Is Cold Calling Dead? .. Or just in need of rethinking

If you have a "thick skin" and tenacity, cold calling is still effective. Social marketing can help break the ice; and a good campaign would probably be more effective and time efficient than basic cold calling.

Yes, definitely cold call.....after a while you'll get so used to it that when someone says no.....you say next!

I do b2b for Mobile Text Marketing and for SEO, as well. I also follow up with Video emails....which helps tremendously! New concept.

Cold calling isn't dead. I'll agree that social media has definitely switched up the playing field for initial contact, but I think cold calling has been severely underrated lately. There's definitely something to be said for just picking up a phone and getting it done. None of this back and forth FB message to FB chat to Tweets and so on. LOL

My biggest clients have come from a mix everything - phone call, letter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter...I reach out on all fronts to contact them, they notice the effort, and respond pretty favorably. Cold Calling does take it's toll after awhile.

In MY opinion, social networking can't match up to cold calling for several reasons:


1.) Social networking is not necessarily measurable. It's possible to measure the amount of leads or clients etc derived from a social marketing platform, but it isn't really possible to create a matrix and forecast future numbers in most niches, using Facebook, Twitter etc. Since social campaigns are constantly changing the terms and conditions, algorithms etc, it's hard to rely on these formats.

2.) Cold calling can bring instant results. For instance, I dial 100 dials. I speak with 40 people. 5 of those people make appointments. 1 of those buy. My ratio is now 1%, or one out of 100 contacts buy my products. Knowing this, I can make 100 calls, or 1,000 calls, or 10,000 calls to scale up the amount of money I plan on making. With social networking, the time and/or money invested may not bring any measurable or significant ROI in the short term.

3.) Cold calling is cheapest. Get some numbers or addresses, get a (good) script, learn the script, dial the numbers (or visit the locations) and get to selling. Many social networking campaigns either require a significant portion of time, or of money to be effective. As stated in #1, the cost may not equal good returns.

Cold calling SUCKS!!! But...getting out of that comfort zone usually brings the best results..and that's coming from experience!

Cold calling is the best way to set yourself apart from every one else. But lets get some terms straight.

Typically cold calling is actually walking in and making an in person introduction and pitch. Picking up the phone and making a call is not cold calling its telemarketing.

I really like face to face

Cold calling isn't dead. But it is not the most time effective. Because cold calling is basically "how many people are you willing to ask to get a 'yes'." You have to be creative now to do this stuff.

When I said "you have to be creative now to do this stuff" I meant you have to be creative to market yourself, and just see what works.

Cold calling isn't "dead".

But it's questionable whether or not it's the most effective method in B2B, particularly as the size of the company increases.

The most recent statistics still hold that 70% of B2B buyers initiated first contact as the result of a Google search, while 10% bought as the result of a cold call. And the 70% continues to increase while the 10% continues to decrease. In fact, over the past 5 years, the numbers of calls required to make initial contact has increase 40%.

John and I have gone around and around about this topic, and in some low-end sales in some markets, cold calling can certainly be effective. However, most folks will find that if you're actually dealing with the complex sale environment, you're not going to 1-call close someone in a B2B setting (the decisionmaking environment involves multiple stakeholders for larger businesses) and people don't generally make emotional buying decisions in a B2B setting... most B2B sales is ROI driven.

The industry stats continue to show a radical decline in field sales effectiveness overall in general. That's largely due to the fact that customers "self educate" now, which means "sales" gets involved in the game much later in the customer's buying process. There was a day and time when sales was the source of education (the "consultative selling" approach from the 80s and 90s), but with Google, all knowledge is available with a mouse click.

We recently did a complete marketing and sales strategy overhaul for a company about $10 million in sales. They were still requiring their sales reps to do cold calling for lead gen.... which is a function of marketing and not sales, but that's a different discussion. The cost per lead based on cold calling was 360% higher in the amount of labor time spent by the reps than after outsourcing it to a call center as a stop-gap measure to reduce costs.

But after we developed a strong inbound marketing demand generation and lead nurturing system (Marketo implementation), the final cost to per lead was 18% of the original cost and we were able to get rid of 75% of the sales staff and management while simultaneously increasing sales by 28% in a single quarter.

As a method for a guy getting started in selling services, if you have absolutely no other means of generating relationships and leads, then the phone is certainly a tool that can be used. But all anecdotes aside, the hard numbers across the larger B2B marketing landscape paints a much different picture.

Go make cold calls, get some sales, have a growth plan.

World's a changing that's for sure....but then if it wasn't why would we be in IM ? Companies and buyers may well now turn to Google as default when looking for products or services and social networks such as Linkedin are showing real value to those who utilise them correctly.

However with services - especially where you need to educate the end user about a need they may not know they have I still like cold calling - 100 dials - 30 conversations- 10 interested - 5 appointments still works. Just make your offer strong and compelling.

One area I have cooled is direct mail - costs never really did stack up and less so now. Only thing I do as an absolute is make sure I have a contact name in company. If you do not have right data you are on the back foot from the start.

Definitely cold calling is still alive. In Direct marketing Cold calling is the process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person.

Cold calling is an important stage and technique in the selling process. Cold calling abilities are also useful in many aspects of business and work communications outside of sales activities and the selling function.

These cold calling tips won't eliminate your fear, but they will help you make cold calling a more successful experience.

Here are few cold calling tips:

1) Focus on the goal when cold calling.
2) Research your markets and prospects.
3) Prepare an opening statement for your cold call.
4) What should be in the opening statement of your cold call?
5) Prepare a cold calling script for the rest of your cold call.
6) Ask for an appointment at a specific time when cold calling.
7) Remember that gatekeepers are your allies not your foes.
8) Smooth the way for your cold call by sending prospects a small, unique promotional item.
9) Do your cold calling early in the morning, if possible.
10) Be persistent when cold calling.


I hope this will clear doubts on cold calling.

People have become complacent and relying on email to take the place of cold calling -- but i think the success rate of cold calling is a lot higher.

Email is easier because you can thoughtfully prepare your draft and respond after doing research - cold calling is harder because you have to think on your feet.

Cold calling is more effective, but we've gotten lazy!!

Cold calling is dead. Stick to facebook or better yet Twitter.

Ok, now back to the real world.

What a lot of "online" people don't get is that sales is mostly about reaction and adapting. Good salespeople can sound good and get their pitch off. They know their rebuttals and they can close a decent amount of deals.

GREAT sales people know how to react to the customer and adapt to the situation.

The more feedback you can get (visual, auditory, etc.), the more you can correctly react and adapt.

This is why face to face has the highest closing ration followed by telephone then the internet.

3% (decent online) is a horrendously bad closing ratio and in my view it's a complete waste of time.

I am an avid cold-caller! I look for great scripts and use humor as well as rapport building skills, I also ask for an email to send them information after I have talked to them on the phone and then follow up with them. I had one client give me 3 referrals and each of those referrals gave me referrals as well. I did however, give them an incentive for the referrals, such as a monetary reward

I did about 8 years of outbound sales for a company and then took that knowledge and used it to land clients in my webdesign company. I also hardly ever meet people face to face, most of the clients I work with are over the phone, email and texting.

I definitely have to say it is not dead

Listen guys,

There are two people in this thread that I 100% endorse listening to.

Michael and John!

Michael comes from the perspective of dealing with larger businesses who in most cases do have to involve many different people who are posted at different stations with in the company before any final decision can be made and the deal is closed. Michael also makes a disclaimer of sorts and says that cold calling is still effective for those who may be new to the industry etc.

Many here and many who are just starting out are not at this level yet and might not even be interested in getting the "larger" accounts. That's perfectly OK as you decide what's best for you, but his advice is most assuredly sound so learn from what he says.

Have a growth plan, no matter what type of clients you want, large or small.

John is a master cold caller/telemarketer so if your looking to make calls on the phone to small business owners, do yourself a favor and listen to him.

For those of you who are just starting out, your probably targeting small mom and pop type businesses and those are perfect for walking in and introducing yourself or making a phone call.

This part of the market segment is PERFECT for learning the ropes and can help catapult you into the next level of client, ( Larger Businesses ).


Both individuals are experts in what they do so learn what you can from either of them.

Michael Hiles says,

"Then when they buy your ideas, be sure to deliver."

TRUE THAT!!!!

I would create a script and hire a friend or sibling to do the calling on a commission basis and see how it goes. Or you could pay them for like 4 hours worth of just to see if they can land you a client. Of course thats only if you don't want to do it yourself.