Cold Calling

[Aurelius]

Cold calling works, targeted or otherwise, otherwise you wouldn't still be receiving cold calls.

The problem with cold calling is that it has a low bar for entry and very few who are actually any good at it. However, even those that are rubbish at it will still have a high enough hit rate to continue doing it.

Targeted and non targeted work for different sectors. We work in a sector where everyone needs our service at some point so we can call any business and it can potentially result in a sale.

Whenever I do telesales (B2B) I tell people it's a sales call. They still put me through. I have great conversations with people, others fob me off. It's a numbers game. I still have some clients I picked up from cold calling from 10 years ago. I even managed to pick up a sale once via a wrong number!

The important things for me in doing that element of my job is honesty, cheerfulness, knowing your product or products inside out, no hard sell, never EVER using a script and being able to maintain an insane work ethic. I actually really enjoy it but don't ever have time to do it any more.

 

[Strent12]

It can still work but it has to be targeted and make sense for the prospect i.e. if you know its tax credits season then ringing up to ask if they'd be interested in hearing about your offering on R&D tax credits can work.

If its a product with low utility like advertising space in some random magazine, not so much. It's all about identifying what works with your product, and also how to control the conversation and make it a conversation not salesly even though that's the point.

A good guide can be found here:
B2B cold calling guide

 

[Newchodge]

I must be old fashioned, I still think cold calling works. It’s a hard, but reliable method, proven over the years, it just takes a lot more skill now, but, doesn’t everything?

End clients today have become very savvy overall, compared to clients in the 80/90s. With the internet, people can find reviews, testimonials, specifications and competitors pricing within a few seconds, but done well it helps overcome the initial inertia of the client.

The skill is keeping the potential client connected after your opening sentence. I cannot remember the last time a cold caller (phone or doorstep) achieved that as far as I am concerned.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Cold calling works, targeted or otherwise, otherwise you wouldn't still be receiving cold calls.

The problem with cold calling is that it has a low bar for entry and very few who are actually any good at it. However, even those that are rubbish at it will still have a high enough hit rate to continue doing it.

This is so true. When I started out as a cold caller, I used to sit next to 'A.' 'A' was as mad as a box of frogs. She'd been given regions like South America or France to call into because she said she spoke French, Spanish etc... Well, I happen to speak French fluently, understand a little Spanish and Italian and to my horror, she didn't speak those languages. She was literally making French sounding noises down the telephone plus a bit of 'school' level French.

However, she made sales! Because her work rate was unbelievable. She just kept dialling for dollars and nothing in the universe would stop her. So she'd come across people who spoke enough English and with enough of a need that they'd want to buy the product.

So even when someone is insane and doesn't speak the language, they can still hit their targets if their workrate is high enough. Cold calling is a crazy business...

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

However, she made sales! Because her work rate was unbelievable. She just kept dialling for dollars and nothing in the universe would stop her.

A new telesales girl I'd taken on to train had plenty of confidence but was a bit light between the ears. One day she cold called a potential customer who told her to eff off and she was a bit taken a aback. 'Forget it and move on, you probably caught him at a bad time', 5 minutes later the same again and again the next day. Only then did she realise she was calling the same chap! A few weeks later she called again, introduced herself as the girl he kept telling to eff off and got a sale!

 

[Marketing Hub]

I think cold calling is dead. When you answer the phone and realise its a sales call, your first thought is.. How do I get off this call as fast as possible. The prospect needs to have given you permission to sell to them, and the only way to do this is to get them to book a call with you.

 

[MBE2017]

I think cold calling is dead. When you answer the phone and realise its a sales call, your first thought is.. How do I get off this call as fast as possible. The prospect needs to have given you permission to sell to them, and the only way to do this is to get them to book a call with you.

Total rubbish.

 

[Marketing Hub]

Total rubbish.

Not rubbish at all. I always think How do I get off this call as fast as possible.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I think cold calling is dead. When you answer the phone and realise its a sales call, your first thought is.. How do I get off this call as fast as possible. The prospect needs to have given you permission to sell to them, and the only way to do this is to get them to book a call with you.

The skill of cold calling is not getting them to think that. Partly by being relevant & interesting.

 

[Marketing Hub]

The skill of cold calling is not getting them to think that. Partly by being relevant & interesting.

Your phoning a random stranger, interrupting there day just to be relevant & interesting? I still going to think SALES CALL!! How do I get off this call as fast as possible.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I think cold calling is dead.

My call blocker says otherwise...!

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Your phoning a random stranger, interrupting there day just to be relevant & interesting? I still going to think SALES CALL!! How do I get off this call as fast as possible.

No, your calling to help their business, make them aware of a grant, selling them something to enhance their deliveries etc., etc.,

 

[AllUpHere]

No, your calling to help their business, make them aware of a grant, selling them something to enhance their deliveries etc., etc.,

The problem is, cold calling is usually carried out by sales people, and sales people will never really get it. Cold calling is usually used to sell a crappy product or service out of desperation, just like sales people are.

 

[MBE2017]

The problem is, cold calling is usually carried out by sales people, and sales people will never really get it. Cold calling is usually used to sell a crappy product or service out of desperation, just like sales people are.

Whatever, end of the day, every business needs sales, few could ever survive waiting for clients to find them. 90% of businesses survive because of those salespeople selling your crappy products and services.

Here is a quick question fo you, if your business had a sales slump, you were not making money, and people were sat around doing not enough, would you be prepared to pick up the phone to generate sales? Any call, even to an existing client uninvited is a cold call.

Either way, the bulk of companies still use this method for a very good reason, it works.

 

[AllUpHere]

As a marketing strategist, if I ever needed to resort to cold calling i'd take it as a sign that I should be 'put out to pasture'.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The problem is, cold calling is usually carried out by sales people, and sales people will never really get it. Cold calling is usually used to sell a crappy product or service out of desperation, just like sales people are.

There's an element of self-fulfilling prophecy in this

Most people identify cold callers as those dreadful people reading from scripts and churning out pushy closing lines, therefore don't really notice the good ones who actually take an interest and engage

 

[AllUpHere]

There's an element of self-fulfilling prophecy in this

Most people identify cold callers as those dreadful people reading from scripts and churning out pushy closing lines, therefore don't really notice the good ones who actually take an interest and engage

That's partially true. If you are interested in the psychology behind it, read a bit about cognitive dissonance.

Edit. I realise that sounded a bit condescending and you may already be familiar with the term. For anyone who isn't, cognitive dissonance is a very interesting and useful subject to understand from a sales and marketing perspective.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

The problem is, cold calling is usually carried out by sales people, and sales people will never really get it. Cold calling is usually used to sell a crappy product or service out of desperation, just like sales people are.

Just to clarify....... when I was selling signage and drove past a shop which was being refurbished, took note of the name of the builder, looked up any planning applications and finally found a contact name, COLD CALLED them and sold a new illuminated sign, your marketing strategy would have given you a head start and denied me the sale?

When I was selling new and innovative electronic blackboards to west end restaurants from the back of a car, on the knocker COLD CALLING, your marketing strategy could have reached and sold the same to every successful purchaser?

When I was selling advertising, a last minute page at half price, COLD CALLING from a stack of regional papers your marketing strategy would have been able to do the same. ( I had 45 minutes )

I was once privy to a conversation between the head of marketing and a seasoned sales rep who claimed that sales was the point of the arrow - black and white - and that marketing dealt in shades of grey dreamt up in order to consolidate the position of the person professing to have the answers to everything. 'What is they say about the cap fitting?'

Send me a private message now, and I'll solve all of your marketing related problems.

 

[AllUpHere]

Just to clarify....... when I was selling signage and drove past a shop which was being refurbished, took note of the name of the builder, looked up any planning applications and finally found a contact name, COLD CALLED them and sold a new illuminated sign, your marketing strategy would have given you a head start and denied me the sale?

When I was selling new and innovative electronic blackboards to west end restaurants from the back of a car, on the knocker COLD CALLING, your marketing strategy could have reached and sold the same to every successful purchaser?

When I was selling advertising, a last minute page at half price, COLD CALLING from a stack of regional papers your marketing strategy would have been able to do the same. ( I had 45 minutes )

I was once privy to a conversation between the head of marketing and a seasoned sales rep who claimed that sales was the point of the arrow - black and white - and that marketing dealt in shades of grey dreamt up in order to consolidate the position of the person professing to have the answers to everything. 'What is they say about the cap fitting?'

Send me a private message now, and I'll solve all of your marketing related problems.

That's the difference between a 'head of marketing' of an organisation and someone who actually knows what they are doing (and someone who has to make sure that what they do makes money). Every larger organisation has plenty of people who need to justify their existence; it's one of the main reasons I'd never work for a larger organisation.

Your examples of the things salespeople have to do to scrape a living just prove my point that there's a better way.

My signatures are nothing more than a test. You'll notice they change from time to time, to see how the quality of responses changes.

Edit. Just to clarify, when I quoted your post It was because I agreed with what you'd written.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

That's the difference between a 'head of marketing' of an organisation and someone who actually knows what they are doing (and someone who has to make sure that what they do makes money). Every larger organisation has plenty of people who need to justify their existence; it's one of the main reasons I'd never work for a larger organisation.

Your examples of the things salespeople have to do to scrape a living just prove my point that there's a better way.

My signatures are nothing more than a test. You'll notice they change from time to time, to see how the quality of responses changes.

Edit. Just to clarify, when I quoted your post It was because I agreed with what you'd written.

You've made assumptions that don't stand up to inquisition.
First that the head of marketing at an organisation hasn't a broader knowledge and experience of marketing principles gained over many years, and second that cold calling salesmen are scraping a living! In fact some of the best paid sales folk in my era were agents who carried a portfolio of mainly, but not always, complimentary products from door to door. I sold Menu Covers, leather bound embossed to private hospitals, 5 star Hotels and 5* Restaurants.

PS: Your acknowledgement that you have to test your signatures to see what works suggests that you too are working in 'the grey'. I could pick up the phone now and make a quid.

 

[AllUpHere]

You've made assumptions that don't stand up to inquisition.
First that the head of marketing at an organisation hasn't a broader knowledge and experience of marketing principles gained over many years, and second that cold calling salesmen are scraping a living! In fact some of the best paid sales folk in my era were agents who carried a portfolio of mainly, but not always, complimentary products from door to door. I sold Menu Covers, leather bound embossed to private hospitals, 5 star Hotels and 5* Restaurants.

PS: Your acknowledgement that you have to test your signatures to see what works suggests that you too are working in 'the grey'. I could pick up the phone now and make a quid.

You are determined to disagree regardless of how far away from the truth that actually takes us. I would never value the opinion of a head of a marketing department if their advice needed to be useful to a small business. They will be experts in passing the buck, not generating results.

You are really clutching at straws now. Changing my signature is a combination of testing and professional curiosity. Anyone who knows anything about marketing will tell you that no matter how good you are you should test absolutely everything. I tend to use any possible opportunity to test assumptions.

I don't need to jump on the phone to make a quid. I can lend you a few quid if you are that hard up.

We are never going to agree; you don't value what I do, and I don't value what you do. Maybe we should be doing something more productive with our Sunday afternoon.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

We are never going to agree; you don't value what I do, and I don't value what you do.

I've not said that and maybe if you understood the basic principles of business, that there ain't a whole lot happening until something is sold, you may have a greater appreciation of salespeople who cold call for a living.

That you assume the head of a marketing department must have slipped into the role straight from school, has probably never worked or owned nor could offer advice to a small business adds little to your resume.

Thankyou for offering to lend me a few quid. In sales terms 'that's called getting a bite'. Would you like to send cash or do by bank transfer (alternative close) or do you need a few days to work out a marketing strategy that gets you off the hook?

 

[AllUpHere]

Oh god, that old chestnut; now it all makes sense. If you could drag yourself out of cheesy 'how to sell' books from the 80's you might learn something.

It seems to me as though your opinions are based on nothing more than a lack of understanding of the alternatives. As I can't be bothered to explain them to you, I really can't see this going anywhere.

You won't convince me that cold callers deserve my respect or appreciation. As far as I'm concerned, it's something you do to earn a living when you aren't capable of much else.

 

[Fagin2021]

Whoa! When I started this thread I didn’t intend to generate so much heat!

Here’s a true story that might amuse you...

As a youngster I was sent on a sales training course that stuffed me full of sales ‘techniques’. One I quite fancied was called the ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet Close’. You might know it. The idea was that you sat down with your prospect and wrote down all the reasons he should buy from you. Then you invited him to list why he shouldn’t. That was the balance sheet.

Full of enthusiasm I tried this out with my next prospect. Having listed 6 or 7 reasons for buying I handed him the pen and waited. He only wrote one reason for not buying. It was...

“I don’t like you”.

Took me days to recover.

 

[AllUpHere]

Whoa! When I started this thread I didn’t intend to generate so much heat!

Here’s a true story that might amuse you...

As a youngster I was sent on a sales training course that stuffed me full of sales ‘techniques’. One I quite fancied was called the ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet Close’. You might know it. The idea was that you sat down with your prospect and wrote down all the reasons he should buy from you. Then you invited him to list why he shouldn’t. That was the balance sheet.

Full of enthusiasm I tried this out with my next prospect. Having listed 6 or 7 reasons for buying I handed him the pen and waited. He only wrote one reason for not buying. It was...

“I don’t like you”.

Took me days to recover.

There's no 'heat'; just differences of opinion. It's always been the same for as long as I can remember. 'Sales people' and 'strategists' are very different types of people, and use very different techniques to achieve pretty much the same goal.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

You won't convince me that cold callers deserve my respect or appreciation. As far as I'm concerned, it's something you do to earn a living when you aren't capable of much else.

Respect and appreciation afforded by people who have no respect and appreciation for the job in hand has no value.

As I can't be bothered to explain them to you, I really can't see this going anywhere.

For a minute I thought you were avoiding answering my questions as you didn't know the answers. When you find a little time to persuade me otherwise...

Have another go...

Just to clarify....... when I was selling signage and drove past a shop which was being refurbished, took note of the name of the builder, looked up any planning applications and finally found a contact name, COLD CALLED them and sold a new illuminated sign, your marketing strategy would have given you a head start and denied me the sale?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Here’s a true story that might amuse you...

As a youngster I was sent on a sales training course that stuffed me full of sales ‘techniques’. One I quite fancied was called the ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet Close’. You might know it. The idea was that you sat down with your prospect and wrote down all the reasons he should buy from you. Then you invited him to list why he shouldn’t. That was the balance sheet.

Full of enthusiasm I tried this out with my next prospect. Having listed 6 or 7 reasons for buying I handed him the pen and waited. He only wrote one reason for not buying. It was...

“I don’t like you”.

Took me days to recover.

Know it well, never used, it, never known anybody who's used it. It's plastic, false, affords the buyer little or no respect and coming from a youngster!

However, with a little interpretation, - and if your doing your job well you'll be sitting in front of somebody who genuinely needs what you are selling - verbal affirmation of the reasons to buy followed by a 'you'd be xxxxxx stupid if you didn't have one' close, works wonders.

 

[AllUpHere]

Respect and appreciation afforded by people who have no respect and appreciation for the job in hand has no value.
For a minute I thought you were avoiding answering my questions as you didn't know the answers. When you find a little time to persuade me otherwise...

Have another go...

Just to clarify....... when I was selling signage and drove past a shop which was being refurbished, took note of the name of the builder, looked up any planning applications and finally found a contact name, COLD CALLED them and sold a new illuminated sign, your marketing strategy would have given you a head start and denied me the sale?

Oh please. I honestly don't know why you still think you have a point. Well, actually, I suppose I do, but I don't think I'm supposed to say it.

The points you are making are so fundamentally flawed that I didn't think they were even worth acknowledging. If you really want me to I can take your points apart and sprinkle them over your head like confetti; I've been very tempted to do so, whilst at the same time conscious of the 'no flaming' rules of the forum.

I'll think of a way to say 'everything you've said is just bloody stupid', that stays within the rules and get back to you.
Actually, maybe a better solution would be to start a new thread that could be used as a point of reference for such information. I can't be bothered to take your points apart just to score cheap points,but I'll do it to provide some useful content in a new thread.

I'll link to this thread from the new one to give context for my comments.

Edit. Just to add, this isn't some elaborate 'put down', I'll put some time and effort into actually getting something useful out of this.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Whoa! When I started this thread I didn’t intend to generate so much heat!

Here’s a true story that might amuse you...

As a youngster I was sent on a sales training course that stuffed me full of sales ‘techniques’. One I quite fancied was called the ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet Close’. You might know it. The idea was that you sat down with your prospect and wrote down all the reasons he should buy from you. Then you invited him to list why he shouldn’t. That was the balance sheet.

Full of enthusiasm I tried this out with my next prospect. Having listed 6 or 7 reasons for buying I handed him the pen and waited. He only wrote one reason for not buying. It was...

“I don’t like you”.

Took me days to recover.

It's all in the delivery. The trouble being that too often people who have learned 'clever' lines or techniques deliver them in an insincere or smug way

If you have the skill of delivery you probably won't need to learn techniques..

The best close I ever witnessed- it became legend in the business - was really very simple but delivered to perfection

'Are you going to buy the f$#king machine or aren't you?'

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Oh please. I honestly don't know why you still think you have a point. Well, actually, I suppose I do, but I don't think I'm supposed to say it.

The points you are making are so fundamentally flawed that I didn't think they were even worth acknowledging. If you really want me to I can take your points apart and sprinkle them over your head like confetti; I've been very tempted to do so, whilst at the same time conscious of the 'no flaming' rules of the forum.

I'll think of a way to say 'everything you've said is just bloody stupid', that stays within the rules and get back to you.
Actually, maybe a better solution would be to start a new thread that could be used as a point of reference for such information. I can't be bothered to take your points apart just to score cheap points,but I'll do it to provide some useful content in a new thread.

I'll link to this thread from the new one to give context for my comments.

Edit. Just to add, this isn't some elaborate 'put down', I'll put some time and effort into actually getting something useful out of this.

202 words of acknowledgement that in the grey world of marketing it's easier to condition yourself to believe that waffle is preferential to answering a simple question.

You are obviously operating on a much higher level than me so please help us out on this one.
We have a simple product that I hope will be sold by local retailers to raise funds for the village Primary School and local Hospice. It is non competing, comes with a small non invasive display box, some point of sale and all the elements beneficial to those retailers by association with a good community message. But here's my problem. I'm sat in the car outside a number of potential sales outlets including the hairdressers, the butchers and the village pub, haunted and disarmed by your advice that cold calling doesn't work. What should I do?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

It's all in the delivery. The trouble being that too often people who have learned 'clever' lines or techniques deliver them in an insincere or smug way

If you have the skill of delivery you probably won't need to learn techniques..

The best close I ever witnessed- it became legend in the business - was really very simple but delivered to perfection

'Are you going to buy the f$#king machine or aren't you?'

Superb!

Very much about adapting techniques to align with your personality.

 

[Newchodge]

Superb!

Very much about adapting techniques to align with your personality.

Or adapting techniques to align with your client's personality

 

[Ozzy]

I'm not very receptive to cold callers, but I do take most of the calls because I know they're just doing their job. The difference IMHO is whether they have done their research, so...

when I was selling signage and drove past a shop which was being refurbished, took note of the name of the builder, looked up any planning applications and finally found a contact name, COLD CALLED them and sold a new illuminated sign, your marketing strategy would have given you a head start and denied me the sale?

...this would get my attention and I would listen as they have done their homework, know my business, and aligned their call with what I need.
The calls I absolutely hate, and I rip them to pieces on the phone I'm afraid to say, are the ones that usually start with "Can I speak to the person who looks after your Google advertising?", or promise to get us to the top of Google. I tear those ones to shred with statistics, analytical data and knowledge. Especially when they don't even know what our company does, as they have done no research.

I do live in that "grey area" though because business development needs both sales and marketing, and again IMHO a business needs them both. The marketing strategy drives interest in your business, and the sales process closes the sales with the background support from the marketing.

So @Lucan Unlordly in your comment above, I'd say you have carried out the both the sales and the marketing activity in that example. The only difference I would have done, personally, is I would have prepped the person for my call. I usually message the person I want to speak to and say just give me 10 minutes and if you're not interested within that 10 minutes just hang up on me. Pretty much works for me "almost" every time I get a PA/EA booking me in for a 10/15 minute call with said target.

 

[Ian J]

I give cold callers a time limit of one second after I have answered the phone to start speaking to me after which I put the phone down. I probably speak to just 10% of callers as the other 90% aren't professional enough to start talking to me straight away but prefer to carry on chatting to someone else

 

[Newchodge]

I give cold callers a time limit of one second after I have answered the phone to start speaking to me after which I put the phone down. I probably speak to just 10% of callers as the other 90% aren't professional enough to start talking to me straight away but prefer to carry on chatting to someone else

Or just say 'hello', which gets 'you called me' before the phone goes down.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I'm not very receptive to cold callers, but I do take most of the calls because I know they're just doing their job.

So @Lucan Unlordly in your comment above, I'd say you have carried out the both the sales and the marketing activity in that example. The only difference I would have done, personally, is I would have prepped the person for my call. I usually message the person I want to speak to and say just give me 10 minutes and if you're not interested within that 10 minutes just hang up on me. Pretty much works for me "almost" every time I get a PA/EA booking me in for a 10/15 minute call with said target.

Like most things, Cold Callers fall into more than one category. Those who can perform PC miracles, repair your virus ridden laptop etc., from 10,000 miles away who don't deserve the time of day and those who have a product you already buy, may not know exists or can help in another way. The cold call salesman offering great rates on a new credit card machine/service didn't get the sale but did inspire me to jump on the phone to Worldpay and get a better deal.

Cold calling reps can tell you more about your competitors , suppliers, market changes than you could ever hope to find out by other means.

Not averse to prepping somebody for a call first but I'd only do that if I really had to.
For the shop sign I actually went back later and asked one of the guys on site if he knew whether signage had been sorted out, he shouted out to the sparky who said 'no I told him last week I need to know what he's putting up there'. My call to the decision maker was welcomed with open arms!

 

[japancool]

A lot of cold callers seem to know that I'd been in a car accident recently.

 

[Fagin2021]

Sometimes the cold caller helps you overcome inertia. That is, when you know you should be doing/buying something but you just haven't got around to it.

Take Life Insurance. You know you need it, (or you need more of it) but you constantly put off doing something about it. Then one day, the phone rings...

 

[Fagin2021]

A lot of cold callers seem to know that I'd been in a car accident recently.

I say "Oh - you must mean when that drunken oil-tanker driver knocked my wife down and put her in hospital. What can I do for you?"

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

A lot of cold callers seem to know that I'd been in a car accident recently.

The smart one's omit the word 'car' to widen the net!