Cold Calling Today

Over at Inc.com I found a great, lo-o-o-ong article about making in-person cold calls.   It’s titled “48 Hours with the King of Cold Calls.”

The article almost 15 years old, but some advice on selling is timeless, right? 

However, there is one big difference I see between today and that cold call of yesterday:  the effect of email. 

First, there is the contrarian approach — that people get too much spam and therefore do not respond to email.  One person who commented on the article over at Inc.com, writes this: 

“This article is right on the mark.  I rep employee benefits.  It is clear that people in general are spammed out, over telemarketed and drowning in junk mail. Last year I made 2,000 telephone cold calls. My walk in production for new accounts was three times higher than my telemarking. What works now is what no one else does.”

I think there is another aspect about email and cold-calling.  Salespeople today use email as their first cold call.  What I mean by that is not that they are sending out a canned message that is the equivalent of a direct mail piece (or as some might call it, “spam”).  Rather, they are writing a personalized, one-to-one email message trying to get the appointment, either by phone or in person.

I receive cold calls frequently by email.  Perhaps I make a better target because I write on several websites and have my email address online.  However, I also have my phone number online, too. 

Yet, I receive at least 20 email approaches to every one telephone call — and I never get in-person cold calls anymore.  Oh, I’ll get the odd Skype or instant message request, too, but not often.  Mostly always it is email.

A good email message, with a good title, will get my attention.  Sure they are easy to avoid or delete.  But so is a voice mail message or a cold-call visit.    It’s all about how you write the email message.  In another separate post I will point out what kind of email cold calls get me to respond back.  (PS, you can’t violate anti-spam laws, either, but that’s an entire other subject.)