To Cold Call or Not to Cold Call: Is That Really The Question?

3 Questions to Help Define Your Prospecting Strategy

“To cold call, or not to cold call--that is the question:Whether 'tis wiser in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous rejectionOr to take aim against a sea of prospectsBy email and Linking with them. To call, to fail--No more--and by a fail to say we endThe heartache, and the thousand natural shocksThat sales is heir to…” (With deepest apologies to William Shakespeare)Which side of the great Cold-Calling Debate are you on? There is aseemingly never-ending debate in sales circles over the relative andabsolute merits of cold-calling as a method for lead generation andprospect development. The proponents on either side tend to view this asan “either-or” proposition. It shouldn’t be if you are asking the rightquestions.On one side of this argument are the “traditionalists” who believe thatcold-calling, even in today’s information-driven economy, remains:a) An effective tactic for reaching new prospectsb) A productive use of a salesperson’s limited selling timec) An essential skill that every sales person needs to possess.On the other side are the “progressives” who believe that:a) Cold calls are unnecessary as there are a variety of tools thatenable a seller to connect and engage with prospects before the firstcall is made.b) Cold-calling is an inefficient use of a salesperson’s limitedselling time.c) Contemporary sales skills, such as social selling, are morecrucial to sales success than the “elevator pitching” skills of coldcalling.While the arguments put forth by both sides in this debate have somemerit, the correct solution for most companies and individual sellers isnot an “either-or” answer. Managers and sales people have to askthemselves a few key questions in order to decide which approach toprospect sales lead gen and prospect development is the most practical,and effective, for them.

Question 1: What Do I Need To Accomplish?

The first question to ask is “What do I need to accomplish?” Be specificand determine how many prospects you need at any one time in order tomeet and exceed quota. Define how many leads you need to develop withina certain timeframe in order to develop a certain number of qualifiedprospects. Having this information in hand will let you determinewhether cold-calling, or some other prospecting activity, is the optimalstrategy to achieve your prospecting goals. What will be the mosteffective use of your selling time?In this day and age, given the abundance of new sales tools that existto make it easier to connect with potential customers, it seems unlikelythat even the most fervent advocates can unequivocally state thatcold-calling is the only answer to Question 1.

Question 2: What Am I Good At Doing?

The second question to ask is: “What am I good at doing?” Or, “What ismy sales team good at doing?” It is essential to align your prospectingactivities with your sales strengths.The fact is that not everyone has to be good at all forms ofprospecting. Success in cold-calling, or the lack thereof, can be due asmuch to a salesperson’s temperament as their skills. And no amount oftraining can change that. The most talented and successful salespeople Ihave ever worked with in my career were not very good at cold-calling.Personally, I don’t like cold-calling. In 30+ years of a very successfulsales career I have avoided cold-calling whenever I could. It doesn’tsuit my personality and I have never grown comfortable with it. Evenwhen I was in the field, working my territory and making 30-40 coldcalls a day.However, I almost always had a healthy list of prospects. What did I do?

Question 3: What Are The Alternatives?

Without question, there is almost always more than one method for salespeople to generate a sales lead, whether it is social selling,referrals, inbound marketing or cold-calling to name a few.It is important to not be reactive and make the assumption that therewill be only one solution to a problem because in most prospectingscenarios it will be a mix of activities that will produce the optimalresults.I mentioned above that I didn’t like to cold call. However, I have doneit throughout my career because I have needed to. I haven’t lead myprospecting with cold-calling. I was never fortunate enough to work fora company where new prospects would knock down my door begging to buythe products I was selling. So, I would start prospecting with thenon-cold-calling activities that I thought would produce the biggestreturn on my time. Sometimes those activities would generate enoughleads for me. Often times they didn’t. That’s when I would makecold-calls. It’s one thing to say you don’t like to cold-call. But, ifeverything else you try isn’t working, it is still your job to developnew prospects, close orders and make quota. There is no hall-pass insales. If that means making cold-calls to help make your numbers, thenthat is what you have to do.Practical Sales Tip: Start your prospecting with those activities thatare best aligned with your strongest capabilities, or those of yoursales team. But if those activities aren’t generating enough leads, thenyou have to try something else. Even if it means picking up the phoneand making cold-calls. (As Shakespeare said “ay, there’s the rub…”)For more on this topic click here to read: Doing What You Need To Do

Andy Paul is author of the award-winning book, Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company's Sales. A sought-after speaker and business coach, Andy conducts workshops and consults with sales teams of all sizes to teach them practical selling strategies that use responsiveness, speed and simple sales processes to increase sales. Enjoy what you just read? Sign up for our regular digest of valuable and practical sales tips and strategies, “Selling with Maximum Impact.”

© Andy Paul 2013