IS THE COLD CALL DEAD?

By Hank Trisler

There's an interesting conversation going on at Sales Gravy about whether or not cold calling is a waste of time. I joined in, but got so wrapped around my own axle that I feared taking up too much space there. I do not feel so constrained here.

"Cold Calling," for purposes of our discussion is calling someone to whom you have never before spoken and determining whether they might be a prospect for whatever it is you are selling.

There have been volumes written about B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing, Sales 2.0 and Push Marketing. The commonly accepted strategy is that you need to get a web site, a blog and then become involved in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. You ask questions, answer questions, become an acknowledged expert and people will beat down your door, waving money at you. 

This has NOT been my experience. 

I've found that when people aren't coming in my door, I have to find a way to get in their door. Cold calling is one of those ways. There are two basic reasons you might want to make cold calls.

1. You might make some money. Someone in your town today found out he got a promotion. He's in the market today for a new car he couldn't afford yesterday. Someone in your town today filed for divorce. There is a house coming on the market that might just list with you. Across town there is a woman who just found out she is great with child. She's a buyer for a home she didn't want yesterday. 

The human condition is in a constant state of flux. Only by consistently calling people you don't know, can you possibly hope to reach these people before they stumble in your door, or that of you competitor.

According to the records I've kept over the years, you'll actually get appointments with somewhere between 5% and 7% of the people you actually contact. You might say, "That's a pitiful little number." And I would respond, "Yes, but halitosis is better than no breath at all." If you have another, higher value use of your time, by all means do it. Cold popping can be used to fill up those little cracks of time between appointments that you're currently wasting.

Don't try to make too many. I've heard sales trainers talking about making 50 calls a day until you die. I'd only have about two days to live. That's just too damn many. Let's you and I shoot for 10. If we made 10 more calls than we currently make, that would be about 50 a week, or 200 a month. Are you going to tell me, with a straight face, that you could call 200 people and not find someone who wants to buy? Come on.

2. Cold calling is great practice. Some folks are hesitant to call because they don't know what to say. Some ask me at my seminars, "What do you say when you call someone?" To which I cleverly respond, "Hell, I don't know. It's your call and you've never met the person you're calling. How could you possibly know what to say?" 

"Canned pitches" don't work. You can learn your lines flawlessly, but the prospects keep forgetting theirs. The poor babies didn't even know you were going to call. Therein lies the beauty of cold calling; it make you light on your feet. You're going to have to respond and you'd better do it FAST. You don't have to be good, but you have to be fast, at least that's what my wife says. 

I learned a method that actually works "on the street," when toiling in the truck department of Courtesy Chevrolet in Seattle, back when the great beasts still roamed. I observed that cold calling wasn't exactly brain surgery. I didn't have to be really good, I just had to make a lot of them. When I called, I needed to determine if I really had a decision maker and, if so, were they interested in what I was selling. I used a directory that gave me the names of owners of five-year-old trucks. I would call a name and say, "Hi, is this Mr. Schwartz?" and he'd say "Yes." Hell of a deal, I'm half way home. I then asked, "Have you bought your new truck yet?" He would then often respond "I ain't buying no trucks, you fool." To which I would respond, "Goodbye."

You'll notice I didn't give him my name. That's because he didn't want to buy. My name is unimportant and giving it out only prevents me from dialing another number. They don't all say "no," however. Some might say, "Odd you called. My old truck just gave up the ghost." Or, "Has my wife been calling truck dealers again?" Or, "Who told you to call me?" That used to throw me. I didn't know how to respond. I thought, "Well I was just sitting here cold popping and I hit on you," to be a bit off-putting, though honest.

A friend of mine at the time, Cliff Brown of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, and I met weekly for breakfast at a brain-stormers group where we would exchange ideas and leads. We came up with a method called, "Creative Truth," wherein if the truth isn't readily available, you make some up. 

Each week, when we parted company, I'd say, "Cliff, this week I'd like you to speak to 50 people you've never spoken to before and see if they need some life insurance, or estate planning." And he'd say, "OK, and Hank I'd like you to speak with 50 people you don't know and see if they'd like a new car, or truck." And I'd agree and we'd shake hands on it. Then, when someone said, "Who told you to call me?" I'd say, "Cliff Brown." And it was TRUE, because we made it true.

Cold Calling will reduce or eliminate fear of rejection. Paradoxical Therapy tells us to seek out that which we most fear and we'll find out it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. The more you call, the quicker and better you'll be and the less you'll fear cold calling. After all, they can't get their hands on you.

You can't possibly lose on a cold call, as you didn't have anything going in. The call is completely under your control. If you talk yourself into a corner and can't think of a thing to say, hang up. That's right, hang up. If you continue to talk when you're in trouble and your brain has shut down, you're bound to say something really stupid. In addition, you're going to really suffer and it's going to be that much more difficult for you to pick up the phone the next time.

Don't worry about being rude. The only time people are offended by being hung up on is if they know they been hung up on. The key to them not knowing is you hang up while you're talking. That's right. They'll know you couldn't have hung up on yourself, so just hang up, right in the middle of. . .

As soon as you've hung up, you'll relax and think of fifty things you could have, should have, would have said and you can call back and say, "As I was saying before we were interrupted. . ." Or, if you don't want to call back, don't. Who cares? Maybe the next one will be nicer.

They central issue is make some calls and talk to some people. Some will. Some won't. So What? Remember that there are now almost TWO BILLION people in China that didn't even know you made a call.