I often write about cold calling and I get comments about cold calling working. Sure, if you sell a low value transactional product, cold calling could be a tactic for you. But in the B2B Enterprise space I work in, Cold calling hasn't worked for years. My background is selling Accountancy systems, to think that the CFO / Finance Director of Singtel (I'm sitting in Singapore as I write this) is expecting to take my call is utter fantasy.
But let's look at cold calling for a second. If you make a call, you will get 4 responses: 1. Go away, 2. I purchased this 3 months ago, 3. Give me a call in 3 months, 4. They take your call.
I cannot do anything about 1. (well I can, but it's a blog for another day) you can approach 2. and 3. by using social. On the basis people are using social to find products to buy, if you are present on social, you will start "hoovering up" those lost sales as wins. Using the same techniques on 3. You can nurture these people on social, so when they are ready to buy, they will come to you. Of course, the trick is to use insightful and educational content and you might even be able to accelerate those deals. In both cases, this is called inbound. If you use social selling in a programatic format, you will get additional leads and meetings and you will get inbound.
in fact, if you have been on social selling training and you are not getting inbound, you need to ask for your money back!
I could write about how social selling enables you to get higher and faster than cold calling, but I've run out of time!
Since there is so much debate about cold calling being dead, so many other techniques, and plenty of sales platforms, most likely your competitors aren’t calling much. You might actually break through a channel that is now fairly under-utilized that can help you stand out among your peers. Not a bad way to start off a potential sales relationship with a prospect, no?
