Never cold calling again, can you?

Never cold calling again, can you?
It is probably -for the most of us- a necessary evil that is subject to procastination. Please share with me your experience in getting leads (do's and don't, which is the best to call on, etc) and more specifically:

1. What methods proved to be successful for you? How do you break the ice?
2. If you do a lot of telemarketing, your ratio of dials to appointments with a target db?
3. How much time do you spend percentage wise doing cold calling vs the total time on business development?
4. Have you used external agencies to set up appointments?

last but not least: your funniest feedback/anecdotes


I am now doing a go-to-market strategy assessment for an IT consulting boutique and B2B telemarketing is their main instrument for customer acquisition, targeting IT directors and CIOs. We are currently exploring efficient ways to increase customer facing time with prospects, basically getting appointments booked

One of the ten activities to obtain new leads is Cold Calling.

However, I am just now reading a book called "Never Cold Call Again" by Frnak J. Rumbauskas and it's very interesting to read that Frank is absolutely against Cold Calling. Why you may ask, well because Frank says in his book that "Selling is out and Self Marketing is in". If you cold call then you are obviously looking for sales. However if you Market yourself properly then in stead of a Serach Light you become a Light Tower. Any body in business knows that once your potential customers are calling you your marketing efforts have paid off.

A few of the other methods to get traction are:

1) Networking, here Linkedin is a great example but then you can network at places suh as BNI, PowerCore, our own Profit Club platform. and depending on the products you offer some of the Chambers may be the right platform to Network.

2) If you visit your client you may ask your client for referrals

3) You may call clients who you have not had any business from for a period via a survey the why, what and how.

4) Follow up from quotes and/or proposals

5) Telemarketing, use the help from an outsourcing company that concentrates on getting leads for companies.

6) Via regular newsletters

7) Via Seminars

8) Get somebody else to blow your trumpet, very effective

9) With Host Beneficiaries, use somebody else's database to advertise your services.

10) With regular touches to potential clients, telcon, email, phone-mail-phone and via the normal post

You will not believe how important it is to make your clients/customers "Raving Fans" because only then will they become your best sales people. I notice this all the time

Cold calls can be deeply annoying. The main reason why is that they are all about what the cold caller wants (an appointment, a sale, etc) and not about any sort of genuine human contact. I can smell a cold-call in about three seconds just by the tone of the caller's voice.

I've done lots of cold calling over the years (I'm an ex-headhunter) but I never really thought of it as cold calling. Here are a few "perspectives" that keep me on track.

1. Don't B.S. people. When I was doing executive search I'd introduce myself right off the bat as a headhunter. This generally got a few laughs from people who are used to callers trying to schmooze them before getting onto the point. People appreciate brevity over gimmicks.

2. Consider the relationship. When I call someone today, I'm not trying to make an immediate sale or an appointment. I'm just doing a gentle introduction, that way if they can use someone like me down the road they have my name - nothing more. I'm interested in relationships, not speed.

3. Don't waste their time. If someone is busy I just thank them and hang up. Nothing is more annoying than the "oooh.... can I send you my handy trifold brochure?" when you're trying to get to your next meeting. If they're busy, I don't hassle them.

4. Be Human - When I call someone I'm simply myself. You're not going to get a slick marketing pitch and I'm not going to use my "sales voice" on them. Yes, I have something great to offer (or why would I be in this business?) but it's all about being genuine, not a sales robot.

5. Care - If I don't approach our introduction with a genuine curiousity about their business and how I might help, I have no reason to call them. More than that, I never force myself into a situation when I don't fit. If someone tells me about a need but it's not my area of expertise, I refer them to a better match.

I realize that much of this sounds counter to the traditional sales wisdom. But it works for me. More importantly however, it works for my business. How does one cold call effectively? By treating people the way you'd want to be treated on the other end of the line. That's my 2 cents anyway.

I'm not sure you can truly call yourself a salesman until you have done a few months at least of cold calling - either on the road and/or on the phone.

If you can survive a good stint at cold calling then selling from a qualified lead should make things a whole lot easier - I would never employ a sales person who has not cold called at sometime of their career.

For those who hate to receive cold calls I bet they get the bad ones - cold calling is an art form; done well it's not as intrusive as one would imagine. Done badly and the rejection % goes way up.

Rejection: God I used to hate getting a day of rejections - I used to be out on the road 5 days a week - with only the yellow pages and the info gleaned out of local info once i reached one of my towns or cities on my 'patch'. Some days I didn't even get to pitch, some days I got shouted at, some days I got told to F off - to begin with it used to upset me - not because I was offended - but because I didn't know if I was any good, or not.

When you do cold calls - the Churchill mantra helps: never give up, never give up, never give up.....

I never gave up - I just adapted and honed and persevered... and accepted that some days, some weeks even, I wouldn't sell a thing. It happens.

Here's another thing - used to cold calling - bet your 'bar related' pick up rate is higher than anyone who has never cold called! Sorry, a bit sexist maybe but cold calling gives you an element of no-fear. At least it should.

1. Methodology: 3 parts
a. Entry level telesales -just getting info into the proper hands
b. follow up on information by entry level telesales
c. Conference call with manager (expert, closer)

2. using the above method we would send out 100 emails per day per telesales person + 60 calls this turned into roughly 4- 6 conference calls per day, and turned into 2-3 proposals per week, of which we would close 1.5

3. The time you spend on cold calls needs to be constant. One major problem companies have in sales is that the person who calls is also the person who closes is also the person who manages and this produces a wave effect with your sales. To be constant you need people on the phone all the time.

4. I recently joined a new firm and before I took over BIZ Dev they were using a outside sales force to set up meetings. I can talk more about this off line.

I don't now who you are selling to but a quality database is hard to come by. Most companies will hire someone for their connections/database. You can buy them but they are often not up to date or accurate. Jigsaw is a great resource for finding new people. For example I have been in the industry for a long time and pride myself on being a networked individual and I have only built a database of roughly 17k people. It sounds like a lot but when you want to reach a wide variety of people and need to provide a 2-3 people with contacts they can go quickly. Again I can go into this more online if you would like.


I also mentioned this in another post:

“Call the person. Speak to the Administrator a few times, show persistence and value and he/she will get you 10 minutes on the phone with the big dog. If you really have something of value you will get the invite. If you don't, well, find something of value and sell that. Don't go in expecting to sell the client, go in hoping to talk to his administrator. On the next call hope to get your info in his/her hands. And on the third try ask if he/she had the opportunity to review the documents to see if you were a fit. If they say yes ask if they were passed along. If no hold off. If they don't see value now hold off for 2 months and approach them again with new collateral. In the meantime scour the internet for articles about them and their competitors and send them as an FYI one or twice. This shows you are thinking about them and not trying to sell. On the follow up they should be ready to chat. good luck. Also feel free to check out my post "Should you use a net or a hook and worm?"

Cold calling is not evil.

It's a part of any good sales person's tool kit, and a part of any good sales process. One of the problems and main causes of the stigma around cold calling is that it is often performed by entry level, and frankly, not very good sales resources. One of the other key points to keep in mind is expectations. You have to start somewhere in building a relationship with a prospect, and the cold call is just the first step.

I work with companies and indivudals to improve their selling ability via the telephone, and have a lot of experience in this field. So let me address your points, Charles:

1. Do what most sales people do not do - ask for permission with a strong value prop... not enough space here to get into specifics...

2. Success ratios are directly tied to the quality of the lead source. Do the reps need to search for the right contact? Are the right numbers provided? Is this a purchsed set of leads or are they trade show leads?

3. As I said, cold calling is a component of the sales process. Management must decide how they want to allocate time across business development activities. Obviously, the more rocks you throw - the more windows you will break... and it depends on the skill of the team as well.

4. External agencies rarely work well. I would only outsource cld calling for a short term project to follow up on a direct mailer campaign.

I used to manage an outsourced biz dev company in the past and that is what led me to start Direct Contact. The ROI is rarely there in outsourcing this activity and I believe it is dangerous to outsource any contact with your prospects to someone outside your company. By building an effective business development department in-house, you will have control over the activities and can "grow" your front line biz dev reps into your future senior sales resources.

Want help with this project or any other business development plan?

I personally love "Cold Calling" and will never stop, because I do it for fun. The most important advice I can give cold callers is to respect the fact that you are probably interrupting a very busy person who was not sitting around waiting for your call, so the first thing I always ask after introducing myself is to ask the suspect if they have a moment to talk. Kind of a personal challenge and mental exercise to see if I can overcome the normally negative and cynical reception that you encounter when interrupting someone's busy day with an unsolicited pitch. If I can turn the call into a synergistic dialog then I consider the call successful even if it's only to schedule a better time to call back.

Secondly, I believe that we are becoming de-sensitized to verbal and physical interaction by technology and personally, I don't like being invisible behind a computer. I truly enjoy being visible and the inter-relationship of, interaction and stimulating verbal intercourse between two intelligient minds so Video blogging, virtual meetings and Podcasting are distribution channels that I emotionally appreciate very much. My company www.novusinfotech.com (shameless plug) specializes in Internet Marketing so I appreciate and comprehend the capacity of the focused purchasing power of the Internet and I am always learning and searching for more efficient utilization frontiers for that medium. In any sales effort, my experience has been to have a good story.

A razor sharp, crisp clear and compelling marketing awareness and personal understanding of your self, your product or service, your competition, your prospects and your Unique Selling Proposition. After that it's easy. Just tell your story to as many of the right people on a favorable basis. You can do that very efficiently to millions of people utilizing various Internet tools and strategies. So, in the end, I know that I can eliminate Cold Calling. I choose not to because I enjoy hearing your voice.

I hate receiving a cold call. 999 times out of 1000 I will not have even the smallest interest in what they are selling. I have a rule that I will never buy from someone if they cold call me. I feel they are wasting my time.

Good question. We like to use intro emails as a "softening" approach so that when we do call our prospect it is more of a 'warm call'.

Also, we offer sales training for cold calling. Send me a note at ddioso @ rmgmtsolutions.com if you are interested and I can tell you more.


Good Question!!! Well its a fact that most of us hate to receive cold calls, however I always feel that, as long as cold calling is not misused its a good medium to create awareness about you products or services, it makes you aware of many new good things of your own interest also. Even though we hate cold calls, but still I would say that at least I listen to most of the people calling me very patiently and never insult them or humiliate them. I always give respect to others and expect the same from others.

I am also open of all kind of net workings; every one can feel free to email me on shishir.kumar@icmail.net, and am open for all kind of cold calls :-)


I always feel in my industry that if someone is worth calling it makes sense to find something out about them first. Everyone seems to be so pro-networking now that it is easy to gain credibility by showing an effort has been made not to waste anyone's time.
I have spoken to people for the first time knowing anything from what they do and what their company is involved in at that time to where they went to school and what football team they support. It shows a geniune interest rather than just taking 5 seconds to dial a number.
This obviously isn't feasible in high volume industries but can work well in others.

As far as receiving cold calls I have to say I am open to them "as long as they are relevant" and understand my situation. For instance the number of times I have had the simple cold call from a telephone operator asking to switch my mobile network without any questions of understanding my needs is crazy. Half the time I cant help but refer him or her to the scene in the movie "Boiler Room" - Sales 101. Thats funny! Now if I ever did that with CEOs or Senior Managers needless to say there wouldnt be much successful business sold.

I find that cold calling is the best way to facilitate business. The key to success is to know your audience, if your calling a person about IT security and they are a financial analyst, you are wasting your time, and thiers.

Some things that i keep reminding myself before every call:

1. Who am I calling?
2. What types of needs do these types of consumers typically have, this is a great opportunity to mention previous experience in the field, i find that once someone realizes that you are a real company doing real work, they open up.
3. Do not be pushy, the customer ALWAYS comes first, i make it my number one priority to maintain a consultative role, the first thing you have to remember is that it is all about them, not you, what ever your motives are, not every person you call will be the right prospect.

4. Follow up, maintain a relationship, i have had deals on the table with clients that have fallen through, and I still go rock climbing with the customer, because people move around in this industry, and as you meet more professionals, the pool shrinks, so every relationship is critical to maintaining your business.

If you would like more words of wisdom, e-mail me sceracche@icpcorp.com and I do take my fair share of cold calls too :)

I always at least listen to cold callers, since sometimes it is me on the other end making that call. I typically try to interrupt their script and get them off track. However, I am always courteous to them, as I would like those individuals I call to be courteous to me.

I agree with most of the answers previously given. Cold calling is a necessary evil that just can't be avoided.

I have been making cold calls for over 9 years and have received all sorts of rejections. However, their are a few principles I subscribe to and teach others -
Research who you are calling, know their industry, geography and insider information is always useful.
Do not lie to get to the person - Identify yourself as a recruiter
Don't just run through the call, ask if they have a few minutes to talk
Don't sell chicken! Tell them what you do, who your doing it for and find out if this is a need they have. Then speak to them about a real candidate, not a ghost that you made up on the fly.

If someone does not want to work with me, they are not hurting my feelings. I end the call amicably with the hopes that next time we may be a better match for their needs, then I move on to their competitor.

Lots of good advice from others, I'll try not to repeat anyone:
Do your research - I hate getting a loan solicitation when I just refinanced.
Be considerate - ask "is this a good time to talk?" and don't take too much time unless they're truly interested
Don't take it personally - many people hate getting cold calls. That's not your fault.
Consider it an adventure, not a burden - many people I have cold called, are now good friends. The better your attitude, the nicer people will treat you.
I've been in executive search for 12 years, and I still make cold calls. I don't think I would serve my clients as effectively if I didn't consistently do new research. And I truly enjoy meeting new people.

Old school cold calling is truly an art form. And like most forms of art, the great artists are few compared to the many. There is one other disturbing characteristic about great artists. They gain their fame after they are dead, thereby missing most of their fortune.

If you want an effective telephone prospecting system you should look at High Probability Selling. (http://www.highprobsell.com) With this system, you remove the “art” factor and replace it with science. It may sound a little stark and cold when you are used to the idea of “warming up” the cold call and building relationships and all the other warm and fuzzies that are touted and preached in conjunction with traditional cold calling and direct sales. (I think of those as the doggie treats for doing dumb tricks) These are the things that used to keep us going. The dogma of “Never quit, never give in, never die!” does stir emotion and helps to motivate, it ultimately doesn’t change the results. Remove all the smoke and mirrors and work with a system that is effective.

Check out this system and decide for yourself.

We never do a really cold-call. Our calling plan is specifically targeted and is addressing a specific requirement we have of the potential lead, their business and their potential needs.

So most of our calls can start with something like "I say in the press that ....", "We thought it might be a good idea to introduce Mr. AAAA who has a significant amount of expertise in this area" etc.

Since the aim is to establish a relationship, not complete the sale on the first call. And from all the answers so far i think that could be the crux of the matter. The initial aim and expectation of the cold call.

If the aim is to get, progress and complete the sale of a specific product or service on the first call, then you probably deserve to be cut-off.

if the aim is to establish a new relationship, by offering an idea, resource or opportunity which has been well-thought out to target the specific business, then you should get a better hit rate.

Real (good) networkers never use the email, they call. They make it at personal as possible. They try to know each other, they don't just forward introductions or recommend someone. They also need to be able to assess the communication styles of people in their network. See who is who, using what style so that you know how to best interact with that person or company. It makes it much more efficient.

In my profile there are some hyperlinks leading to more information about this subject.

In many industries, cold calling is indeed necessary and is an art in and of itself. In my industry (advertising), it is common although our small agency has chosen to go a different route, and the reason for this is that with all the new communications platforms available to us, there are a variety of ways to reach people in a more creative and aspirational way. What's most important, is that when we reach prospective clients using these methods, they get a clear picture of how we can reach their consumers and are inclined to use our services.

In your case, I would think about using platforms specific to the verticals you are representing; for example, perhaps there is an enterprise solution that schedules appointments you can send virally to prospective IT clients; this can be done in lieu of, or in addtion, to a cold call.

Many people feel outsourcing this approach is the best solution. In my humble opinion, I believe you can still get the same ROI through internal training. Through my own experience "cold calling" prospective clients, I've found the best way to "get in the door" is through preparation. I always followed the old fashion formula before I took on a cold calling campaign:

-Research audience.
-Script out a clear and effective intro statement. Memorize
-Organize anticipated objections and formulate rebuttals. Memorize
-Adopt a professional, yet down-to-earth character that helps get the prospect to think "this guy is different but I'm intrigued" (attention getter)
-Never "hard-sell" on the first call. Always keep it simple but forward thinking.
-Send an email, mail a packet, and follow-up with a second call without giving a specific date or time.
-Gain commitment on the second call

Hope this helps. I'm sure if you take something from each response you will have gained enough information to ensure a successful campaign (not to mention saved yourself thousands of dollars in consulting fees.)