The Lost Art of the Cold Call
If you're convinced cold calling is still a worthwhile sales tactic, don't look to Google for affirmation. A search for "cold calling statistics" turns up a whole bunch of numbers, most of them overwhelmingly negative. An article titled "The Horrifying Reality of Cold Calling" (the first Google result) cited a HubSpot survey that found cold calling costs 60 percent more per lead than inbound marketing tactics. One blog cited a study in which 6,264 cold calls yielded 19 appointments, for a 0.3 percent success rate. Another site pegged the success rate at a much rosier 1 to 3 percent.
It's enough to convince salespeople to ditch the cold call for good. But is it a fair assessment? Is there any value left in cold calling, despite its tarnished reputation and the discouraging statistics? Plenty of experts think so.
"Cold calling is critical as a tool for salespeople who want to grow their business," said Rick Greene, MAS, regional vice president for Chatsworth, California-based HALO Branded Solutions. "It's also important as a vehicle to stay sharp, keep your skills honed and remain at the top of your game. Otherwise, you'll slump off into inertia, see your sales slowly (or rapidly) taper off and settle into a half-aware blob of reactive quotes and reorders until you fade into the wallpaper."Cold calling is training, it's exercise and it's hard work-and it's usually the last thing the average sales person wants to do," he added. "So, don't be average. Embrace it as part of your daily activity or become that blob. Your choice."
Nobody said it was easy, but with the right approach, cold calling can still provide a major boost to sales. Here are five ways to make it work for you.
1. WARM IT UP
Knocking on doors unannounced or blindly dialing down a call list may have worked in the pre-Internet era of selling, but nowadays those strategies likely won't get you far. Before you start calling, it's good to know some basic information about your prospect. "A totally 'cold' sales call today should be a thing of the past," explained Gregg Emmer, vice president and chief marketing officer for Kaeser & Blair Inc., Batavia, Ohio. "A 'warm' call is more appropriate. All the alternative communications methods provide a reasonable resource to find out about businesses before you show up at their door. Even a little information conveys to your prospect that you are interested in doing business with him, not just business in general."
Emmer suggested doing thorough research on prospects and learning everything from the size of the business and its ownership history to its customers and competitors. "Talking intelligently about the prospect's business on the first meeting almost guarantees a second one," he noted.
2. KEEP AT IT
Most sales approaches require frequent follow-ups before a handshake happens, but cold calling is a true test of sales stamina. According to eLearning website ej4.com, just 2 percent of sales are made on the first contact when cold calling. The number slowly increases from there, with 80 percent of sales coming on the fifth to twelfth contact. That's a lot of work for one sale, and it's complicated by the fact that 44 percent of sales reps quit after one "no." Greene's advice? Keep calling.
"I interviewed a multi-million-dollar producer for HALO last year who told me this empowering sales secret-it takes 13 'touches' to turn a prospect into a client," said Greene. "Boom. Success is now quantified. These numbers are right on. Most salespeople quit after the first or second call. Most successful salespeople quit after the fifth or sixth call," he continued. "But it takes 13 'touches' to turn a prospect into a client. Most people don't want to work that hard, but those who do land the accounts."
3. REDEFINE "SUCCESS"
Still, getting salespeople to keep calling is easier said than done, especially when a successful sale requires so much time and effort. For Emmer, the problem is with the way "success" is defined. He suggested viewing cold calling not strictly as a sales tool, but as a relationship-builder. "Graphic communications, regardless of printing on paper or ice scrapers, is a business all about building relationships," he said. "The old school sales mantra of 'ABC' (Always Be Closing) is nonsense. Rather than measuring success by writing an order, measure by continuing relationship. If the relationship continues and the salesperson positions himself as an active participant in the success of the client's business, sales will result, many times at a greater value than what would have come from a hard sell early on."
Greene agreed. "Don't sell. Connect. Build a relationship," he advised. "Find out what makes [prospects] tick, what their challenges are. Engage them and, sooner or later, they will ask you to sell to them."
4. SKIP THE SALES PITCH
One of the major drawbacks to cold calling is its inherent "surprise" nature, which can be uncomfortable for the prospect and worse for the salesperson. No one likes to be ambushed, and this "adversarial scenario," as Emmer calls it, can put salespeople at a disadvantage from the start. Warming prospects certainly helps, but sometimes it takes more than background knowledge to break through-you've got to connect with the prospect, and you've got to do it fast. To do that, Emmer suggested skipping the sales pitch and asking questions. "By simply asking your prospect what the most important thing he or she is working on at the moment, you will set the subject and mood of your meeting and any suggestions (selling) you make will be considered without the normal combative sales cycle kicking in," he commented.
5. SELL YOURSELF
Sure, cold calling might not be able to match the speed of email and text messaging or the efficiency of SEO, social media and other inbound lead generation strategies. But it makes up for it by being one of the few remaining sales approaches still reliant on actual person-to-person contact. Use that element to separate yourself from the increasingly digital pack.
"The biggest unique selling proposition any sales professional can bring to the table is themselves," said Emmer. "Making warm calls immediately tells the business person that you are part of the equation. You are not an app, email or bulk mailing. You have a name, and now the prospect knows what you look like. The best advice from the old school, and it's still valid today, is this: 'People do business with people they want to do business with,'" he concluded. "Become one of those people."
- People:
- Gregg Emmer
- Rick Greene
- Places:
- Batavia, Ohio
- California