| My career has been comprised of sales, sales | | | | comfortable--one guy immediately sat down--and |
| management and recruiting. I've worked for some | | | | start talking at me like I'm a 9 year old. In both |
| of the largest companies in the world: Wal-Mart, | | | | situations I had to stop them in mid-pitch to say, |
| General Electric, Gannett, as well as a couple small | | | | "Guys, I'm NOT interested. Thanks AGAIN for |
| ones and start-ups (including my current firm--no | | | | stopping by." You're probably wondering how |
| longer a start-up after 5 years in business). With | | | | these individuals got past our receptionist. Well, |
| the exception of one (the giant retailer) each | | | | the short answer is we don't have one--we have |
| company relied heavily on cold-calling to generate | | | | a phone and a nearby directory. Our partner |
| new business. My definition of cold-calling is when | | | | whose office is closest to the front door is usually |
| a sales rep targets a company and/or individual | | | | the first person hit on by these door-knockers. He |
| that he or she thinks meets the demographics of | | | | thinks it's cute to tell them that he doesn't have |
| a potential buyer and then without invitation (this | | | | purchasing authority but to be sure to go see me |
| is key, hence the italics) either picks up the phone | | | | because I hold the purse strings (not necessarily |
| or walks into their office in an attempt to initiate | | | | true)--so he can pawn "bad cop" responsibilities on |
| a sale. Cold-calling is marketing, pure and simple, | | | | me. But lately it's a role I'm embracing. I now |
| albeit a caveman-like strategy in an electronic age. | | | | recognize what an outdated, old-school, ineffective |
| I've been giving a lot of thought to this lately | | | | strategy cold-calling is and it is one of the main |
| because until a year or so ago, our company | | | | reasons turnover in sales is so high. I would like to |
| relied heavily on cold-calling to generate new | | | | personally apologize to all those purchasing |
| business. Our cold-calling efforts have delivered a | | | | managers and perceived "decision-makers" that I |
| decent chunk of revenue for us over the last | | | | dropped by over the years to have a little |
| few years, however last year I decided to | | | | chit-chat with, completely interrupting their day |
| abandon the strategy completely and I haven't | | | | and wasting both of our time. |
| looked back. | | | | Companies continue to employ cold-calling for a |
| It is Thursday a.m. and so far on two occasions | | | | couple reasons: first, they perceive it to be cheap |
| this week I've had a knock at my office door | | | | (it's not) and second, marketing (legitimate, |
| only to have four total strangers (two on each | | | | creative, permission-based marketing) is hard (not |
| visit) walk into my 10"x10" office and proceed to | | | | always). Over the next few days or so I'm going |
| launch into a sales pitch. The first pair was | | | | to be discussing how our firm has been able to |
| peddling a local tire dealership offering 90% tires | | | | successfully secure new business without |
| (my car is under warranty at my dealership) and | | | | cold-calling a single person, while at the same time |
| the second was for "guaranteed savings!" on my | | | | continuing to use proactive recruiting, what some |
| color printing (I probably print all of two | | | | would perceive as cold-calling (it's not) to find the |
| documents a month in color). | | | | highest qualified candidates for our client's open |
| All four used the same strategy: walk-in, get | | | | positions. |