Good time for cold calling

[G. Lasagne]

Not something i do myself, but i would say now would be a good time to do it, what with the reccesion, i think people will be more sympathetic towards businesses trying to drum up business by whatever means neccessary. Especially a local trade who would not normally be associated with this method.

Anyone got any thoughts?

[nass]

Debatable - lots of companies are doing it, I get called by 5-10 SEO companies a week. I now have fixed instructions with the gatekeepers not to have those calls transferred in

[vgbear]

Its seem cold calling is dead, people dont want to be hassled by sales calls. I hate getting them and I used to do telesales.

I would focus more on direct mail, leafleting or networking events. With direct mail and leafleting you are not bothering people and people may keep your details at least for the future if they do not have a need at the time. Also eshots are often a useful tool but you have to be careful of spamming laws.

Hope this is a little help

[G. Lasagne]

I have no immediate plans to do it, just after opinions, so thanks.

[Matt1959]

what with the reccesion, i think people will be more sympathetic towards businesses trying to drum up business



possibly some truth in this, on the other hand many people are so in the sh*t now that a cold caller is the last person they want to hear from! depends on the type of people you are calling perhaps........

[CKG]

I've had a big increase in cold calls from seo and web design firms lately. Shockingly bad sales calls. Soul-less, miserable and so so heavily scripted it's cringe worthy.


I don't mind cold callers as a rule - i've done good business with firms that have cold called me in the past.

B2B is all well and good as we all understand about building business relationships but B2Cs are just too cynical. They just thing you're out to get em and run off with the family silver! Imo.

[maxine]

It's a fab time for cold calling :) Absolutely wonderful if you get your approach right :)

I know I would say that as a telemarketer but really business is booming for me as more and more companies are trying this when it wasnt necessarily good for them in the past or they hadn't needed to do it before and just relied on other sales activity. I am in danger at the moment of having a waiting list which is something I genuinely don't believe in :)

I also get some absolutely awful calls myself. Today I had 1 x mobile phone call, 2 x insurance, 2 x recorded message calls which I didnt listen to, 1 x kitchen, and 1 x SEO... all absolutely terrible and "soul-less" as CKG says with no preparation or anything worthwhile listening to.

On the other hand the calls I made today were brill :) (am on a high as I had a particularly good day)

Also for trades people where you don't expect to get calls it is even more favourable in my opinion as people still need things doing and sometimes just simply don't get around to it or for businesses everyone wants to save money so if a different supplier calls and offers better value for money the calls are easy as not so many barriers or reluctance to change or supplier loyalty as previously :)

Just my opinion :) All the anti-cold callers can shout me down if you like but I am sat here billing my commission so I'm happy :)

[Calibre Designs]

Agree - get the approach right! My findings compared to previous years is that now, people are willing to give those extra few valuable seconds to listen.

Lots of smilies all round Maxine :)