for example, let's say, so right now when it comes to your, your, your outbound sales, like you're not inbound, but outbound, my gosh, outbound campaign, sales campaigns, like what is the biggest thing that you're facing right now? What are you currently happy with how it's working, right? Because I'll give an example. So for example, a lot of times they have people who are not, who are marketers that are being asked to go out there and sell, when in reality prospecting and doing cold calls and selling is different from marketing, okay? You're looking for a hunter, not a farmer, right? So those type of questions, right? I ask the question, but I also give examples, right? Another question could be, if you could fix one thing in your process, what would it be? Or you could say, what would you say is your problem child right now in your whole ecosystem, right? Something like that. That really helps. Remember that a hammer forces things into place, but a key unlocks what's already there. So your goal is to identify what's already there by asking the questions. So think of your questions as keys, okay? And number 5, don't fear rejection. You have to expect it because Jesus was rejected constantly.
Edna Harding [00:21:49]:
How many times did people reject him or made fun of him or thought he was weird? I'm sure a lot. Every town, every town, entire towns refused him. Religious leaders opposed him. Even his own people doubted him, you know, and according to John 1:11. But one thing about Jesus, which I love, and then for myself as well, is he didn't stop. He kept moving on. And so if anyone would not receive you, you have to shake off your dust, just like Jesus told his disciples. Now, this is a cold calling strategy that I think if you just think about this and really apply it, you're gonna make it so much easier.
Edna Harding [00:22:26]:
Don't take it personal. Sometimes too, like the customer on the other end is having a bad day. I can't tell you how many times people hung up on me or did someone, I don't remember if I'm making this up or if someone really said like a cop, maybe a security guard to send me out. I don't know, I don't remember. I'm getting confused, it was a while back since I've done like, I would just show up at people's docks when I sell Solo Logistics. But normally, you know the funny thing is, these people that I met, like I broke into corporate accounts, like big, huge, like millions of dollars in corporate accounts. And it's all from cold calling and phone calls and emails. Because you couldn't get, especially when you're dealing with corporations, you couldn't get inside the building without having an appointment.
Edna Harding [00:23:12]:
So yeah, if you're trying to build into, break into corporations, that's how you do it. Okay. So anyway, the brain's gone back. Okay. So remember that not everyone is assigned to you. Not everyone is ready and it's okay. And not everyone is meant to say yes. So you have to stop asking yourself, why they reject me? Oh my gosh, why do they keep saying no? Instead, ask, well, who am I assigned to today and how can I get a hold of this person today, right? Remember that a farmer doesn't cry over every seed that doesn't grow.
Edna Harding [00:23:43]:
He only focuses on the field that produces a harvest. So if something is broken, don't worry about it. Move to the next one, okay? Don't make a big deal over like a a fish that doesn't even belong in your pond. Does that make sense? I'm so blessed that I'm in a position where I get to choose and pick who I want to work with. Whereas back then I was so desperate for customers that I wanted to take anyone and everyone, right? And then I realized, no, I don't have to work with you. You need me more than I need you. And so it's amazing to have that mentality of, look, I don't need you. God is my source.
Edna Harding [00:24:26]:
God will take care of me and I will find my tribe. All right. Remember, my friends, that cold calling is not about pressure. When you start feeling pressured, you best believe they feel pressured. So whatever you're feeling, they're feeling. So just relax, calm down, make it like a, just a simple conversation over coffee where you're trying to ask questions and identify, is this, is this person worth, you know, visiting? Is this person worth talking with? Okay, so you're just reaching to them because you're being obedient to what God called you to do, which is what? To solve their problems with your solution. So you're not forcing people, you're literally finding the ones that are prepared for you. And it's all about just laboring, right? In the scriptures, it talks about the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Edna Harding [00:25:20]:
So the problem isn't really lack of opportunity, it's a lack of people willing to step into the field. And that's the key, right? No one's willing to cold call. And so if that's you guys, and you don't feel like doing it, contact me, okay? This is a shameless plug, favorandwealth.com. Okay, that's my business. That's what we do. We do the prospecting and cold calling for you, right? Obviously, there's a premium if you want us to make phone calls. If you want us to give you the prospects, and their information and all that stuff, you know, like qualified leads, not just a list that you pull from the database, okay? Like truly, truly the right type of people give you the information you need. So you can make the cold calls yourself, or you could outsource it to us at a premium rate.
Edna Harding [00:26:07]:
All right? All right, so let's go ahead and wrap up these cold calling tips. Number 1, lead with service, not need. Number 2, go where the fish are. 3, speak in stories, not scripts. Remember, never tell a point without a story and a story without a point. Number 4, ask questions, don't just talk. And number 5, expect rejection and move on. Okay, what I love about cold calling, it's not just a sales activity, it's actually a spiritual posture.
Edna Harding [00:26:32]:
What does that mean, Edna? Well, let me tell you, you're saying, Lord, I'm willing to go to the people you've prepared. Here I am, Lord, send me. Because somewhere on your list, there is a business owner praying for help. There is a leader who's struck and discouraged, who's stuck and discouraged from maybe his wife leaving him, his children, you know, like going wayward. Or you even have a company on the edge of breakthrough who just wants to give up and wants to quit. But, you know, they're right there., and they just need a little encouragement, and your call may be the very answer to their prayer that they've been praying for all this time, okay. You know, I'm reminded of Romans 10:14. It says, how shall they hear without a preacher? To me, in business, sometimes the preacher is the one who makes the call, right? How can they hear without a salesperson? That's a good one.
Edna Harding [00:27:33]:
I should coin that. That's a good one. Okay. All right. All right. Well, I hope this helped, my friends. If you guys want more biblical strategies for growing your business without compromising your faith, subscribe to the podcast, share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who's ready to step into the harvest. And remember guys that, you know, the Bible is full of wisdom, including for growing, including growing your business.
Edna Harding [00:27:57]:
And remember that the marketplace doesn't just need more salespeople, they need Kingdom builders, okay? Those who look at their business as a vessel for reaching souls and funding the harvest, okay? So guys, hope this bless you. I hope this encouraged you. I had fun recording this, but now I'm about to take a nap. All right, love you all. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. Take care. Bye-bye. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur.
Edna Harding [00:28:32]:
Make sure to visit our website, favorandwealth.com. Www.growthandwealth.com for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes, or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out too. Also check out my book, The Ugly Side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share 7 of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.