Well, hold on. Business types vary. If the advice is there are plenty of businesses that are successful without cold calling we might not be one an apples to apples comparison.
Like comments of referencing the Do Not Call List (DNCL)- this is for calling consumers, calling homes. If we are talking B2B this is unnecessary.
Another thought - when do you check the DNCL? This is definitely a trick question - you can't call homes in the U.S. without having done marketing first. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act which enacted in 1991 states clearly that the State can legislate a law to have $500 per incidence fines -m treble damage if willfully done.
My point is, you must get an ad response before calling a home. In this way there is no cold calling at all. It is only follow up after a certain period, more than 30 days, when it is required.
The DNCL is really just a money grab by the government, the law was already in place for a long time but, if you conduct telemarketing you must check and clean older lists - not new ones, if a person answers an ad you have every right to call them, whether they are on the list or not.
careful though, there is no law for civil entrapment, meaning if you get sued by a person who answers ads for the purpose of extortion of monies using the TCPA it is hard to prove that is their intent, and hard to stop them. I should know, I have been sued totally $900,000 USD in the past for these laws.
Stating there are lots of businesses that are very profitable without cold calling usually is like saying - "In retail and certain B2C businesses we do not need to make 1st contact by phone to have a full pipeline."
It is a sin to say; "The reason why you must cold call is your company is too cheap to run enough advertising" as again, there are certain types of services that you cannot get appointments that way at all.
Very complex subject - fascinating topic.
