I hope that you’re having a good week, speaking to lots of new clients and winning lots of new business. I want to start this blog post by asking you a question, “What do you think about cold calling?” Now by asking that, what I don’t mean is do you like being rung at home when you’re eating your dinner (tea for us Northerners) and someone trying to sell you timeshares? No, what I mean is, “Do you think cold calling works?”
Now I know that this is a very divisive question. It’s divisive for a whole variety of reasons. It’s divisive because everyone has so many opinions, ideas and beliefs about whether cold calling is coming, going, works, doesn’t work, is ethical, is unethical, is powerful, is a waste of time…
And not everyone can be right, can they?
Or can they? As a sales motivational speaker and sales author I get to work with salespeople of all flavours and I have clients from all industries from car sales to insurance sales, from park home sales to engineering sales, from pharmaceutical sales to financial sales and pretty much everything sales inbetween. And on my travels I see people who win lots and lots of new business by picking up the phone and making appointments with key new prospects and many, many people who fail miserably too.
And whilst I agree that cold calling is more relevant for some industries than others and more relevant for some products than others and it is most definitely not right in all situations, I have met salespeople from all walks of industry who use it effectively. I’ve also worked with them and seen the results.
You see, most of the time, it’s not the industry or the product, it’s the salesperson and the sales system that makes the difference.
Melody proved this on The Apprentice (UK) last night when she picked up a mobile in the back of a car in France (!) and set up 6 appointments. But could the others Apprentices repeat her success?
Nope.
What did she have that the others didn’t? How did she approach prospects that got results where others failed?
Why do some people in your office get great results on the phone and others get only mediocre results… or worse?
Sure, we could get into an argument about what a cold call is. We could debate whether your call should be called a cold call at all if you’ve done the right research and weaved it into your call effectively. We could discuss the percentage of your time you should spend on the phone versus utilising other methods of contacting or attracting new clients…
And that would be useful but it would not change the facts. Cold calling works when done right. And you may not want to do it. And you may not want to hear it but that’s the way it is.
Someone once asked me why I blogged and why I used Twitter and why I networked if cold calling was so effective? And that’s the problem here. People want to say something has replaced something else. It’s black and white. It’s either or. But it’s not…
My answer was simple. “I do what works. I do a combination of things designed to consistently bring me in business. I do the ones that work. As long as they work I use them. And when they don’t, I will change what I am doing or stop.”
I have a highly refined new business sales system based on sales mindset, structure and language. The call engages clients by focusing on them not you. If you’re interested, read some more of my blog posts on cold calling and selling in general or watch a video or two. Better still, why not come to one of my No Fear Cold Calling seminars? If you want to eliminate fear of cold calling, get the mindset for success, better engage with your clients, set up more appointments and win more new business then it is a must attend.
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About Gavin Ingham
one may ask does walking work? cold calling ( assuming one is seeking a new opportunity and your calling has a high likelyhood of not knowing you or your company or reason for the call) can work of course but it has to approached in a appropriate way.
which one would you prefer:
“hi this is kenny madden, can i speak to the decision maker please?”
” hi, not sure if it’s appropriate to be calling you, but i just spent 10 mins looking through your S1 filing from 2010 and noticed a major objective for your business is to increase sales effectiness via social media” would you be open to a conversation? i have some ideas and would like your opinion if they hold water or not?
same cold call diff result
here’s the deal this is pertinet to emea and the us:
In today’s environment, it is absolutely critical to approach prospects in a new way. The days of cold calling “put me through to the decision maker please” calls are well and truly over. ( Good riddance.)
The traditional numbers-focused sales and marketing model has fallen apart. Especially when selling or marketing technology products to savvy, tech folks. They don’t care about our products and services, they care about what those things can do for the businesses they run.
The old school strategy of hiring more “feet on the street” or hiring 100’s of inside sales people to cold call 100’s of times a day looking for sales growth or generating volumes of leads is proving wildly inefficient.
Here are 4 easy tips to help you get above the clutter and noise in less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee…
Go to the website of the company you’re calling before picking up the phone. You are now in the TOP 10% of sales/marketing people
Go to the website and actually read something
about the business you’re calling. Congrats you just made the TOP 5% of sales/marketing people
Go to the company’s website, read something , tailor a specific message that fits their business OR tell them something they don’t know. TOP 1% (Read: Exceptional credibility. )
Don’t give up too early. (It often takes several tries to get a response) Most salespeople give up after 4 attempts.
Welcome to the TOP 1% of sales people i.
Even though you do not have much competition, don’t let your standards slip.
Thanks Kenny for chipping in. A star as always. Have a great day
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I know one thing for sure, cold calling doesn’t worked on me yet. I am of that generation that will always go to Google to verify the credentials of a company. In fact personally I feel that companies calling me out of the blue always turns me off, and I am even less likely to do business with them if they are too pushy, Yellow Pages are the worst of this. Having clear communication with your clients is extremely important and using the phone is sometimes the best option for that. I would say that 90% of my work comes from word-of-mouth and referrals. I guess it all depends on the business type.
Alan. One of the defences for cold calling not working is often, “Well it doesn’t work on me.” If you believe it doesn’t work and your “proof” is that it doesn’t work on you then you’re never going to feel good about it and unlikely to make it work. As I said above, some business may not be right for cold calling. Some people may not be right for cold calling. And indeed some work and some clients will NEVER be reached by cold calling. That said, I could also highlight powerful relationships which started with a cold call.
If you have enough business, what you’re doing is working and you’re happy with your “sales and marketing” activities and they are sustainable and robust (many businesses have found over the last few year’s that theirs aren’t) then why reinvent the wheel to do something you don’t want to do? On the other hand, for companies who don’t have enough business, who want to get more or who want to add a different approach to their bow… it can be an effective tool for their kit bag.
And learn is the keyword here as you have to learn how to cold call effectively (and that’s client centric, about them not about you, valuable, quality not quantity, prepared and intelligent, engaging and not pushy… I could go on) if you want any chance of making it work.
I would also agree that word of mouth and referrals are critical for businesses and two other methods that many companies fall down on! I see companies who only cold call, who don’t engage their clients and get little or no business from these two sources. Uggggh! This is a sure sign that they have got something seriously, seriously wrong!
Interestingly, I had a quick look at your website (see how effective even commenting on a blog post let alone writing one can be for raising awareness about your business… it’s not all about cold calling, lol) and agree that your market is highly suited for other methods of lead generartion however I am aware of many companies in your industry who cold call to target specific clients who they have failed to reach using other methods. And very successfully too.
It’s not that I don’t think that cold calling doesn’t work. I think if you are persistent with it, like anything in life you get better with practice. In fact my colleague who is much of the old school way of marketing does cold call and does have some degree of success with it for some of our other niche services which is where I think cold calling can definitely be more effective to quickly raise awareness and target specific potential customers.
Great tips Gavin. Will keep in mind. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. Glad you found them useful.