Please stop cold calling
Cold calling is so dead.
There is no faster way for you to burn your company’s brand, waste precious time and mistake activity for accomplishment, than to spend time cold calling.
Nothing says to a decision maker that you:
1. Have no higher value activity to do
2. That you are desperate,
than to pick up the phone and randomly call someome you’ve never met before.
I can’t understand why this one prospecting method won’t die. It’s just so counterproductive. There’s so many other ways to build a solid sales pipeline. Such as:
- Selling more services and products to existing customers (any good I.T. company “should” have a sales force that sells 30% of its revenue from the existing customer base)
- Asking happy, existing customers for referrals or introductions to others who might benefit from your offerings (properly implemented, this only method could keep you very productive and effective at new business development. This should represent at least 20% of your sales pipeline)
- Following up on inbound leads (if you are considering working for or work at an organization that isn’t capable of generating a steady stream of inbound leads, this is a red flag. In a well run organization, this should account for at least 25% of your pipeline).
- More proven ideas can be found in New Economy Selling.
On these last points - I must share the following: Marketing departments in this industry have had it way too easy for way too long. They must be held accountable to sales production. I KNOW from experience that the right marketing program, properly integrated with “mind of the prospect” messaging, can drive tremendous interest.
If sales is not seeing a steady trickle of interested parties ringing your company’s doorbell, this is a major red flag. Please note - I did NOT say “qualified” parties, that’s your job; to qualify or dis-qualify.
Anyway, if you’ve been presented with the modern day equivalent of ‘pounding the pavement’ or ‘ working the phone book’ as the main business development activity for your company, you are on the wrong team. You are merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic of your soon to be burned-out and then sunk sales career.
Please stop cold calling. It’s bad for your company’s brand. It’s bad for your self esteem. It’s bad for the public image of sales people. It’s bad for productivity. It’s a bad addiction that must be stopped. It’s just plain bad and it hasn’t worked for over a decade.