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#1
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| Cold Calling works big time.
Okay, I can't resist. Call me a trouble maker for starting a subject that people have argued against on this forum - in a day an age where there is sales training material against this practice but I beleive from the bottom of my heart that this practice is the most effective way to open doors for new business, period.
Here is what is suggested by those who preach "never cold call again" (and correct me if I miss anything);
- "your time could be better used in front of prospects" ... totally agree but ...
- "it works with a very, very low success rate, your time could be better spent else where" ... yes, there are referrals but ....
- Blog and write articles to generate leads ... well, yes, in some industries but ...
- The world has changed, buyers are different ... blaaa, blaa, blaa ... hmmm ...
- "ROI" ... "conversion rates are low" ... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Now I want to relate a story of a 79 year old. He still gets on the phone every day. Just over 4 years ago he made a call to Toyota. It was a cold call. This man had never called that company before, did not have any intro, knew no one in the upper echelon of this huge manufacturing retailer, had no lead in from another company exec that used to work there ... it was a 100% cold situation.
The result of this cold call was a 12.1 million dollar sale. And the single biggest commission check of his storied career (he was number one salesman National for Apecco, number one five times at the largest Minolta Copier dealer in Canada, top producer for PVA Consulting - that is top producer in each of three different generations!)!
Please, do not tell me cold calling does not work.
Now I will relate a story from my sales career, a very recent one. I spent a couple of hours on the phone 6 weeks ago. As a result of a week when I kept 22 face-to-face appointments, all made over the phone, all cold, I have landed a major national account. One of the largest Insurance companies in the world - their financial planning division.
In addition, since I was on the cover of a North American wide newsstand magazine in Feb. '04 for being successful in my own business, and that business relates to professional lead generation. You might just say that I am an expert in the other side; blogging, newsletter writing, fax broadcasting, email blasting, mass mailers, non addressed ad-mail (flyers) ... I have done and sold all of these services in my own company.
I can tell you, there is no really good way to advertise to generate enough leads to keep a whole team of sales people busy in certain industries. Now, I can easily develop unlimited leads in the business opportunity field and others. But how do you get a constant supply of warm market leads and ad responses for ... say ... photocopier sales in a territory in Mediumtown, USA or Barrie, Ontario Canada?
And what do you do while you have huge gaps in your appointment book? Do you blog? Can't you blog at night when there are no businesses open to call and introduce yourself to?
What does a young sales rep do that has no money to do mass mailers? How do they get started in a 100% commission position?
If you have nothing else to do, why not get on the phone? What are you scared of?
Here is the rock the world kind of question - isn't it really just that you have never been trained in how to prospect on the phone that causes your success rate to be so low, your moral as you "have to" do this to tumble and ultimately you to hate this sales practice?
Sure, "never cold call" sales advice is a best selling item. Why? Because sales people would rather do anything but suffer a high rate of rejection!
Wouldn't you rather pitch than phone prospect any day?
The 79 year old pro that is too old to run around doing sales appointments any longer does nothing but cold call. And he loves it. So, let the fur fly I say ... start ripping my post apart !
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#2
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Originally Posted by Gold Calling
Okay, I can't resist. Call me a trouble maker for starting a subject that people have argued against on this forum - in a day an age where there is sales training material against this practice but I beleive from the bottom of my heart that this practice is the most effective way to open doors for new business, period.
Here is what is suggested by those who preach "never cold call again" (and correct me if I miss anything);
- "your time could be better used in front of prospects" ... totally agree but ...
- "it works with a very, very low success rate, your time could be better spent else where" ... yes, there are referrals but ....
- Blog and write articles to generate leads ... well, yes, in some industries but ...
- The world has changed, buyers are different ... blaaa, blaa, blaa ... hmmm ...
- "ROI" ... "conversion rates are low" ... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Now I want to relate a story of a 79 year old. He still gets on the phone every day. Just over 4 years ago he made a call to Toyota. It was a cold call. This man had never called that company before, did not have any intro, knew no one in the upper echelon of this huge manufacturing retailer, had no lead in from another company exec that used to work there ... it was a 100% cold situation.
The result of this cold call was a 12.1 million dollar sale. And the single biggest commission check of his storied career (he was number one salesman National for Apecco, number one five times at the largest Minolta Copier dealer in Canada, top producer for PVA Consulting - that is top producer in each of three different generations!)!
Please, do not tell me cold calling does not work.
Now I will relate a story from my sales career, a very recent one. I spent a couple of hours on the phone 6 weeks ago. As a result of a week when I kept 22 face-to-face appointments, all made over the phone, all cold, I have landed a major national account. One of the largest Insurance companies in the world - their financial planning division.
In addition, since I was on the cover of a North American wide newsstand magazine in Feb. '04 for being successful in my own business, and that business relates to professional lead generation. You might just say that I am an expert in the other side; blogging, newsletter writing, fax broadcasting, email blasting, mass mailers, non addressed ad-mail (flyers) ... I have done and sold all of these services in my own company.
I can tell you, there is no really good way to advertise to generate enough leads to keep a whole team of sales people busy in certain industries. Now, I can easily develop unlimited leads in the business opportunity field and others. But how do you get a constant supply of warm market leads and ad responses for ... say ... photocopier sales in a territory in Mediumtown, USA or Barrie, Ontario Canada?
And what do you do while you have huge gaps in your appointment book? Do you blog? Can't you blog at night when there are no businesses open to call and introduce yourself to?
What does a young sales rep do that has no money to do mass mailers? How do they get started in a 100% commission position?
If you have nothing else to do, why not get on the phone? What are you scared of?
Here is the rock the world kind of question - isn't it really just that you have never been trained in how to prospect on the phone that causes your success rate to be so low, your moral as you "have to" do this to tumble and ultimately you to hate this sales practice?
Sure, "never cold call" sales advice is a best selling item. Why? Because sales people would rather do anything but suffer a high rate of rejection!
Wouldn't you rather pitch than phone prospect any day?
The 79 year old pro that is too old to run around doing sales appointments any longer does nothing but cold call. And he loves it. So, let the fur fly I say ... start ripping my post apart !
| Nothing to rip apart. Another golden post!
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#3
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Gold Calling
Here is the rock the world kind of question - isn't it really just that you have never been trained in how to prospect on the phone that causes your success rate to be so low, your moral as you "have to" do this to tumble and ultimately you to hate this sales practice?
| Spot On! 
I challenge those who preach that cold calling doesn't work or anything similar to come to this public forum, or just this thread, and openly discuss the validity of their claims. In my opinion the newbies and untrained might believe cold calling doesn't work but the pros know better.
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#4
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Just thought of something else to say ...
That 79 year old telephone prospector who used to be a top road warrior in his day. I was just talking with him (easy to do, he is my dad!), and we discussed an appointment he got for a client of mine. Happens this guy is the president of a Dale Carnegie franchise. And, because of my recent involvement in this forum, I looked on their site (have to admit, though I have read Dale's books, never attended a live seminar by their group - though I have had every opportunity to do so from the "inside").
I read a comment by their client about "booking appointments on the phone". This guy stated "I booked as many appointments in a week as I used to book in a month". Now, imagine that you sat through a seminar by the 79 year old master prospector - say he knew something about getting appointments that you don't. Suppose that something made it possible for you to convert 25% of the suspected prospects you speak to into appointments (or qualified prospects).
If it formerly took you 50 calls to get an appointment that might reduce to 17 (remember, not everyone is in or reachable when you call - so some calls end up being fact finding and call back types). Would that make it worth your while to cold call?
My average, when I pick a targeted market, is under one in ten!
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#5
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Well said AZ.
For people like AZ Broker, Bluenote, Skip Anderson, myself and many others, what bothers us about pros arguing against professional practises, whether they be prospecting or face-to-face techniques, is that the impressionable will get the wrong idea.
We want up and coming sales stars to have the chance to become well rounded professionals who excel at every area of sales and that means they should not have to read unconstructive criticism stop them from mastering anything that will help then make money. Whether that be prospecting or closing or a type of sales training.
Why would we, who love the art of communications and the art of salesmanship, state in a forum that is in place for sales professionals, that a very well respected sales training course was "manipulative"? Or argue that a profitable practice such as telephone prospecting should ... well, it is not my desire to offend, but ... never be done again?
My name is Steven Burke and I can't stand by to see misleading information about what I consider to be the greatest profession in the world be spread by its professionals. I humbly suggest that this argument take place here, in a civil manner. That we help others to understand that there is a place for telephone prospecting, whether you choose to master it or not.
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#6
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I think Cold Calling is a waste of time IF all the salesperson does is pick up the phone and call a prospect without having done at least some mental exercise about the business they are calling and the possible fit between their needs and the solution being sold.
I posted a few weeks ago a tongue-in-cheek comment that prospecting was for miners and professional salespeople relied on demand creation. Actually, it's more true than funny in the world of complex B2B selling.
We use a demand creation approach that offers to connect senior level executives in the companies we target with thought leaders in our firm for an exchange of information in a 20 to 30 minute telephone call.
Cold calling? Well, yes, to some degree. But it goes deeper.
We use a method that weighs the number of touches with the prospect against the probability of making a connection with the prospect. We target multiple senior executives in the same company and don't treat executive assistants as 'gatekeepers' but rather as an avenue to the executive. We use telephone, email and - to a lesser degree - the mail for contact.
When we make the connection, we don't use the call as a total qualification call. We share trends that we see in the marketplace and then validate whether these trends affect the company we are calling. If there is a fit, we end up raising awareness of our solution with a company that may have never heard of us; getting into opportunities at a very early stage; and making a connection with a senior level executive with the power to drive.
Once again, if I was selling newspaper subscriptions pure cold calling is probably as good a tactic as any other. However, if I am trying to sell a big ticket solution to a major company, a demand creation method similar to the one we use is the way to go.
Jim Cundiff
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#7
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So, Jim, what you are saying is you do use the phone to call people you have no previous intro or referral connection with?
Yes?
Am I understanding that you use it, you just feel you use it more effectively, is that correct? Can you break it down to just sales practices minus the descriptive or philosophy, just so we can see exactly what you recommend ... I appreciate that.
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#8
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Originally Posted by AZBroker
I challenge those who preach that cold calling doesn't work or anything similar to come to this public forum, or just this thread, and openly discuss the validity of their claims.
| That could be an interesting discussion. 
I have cold called by phone and foot the past 10+ years and the return is as good or better today as it was back then.
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#9
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I read a chapter in a book once about cold calling, tried it and failed so let me tell you my friend, cold calling doesn't work and I have an army of people with similar experiences behind me to prove it.  
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#10
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Originally Posted by SpeedRacer
I read a chapter in a book once about cold calling, tried it and failed so let me tell you my friend, cold calling doesn't work and I have an army of people with similar experiences behind me to prove it. | I outsource my cold calling which yields me a 35-40% return of highly targeted prospects reached.
These figures are a fact and what puts an unlimited amount of High Probability Prospects in front of my staff every single day.
My entire staff makes a stellar living as a result of cold calling.
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