Is Cold-Calling Dead?

                       By Larry McGinnis

I was talking marketing strategy with an old friend and former partner a few weeks back, and the topic of cold-calling came up. I’ve been reading a lot of articles about cold-calling recently, and most said that the practice has gone out of style because it’s too expensive. My friend didn’t agree. Cold-calling is still the most effective way to get prospects.

My friend is located in the greater Orange County area of Southern California. A major brand of copiers runs a branch office in the area and “is in on every deal,” as my friend put it. Do more people call the Yellow Pages ad for this brand when they’re going to buy a new copier? Is the company spending massive amounts of money on TV advertising or sending out mailings each month? The answer is no, its sales reps are cold-calling. They’re constantly in front of the customer. They get a lot of sales without competition and are in on most other competitive situations. It makes one wonder if they’re behind the articles about cold-calling being a thing of the past.

Cold-calling is no big secret; we used to do it all the time. We would have so many people going in and out of offices that the receptionists would show us the door before we could open our mouths to speak. Cold-calling was a part of our everyday sales plan. Because the practice was so wide spread and competitive, it wasn’t a pleasant pastime.

All of that has changed. Very few companies are pushing cold-calling and salesmen don’t like to do it, so they’re looking for a softer, easier way to get prospects. They talk the sales manager into spending money on mailing or lead generation services. I’m not saying that mailing or lead services aren’t valuable marketing assets, but I am saying that good old-fashioned cold-calling is still the most effective way to get good qualified leads.

How do you get the most out of cold-calling? There’s no magic to cold- calling. It’s simple, easy to do, and requires no special skill. First, prepare a company flier (see the sample shown here). It must be professional looking and have valuable information for your prospects. Second, get some manufacturer- prepared brochures or fliers that talk about your hottest machine. Make sure to have them imprinted with your company name and contact information on them. While watching TV, put them together along with a business card and a paper clip. This is your drop kit. Find a likely spot, stop the car, get out, and start calling on offices around the area. It’s not necessary that you try to sell something on the cold call; just say, “I’m John from Copier Company, and I just wanted to drop this information off for your reference.” Try to get a card of the person that is responsible for purchasing the equipment, and then leave the office. No muss, no fuss.

What will you get for your cold-calling efforts? First of all, leads will pour in. You’ll run into people that are looking for new equipment, and you’ll be invited to participate. People will call you later when the need arises. The funny thing is, customers want to do business with hardworking, successful people, and if you’re out working your territory, you’ll be perceived as a winner. You’ll get valuable information about your territory—who’s in your territory, who’s the buyer in each office—in other words, you’ll learn who it is that can help you sell more equipment. Take the cards that you collect each day and enter the information into your sales building program, and mark it for follow-up. Information about the prospect in your territory will build, and leads will be generated from that information.

Make no mistake, I’ve never seen cold-calling fail. Only good things happen when you cold-call. u

Larry McGinnis brings over 30 years of experience to the office machine business. His company, TEC-AID, markets a service department management program called ServiceTrak and a sales aid program called SalesBuilder Plus. He can be reached by calling 866/983-2243, or check out his Website at tec-aid.com