When was the last time you made a purchase from someone whom you didn't know after they called you on the phone to request a meeting?



Think about it...

- Someone whom you didn't know

- Calls you on the phone out of the blue

- They request a meeting

- You meet with them and then

- You end up buying their products

If your answer was "never", doesn't it boggle your mind then, that anyone would continue to think it's a good strategy for their company to follow? If your answer was "once" - you were an exception to the rule. If your answer was "more than once" please give me your phone number! I've got something to sell.

Cold-Calling is harmful. It chips away at your sales productivity, it eats away at your sales reps' morale, and it annoys the very companies you want to sell to.

Yes, there are lots of experts who will tell you they have secrets to successful cold-calling.

Don't listen to them. Cold-calling in today's world is no different then going door to door was "back in the day". It's seen as an annoying attempt by a (junior) salesperson desperate for business.

Why else would they call you, guessing you might have an interest? Because they don't have any other real prospects with which to busy themselves.

Think about when you last received a cold-call. How did you feel in that first instant when you realized it was a cold-call? Did you think:

- Boy am I glad I picked up the phone.

- I'm happy to hear what you have to say even though I don't know you or your company and I'm late for an important meeting.

- You must have a special interest in helping me, otherwise, why would you be calling?

Or did you think;

- I can't believe this jerk caught me ?live?!

- If I thought I had a problem, I'd research it myself (and then I'd call YOU)!

The reason Salespeople cold-call is precisely, because they don't have enough real prospects to occupy their time.

By cold-calling, they're looking to solve their problem, not the prospects (at least that's what the prospect thinks).

The problem of not enough prospects arises when there aren't enough people in each stage of the marketing-cycle.

Stage One: Are unaware they have the problem your product/service solves.

Stage Two: Are aware they have a problem but unaware you provide a solution.

Stage Three: Are aware of the problem, aware they suffer from it, and are aware of your solution, but they aren't motivated to act.

People don't usually progress through these stages on their own.

The way to lead people to stage three isn't to cold-call individuals. That's just silliness. Can you really generate sales opportunities by calling people - one at a time- to pitch the problem; introduce your solution, and convince them to take a meeting where you can sell them on the need to act? NO! It doesn't work!

These are antiquated techniques deployed by sales managers who are under pressure to perform in the short-term (they won't get good leads, but they can show they're making the effort - look how many calls we made today).

There are no short-term answers because the hard work of lead generation requires a well-thought-out plan that takes time to implement and to garner results. In order to turn buyers into customers, you have to first turn prospects into buyers, and before that - suspects into prospects.

This is what I call the ?marketing cycle? and it comes before the ?sales cycle?. Marketing is more important than ever. Marketing ensures the rich soil needed to grow sales. Marketing is equally influential in driving sales as the Sales team. Marketing is where the real prospecting takes place.

5 steps to lead generation and conversion

1) Know what criterion qualifies as a good target for your products.

2) Based on that knowledge, create a suspect database of target companies and contacts using lead discovery tools.

3) Create a marketing plan to cultivate suspects into prospects (it is estimated to take 12 ?touches? to get a suspect's attention). Note: to ?cultivate? leads is to convert them from each stage to the next - and it can involve phone calls, just not ?cold-calls?.

4) Deploy the plan after ensuring a way to measure and monitor the results.

5) Assess the results and make adjustments to the plan - then back to step 1

Next time someone suggests a cold-calling campaign tell them to ?stop-the-madness?. If there aren't enough prospects, commit to solving the problem through a proper lead generation, and conversion plan.

Copyright ? 2007 Smart About Sales, Inc.