Postmodern Cold Calling

There has been significant debate on MaineBusiness about cold calling lately. Some are opposed, saying cold calling is a thing of the past and only hurts your chances of making quality sales. Others, however, consider cold calling an active part of a business sales strategy.

After college, I did a short stint as an outbound telephone salesperson selling oxygen regulators. I made nearly 100 calls a day and earned enough commission to live on. In the beginning, 100% of my calls were cold- right out of the iced-over phone book. Cold calling obviously still generates at least some sales, because people are gainfully employed as outbound telephone salespeople all over the world. The questions is, should cold calling be a part of your sales strategy?

While no one was looking, business and western culture in general underwent a paradigm shift. Business operates almost completely differently than it did 15 years ago, and drastically differently than it did even 5 years ago. This is thanks, in part, to the dramatic improvements in connectivity. Web 2.0 is now becoming a thing of the past as people are constantly finding new and better ways to leverage technology to grow business and increase sales.

In addition to the technological advances (and perhaps because of them), generational differences have now come into play. The baby boomers are retiring, while generation X is taking over the world of small business and many high positions in fortune 500 companies. Generation Y is also becoming thoroughly entrenched in the workforce and subtly planning a coup of the Xers. People of the younger generations buy on completely different principles than previous generations.

Finally, a gradual cultural shift to the postmodern era (and perhaps beyond) has caused much of western culture to think and behave differently with regard to business decisions. Now, more than ever, people want to relate to one another on a personal level. Lofty advertisements and product claims no longer work as consumers and businesses seek honesty and relevance.

Because of these shifts, it is necessary for us to evaluate all methods of a marketing strategy, and that includes cold calling. While certain old methods will continue to work for a while, we may soon see the end of marketing staples like television advertising, print advertising, and cold calling. Networks and relationships, like it or not, are taking over every form of push marketing we know and love.

Seth Godin, a leader in marketing in this new era, discourages cold calling, along with any other form of interruption marketing. He has heavily promoted permission marketing.

Jeff Gitomer, a master of sales both cold and warm, is now shifting his focus to making connections before a phone call or a visit.

Personally, I would not discourage anyone from cold calling if they are able to make sales and grow their business. However, I would encourage those same business owners to simultaneously make use of the methods of networking and relationships. As cold calling becomes less effective, increase the use of the other methods instead of clinging to something that is no longer beneficial.

Lastly, if you need business and have run out of contacts, pick up the phone and start dialing numbers. You can and will, at the very least, meet some new people! However you do it, make contact, find common interests, solve a problem for free, provide value, and watch them come to you for business.

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