| Cold-calling is still heavily used despite the fact it is an | | | | comfortable--one guy immediately sat down--and |
| outdated sales strategy in today's information age. | | | | start talking at me like I'm a 9 year old. In both |
| My career has been comprised of sales, sales | | | | situations I had to stop them in mid-pitch to say, |
| management and recruiting. I've worked for some of | | | | "Guys, I'm NOT interested. Thanks AGAIN for |
| the largest companies in the world: Wal-Mart, General | | | | stopping by." You're probably wondering how these |
| Electric, Gannett, as well as a couple small ones and | | | | individuals got past our receptionist. Well, the short |
| start-ups (including my current firm--no longer a | | | | answer is we don't have one--we have a phone and |
| start-up after 5 years in business). With the | | | | a nearby directory. Our partner whose office is |
| exception of one (the giant retailer) each company | | | | closest to the front door is usually the first person hit |
| relied heavily on cold-calling to generate new business. | | | | on by these door-knockers. He thinks it's cute to tell |
| My definition of cold-calling is when a sales rep | | | | them that he doesn't have purchasing authority but |
| targets a company and/or individual that he or she | | | | to be sure to go see me because I hold the purse |
| thinks meets the demographics of a potential buyer | | | | strings (not necessarily true)--so he can pawn "bad |
| and then without invitation (this is key, hence the | | | | cop" responsibilities on me. But lately it's a role I'm |
| italics) either picks up the phone or walks into their | | | | embracing. I now recognize what an outdated, |
| office in an attempt to initiate a sale. Cold-calling is | | | | old-school, ineffective strategy cold-calling is and it is |
| marketing, pure and simple, albeit a caveman-like | | | | one of the main reasons turnover in sales is so high. I |
| strategy in an electronic age. I've been giving a lot of | | | | would like to personally apologize to all those |
| thought to this lately because until a year or so ago, | | | | purchasing managers and perceived "decision-makers" |
| our company relied heavily on cold-calling to generate | | | | that I dropped by over the years to have a little |
| new business. Our cold-calling efforts have delivered a | | | | chit-chat with, completely interrupting their day and |
| decent chunk of revenue for us over the last few | | | | wasting both of our time. |
| years, however last year I decided to abandon the | | | | Companies continue to employ cold-calling for a |
| strategy completely and I haven't looked back. | | | | couple reasons: first, they perceive it to be cheap |
| It is Thursday a.m. and so far on two occasions this | | | | (it's not) and second, marketing (legitimate, creative, |
| week I've had a knock at my office door only to | | | | permission-based marketing) is hard (not always). |
| have four total strangers (two on each visit) walk | | | | Over the next few days or so I'm going to be |
| into my 10"x10" office and proceed to launch into a | | | | discussing how our firm has been able to successfully |
| sales pitch. The first pair was peddling a local tire | | | | secure new business without cold-calling a single |
| dealership offering 90% tires (my car is under | | | | person, while at the same time continuing to use |
| warranty at my dealership) and the second was for | | | | proactive recruiting, what some would perceive as |
| "guaranteed savings!" on my color printing (I probably | | | | cold-calling (it's not) to find the highest qualified |
| print all of two documents a month in color). All four | | | | candidates for our client's open positions. |
| used the same strategy: walk-in, get | | | | |