If Cold Calling Works For You...

by Frank Rumbauskas

Published on this site: November 10th, 2005 - See more articles from this month

I receive e-mails on a regular basis from people who state that cold calling is working perfectly well for them and that they've become quite successful by it. That's fine - as I've always said, if it works for you, then keep doing it. My materials are for people who either are not getting results from cold calling, or who simply do not enjoy it and do not want to do it anymore.

If you feel that cold calling is working just fine for you, this chapter is for you. The problem with being satisfied with the results of cold calling is that you fail to see cold calling's biggest flaw and why it imposes strict limitations on your sales production.

Here's something to think about. Even if cold calling is working for you, you're failing to use the amazing power of leverage to your advantage. What I'm getting at is the fact that as a cold caller, you can only make one call at a time or knock on one door at a time. Add into that the fact that you must also fit appointments and other work such as generating proposals into every business day, and your ability to make a large number of quality cold calls diminishes rapidly.

Here's the pattern I typically see – and that I experienced myself – with people who rely on cold calling for generating business, and who feel that it's working for them:

Month 1: Sales are down. Most free time is spent cold calling. Leads are generated and plenty of first appointments take place but the salesperson falls short of quota for the month.

Month 2: Numerous second appointments take place and proposals are presented. The salesperson spends lots of time working to close sales and is successful. Quota achievement is far in excess of 100% this month.

Month 3: The salesperson spends plenty of time on customer service issues this month, and following up with all the customers who bought last month. After all, it's normal to be busy with these issues after a huge month. By the end of the month, everything is taken care of, but sales are in the gutter and far below quota this month because most time was spent taking care of all those issues, and to make matters worse, the pipeline is now empty and there are no more prospects to work on. The cycle starts all over again with month 1.

As you can see, this cycle of cold-hot-cold guarantees failure and is one of the key reasons why cold calling rarely, if ever, results in success. If anything, it allows salespeople to make quota every third month, barely avoid probation, and therefore keep their jobs.

By contrast, systems of self-marketing allow you to use the power of leverage. Let's say you do well at cold calling and continue to make, say, 30 calls a day. What if you could put systems into place that effectively made an additional 300 calls per day while you're free to do other things? If your 30 calls per day generated one hot lead, wouldn't a system that performs the equivalent of 300 calls generate 10 hot leads in a day?

This is the power of leverage, and this is where those who rely solely on cold calling are missing out. If cold calling works for you then keep it up, but doesn't it make sense to add to it and increase your number of leads exponentially? Then you'll be so busy with all the appointments that you really will drop cold calling after all – you won't have time for it anymore with so many people calling you, ready to buy!

Frank Rumbauskas is the author of the hit sensation "Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The Information Age". His training and products teach salespeople how to generate hot leads without cold calling and how to keep their power and remain in control of sales situations. For more information please visit http://www.nevercoldcall.com