Jim Logan

you realized that it's a terribly unproductive way to build a business, territory or sale and so you focused instead on never, ever cold calling again! What then? Votes: +1

Jim - you are right, right and right. 99% people hate cold calling and therefore don't do it. But it can be an effective lead generating tool. Some tips to make it so:

1. Talk to the right people - make sure the people you cold call fit a logical profile of who might need or want what you do.
2. Don't waste their time - get in, accomplish what you came for and be done you don't get branded a self-serving time waster.
3. Plan your calls - know what your goal is, what you'll say and how to respond to different situations. Practice if you need to or write it down in front of you.

Thanks Jim!

Kevin Stirtz
The Amazing Service Guy Votes: +0

Yes, I am a believer in the technique's validity. What should we expect to invest in order to replace ourselves in this endeavor? Any rules of thumb? Votes: +0

Jim,

Cold calling is a lot like cooking. You do it because you have to eat! But truly, I think lots of sellers are going about it all wrong.

- Cold calling isn't a numbers game anymore. Instead, it's about making well-researched calls to targeted prospects who have a strong propensity to need your offering.

- Cold calling isn't about getting your spiel down anymore. Instead, it's about creating personalized messaging that demonstrates your credibility & piques your prospect's curiosity.

I've written tons of articles about how to crack into corporate accounts that are effective in today's business environment. You can find them here:

- Website: http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/saleslibrary
- Blog: http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com

P.S. Your post immediately reminded me of the old Dusty Springfield song, "Wishing & Hoping."
Votes: +0

I view cold calling as verbal spam. I have never, in my entire personal or business life, bought anything from some random call out of the blue that interrupted me while I was doing something. As a receiver I find it annoying enough that it does brand damage to the company that employs it because I've now had a negative experience with them.

I personally believe it's an outdated technique and more harmful than helpful. Just my 2 cents. Votes: +0

Craig: What if you received an unsolicited call from a peer at another company who wanted to schedule time with you to discuss an opportunity to work together to achieve something mutually beneficial? Would you have the same negative reaction to the call? Votes: +0

Britton: I know you're very successful using cold calling. In fact, if I remember correctly, cold calling is a pillar of your lead generation and sales efforts.

I'm not sure I understand your questions - I'm probably just not in the right frame of mind :-)

If the question is how you replace yourself from cold calling - you may not be able to. Your style is your own, I can't imagine others replicating it or representing your interests as well as you do. Maybe an interesting off-line conversation.

From previous conversations, my belief is what makes your cold calling successful is you know yourself and your firm very well. And you target companies you call. Your calls are business calls, not sales calls. In other words, your calls have value, regardless of their outcome - you're not reading a script or tossing trial closes throughout the conversation. You're having business conversations with companies who may benefit from your firm's services. Votes: +0

John: Then you'd probably be a good candidate to buy a lead generation program you, me, and others might sell. I recommend they buy yours :-)

On a more serious note - If you're in complex sales and are targeting a named account, your options are limited: 1) you can call a prospect 2) mail them something 3) drop-in unannounced 4) hope for a chance meeting at a trade event 5) ask for a referral introduction.

There aren't many options to contact a named account. And options lessen with time.

The answer could be a series of stop-gap measures to create time to build a lead generation function that attracts qualified leads over time - advertising, PR, direct mail, landing pages, white papers, case studies, etc. But that would bring us back to being a good candidate for a lead generation program you, me, and others...Click here: http://www.ducttapemarketing.c...ration.htm Votes: +0

Jim: the trouble I have with receiving cold calls is that it is so interrupting. And as a cold caller you really need to interrupt me just to qualify me to decide if I'm the right person to be interrupting - but too late! I'm interrupted anyway...

Obviously companies need to do outreach to let the world know they exist and match their products and services with prospects. But most forms of outreach (advertising, PR, events, etc.) are either self selecting, or in one's peripheral vision. The trouble with using the phone is that you've stopped me from doing everything else I need to be doing just so the cold caller can figure out if I'm someone they can try and sell.

I believe the activity of calling a bunch of people to ask them if they are interested in your product or service is even worse than sending them an unsolicited email (and yet we call this spam), because at least email doesn't interrupt you the same way the phone does. In essence, cold calling is EXACTLY the same as email spam, but with a different medium. You're contacting someone out of the blue with the attitude of, "well most people will say no, but if 1 in 100 say yes, then as sales people, it's worth it." Worth it to the sales person but what about the 99 people who said no? I think email spammers think exactly the same thing: if we email 10,000 people and 100 click on our link, it's worth it - to US, never mind that we're filling up people's inboxes with stuff they didn't ask for.

And if the whole activity of cold calling isn't bad enough, so many who employ it don't even do it respectfully - like they keep talking (sometimes they even speed up) after you've told them you're not in the market for their particular product or service (i.e. "I'm not looking for a new home phone, cell phone package, insurance or natural gas thank-you."). It's just plain rude.

Obviously this topic has struck a nerve with me ;) Votes: +0

Hi Craig! It hits a nerve with most of us...you're in great company :-)

I think you did a great job expressing what most people agree is the problem with cold calling.

Looking at the commonly agreed shortcoming of cold calling - rude people, random calling, interruption - they're process and execution oriented. In other words, they're complaints against poor form and technique. When I say form and technique in this case, I don't mean having a poor script and being well rehearsed in objection handling - I mean not doing their homework and acting too much the stereotypical salesperson.

Being interrupted is fine, if the interruption is something we value. And if the company contacting us profiled their market and target accounts, the odds of calling us because we're the person they need to contact are great.

I'm not a big proponent of cold calling, I prefer calls in follow-up to direct mail campaigns...which could be argued as merely semantics.

I've created and led many lead generation campaigns targeting executives in F1000 and public sector organizations. There are limited means to reach such people directly. What I've found is cold calling is pretty effective.

When you profile the purchase cycle and people involved; determine their biases, interests, concerns, challenges and opportunities; position your offer in business terms, addressing a recognized opportunity or challenge; and use your first contact as an introduction and offer to discuss the opportunity to work together in a meaningful way...cold calling works.

If you call people randomly, attempt to sell your product or service on the call, tell the person on the phone all about your features and functionality, ignore their business concerns, and press them to take an action outside of the purchase cycle...cold calling fails miserably and merely becomes an interruption not worthy of our time. The equivalent of email SPAM.

Although I'm not fully prepared to explain it, I've also found cold calling senior executives at larger companies results in greater response than calling large-company mid-level managers or small business executive teams.

In the public sector, I've found most anyone can be cold called - large and small organizations alike, including elected officials. IF AND WHEN you do your homework, position yourself as a peer, and call about something the receiving party really cares about....that's the rub.

Cold calling is a hot button topic of sales and marketing. My sincere opinion is it's poorly used and abused. I see it as a legitimate tactic that should be used when it makes sense...nothing more or less. Like all marketing tactics, it has a place and fits in some situations better than others. When it doesn't fit, it should be used.

Thanks for the thoughts and creating the opportunity for me to clear some of my own.

Please come back and join more discussions! I love the points you raised and the way you presented them. Votes: +1

I like the discussion here. I'm with Jill Konrath on this: my own rules for whether I "take" a cold call (by which I mean that I agree to set a different time to talk further) include whether the sales person has done a succinct job of explaining WHY I should care about what they are saying. If they have researched my company and can prove it, have a credible reason why I should care about what they are selling, and are respectful that I am likely not to want to have an in depth conversation at that moment, I am open. I have purchased products and services that came through cold calls when the job was done well. Votes: +0

I am into tele sales industry as well. I find out that the turnover employment rate is very high. Have you got any suggestion where we could include games or activities while making cold calls? Just to break the boredom, stress and objection from prospective clients. Votes: +0