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Your comparing Apples with Oranges.
Both methods have a place in a well rounded sales plan.
If you have sales professionals on staff, there is no excuse to be wasting their time with cold calling. I’ve yet to find a single person able to present a compelling reason why it makes more sense to have them digging around for prospects instead of having qualified prospects seek them out instead. To do so is a complete and utter failure on the part of whoever is in charge of marketing. In a small professional firm, like the guy I wrote about, there is no excuse whatsoever other than being ignorant of alternatives. (Granted, a problem most small b2b firms have.)
Michael Cage
Cold Calling is fine for Small Businesses starting out but should never be the only method of obtaining sales. Long term database marketing (i.e. mail, e-mail, website promotions, small ads) should eventually get most prospects calling you instead of you calling them. Marty Screeton
I found that using my extra minutes of my t-Mobile 3000 minutes plan from my cell phone to cold call each month is a really good and cheap way to draw in clients and get your name out. 10%-20% of cold calls end up wanting more information about your service, which is a good reason to go in person and drop off information the next day. I get more responce from cold calls then from ads. Also if you have online ads, you limit your customers to ones that know how to use a computer. One thing to keep in mind is that you should always have a promotion to offer during the call.
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All major companies use cold calling, Discover Card, Visa, Sony, Seriously if you said cold calling is for small businesses maybe you should check the facts that it makes business grow 43% at least
I like the post, and am managing a few lower level sales poeple that are doing cold calls, so I know its not the best way to go. We combine the cold calling with direct mail and email campaigns too. We still do get appointments and business this way, so it is not useless and it takes skill to put together the right approach this way. The point is, it can be effective if you work hard at it and come accross as “different”. I think its important to mix the cold calling with other activities. If those activities grow to be more successful then yeah…forget the cold calling. Nothing is better training on how to handle objections and think on your feet, especially for a young sales person, than cold calling.
I agree with last poster about a call first to warm them up, then followup in person for flyer and hopes you can visit with the decision maker to identify if we can assist in helping the company grow or get better at what they do.
At this point it isn’t selling…it is giving them access to our expertise. We really need to show them we can imppact the business and we just aren’t more blowhards.
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IN my opinion cold calling is for every business. Their no way that soon or later every business will not have to do some type of cold calling to stay in business.
I believe that a company who refuses to have some type of cold calling system will soon or later be out of business.
Tony Snow
http://www.ambetenergy.com
i am sales and marketing executive and my bosses think we should use cold calling as a marketing strategy. i think its pointless. large amounts of resources are put into calling random potential clients and results are so minimal, they are discouraging. unfortunately, not everyone believes this. in my experience, there are better ways of acquiring business without irritating people who could be future clients
Our company uses cold calling as a means of generating new business. We by no means feel that B2B cold calling is dead. In fact our success proves otherwise. Cold calling will not be dead for a long time to come.
An intersting observation. But I do get lot of telemarketing calls during the day time where various different companies try to sell me something (or sometimes upsell calls from the companies i do business with). Its funny to see how those people talk reading the script. In order to be successfull selling over the phone, reading script is just not enough and one needs to identify the need
yeah, certainly both methods have there place.
im a Sales and Marketing executive of a small software company, i do a lot of cold callings as a lot of ppl are still not aware of the product we deal in.
Cold calling is effective when u know whom u r calling. And by convicing them how the product will help them do their job efficiently, i have had prospective clients wanting to know more about the product.
Cold Calling is followed up by giving them brochures of the company and trail usage of the software.
Sooner or later, they get to know what the product actually is.
But i wanna improve my marketing strategy, i was wondering if anyone could suggest me if there is any alternative ways to cold calling.
I am also aginst cold calling. If you been in sales for quite a while or you are new to sales than you know that cold calling is a waste of time. Many people call cold calling telesales but whatever you call it if you’re spending your time cold calling your not maximizing your time.
I think its important to have many different strategies…as they say, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket…
Cold calling can be effective (I have worked in that area) and even direct marketing, such as house to house
However, as with everything there has to be good practice…unfortunately, too many companies are going about using some of these strategies the wrong way - to the point where we are becoming less receptive to such marketing generally…
That makes it harder!
Thanks for this efficient information! Continue to associate us in your information!
Cold calling bought me a Rolls-Royce and just like the professional you spoke to, I love boasting about my achievements. In fact, I still truly believe that cold calling can be successful but I totally agree with you that in order to “get there” you need to adopt a non-conformist attitude towards marketing!
thanks for info
I agree with the comments that suggest that cold calling is a useful part of a sales strategy but not the be all end all of such a strategy.
Not only do most sales people start off by getting telesales jobs while at college etc, but you know that if you can cold call 8 hours a day you’re for sure cut out for a career in sales. It’s a real test of a person’s resiliance.
I think your analogy about him being a functional alcoholic is a bit harsh. Telling him to augment his sales strategy is fine but it’s hardly like he’s in a spiral of addiction.
You guys should try going door to door. It is way more effective than cold calling.
The company I used to work with opened a branch in my home town…I did strictly outbound cold calling and had zero clients to over 450 clients in 7 years….we did advertising and costly trade shows but failed miserably…it is more cost efficient and effective to go out and smile and dial!!
Hi there.
Ive started a company which generates leads and meetings for other companies. We are looking for staff to do some cold calling in many different areas. Some would say the company is a call centre, but its more of a company which brings other companies products to their interested buyers with the help of our own sales people. Any tips
Please contact by email as I may not see this site again.
Thanks, Jonathan
I agree with the comments that suggest that cold calling is a useful part of a sales strategy but not the be all end all of such a strategy.
Lead this horse to the water. I have a new janitorial service with a limited budget. So what do I do. Yellow pages suck so do not even say to go there. I hate cold calling but what else do you do. Mail is expensive and just as crappy of results as cold calling except a lot cheaper. What should I do walk into the local doctors office and say… You know this place could use a good cleaning because it aint so clean. Even my own Dentist that charged me $1800 to fix one tooth said no and his office is dirty. That is dirty to me. It is fine for the average person and they would not notice the things I do.
So riddle me this Batman; what do you suggest.
Thank you so kindly.
I believe cold calling can definately have its advantages and disadvantages. But having been there and done that, it give you such low self-esteem. Its such a hard job to do, regardless of all the people that say its easy!
It’s absolutely necessary when getting started to spend lots of time cold calling. The trick is FOLLOW UP. No simply means not right now. Simply stay in touch over time and build a relationship. Numbers don’t lie and the numbers say that 80% of the sales are closed by 20% of the people out there ON THE 7TH OR 8TH TOUCH. Ideally, as clientele builds, the cold calling will reduce as the referrals, networking and the budget for other mediums ALL increase. I totally agree with the functional alcoholism analogy but only IF a salesperson never takes steps to free himself from dependency on cold-calling alone.
It’s absolutely necessary when getting started to spend lots of time cold calling. The trick is FOLLOW UP. No simply means not right now. Simply stay in touch over time and build a relationship. Numbers don’t lie and the numbers say that 80% of the sales are closed by 20% of the people out there ON THE 7TH OR 8TH TOUCH. Ideally, as clientele builds, the cold calling will reduce as the referrals, networking and the budget for other mediums ALL increase. I totally agree with the functional alcoholism analogy but only IF a salesperson never takes steps to free himself from dependency on cold-calling alone.
I've read three of your blogs, and have started losing interest already. This is my personal feeling and interpretation, so I certainly don't speak for the masses.
So, when i say "If that is NOT what you are trying to convey - " I mean to say "If that is NOT what you are trying to convey - please explain further. Again...(continue as posted)"