Cold calling as it has been done historically – Smile and Dial – is dead, kaput, and expired. People who receive these calls put you on the Do Not Call list or hang up on you. So is outbound calling dead?
No, it’s very much alive. But smart salespeople are figuring out how to make the most of every dial.
Nigel Edelshain of Sales2.com wrote an eBook of the same name which shares insights on engaging prospective customers. We share his ideas here. Nigel says
“Sales people today are dealing with super-frazzled, super-distracted prospects. These prospects will not listen to unprepared volume cold callers. Sales people need to be extra well-prepared before picking up the phone or sending an email.
To get-in-the-door effectively we’ve found sales people must: (1) call the right people in the target account, (2) call at the right time based on changes in the prospect’s environment and (3) get in via a referral if at all possible. The “sweet spot of sales” is represented by the Venn diagram below. The ideal spot for sales is representated by the big white star.
Fortunately “Sales 2.0″ tools to help sales people do exactly these three things are now on the market [iSell being one of them]. Sales people who use these tools effectively will gain a big competitive advantage over those who don’t (our process for using these tools has shown an 8x improvement over volume cold calling)…and frankly I’m not sure how those who don’t use these tools and techniques will survive at all.”
Introducing iSell from OneSource
iSell is the first product on the market to integrate all three circles. It enables salespeople to 1) Call the right people, (2) Call at the right time and 3) get in via a referral (via tight integration with Linkedin.) As Nigel states, Salespeople who use tools like iSell get a 8X improvement on volume cold calling.
What do you think? We love comments and people who share our content.
This post was written by Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor and President of Find Customers, “Lead Generation Made Simple.” Find New Customers is also where you’ll find the sales white paper, Definitive Guide to Making Quota.