This topic steams from the LinkenIn thread regarding digging up leads for cold calls. Everyone hates being cold called and no one likes doing it but it’s still a fairly effective technique to generate leads/sales even in the age of modern technology. So I’m wondering CP:
Have you ever been cold called?
Do you have to cold call as part of your job?
What are other good ways to generate sales leads other then cold calling?
Prospecting is a big part of our business (hence my thread here) and cold calling is strongly encouraged. I do it, and do my best to be respectful and as nonintrusive as I can but at the end of the it’s annoying for the people on the other end.
My biggest problem when I get cold called by a vendor - especially if I have attended one of their events (like a free movie or something) - and they try to sell me something but it's not in my area of responsibility. Then they invariably ask for contact information for the people who do work in that area.
I don't want to pass on cold-callers onto my colleagues but when I'm on the phone, my scumbag brain can't think of an excuse fast enough to blow them off and I also don't want to lie and give them fake info in case it becomes a professional relationship in the future.
What do you guys do in this situation?
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1) Give a reason for the call. We tend to do an email campaign attaching value to a call before just blindly calling people. Whether we're offering a technology webinar or whatever, and ask for permission to call within that email. It helps you filter the interested from the not interested
2) When you cold call someone you need to ask for permission. "Hi I'm so and so from xyz company, I wanted to introduce you to our blah blah, we've found other similar organizations to you find real value in it, is this a good time to talk or would you like to schedule a more convenient time. This way your trying to get a more engaged person on the conversation.
3) Use a real world example if you can when your talking. "ABC company who is very similar to you uses this product or service of ours and they've found blah efficiency improvement.
4) Keep the person engaged, ask quick questions don't just blast into a scripted cold call
5) Keep it brief and tell them its brief. To be honest the first call is to generate interest. If there is interest you can schedule a more in depth conversation down the road
6) Personally, cause I'm the only sales person in my organization right now and my time is better spent talking to interested prospects and moving them through the sales process to close we engaged a cold calling organization to do the bulk calling for us. We created a script for them and NAIC market segment codes and let them do a bunch of calls and follow ups for us. Its relatively cheap based on the effectiveness of it. If you want to know more about that maybe PM me.
7) based on the above, usually I will end up with about 20 qualified decent prospects per campaign.
8) Cold calling can be efficient with research. Know who you want to talk to that will get you by gate keepers as quickly as possible. Be respectful of their time and roll. But honestly with the advent of hiding behind voice mail make sure you have an efficient voice mail script.
The pre email campaign works at getting around that.
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My biggest problem when I get cold called by a vendor - especially if I have attended one of their events (like a free movie or something) - and they try to sell me something but it's not in my area of responsibility. Then they invariably ask for contact information for the people who do work in that area.
I don't want to pass on cold-callers onto my colleagues but when I'm on the phone, my scumbag brain can't think of an excuse fast enough to blow them off and I also don't want to lie and give them fake info in case it becomes a professional relationship in the future.
What do you guys do in this situation?
Be nice, way to many people abuse these cold callers who are trying to do one of the toughest jobs out there. To be honest, just ask them to send you something about their services and their contact information and you'll send it to your colleague. If they're interested they'll reach out.
If they persist after that and ask for the contact information, just nicely tell them that your policy is laid out in the above.
To many people are hyper abusive to sales and cold call people, and snicker that sales people are scum etc. They fail to realize that these sales people tend to be plugged in all over the place as part of the networking, and you've just made your organization look like crap by being a jerk.
I remember cold calling one company and the lady that answered took great joy in insulting me and my profession. I was at a networking thing and a contact was looking for ideas for his company that revolved around products that this ladies company sold and it was no small number. I basically told him that I talked to a senior executive at that company and she was basically a bitch on wheels and he should go to their competition. He did and without knowing she lost a high 6 digit deal.
Last edited by CaptainCrunch; 01-07-2014 at 02:12 PM.
I get a lot of cold calls at work and have to do some myself (Recruiting and HR related).
I can tell you this, I hate with an absolute passion, the hard sellers or the guys who try to pressure you. To the point where I will avoid ever using a service provided by them or call their co-worker to get the same service.
I have the utmost respect for a Salesperson telling them that I shouldn't buy their product right now because it isn't what I need.
I would recommend when doing cold calls - see about getting an email, and send a non-invasive update or listing around quarterly, something that doesn't need a response back, but something that keeps you in the front of their mind if they ever need your services.
My biggest problem when I get cold called by a vendor - especially if I have attended one of their events (like a free movie or something) - and they try to sell me something but it's not in my area of responsibility. Then they invariably ask for contact information for the people who do work in that area.
I don't want to pass on cold-callers onto my colleagues but when I'm on the phone, my scumbag brain can't think of an excuse fast enough to blow them off and I also don't want to lie and give them fake info in case it becomes a professional relationship in the future.
What do you guys do in this situation?
Did you go to their event knowing that their product/service isn't in you "area of responsibility"?
My biggest problem when I get cold called by a vendor - especially if I have attended one of their events (like a free movie or something) - and they try to sell me something but it's not in my area of responsibility. Then they invariably ask for contact information for the people who do work in that area.
I don't want to pass on cold-callers onto my colleagues but when I'm on the phone, my scumbag brain can't think of an excuse fast enough to blow them off and I also don't want to lie and give them fake info in case it becomes a professional relationship in the future.
What do you guys do in this situation?
I will be cold calling you.
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At the age of 47, I switched into a completely new industry (and not knowing anything about it) and managed to survive "without being eaten alive".
I dont "cold call" anymore. I get referrals or drop a name, with their permission, to call on a new client. I can cold call but hate doing it. Now in my second year in this business, I get referrals to other customers, I do a lot of networking and I just try to treat the customers that i have, right! Do what you say you are going to do and do it before they expect it done.
I'm going to type a fuller post later when I have some time, but cold calling is a waste of time. I know some people swear by it, and there is always some cold-call cowboy who built his business that way and will tell you otherwise, but its a complete waste.
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In this day and age there are sooo many other ways to sell.
Cold calling is dead, the hit rate is so small for the investment it isn't worth the time.
If your employer insists, or worse, makes you fill out a call sheet, then you should be looking for a job at a company that understands sales and marketing in the 21st century.
I'm going to type a fuller post later when I have some time, but cold calling is a waste of time. I know some people swear by it, and there is always some cold-call cowboy who built his business that way and will tell you otherwise, but its a complete waste.
Quote:
Originally Posted by -TC-
In this day and age there are sooo many other ways to sell.
Cold calling is dead, the hit rate is so small for the investment it isn't worth the time.
If your employer insists, or worse, makes you fill out a call sheet, then you should be looking for a job at a company that understands sales and marketing in the 21st century.
I tend to agree but my question is what is a viable alternative?
We don't have to cold call, it's just one of the recommended means of prospecting for what we do. It's a tool in the tool bag, but probably the one that gets used the most often.
When I was managing a small Credit Union branch in a tiny farming based community, cold calling was a tactic that led to significant business. I doubled the book of business in a relatively short period of time.
I would call farm operators and state that I was new to the community, and I was trying to "go around and see operations to learn farming as I am a city bumpkin". Most producers let me come out, and I made an effort not to speak about business and just ask them items about their business.
About a year later these same people I cold called started calling me and telling me the problems they were having with their FI and they wanted to get together to see what we could do.
While I appreciate that their FI of choice led them to look elsewhere, I'd like to think the fact that I went out to meet these farmers led to them giving me a shot at their business.
Now, that's not to say cold calling is going to work for every industry or situation, but it does have its place in some situations.
I tend to agree but my question is what is a viable alternative?
Inbound marketing is the hot buzzword. The theory is that people who make purchasing decisions are becoming more sophisticated and doing much of their own research, so you want to get noticed and make it easy for them to find you (rather than the other way around like with cold calling).
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Inbound marketing is advertising a company through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, enewsletters, whitepapers, SEO, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to bring customers in closer to the brand, where they want to be. In contrast, buying attention, cold-calling, direct paper mail, radio, TV advertisements, sales flyers, spam, telemarketing and traditional advertising are considered "outbound marketing". Inbound marketing earns the attention of customers, makes the company easy to be found and draws customers to the website by producing interesting content.
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Had to do cold calling for many of my jobs. Had a few different techniques depending on the product and the prospective clientelle.
First, for book, had a boss that swore by Stephan Schiffman. Read a few of the books, they had some good parts. Google if you want more.
As for me it depends a lot on the product. Some are mainstream enough that all you have to do is go door to door, or just open a random page of the phone book. Of course, if that's the case, it's also your biggest area for rejection, and it's a number game that becomes a grind. It sucks and most people can't do it.
If you have a more specialized product or service, or deal with more corporate clients, the trick is being able to generate 'semi-warm' leads that technically fall in the realm of cold calling, but feel different to both you and the prospective client.
The best is by far networking. Of course this can take place anywhere and at any time, but it's all about being friendly, non confrontational but outgoing. There are ways to talk about your business without pitching. Shoot, whenever you meet someone new often one of the first five questions the ask you is, 'what do you do?' Take every opportunity to meet people and explain to them, what you do. Carry business cards all the time, and ask for the same from others when the opportunity arises. The important thing is, if they meet you as a' friend', they won't treat you as a 'salesman', as long as you don't start acting like one of course. Any salesman that is worth their salt should be a very social person. It's not one of those jobs that you can leave at the office. Go to events even if you wouldn't normally for fun. Introduce yourself to others even if your just at a pub watching the game. Say hello to someone new every single day. Learn to enjoy meeting new people.
Now networking isn't classic cold calling of course. But the art of approaching people you don't know is the essence of cold calling. Get used to it, do it everywhere. You'll create warm leads from what is technically a cold approach.
The other trick I used to like is cold call in person. I've always done better in person than on the phone, I think most people do. Find a building with various business offices and just drop in on them. The ones with non descriptive business names work the best. I used to say something to the effect of, 'I work/live/often am in the area and I always wondered what you do/happens here. What do you do/is this company all about?
Now of course, you generally run into the gatekeeper on these calls, though sometimes you will get lucky and talk to someone in charge. Also, some people will still be suspicious. But it often works as a way to ease in and generate a lead. The trick is to keep them talking about what they do, don't pitch in to what you do unless there is a very obvious overlap. That is of course what you're looking for ideally, but there are other reasons. It's a type of networking as well, though a bit tougher, I'll admit. But as mentioned above, try to keep the conversation on what they do as much as you can. Like the old adage in sales, the salesman should talk the least.
Based on what you are offering, this may be more or less effective. IE, if you're selling business solutions, it can work with almost anyone. If you're selling used cars, probably not so much. As a few of my jobs were b2b solutions, this technique worked pretty well for me.
Lastly, if you are doing phone calls, I liked to focus on one business type, or customer profile a week (or whatever period of time works for you). Often the scripts can be modified a little to be more effective to certain groups. Also, staying on one group at a time is an easy way to build a rhythm and not get confused.
As for phone calls, there are a ton of books out there, even the author I suggested, so I won't really dwell on that. I was never a complete stud on the phone anyway, haha. Don't get me wrong, I was better than average, you have to be to survive, but I was in no way a cowboy.
I guess my biggest advice is just be social and think of a possible sale everywhere you go, even if you aren't on the clock or in your suit. Now this doesn't mean be a pest to your friends and family, and talk every new person's ear off. But it does mean changing your mindset just a touch, and be open to mixing business with pleasure. It also means cultivating a social attitude and looking at networking relationships. What always made me curious was meeting someone I worked with in the same capacity and then seeing what they do in their down time. Those that were shut-in's (for lack of a better word) and left their outgoing personality at the office never did well. It always amazed me the amount of people I met that thought they could sell, that didn't really enjoy meeting new people. You really have to crave that part, and use it for your life in general. It's really a good thing for anyone's life, and has benefits outside that of making money.
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FATA cold calling.......find the low hanging fruit and harvest.....enjoy being rich and all of the trappings that go with it.....
I've never bought into that theory, its the same as job hunting by looking at advertising, you're competing with everyone else.
Cold Calling is more likely to find opportunities that aren't out there maybe on a active search, planting a seed and then seeing if it grows.
I don't neccessarily think that inbound marketing is as effective without a dedicated outreach program.
Like I said, if you prepare your prospect list prior to calling, ie offering a webinar or a seminar or even a mail out introduction it has a better chance of turning a cold call into a warm call.
I also believe that sales people are more effective in front of prospects.
However I haven't seen too many companies that reach their potential that don't do some form of prospecting or cold calling.
A cold call can be as simple as I'm doing research and I'd like to know who's responsible for blah blah blah, and then if you can talk to them and give them a quick synopsis with promised information.
But to not do prospecting usually ends up with too many peaks and valleys in your revenue stream.
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I used to HATE cold calling. Now I love it. I've finally decided "fine, I'm going to call and go in there with the attitude of 'I'm awesome and you need this.'" However, I always make sure I'm going in with a solution they can use, and tailor my call to THEIR specific business / needs. ie: I do a little research on the companies before I make the call.
I'm dead serious. I've found success with being a little pushy, over-confident and cocky. That being said, I've always had MORE success in cold calling IN PERSON, than over the phone. You need to really believe in your product / service and company.
...it also helps that I bring free stuff to show and give away!
Cold calling/Sales techniques
