The truth about B2B cold calling and cold approach

[butlerservice]

Hey members
What are your thoughts on cold calls and the cold approach in general? Does it make you seem desperate or in need of cash? Are cold callers being perceived as not trustworthy? How can you succesfully approach potential partners if you don't have an immediate connection to the prospects?

 

[Dediport]

Can't stand them and wish they would just leave me alone!

 

[BTON Agency]

Short answer is cold calling works which is why we all get so many.

I think it works best if you identify a product to a firm and get to speak to an individual.

i am forever getting calls asking me to speak to the business owner and and they can save me money or increase my business.... i almost always hang up on them.

However if i get a call regarding a new product or service and they ask me for an appointment in the near future either over the telephone or to come and see me in person, i almost always take these.

Depending on your product / service trade shows can be very good.

 

[japancool]

It depends. I'm sometimes interested, if it's a product relevant to me and can indeed save me money. I'm not interested in energy saving deals or websites. If it's something that could potentially benefit me, I've learned not to dismiss these calls out of hand.

However, I had one cold caller asking to speak to the "Financial Director". Asking them what it was about, I was told "It's about an invoice". Of course, I'd never heard of these people, so why would they want to talk to me about an invoice? At this point, I told them I was the business owner and I wanted to know what the invoice was for, Response; "oh, err, I didn't mean invoice, I meant to say enquiry".

I hung up.

 

[BustersDogs]

Considering I'm on the TPS I wouldn't buy from anyone breaking the law by phoning me.

 

[japancool]

My personal numbers are on TPS. My company's number is not, nor would I want it to be. Cold callers sometimes have something useful to offer.

 

[scstock]

How much working time is spent by you or your staff dealing with these calls though? It's bad enough for us being on the TPS.

 

[japancool]

How much working time is spent by you or your staff dealing with these calls though? It's bad enough for us being on the TPS.

Not huge amounts. Perhaps a couple of calls a week. Most of the spam comes through email these days.

 

[Gecko001]

BTW. I am not on TPS and get about one nuisance cold call about ever month which is quite low I belive. They never really trouble me. The key is to be polite but firm with them. Do not try to be clever or just hand up. Always thank them for their call before they ring off.

As for the genuine cold call from a business trying to sell me something which a business like mine would want, I get about two or three of those a year. They tend to be local businesses ringing me and I do have a chat with them. I cannot remember actually buying anything from them immediately, but I record their name and maybe buy later.

There are phrases which some of the cold callers use which turn me off completely even if on the face of it they might be selling something that will be useful for my business:

1. A representative will be in your area tomorrow.
2. Who is your present supplier of....?
3. In fact any question about my business - it is up to them to tell me about what they are selling and I should be the one asking the questions.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Cold calling works - fact!

It's efficience really depends on who you are contacting & how you approach it. If possible you are best to 'warm call' by way of researching and targeting your pitch.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

What are your thoughts on cold calls and the cold approach in general?

Hate cold callers. I simply don't answer the phone and if they repeat, I block the number...

Does it make you seem desperate or in need of cash?

IMHO yes. If I want something I can use Google or more likely "phone a friend"

Are cold callers being perceived as not trustworthy?

Certainly, I think a sales barrier goes up. A good salesman should be able to get around that though.

How can you successfully approach potential partners if you don't have an immediate connection to the prospects?

Find a non competing business that's already servicing your type of customer and get them to endorse you to their customer list. You need to offer some incentive, like a profit share.
or
Create or offer something of perceived value to your non competing business that they distribute to their customer list. This could be a report - an Accountant sends out "10 ways to save tax in 2017" or it could be a freebie - an Accountant offers a free tax audit.
In the report, you would include a personal message from your non competing business and a special offer to all their customers.
or
You could endorse the non competing business's services to your own customer list in return for an endorsement to their list. Or for a share of their profits...
or
Referrals...? Networking...? Advertising...? Ranking in Google...?

 

[Alan]

Definitely have no interest in cold callers. I think all lines should automatically be opted out in TPS unless you specifically opt in. Annoyingly you have to re-register a business line every 12 months.

 

[Clinton]

Hey members. What are your thoughts on cold calls and the cold approach in general?

It works. But not with me. 100% not with me. The slightest hint of aggressive marketing, whether cold calling me, remarketing to me - or simply adding my email address to your newsletter because I happened to connect with you on LinkedIn, will get you permanently banned.

Does it make you seem desperate or in need of cash?

What a silly question! It doesn't make you seem anything. If you do it you are desperate.

Are cold callers being perceived as not trustworthy?

I wouldn't trust any company that needed cold calling to get customers.

How can you succesfully approach potential partners if you don't have an immediate connection to the prospects?

@WeblinkPlus has given you some suggestions. Start with those. Repent today and you may be saved.

 

[Jenniferahern]

I have just started a new business, and I personally feel like cold calling will probably be the best way to get the company name out there. We are offering a service. Does anyone have any other suggestions on best ways to get speaking to key decision makers to possible start building relationships?

 

[webgeek]

Interruptive marketing can work, but is a great way to alienate your market.

If someone is being interrupted, it better be to give them something of value, not to try and convince them to buy something from you, given you know virtually nothing about them, haven't built any trust and haven't brought anything to the table other than a desire to fill your pocket with their hard earned cash.

Start the conversation with an email, giving them insight or value. Then follow that with more of the same.

When the person at the other end finally sees that they trust you enough and appreciate you enough to want to learn more about your value proposition, then you've got them in the right mindset to explore the possibilities.

Selling is not getting someone to do something in your best interest. Instead, it's empowering them to buy, thanks to you sharing information they need in their quest for the scratch they need to relieve their itch.

 

[Gecko001]

Cold calling works - fact!

It's efficience really depends on who you are contacting & how you approach it. If possible you are best to 'warm call' by way of researching and targeting your pitch.

That is cold calling.

Cold calling works - fact!

It's efficience really depends on who you are contacting & how you approach it. If possible you are best to 'warm call' by way of researching and targeting your pitch.

I think that is still called cold calling I am afraid.

 

[Edd Dutton]

I have just started a new business, and I personally feel like cold calling will probably be the best way to get the company name out there. We are offering a service. Does anyone have any other suggestions on best ways to get speaking to key decision makers to possible start building relationships?

I've found 90% of my work comes from word of mouth. We've tried cold calling in the past as a test but found the relationships with the clients feel synthetic - we prefer to speak to people. If you've just started off, I suggest you use your existing network, grow it and keep growing it.

 

[BTON Agency]

I have just started a new business, and I personally feel like cold calling will probably be the best way to get the company name out there. We are offering a service. Does anyone have any other suggestions on best ways to get speaking to key decision makers to possible start building relationships?

If you have just started your business, to the greatest respect of other posters on here, do not listen to them saying do not cold call.

If you are starting out it is the most effective and often cheapest way of getting business especially B2B.

If you are doing the calling not a call center it is very powerful, you know your product / service inside out. It is also a learning curve and help you pitch.

Put it this way, who cares if you upset someone for 10 seconds of their day, chances are they will never meet you or even remember you. They may have never even come across you if you did not call.

A polite call asking for a convenient time to speak to XXXXXX should be welcomed by most.

 

[Ava Williams]

If someone is being interrupted, it better be to give them something of value

The trouble with cold calling is that you don't know if you can offer the person any value. I have all hardwood floors; if I was cold called about carpet cleaning, I would be annoyed.

 

[Alan]

Business to Business cold calling can work, if you target correctly.

If you target business that are used to handling phone enquiries and just like talking on the phone, e.g, recruitment agents and estate agents then you may well get a better reception than say cold calling techies like me and hands on people like painter/decorators that concentrate when we work and hate interruptions unless it is actually important.

In terms of business to consumer cold calling, the trust really has gone there for the vast majority of consumers, of course you will still get results if you stumble across a vulnerable person.

 

[webgeek]

The trouble with cold calling is that you don't know if you can offer the person any value.

Exactly. That's why I'm against cold calling in an attempt to sell something.

You can cold call to verify their contact details so you can email/post them something. But don't pitch something before you've qualified them and found whether you have a solution to a problem of theirs.

A solution without a problem is a nuisance that shouldn't be broadcast via cold calling, unless you want to alienate your target market and develop a reputation for pursuing revenue without offering value.

 

[Clinton]

Put it this way, who cares if you upset someone for 10 seconds of their day...

The person you upset does care.

Statements like the above are, I'm afraid, a sad reflection on your character and values.

Is that a company policy of the <company> in your profile, or is it your own philosophy?

 

[BTON Agency]

Clinton No need to bring peoples companies into it, shows more about you than others sadly.

I assume you have little experience in the way of proactive sales. A young woman has asked advice on how to gain more customers and create awareness.

You may not like cold calling but it is proven to work and cost effective. If more businesses from the get go were more proactive they would be more successful.

As for my business it is impossible to cold call, we obtain details of clients looking to register with us. I do not think a single company in my profession sits down with a phonebook to call members of the public.

I am bombarded with cold calls circa 15 / 20 a day. I may not like it but it works for them. Shame on you not encouraging a new business.

How do you think most business to business sales are done? - Website online and sit there and wait for calls to be made?

 

[Clinton]

Within a few minutes of my post I see you've removed your company name from your profile and requested a moderator remove it from my post. If you are advocating what's a standard business practice anyway, why did you feel an urgent need to disassociate your business from this thread?

How do you think most business to business sales are done? - Website online and sit there and wait for calls to be made?

I've spoken with hundreds of businesses over the past year. Fewer than 5% of them get their customers through cold calling and when they do they have the common sense to qualify first in order to avoid upsetting people (and wasting time). See @webgeek 's posts above.

While you would like to make this about the wider issue of cold calling, my last post was about your blasé attitude to upsetting people. It seems you don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot.

 

[webgeek]

You may not like cold calling but it is proven to work and cost effective.

How do you think most business to business sales are done? - Website online and sit there and wait for calls to be made?

1) It's rarely cost effective. The days of cold calling B2B have long ago seen their peak and are now thankfully in decline.

2) Lead generation via high quality content which attracts traffic top of funnel, then is drip fed based on a scoring and nurturing program which then turn sales ready leads over to the sales team. That's how it's done.

Why waste all that time and money calling people you have no idea if they are qualified, much less interested?

The idea of only selling to people who have developed some brand affinity and which are qualified and at the stage of readiness in the buyer journey that would welcome a sales call - that's the modern approach.

Sorry, but cold calling is expensive and ineffective compared to this modern approach.

 

[japancool]

Put it this way - if you "upset" me, your chances of me ever becoming a customer of yours in the future falls to virtually zero.

 

[Tavakli]

Interesting comments. I am glad that it works though otherwise I would be out of a job. I think the key to good b2b telesales is politeness, getting straight to the point and knowing when to leave the person alone. However, any telesales operator will be judged by their results so its easy to see why many of them sound so desperate. The fact of the matter is - cold calling works. If you are on the receiving end of a cold call by someone like me then just be polite - say no thanks. Be firm and assertive in that respect. They will leave you alone - honestly. There are plenty more fish in the sea!

Its my first post. Hello everyone. Please don't think I have started by launching into an advert for Telesales Services - I just don't have the capacity for any more work right now - just saying

 

[japancool]

The "truth" about it is that it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Depends on a whole load of other factors.

 

[Tavakli]

The "truth" about it is that it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Depends on a whole load of other factors.

Absolutely spot on

 

[BTON Agency]

Clinton,

Yes sadly i did feel the need to remove the name of my business from my profile and ask the moderator to remove from your post.

It is sad a forum that is set up to help and advise people have people such as you lurking to run others down and make comments personal (yes i am doing so now as sadly having to defend myself).

There was no reason to bring myself or my company into comments, When i advised the poster to go ahead with "Cold calling" it did not single you or any other poster out.

I think most people who are on here looking for genuine assistance and most people looking to give genuine assistance as opposed to push personal agendas or personal views will look at the thread and make their own mind up who is offering advice and who is a petty individual.

Still, well done for putting your very biased views across and alienating yourself from others.

 

[japancool]

And here's an example of when telemarketing doesn't work.

Some telemarketing company (you know who you are) just read this thread and called me to ask me about "how my company was expanding", to sell their telemarketing services. I told him we don't do telemarketing.

His response "Well, why would you comment on a thread on telemarketing if you don't do it?"

 

[japancool]

Google is quite good at discovering deleted information. Just sayin'.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

End of the day, we have all been a ' cold caller ' at some point of our self employed careers.

I sent a spam email to a local cbc, some how it managed to get through to a manager and 7 years later we are still working for them and won 2 tenders with this council.

Fair enough it was a targeted email and trying to get through to a specific area of the council and it got there.

I am sure all business wasnt build off the back of the yellow pages many years ago.

 

[Clinton]

What I struggle to understand is why anybody who thinks businesses should get sales at any cost - even if it means upsetting lots of people by interrupting their work with an untargeted sales call - would only state it behind anonymity.

Oh well.

 

[Clinton]

End of the day, we have all been a ' cold caller ' at some point of our self employed careers.

Speak for yourself.

I've been in business for 35 years. And I'll state this boldly and publicly knowing that it's 100% true (that's my real name and my real photo in my profile): I've never made a cold call - or had an employee or third party make a cold call on my behalf - in all that time. Ever. I've dealt with thousands of customers and businesses over this time and my firms have sold tens of millions of pounds worth of product and services- from high end computer hardware to advertising space to consultancy services. No. Cold. Call. Ever.

No unsolicited marketing email (or mail) either.

Cold calling is simply not necessary, not efficient, not the smartest way to get customers.

 

[Newchodge]

Recent cold call. Started 'Hello, I hope that you're having a very good day'. 'What do you want?' 'Well, that's not a very nice attitude, are you having a bad day?' 'Good bye' Hang up.

Cold calling is bad enough when it starts by explaining what it is doing - 'do you need a new website' I may just possibly need a new website, so I may, just possibly respond. I will never, ever, respond to a cold caller passing the time of day when I have work to do, or even if I just want to make another cup of coffee.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Ok, i apologies if i offended you.

Have you ever gave somebody a business card to somebody who you didnt know?

 

[Newchodge]

Ok, i apologies if i offended you.

Have you ever gave somebody a business card to somebody who you didnt know?

No. I have given a business card to someone I didn't know. If they were not interested, I inconvenienced them for approximately 1 second. What is your point?

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

I wasnt replying to your comment Cyndy, sorry.

I am just saying that we all try to get new business from people we dont know. I am not talking about random unsolicited calls like PPI or the likes.

I dont mind calls or emails. if i feel they are useful to me or my trade such as a packaging company calling to see if i was interested in their price list etc.

 

[Newchodge]

I wasnt replying to your comment Cyndy, sorry.

I am just saying that we all try to get new business from people we dont know. I am not talking about random unsolicited calls like PPI or the likes.

I dont mind calls or emails. if i feel they are useful to me or my trade such as a packaging company calling to see if i was interested in their price list etc.

I realise that you were not replying to me, but forums work like this. I don't understand how you can differentiate between unsolicited PPI calls and any other unsolicited calls. They are all a waste of my time, and I object to your attitude that it doesn't matter if you upset someone who was never going to be a customer anyway (paraphrased). Have some courtesy.