There are certain topics that we all know to stay away from because history has shown us that people go from zero to nasty right quick. It’s the fun topics like religion or politics and now amongst the sales brethren its cold calling.
I thought it might be interesting to “go there” today and present what I feel are misunderstandings regarding the beloved cold call.
1) How We Define “Cold Call”:There are lots of people out there who define any form of phone call to a prospect as a cold call. Its used in a generic context like if you were to “Xerox” something or “Google” someone. There are others who feel that a cold call is calling any business “cold” as in working straight off a list, no pre call planning etc. And there are still more who believe that all calls are cold calls because whether you pre call plan or not, you are calling someone who isn’t expecting your call using an interruption strategy. All I can say is that you know its going to be a fun discussion when no one can even agree on what the heck a cold call is in the first place.
2) The Anti Cold Calling Theory of Working Smarter Not Harder:One way this is misunderstood is by the people who embrace the theory in too much of a literal sense. I’m all about working smarter. In fact, I’m one of those idiots who believed that all you had to do was make a kazillion calls and statistically speaking you had to win. My issue with this statement is that too many times “working smarter” becomes an excuse for not getting our uniforms dirty. In many cases we are preparing to prepare instead of working. For example: I’ve interviewed sales professionals who do more along the lines of 15 targeted calls per week and that’s it. I’m here to tell you that if that’s all you do, you aren’t working smarter. You simply don’t have enough activity to make it. My feeling is that I can research the heck out of 15 companies but if between caller id, assistants, voice mails etc I only connect with 3, even with a perfect score, I only have 3 appointments.
3) The Researching A Prospect Is An Excuse Crowd: These are the ones who feel that all you should do is “smile and dial” More specifically, they are the ones who believe that you are slacking if you are researching clients and its basically an avoidance strategy. Depending on the rep, they could be right or wrong. Here’s an easy solution; when its “game time” we play the game, not research the game. Therefore, it makes better sense to do the research during off hours instead of money hours. Problem solved. I’m here to tell you that if you don’t take the time to research there are tons of prospects who are going to call you out on it. I’m also here to tell you that you gamble when you don’t take the time to research . You gamble in thinking that your competitor hasn’t prepared better than you. That my friends is a suckers bet every time!
4) You Suck If You Don’t Cold Call:These are the people who believe that there is no other way and if you don’t want to cold call, you have a poor work ethic. To that I would respond with a simple question “Why would you care how I get my sale as long as its between ethical and legal?” If I’m making my numbers or I have a solid plan on how I will generate the revenue, why is that not valid? Furthermore, when I bring home the bacon (and I will) does it count less because it didn’t originate from cold calling? Also, what if I truly suck on the phone but I’m a brilliant public speaker or master blogger or social networker? Why would you discourage me from using those venues if I get the results? Note to Sales Managers: Sometimes we are so busy trying to convert a rep into something they aren’t that we fail to help them shine in the areas where they are in fact, quite strong. I want to make sure that I’m crystal clear on something. As a trainer, I wholeheartedly believe that we have to face our fears and step outside our comfort zone. I also believe that we have to really look at ourselves in the mirror (the unforgiving full length one) assess ourselves and work on the areas that need some fixing up. The challenge with that is when we spend so much time on weaknesses that we don’t enhance or work with our strengths.
5) It’s a Numbers Game: Let’s say this is 100% true and in this context the phone is a stand alone new account acquisition strategy. Utilizing a well thought out “sales mix” will improve those numbers. When I say “sales mix” I’m talking about email, snail mail, creative things, networking, social networking, blogging, E-Books, lunch and learns, speaking engagements, referrals, webinars etc. Saying that the phone is a numbers game, a “contact sport” if you will, can also force us to be so focused on the number of calls that we fail to communicate a compelling message.
6) Here’s A Huge Area We Are Misunderstanding: The fact that everyone has a preferred communication venue. For some it’s the phone, for many it’s email, others its through social networking etc. The plot thickens folks because we need to really look at the Gen Y’s that are moving into influencing/decision making positions. What do you think their preferred communication venue is? They love to email, text, communicate through social media and the phone is usually ranked last. When we embrace the phone as a stand alone strategy, we limit ourselves to say the least.
7) Cold Calling vs Social Media: I have a simple answer to this. Why? As in why does it have to be one vs the other? Why can’t they both exist together as part of that well balanced “sales mix” we discussed earlier?
8) “When I started Out, All I Had Was The Yellow Pages & A Phone” From now on, if anyone says that to you, I want you to pat them on the head and give them a “bless your heart” for good measure. That used and abused line is nothing more than a justification for being too cheap and/or lazy to invest in Sales 2.0 Technology or in training you to be more lethal in your craft.
9) The Sales 2.0 Enthusiast: This is the person who relies so much on the shiny new object or is so busy talking about Sales 2.0 that they fail to realize that sooner or later, this will most probably come down to a phone call, in real time (as in not virtual or more specifically one where you aren’t communicating on a computer screen) For some, they have a bad habit of clinging to the virtual world where they feel safer, for others they understand that all of these virtual relationships have to transition. When we do transition or to that end of transitioning, we’re going to need those tried and true skills that some feel are now antiquated.
10) The Cold Call Is Dead: We could debate this one all week. Some of the misunderstanding goes back to how we define a cold call to just calling it like we see it because we know what works for us.
And maybe that’s what sales is all about. You and I having lots of cool choices, the willingness to try different approaches and the wisdom to know what works best with our particular style.
So what say you Sales Playbook community. Is the cold call misunderstood?
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I believe cold calling should be like stock investments. You need to have a diversified portfolio. Yes, you have to cold call. Yes, you have to call a lot of people. Yep, you even need to do your research or you’ll get burned. No doubt it’s important to build an online presence that comes out and connects with the real world too. I think you need to develop a campaign strategy of how you are going to market yourself and your services to this prospect over a period of time. Then it’s not just about cold calling. Cold calling then becomes another part of your marketing mix. Good luck!
Excellent post, we tend to get caught up in the literal definition but the reality is good and consistent prospecting is crucial to sales success, no matter what venue you choose to use (hopefully all).
Awesome article Paul! I particularly liked your thoughts on generation y and the point you made about communication today. As you said, it can take place on a number of different mediums…being a member of “generation y” I’ll be honest with you, I wouldn’t even know how to use yellow pages – can it download apps?
The definite #1 reason sales people fail is not having enough people to talk to. Prospecting, if you will. Cold-calling is simply one of the many prospecting methods available. They say it takes on average 7 “touches” to either get an appointment or make a sale. Cold-calling is simply one “touch.” Combining cold calling with other proven prospecting methods will certainly fill your pipeline and guide you down the road for success!
@ Nick Smith: I agree.
@ Steve Dodd: The best part is that there are numerous venues to choose from so why limit ourselves.
@ Sean: Too funny and yet very true. One of our biggest failings as a society is that we are so busy telling the other generations about their shorcoming (as we perceive them) that we refuse to pay attention to how they want to proceed. And if their signing the check or influencing the sale . . . its a massive mistake!
@ Bryan: 100% true. One theory I have on that famous Dartnell study (7 touches) is that today, it takes 7 touches just to get on the radar screen and the process begins from there. Why not expedite that process by using additional venues.
Thank you all for stopping by and offering your valuable input. As always, its much appreciated.
Respectfully,
Paul Castain
Paul,
Excellent post.
I’m one of those who believe that for the most part there are more efficient and effective ways to find and connect with quality prospects than cold calling.
However, that attitude is tempered by two important facts:
1) as you point out, different people have different ways in which they prefer to be connected with and cold calling fits within that context for some of our prospects
2) no matter how good we are at generating referrals, networking, using social media, or whatever else, there are always going to be great prospects that we simply cannot find any other way to connect with other than picking up the phone and making the cold call.
Paul
Great content as usual and does make you look in the mirror
full sized or not.
I have seen the 7 touches theory used on websites now where the customer can get information( they want, on issues they have) via a white paper, case study, webinar, podcasts, blogs, articles,etc. and are then a “warm ” call by the time(7 touches) they talk to a sales person–just another way to get an organization or marketing group supporting the sales people in the trenches and supplement any cold calling they are doing ~ there is no single bullet as you have pointed out very well
Regards
John
ostuff
Paul
Great content as usual and does make you look in the mirror
full sized or not.
I have seen the 7 touches theory used on websites now where the customer can get information( they want, on issues they have) via a white paper, case study, webinar, podcasts, blogs, articles,etc. and are then a “warm ” call by the time(7 touches) they talk to a sales person–just another way to get an organization or marketing group supporting the sales people in the trenches and supplement any cold calling they are doing ~ there is no single bullet as you have pointed out very well
Regards
John
Paul,
When something is as well put as this post all I can say is “Well said”
Thank you sir for covering such a critical component of business so well.
Dan
Thanks for tackling this subject. I breathe a giant sigh of relief, as we are both in printing, I was wondering how you were going to convince me that cold calling is the way to go.
I left a networking group that shared leads that were nothing more than warm bodies in chairs, I literally had hundreds of them and maybe called a handful, I prefer a warm lead anytime and even then you have to be Johnny on the spot. I network like a maniac and it’s the recommendations from the folks I have worked with successfully that have led to new customers and orders.
I post a daily inspirational quote so people can get an idea of my character and how I roll. I’m more apt to make a call on behalf of a network partner than I am for myself. The business is coming slowly but surely; in the mean time I’m your humble student and I Twitter, Face book, and blog my voice in the wilderness. Someday soon I’ll actually contribute to the knowledge base of this group but not until I can make you proud.
Great Post. I agree with Nick- you need a portfolio of approaches and I agree with Paul McCord- when you don’t have enough to make your numbers Cold Calling is the fallback to getting in touch with enough prospects. I think as managers we tend to preach what worked for us as Reps or what we’ve been taught, but the question we need to continually ask is “Given your conversion rate (however you get prospects) How are you going to get enough prospects to meet your numbers?” Give me confidence that you have a plan that we can measure and I’ll encourage you to do it as long as you’re producing.
I enjoy the article, but one of the reasons that some people don’t do well making cold calls (no matter how you define them) is simple fear. And fear on many levels. I used to sell communications systems and I hated cold calls. I’d much rather someone call the office with a problem and I whip into action, sell them what they needed and solve the problem. But if I had to pick up the phone to generate some business, I was simply scared. That’s the great benefit of the new social networking methods of today. The face-to-face or voice-to-voice is eliminated, and if you get a “no thanks” it’s not as personal. You move onto the next “lead”.
Fortunately this fear is easily overcome but I wish I knew how 20 years ago !
I think that about sums it up, very nicely.
Tweeted accordingly, and thanks for taking the time to lay it all out. Many will find that very useful, I’m sure.
Best regards – Neil
This post brought me back to my days or riding the elevators in Manhattan, stopping at each floor, and trying to get an appointment with “the decision maker” (obviously dating myself to the days before you needed to leave your first born with the security desk). You have done a great job of outlining what cold-calling actually is. As I rode those elevators, I remember thinking “there has got to be a better way”.
A few years later, when I was running marketing and sales for an early growth company, my vision for marketing was this: our reps will never need to cold-call. Our job was to ensure that they had enough “sales ready” leads to pursue. We may have not always met that vision, but we tried. And we did pretty darn good.
In a perfect world, you have a dedicated function for lead generation/nurturing, so that salespeople are only working sales ready leads. Unfortunately, most of us don’t live in that perfect world, and cold-calling will remain one of the key activities to generate on-going revenue.
This article really explores the pros and cons of cold calling. As a rep and former manager I have been conflicted at times over the various methods and excuses. This approach cuts through it all. As my old golfing boss used to say: “consider it another club in your bag.” Otherwise “if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail”.
Great work!!! … balance cold calls with all the other ways in which you can engage people. Allows you to nurture or build awareness in an effort to find the right time to be talking about services / products.
Holy Schnikees gang . . . I feel behind 🙂 . . . Uncle Paul hangs his head
@ Paul McCord: I guess I’m somewhat of a recovering callaholic in that I had my teams operating under the “300 calls per week” plan. We did well, but for the last 4 years I’ve been enjoying better results utilizing a thorough sales mix. Great point about the phone might be the only way in certain instances.
@ John Fitzgerald: Noted and agreed!
@ Dan Collins: Well thank you Dan. Very nice of you to say that!
@ “Herb” The printing industry needs a major enema with regard to clinging to the phone as a stand alone strategy. It would also serve us well if more of us used the very things we are offering our clients to buy but that’s a digression for another day 🙂
@ David Cropper: Awesome point. To that end, whenever I hire a new rep, I insist on a business plan. They present it to me during their interview and then, should I hire them, it evolves into a living, breathing document that helps us attack the business from multiple angles.
@ Bob Thomas: Great points all around. Let’s address that fear component. According to Dr Peers Steel (I’m sure I just butchered the spelling) he found that this fear is manifested in the form of procrastination. In other words, we cling to the “safe” diversions rather than doing that which we fear. Something to think about!
@ Neil Warren: Thank you! I certainly appreciate your support.
@ Jim Ninivaggi: Very true! And I not only remember the days of the door to door approach, I remember stopping by one business and apparantly 5 of us had the same idea at the same time. It was like something out of Monty Python. Hysterical and a tad pathetic. 🙂
@ Tom Plain: I agree and feel we need lots of those clubs!
@ Steve Wilkes: AMEN! And if we approach this the right way, one effort smiles at the next effort and momentum is built!
Thanks again all. Awesome contributions all around!
Respectfully,
Paul Castain
Paul,
I am quickly becoming a real fan. This is an awesome post on the uses and abuses of cold calling. The one additional point I would make is that the industry or product you are selling may also have bearing on the statistical success rate of the cold call. I’m thinking a cold call to sell printing services might be somewhat different than, say…, funeral services or financial services, or employee benefits programs. For my money the cold call / warm call is the most direct way to get into an account, assuming you’ve done good research on them and you have a valid credible value proposition to present and you do so authentically. Again, great post, from a true sales rock star.
Paul, this CC topic has been around and always creates a remarkable amount of responses. The last time around Iread something that stuck with me. The cold call is to get a contact name, perhaps a direct telepone # and jackpot the email address. From that point the marketing starts.
I’m a sucessful cold caller but I hate it because of the voice mails and gate keepers. Persistance counts. Do I cold call everyday – No. But some days it is my mission and nothing stops me. I’m relentless for the day and then I can say I’ve intergrated all my marketing with sincereity.
PS – how do I get my picture on this site?
Great points! The main thing that eliminated most of the tension of cold calls for me was allowing myself to accept a “no” and move on to the next prospect. As sales people we often are taught that you are not doing your job if you are not aggressive. Therefore a customer telling you, for what ever reason and in what ever manner that they cannot buy your product or service, is just a temporary put off. so keep asking them and don’t take “no” for an answer. How impractical and impossible is that? We all know that in cold calling we generally get far more “no’s” than “yes’s”. As long as we can recognize the potential customer’s buying signals and pursue those prospects, accept “no” and move on to someone else who understands and appreciates the benefits of your products or services.
Paul, excellent article and especially agree about diversifying the efforts. Regarding supplemental cold calling training, are there any company’s you can suggest? In my company, we typically have teams from 2-5 reps that are outside B2B but do most of their pre-assessment & appointment setting 2-3 days per week. I have engaged a few sales coaches for assistance but if you can reference any specific groups or individuals it would be appreciated. Thank you,
Paul
There you go again, Paul, demonstrating that you have years of experience; right on target, as usual.
In order to ensure we are all speaking the same language, at CeI we define cold calling as an invasive attempt to make a sale or generate a buying action without a professional introduction. While we do have a very powerful cold calling process that generates a 70% return on voice mail, a 90% throughput on gatekeepers, and a 9% buying action response, WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS rude, invasive and condescending behavior.
The professional introduction can be simply delivering an introduction package (media) to the prospect. In order to determine who to deliver the package to, you may need to perform a “RESEARCH” call. This call has a few objectives:
1. Determine who the decision makers are for your products and services (economic buyer, technical buyer, user buyer, gatekeeper and coach/sponsor).
2. Determine the buying process.
3. Uncover entrenched competitors.
4. Surface obvious needs for the benefits your product or service provides.
A research call can be in person, over the telephone or through social media.
The most powerful form of a research call is a “Walk and Talk”. Just walk in the front door, introduce yourself, obtain the contact information for your prospect, drop off introductory material and leave.
Our experience has demonstrated the results of this process are fantastic. There are a few skeptics who will decry this approach without even trying it.
Demonstrating this to one of my program participants, we achieved 76.9% positive response. That means he recorded 10 qualified prospects for every 13 introductions he made. It is amazing how impressive a personal visit can be. After the visit, a “WARM” call was made; the prospect was expecting the call (package cover letter provided the benefits the call would provide + the day, date and time). All calls (research, heads-up, follow-up, presentation scheduling, proposal walk through, etc.) need to be scripted (ear-to-ear, gatekeeper and voicemail). We provide a form for composing the scripts. We teach our participants to be “radio announcers” with every call they make.
Cold Calling can create the “two ton telephone”. Research calls, warm calls, heads-up calls, etc. are fun, informative and VERY LUCRATIVE.
Mike
You make some great points. A balanced, blended approach will satisfy most sales managers and help you get new business. Getting clients to participate and share information with you is a challenging sport. It’s not for everybody. If you’re a person that can make things happen regardless of the difficulties with which you are presented you’ll accomplish much in sales. – Jon Wyderka –
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!! I will say one thing, I believe the “appointment” requirement is becoming outdated in many industries as well. People don’t necessarily need to see or meet you to buy from you. When I get a new lead or find a new prospect, I ask them what they prefer. 90% of the time they prefer answers to their questions and recommendations, proposals etc sent by e-mail.
I have been the top performer in my area market for the last three years in a row and probably attend less than five appointments a month. (We are expected to go on a minimum of 32 a month)
Thanks for sharing all of your awesome tips. I appreciate that you speak from experience and success.
Trish
Paul – All too often the debate rages (and it does rage) because folks define cold calling differently. You have outlined it perfectly. There is no one single way that is more right than any other. If you are successful using tin cans and string, carrier pigeons, or poly express mail, then keep at it.
Cheers,
Marc
Well said Marc! I agree!
Paul – All too often the debate rages (and it does rage) because folks define cold calling differently. You have outlined it perfectly. There is no one single way that is more right than any other. If you are successful using tin cans and string, carrier pigeons, or poly express mail, then keep at it.
Cheers,
Marc
Well said Marc! I agree!