Cold Calling works big time.

SpeedRacer

I believe you. My previous post was my attempt at sarcasm.

bluenote

That was my first thought Speed... I figured you were just messing around.

In the event you weren't, I tamed my reply as much as my heart would allow in order to keep myself from being banned from this site lol.

SpeedRacer

By the way, I like your idea of outsourcing cold calling. Did you provide scripts to the telemarketers?

pmccord

A little dramatic don't you think? As though anyone who thinks there are better ways of prospecting would be 'scared of them cold calling guys.

Virtually every study I've ever seen on the effusiveness of cold calling has indicated it isn't time effective. I've met very few top producers who cold call.

If you think it works, do it. I personally think there are far more effective ways to find prospects--not to mention that the vast majority of salespeople cold calling flush out of sales in short order.

I honestly don't understand the name calling and snide school yard remarks people here have about differing perspectives. I find it amusing that people get so worked up when someone challenges their methods.

Lots of name calling and snide remarks but little discussion of the issue. I guess I need someone to tell me what's so great about a prospecting method that is despised by the vast majority of individual and business consumers, that automatically signals to consumers that the person on the other end of the line is so desperate for a prospect, any prospect, that they'll spend hours trying to find someone willing to talk to them, and, as I said, every study I've ever seen indicates it is a waste of time?

It's cheap, it's easy, and it's probably the most despised marketing any consumer can think of.

__________________
Paul McCord
Best-selling author, Speaker, Sales Trainer, Management Consultant
Power Selling

Gold Calling

Bluenote - great story. There are more than enough of these positives to blow away the people who swear it does not work. Yours is a classic.

What kind of business do you have the outsourced company prospect for you Blue? My company firmappointments.com specializes in setting appointments - we do not get paid unless we do!

We work the high end.

PMCCord; Allow me to correct you - cold calling is not cheap. Top level people want $100,000 or more a year to work the phone (like retired sales pros). And it takes good people to get through to a qualified buyer on the phone.

Telemarketing on the other hand is relatively cheap (relative in cost, not in return).

There are a few comments to be made in relation to your post ... who was studied (B2C? If B2B what inexperience did they have?)? And what do sales people do when their appointment schedule is not full, twiddle their thumbs?

If you have no one to see, why in God's name wouldn't you pick up the phone? What is it you, a professional sales person could be doing, that you could not do after hours, to find business when your schedule has openings? Answer me that Paul and I will lay some more outstanding truths on you that will also make you stop and think. Such as;

You either walk in and introduce yourself, pick up a phone and do the same or you are an idle salesperson, it is that simple, is it not?

Granted, telemarketing to homes, what we might refer to as B2C Telemarketing, is not well liked, nor is it fun. But, thankfully, it is not something a professional sales person does or very few. So, in a sales forum that is primarily Sales Pros, this is not what we are discussing.

Door-to-door B2C sales people were more prevalent in the past but that is just not the case today (thank God!). No, this post is about B2B business and calling a business person to make an appointment is absolutely a professional and cost effective thing to do.

If Toyota accepted a call - one that was absolutely cold - and were willing just 4 years aqo to do a $12.1 million software deal (plus annual support revenues), what is it you or anyone else has against making an introduction via the phone? Are business owners trying to say they are better than Toyota ... or that they do not have to accept calls that will save them time/money or make them more competitive.
I for one would be glad if you called with an idea that helped me!

.

__________________

Hunger for Profit System©
want to make more commissions or more profit,
then you need to stop wasting time now!
http://hungerforprofit.com

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Gold Calling

By the way, PMCCORD, AZ's post wasn't drama, not at all. He just expressed his conviction. And mighty succinctly I might add.

Joe Closer

The ability to cold call effectively is a valuable skill.

Some people believe that cold calling is more marketing than selling. Some people believe it is part of a sales process.

Some people prefer other marketing methods and other forms of new business development as alternatives to cold calling.

Many of those people are successful. They often are successful because they too have developed their skill sets, just like successful cold callers. It's just that they prefer to work differently.

bluenote

I do. In fact, I personally trained these reps on a conference call. They conduct my presentation word for word and have astonishing results.

I know this because I can listen in live to their presentations over the PC... I also get my leads back in real time.

I used to do my lead gen through direct mail which brought me a 2.5-3% return, which is still great by DM standards.

Imagine the smile on my face when I started getting a 35-40% return by outsourcing through a telemarketing company at 1/3 the cost.. and having the same closing ratio on the leads?

HAVE MERCY!

pmccord

Do you really think the only way of finding business is cold calling or cold walking? Of course you don't. As I said, I've never met many top producers who cold call and I've met thousands of great producers. But they have a ton of prospects they work with.

For most, referrals--direct introductions from their clients--is their primary method of marketing. Not their sole method, but their primary method.

And there are a great many business to consumer salespeople in this forum. Everything from financial services, to Mary Kay. It isn't just b2b. But even then, I don't know many b2b top producers who cold call. Sure, they'll make an occasional cold call. But it is just that--an occasional call to a very specific individual whom they just haven't been able to get referred to and they have a specific reason to believe they can help. It is by far the exception to the way they do business, not the rule.

I realize this discussion goes straight to the heart of how you make a living, but that shouldn't obfuscate the fact that there are other ways to generate business by cold calling or cold walking.

And, yes, the same argument can be made about me--that the issues deals with how I make a living. But like you, the vast bulk of my business is corporate, not individual.

And just for the record, I never said AZ Broker was a drama queen. I said his statement was a little too dramatic that no one who disagreed with cold calling would dare come to this thread. Yes, that's a little dramatic. That doesn't make him a drama quessn, although it appears that you're infering that, although I don't know why.

Joe Closer

I am one of the top producers in my field in the United States. In the last 5 years I have won 3 national sales contests. I work autonomously---for myself--with a small staff. I make a good buck.

I am well schooled in the art of cold calling having been a trainer for a well known company for five years.

I believe cold calling is a viable and valuable skill. I encourage those interested to learn it and learn it well.

But I do not cold call.

Nor do I twiddle my thumbs because my selling opportunities keep me too busy to do so.