I receive Google Alerts daily on my favorite subject of
conversation, cold calling, and I read them. I'm always on
the lookout for an opportunity to contribute to a
discussion on cold calling, sales, or any other related
subject, especially if I can inject some self-promotion!
In the over four years that I've been following this
subject, I've gotten very good at spotting trends, and
there's one that is popular right now: The idea of "Cold
Calling 2.0."
Whoever coined this term no doubt took the name from Web
2.0. However, the idea that cold calling is any different
today than it was in the past is far-fetched and ignorant
at best. In my opinion, attempting to dupe salespeople and
small business owners that there is anything new or
different about cold calling that might work in today's
economy is problematic at best, and downright unethical and
dishonest at worst.
Here's an example: I had a coaching call today with an
individual who spent over four figures (yes, four figures!)
on a package from one of these "Cold Calling 2.0" gurus.
What was he taught for that obscene amount of money? To
send e-mails to companies, pretending to ask for help, all
with the lowly goal of learning who the contact person is.
Well, that's a lot of effort - and a bit of lying - just to
find out who the contact person is. After all, the sales
interaction doesn't even begin until that contact person
is, well, contacted ... and I'm guessing the recommended
advice is the old, ineffective, obsolete cold call.
Let's face it: A cold call is a cold call is a cold call. I
don't care if it's a direct, in-your-face, old-school cold
call, or a sneaky,
pretend-to-be-someone-I'm-not-to-get-a-contact-name cold
call. (And if all you have is a contact name, you still
haven't even made the cold call!)
Here are some key reasons why cold calling - whether it's
"old-school" style, or especially this sneaky "cold calling
2.0," continues to become less and less effective as time
goes on:
1. Cold calling lacks honesty and integrity. I've been
talking a lot lately about honesty and integrity. They need
to be the foundation for everything you do, end of story.
Without building on those principles, nothing else you do
will last for the long term. Sure, you might get a lead and
maybe even a sale now and then by being sneaky and telling
little white lies, but what will that do for your
reputation and self-esteem in the long term?
I have many clients and students who now receive 100% of
their business from referrals. Do you think this could be
possible if they didn't live and do business by the
highest, utmost standards of honesty and integrity? No way.
A big part of the "cold calling 2.0" myth is using a new
"angle" to cold call. Well, I hate to break it to you, but
honest, ethical people don't have to use "angles" or
"gimmicks" to do business.
2. Cold calling provides zero value to others. Another
subject that's coming up a lot in my talks and programs
lately is that of giving value first. If you give first,
with no expectation of reward, and no strings attached to
your giving of value, you will reap rewards like you've
never dreamed possible. People will look up to you as a
trusted business adviser, they will respect you, and they
will see you in an entirely different light than your
competition.
Here's the clincher: You can't give value first if your
initial contact with a prospect is through a cold call.
Instead of positioning yourself as a generous provider of
value, all a cold call does is position you as a hungry
salesperson who just wants to get a sale ... with no regard
to providing any value first. This is precisely why closing
rates of leads that come from cold calling are the lowest
of all, or as my friend and author Jeffrey Gitomer has
said, "Cold calling has the lowest percentage of sales call
success." It's also why prospects tend to trust cold
callers far less than other salespeople - they wonder
what's wrong with you and your company that you have been
forced to cold call - the last resort of a desperate
salesperson - to drum up business. It doesn't speak highly
of you or of your company's financial stability.
3. Cold calling strictly limits your income by time. Due to
the sheer amount of time required to make enough cold calls
to get enough qualified leads, you will never make a high
income by cold calling. Think about it - with all the time
it takes to run appointments, meet with prospects and
customers, handle customer service issues, attend sales
meeting, write proposals, prepare reports, attend training
(including your own continuing education), and so on, how
on earth are there enough hours in every week, day, and
month to make all those cold calls? There simply aren't!
Sure, if your product or service is a great offer and
you're good at cold calling, you might manage to eek out
100% of quota and hang on to your job for another month,
but do you really want to spend the rest of your life
eeking out your quota and starting over again next month?
Of course not! I assume if you're taking the time to read
this article, it's because you're focused and have high
goals for your career and your life and want to make the
big bucks!
You're not going to make the big bucks cold calling. Even
if you're some kind of cold calling genius who can make it
work, you're going to severely limit yourself by time and
never reach the six-figure and higher income brackets. The
only way, and I really mean the only way, to achieve that
is through leverage. You need to have lead-generation
systems in place that work exponentially, and
simultaneously, to generate the quality and quantity of
leads you'll need to have to make the big bucks. That's
what will open the doors to promotions to upper management,
consulting opportunities, or my own path - becoming a
bestselling author and speaker.
If you're out in the ocean, you have two choices: Swim back
to shore and live on, or tread water until you die. Cold
calling, including the new, so-called "cold calling 2.0"
tactics, are treading water. Do you want to break through
and move to the next level and beyond, or do you want to
continue treading water?
Hopefully those points clear up this idea of "cold calling
2.0" and expose that urban legend as just that - a legend.
I'm tired of hearing from struggling salespeople who have
spent hundreds, or in some cases, over a thousand dollars
on these "new cold calling" courses, only to have them
fail. Save your money, use your brains, and think for
yourself ... and stop treading water with those ineffective
and time-consuming cold calls!
----------------------------------------------------
New York Times bestselling author Frank Rumbauskas has
taught tens of thousands of salespeople how to stop cold
calling forever! His training and products teach
salespeople how to generate hot leads without cold calling
and how to keep their power and remain in control of sales
situations. Frank also consults with businesses large and
small to build lead-generation systems that will provide a
consistent supply of ready-to-buy leads for their sales
forces. For more information please visit
http://www.nevercoldcall.com
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