Cold calling isn’t dead… It’s just different
Shawn Casemore
Keynote Speaker, Sales Kickoff Speaker, Sales Training, Sales Coaching. ?? Enabling B2B Sales Leaders and Sales Teams to Achieve Unstoppable Sales?. ??Author of The Unstoppable Sales Machine.??
I’m tired of hearing people say cold calling is dead and then launch a dozen or more cold emails out each week to people they don’t know.
Sure, calling people out of the blue whom you don’t know and then jumping into a pitch is silly. It’s no different than calling someone in high school whom you don’t know and then asking them if they want to go to prom with you. If they say yes, you should be the one who is suspicious!
But in a day and age where everyone has a phone in their hand, and where emails are increasingly landing in spam folders, cold calling can be an effective way to get noticed.
Before you stop reading, hear me out.
To begin with, if you want to make cold calling work for you, it has to be genuine and valuable to the person you are calling.
There are three ways my clients have success with cold calling, as part of their overall prospecting strategy:
1.????As a way to introduce your email.
2.????As a follow-up, to confirm your email was received.
3.????As a method of personalizing the conversation.
?Strategy #1: Introduce your email.
This approach is simple and applies when you are reaching out to someone whom you don’t know or don’t know well, but whom it makes sense to contact.
Method: Call, and leave a message saying who you are and that you were going to send an email but wanted to put a voice to the name before doing so.
领英推荐
Strategy #2: Email follow-up
If you aren’t getting a response to your email, and you should be (i.e., you’ve spoken to this person before and have no reason to believe they will respond to your email).
Method: After sending your initial email and follow-up email, call and leave a message that states your name, mentioning that you are following up as promised and thought that your earlier emails may have gotten caught in their spam filter.
Strategy #3: Personalizing the conversation
If you are trying to accelerate rapport but haven’t had a chance to meet after initial (positive) discussions with your buyer, alternate between email and telephone.
Method: After your initial email, call and suggest that there may have been some points in your email that are easier to discuss over the phone, and provide options for how they can best reach you.
My intent here isn’t to suggest that you replace your emails with calls, or to pester people whom you don’t know.
But too many people are completely disregarding the telephone as a more personal and effective method of building relationships.
And that, my friends, is a mistake!
Interesting in getting these tips sent to your inbox each week directly from me? Join my Thursday Thrive email by visiting www.thursdaythrive.email. You won’t be disappointed!