Cold Calling 1.0 vs Cold Calling 2.0 (and what works better than both)?

If Cold Calling 1.0 can be best described as interrupt and push, 2.0 is more attract and engage.

Why are they both called Cold Calling when 2.0 is supposed to involve absolutely zero ‘cold’ calling? Because whoever named it (I’m looking at you Aaron Ross) had too much on his plate, if I’m being kind, to come up with a better name for it. But it’s high time some bright spark came up with a better name for 2.0. So, if anyone has a flash of inspiration while reading this, please write a new name for Cold Calling 2.0 in the comments at the bottom, it’s about bloody time somebody did!

What’s the standard definition of Cold Calling 1.0?

Someone who I have never spoken to, who doesn’t know me, and isn’t expecting my call.

And of Cold Calling 2.0?

A systematised lead generation process that is designed to allow Cold Calling without making Cold Calls.

Why was there a need for Cold Calling 2.0?

In short, because 1.0 doesn’t work nearly as well as it used to. Don’t get me wrong, it still works as I explained in a recent article (We make 40,000 cold calls every week – this is what we’ve learned). But it can take an eternity to get results, and not every salesperson can afford the time, much less has the inclination to spend as much as 98% of that time dealing with rejection.

Who invented Cold Calling 2.0?

When Aaron Ross worked at Salesforce he became exasperated with traditional cold calling, quickly realising it wasn’t going to be a sufficient way to reach the number of leads he would require to meet his targets. Aaron had one huge advantage – he was new to sales. Which meant he wasn’t wedded to a particular system of reaching out to new prospects. He came at the problem with a totally fresh pair of eyes and was given the time and space to try new ideas without anyone telling him how it’s always been done. 

Why should you care?

Cold Calling 2.0 helped Salesforce.com add $100 million in revenue and in-so-doing transformed the go to market structure of just about every modern sales force. If you don’t already know how he did it, go and read the best sales book I’ve ever read (because it completely changed my entire view of how sales teams should be structured), Predictable Revenue.

The purpose of this article is not so much to describe or compare the two, although the graph below does just that, but to highlight when each should be employed.

So, for those that don’t know ... here’s the shortest summary I could find that explains the differences:

What qualifies me to talk about this?

We offer outsourced prospecting services that cover both solutions and I regularly advise clients when, and why, they should use either. I figured writing an article about it might come in useful – I hope you agree!

So, when should you use Cold Calling 1.0?

When there’s a hell of a lot of Shoppers within your Total Addressable Market.

What does that mean? Every company and product has a Total Addressable Market (TAM). That market is made up of four groups;

Unaware – Don’t know you and don’t know they have a problem/opportunity that you, or anyone else, can help with.

Aware – Know you and know they have a problem/opportunity that you can help with, but have no intention of addressing you or the issue now (and perhaps never will).

Shoppers – They are actively shopping around for companies/products who can help them with their issue (this can range from initial online research right through to writing an RFP).

Buyers – Have engaged and met with providers and are about to make a purchase decision.

In what circumstance would there be lots of Shoppers? Typically in a mature market, featuring commoditised products which are typically purchased using Opex rather than Capex (and it really helps if you're a market leader).

It's important to understand that Cold Calling 1.0 can only connect with Shoppers rather than any other segment of the market.

Why? If the caller is lucky enough to have stumbled across someone with the problem/opportunity they solve, only the Shoppers will see the relevance and will be willing to listen. Without being relevant, you’re just a bloody nuisance who’s trying to sell me something I don’t need right now.

If you have a targeted list of contacts that fit your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) you have half a chance. Having said that, if the number of Shoppers in your TAM is small, you're effectively going to be looking for a needle in a haystack. This is absolutely zero fun for all concerned I can assure you. The Cold Caller hates it (who in their right mind wants to be rejected all day, everyday) and the receivers hate it (you’ve just interrupted my day to push something onto me that I don’t want).

When should Cold Calling 2.0 be used?

Conversely, when there are very few Shoppers in your TAM.

So, when does your TAM consist mostly of Unaware or Aware prospects? When you’re in an immature market, you have a new product or you’re breaking into an existing market (either vertical or geographic).

But Cold Calling 2.0 also becomes highly relevant when you have a story to tell that differs from the normal or perhaps when you’ve found a new way of attacking an old issue.

If you usually find yourself having to educate and nurture before earning the right to sell... Cold Calling 2.0 is for you.

What’s the drawback of each?

Time!

Successful prospecting is all about reducing the amount of time it takes to reach someone that has an issue/opportunity you can help with.

If there’s lots of Shoppers in your TAM then don’t bother wasting extra time trying to attract and engage them. Cut to the chase, get a targeted list of prospects that fit your ICP, and get dialling.

But if there’s hardly any Shoppers (the only segment willing to talk to a 1.0 caller) then you’re going to have to create some. And that’s where Cold Calling 2.0 comes in.

2.0 involves sending emails fishing for referrals, making research calls trying to uncover relevant information and socially surrounding your target, or (at the very least) waiting for a trigger event to spark your outreach.

The benefit of this process is that you shouldn’t be making wasted calls because everyone has a reason to speak to you. Whether that is as a Shopper who wants to take things immediately to the next stage or as an Unaware prospect who wants a bit of education and nurturing – every phone call results in engagement. The theory being that once you move a prospect down the funnel from Unaware to Aware and finally to Shopper, you really should be in the driving seat to make the sale (assuming 50% of first contactors go onto make the sale, even in an RFP situation) by the time they’re Buyers.

Which do most sales people practise today – 1.0 or 2.0?

Strangely, neither!

Most have landed on a hybrid whereby they go to Linked In, search for a bit of relevance (a contact in common – whatever, same school – yawn, or a former company you once shared – I’ve lost the will to live) and make the call. It’s not quite 1.0 and it’s certainly not 2.0. Nor does it work (why are only 54% of sales people hitting their targets, not because they’re useless, but because they can’t get in front of enough prospects)!

Others, seduced by the wonders of modern communication, believe the hype surrounding email. The theory being you send a series of emails interspersed with calls (except they forget the calls part) so they end up with an email only campaign. This might work for marketing (huge scale) and if you personalise the hell out of them (which takes way longer than a phone call BTW) every now and again they work in real life. But one of the fallacies of modern sales is that email by itself is better than using the phone – I’m here to tell you in no uncertain terms – that’s complete bollox! I know, from lots, and lots, and lots of very painful firsthand experience – email by itself is the most over-rated sales activity in use today.

Some have brought into the Social Selling phenomena (often those with phone-fright) without realising just how long it takes to get traction. Have you successfully socially surrounded your prospects lately? Have you sycophantically commented on their articles, or tried ingratiating yourself within a group where your prospects hang out? Let me tell you - it takes an eternity! And the last time I checked in with my boss, he seemed to think my budgets needed to be met at some point this side of eternity, not the other.

So, what should you do?

The best prospectors I know still view the phone as the favourite tool of their trade.

They don’t Cold Call 1.0 because they go out of their way to learn something about their prospect before calling.

They are looking for relevance, but rather than making the relevance personal (as poor prospectors rely on) they look for business relevance first and foremost. They look at Annual Reports, which to the uneducated are huge tomes full of scary numbers only an accountant could love, but to top prospectors are vital sources of information that take seconds of searching to get to the good bits (HINT; the CEO’s intro is where they usually talk about plans for the following year).

They look for trigger events, and use the latest tools to give them a heads-up when these are taking place (HINT; this doesn’t mean relying solely on Linked In to tell us when a prospect is changing roles). Don’t get me wrong, they certainly use social, but they don’t spend all day procrastinating on it.

They know that engaging the CFO is a smart move. They also know that hanging out for a C-Suite, and nothing else, is stupid. They read Jeb Blount and get Fanatical, and try Tony Hughes COMBO selling and follow everything Mark Hunter writes. They are people of action, open to experimentation with new ideas and early adopters of technology.

But the number one thing great prospectors do is work their network. They get referrals, implied referrals and know how to use Sales Navigator’s features such as TeamLink to maximize their advantage.

Great hunters know that prospecting is all a question of TIME. Find the quickest possible way to get to the right prospect at the best time.

And to my mind – as of today - that still means using the phone more than any other tool!

So have you thought of a new name for Cold Calling 2.0 yet? Are you an SDR with a strong opinion as to whether 2.0 works or not? Perhaps you're stuck in 1.0 land and wondering how to get out? Or perhaps you just want me to explain why calling the CFO is such a good idea? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

If you found this post helpful please like and share it so others can too. Thanks.

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Martin Stevens develops business in Australia, Asia and London for SalesPond, a Sydney based Demand Generation company. 

If you are in sales or marketing for a technology vendor, VAR, MSP or Distributor give me a call on +61 2 8880 5319 or email me on mstevens@salespond.com if you want to understand more about the way we develop business for some of the world's biggest technology brands including; AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and Oracle.