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Jim logan posted an absolutely brilliant piece on the B2B Rainmaker blog titled “The problem with the problem with cold calling” which is a must read and brings out a very important point. In his post Jim says:

If the call you receive is irrelevant and unwelcome, the problem is with the preparation before the call, not the call itself.  The person making the call failed to do their homework before the picked-up the phone.

Cold calling and telemarketing has picked up a bad name and in recent times has become a lot more notorious than it was a few years ago. As Jim points out really well, there is nothing wrong or ineffective about the process of cold calling its the preperation or lack of it which determines how effective it is. Havinig worked with clients varying from small startups to large fortune companies, we know cold calling is still a very importnat channel for sales and leads. Surprisingly, something as small and simple as the business contact lists or marketing databases which these companies can use for their telemarketing campaigns can be an Achilles heel if its not of the highest quality. One of the most important questions to ask before picking up the receiver and dialing away is:

“Am I calling the RIGHT person?”

Have you ever walked into a movie cinema a bit late when everyone is seated and you have to feel your way through the dark, bump into and trip over everyone, irritating them and apologizing as you go along? Thats what its like cold calling into an organization when you have no clue who you need to speak to finally and how to get there. Decision makers rarely outright reject calls that are relevant to what they do or will be unwilling to speak to someone who has something to say that is within their area of responsibility. It’s the constant irrelevant calls which have nothing to do with them which put them off and give cold calling a bad name. Bad contact lists are also to blame. 

For example : the IT Manager of a company responsible for quality control software and systems used by manufacturing should usually be open to a discussion if he is called about questions or technology related to quality control. However if he is called by a sales person who starts talking to him about IT security and anti-virus software products he’s more likely to snub the caller for interrupting his work. In the second case the caller assumes just because he’s speaking to an IT Manager, he must be open to talking about anti-virus software. Wrong! If  business contact lists and data are built based on roles of the decision makers rather than simply by job titles, the chances are connect rates are higher and conversations will be much higher than unqualified contact lists. More conversations, more opportunities, more sales. Cold calling isn’t ineffective. As Jim Logan sums up very well:

The problem with the problem with cold calling is there is no problem.  The real issue with cold calling is preparation and technique – the use itself is valid.

Contact us or sign up for a free trial list of role based business contacts with complete direct contact data to experience the difference in calling on higher quality decision maker lists.