Phil Lauterjung

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There has been a great debate raging for some time now asking if cold calling is dead.  It’s a legitimate question taken in light of some of the issues I raised in my previous post – Has the Sales ‘Game’ Really Changed? .  No one has to tell a sales person that it’s increasingly difficult to secure appointments with key decision makers.

I would submit that cold calling isn’t dead, unless you might define it as going out knocking on doors.  But, cold calling is definitely evolving into a technology-driven exercise of cat-and-mouse with your prospects.  They are trying to get as much information from the internet as they can without having to talk to a sales person; and, we are trying to find out all we can about their company to develop an approach that will result in an appointment.

So what do I mean by ‘warm’ cold calling?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  The days of making a scripted pitch about how great your company and products/services are is no longer effective.  We have to know as much as we can about their company; and, we have to address THEIR situation.  So here are 4 steps you need to take before you even think about picking up that phone.

1. Understand Your Sales Process. Make sure you know what your typical sales cycle is for your company.  If you don’t have one then take the time to define it before you move on to the next steps.  A basic process would be Cold Call leads to Appointment leads to Proposal leads to Sale.  Caution – before you try to use the basic approach examine your process thoroughly.
2. Define Your Target. You should have a lot of information on your existing customers that will help with this.  Use that to help define the qualifying parameters for a potential new customer.  Decide on the highest level decision maker you need to contact.  Caution – not everyone needs to call on the CEO.
3. Why Should They Buy From Me? Know the answer to that question.  What problems do you solve?  What value do you provide?  Your potential customers want to know if you can help them solve their problems.  The more you can find out about their business the easier it is to answer this question.
4. Be Clear – Keep It Simple. You don’t get a lot of time in a warm call to elicit interest.  Be concise, focused, and clear – on their possible problem and how you have solved it in the past for others.  Develop brief  SOAR (Situation-Opportunity-Action-Result) stories of previous successes.

Is this a lot of work?  Absolutely!  But, if you don’t do it be prepared to join the ranks of the dinosaur companies that aren’t going to be successful in the 21st century.

There are many tools available that can help with the above process, and I will share some of those in my next post.

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