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Cold Calling: A Business Owner's Perspective
- 1. A presentation by Frank Rumbauskas New York Times Best-Selling Author Cold Calling: A Business Owner's Perspective
- 2. years after starting my sales training business, where I teach salespeople how to prospect without cold calling, I'm surprised that cold calling still exists.
- 3. Even worse, that I'm still receiving hate mail on a daily basis from people who have a bizarre emotional connection to cold calling. People react as though I'm bad- mouthing their children. To make matters worse, sales organizations across the board are still teaching their teams to cold call.
- 4. Why? Well, I have no idea… Having made the transition from cold calling salesperson to business owner, I can tell you that it's a very eye-opening experience, and, furthermore, that cold calling is especially ridiculous from this vantage point.
- 5. For starters, cold calls never reach me. I've set up my office and phone system so I'm never bothered by them. Receptionist transfers them to a special mailbox specifically designated for cold calls. And guess what - it's never checked!
- 6. And I'll let you in on another little secret: This is becoming a common practice among small business owners, executives, and other desirable prospects!
- 8. ….is when you're buried under a pile of work and hectic schedule, and you're interrupted by a cold call.
- 9. To make matters worse, 98% of salespeople, by my estimate, aren't calling because they can give you any real value. They're calling because they desperately need to make a sale, and you can give it to them!
- 10. In other words, they're interrupting your busy day in order to take something from you, rather than to give you value.
- 11. Are all salespeople takers? No. Absolutely not. Many salespeople give tremendous value, far beyond the cost of their products or services. But, they're in such high demand and so flooded with referrals that they don't have to bother with cold calling. I know that when I reached that stage of maturity as a salesperson where I began to focus on what I could give to prospects, rather than how many sales I could get, I found myself literally overwhelmed with referral business.
- 12. Here's another tidbit: A few years back, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina conducted a study on cold calling, and concluded that over 80% of business executives absolutely, positively will not buy as the result of a cold call.
- 13. That means that 20% will. It also means that the "cold calling works" crowd is all fighting for the same 20% of the market, and deluding themselves into believing that cold calling works all because they get a sale now and then from that 20%.
- 14. The rest of us who are using intelligent self-marketing and prospecting techniques are happily getting checks and signed contracts from the 80%. And building long-lasting relationships in the process. Which means lots of referral business, for a long time.
- 15. Perception Aspect • Why doesn’t the salesperson have enough referrals? • Why aren't they giving better service to their customers?
- 16. Why isn't the company running a marketing campaign to generate leads? • Are they really that broke? • Will they still be in business in 1 year…or 5…. to service my needs?
- 17. But, I'm not going to argue with the "cold calling works" crowd. They'll just call you lazy for not cold calling. Meanwhile, you're laughing your way to the bank while they go out and make some more calls, hoping to hang on to a job for another month, while stopping at some point to send me an email calling me an idiot.
- 18. Cold calling is very time-consuming. If they stopped to think about how much more income they'd receive by spending that time face-to-face with qualified prospects, rather than looking for new prospects, they might change their ways.
- 19. “98 out of every 100 people are not willing to go the extra mile, and will be satisfied with the status quo and with whatever life hands them.” Napoleon Hill
- 20. Thank You For Reading! For a FREE 37-page PDF preview of the Never Cold Call Again system, please visit www.nevercoldcall.com
Editor's Notes
- Nine years after starting my sales training business, where I teach salespeople how to prospect without cold calling, I'm surprised that cold calling still exists. Even worse, that I'm still receiving hate mail on a daily basis from people who have a bizarre emotional connection to cold calling. People react as though I'm bad-mouthing their children.To make matters worse, sales organizations across the board are still teaching their teams to cold call.
- Nine years after starting my sales training business, where I teach salespeople how to prospect without cold calling, I'm surprised that cold calling still exists. Even worse, that I'm still receiving hate mail on a daily basis from people who have a bizarre emotional connection to cold calling. People react as though I'm bad-mouthing their children.To make matters worse, sales organizations across the board are still teaching their teams to cold call.
- Why? Well, I have no idea, but that's beyond the scope of this article. I'm writing this today because, having made the transition from cold calling salesperson to business owner, I can tell you that it's a very eye-opening experience, and, furthermore, that cold calling is especially ridiculous from this vantage point.For starters, cold calls never reach me. Why? Because I've set up my office and phone system so I'm never bothered by them. If a cold call comes in, and the receptionist can't easily get rid of the caller, they're transferred to a special mailbox specifically designated for cold calls. And guess what - it's never checked!And I'll let you in on another little secret: This is becoming a common practice among small business owners, executives, and other desirable prospects!That's right: If you've been cold calling, leaving endless voicemails and wondering why no one ever calls you back, you now have your answer. It's because they're never getting your messages in the first place.Is this rude? I don't think so. Rude is when you're buried under a pile of work and hectic schedule, as I frequently am, and you're interupted by a cold call. To make matters worse, 98% of salespeople, by my estimate, aren't calling because they can give you any real value. They're calling because they desperately need to make a sale, and you can give it to them!In other words, they're interrupting your busy day in order to take something from you, rather than to give you value.Are all salespeople takers? No. Absoutely not. Many, many salespeople give tremendous value, far beyond the cost of their products or services. But, they're in such high demand and so flooded with referrals that they don't have to bother with cold calling. I know that when I reached that stage of maturity as a salesperson where I began to focus on what I could give to prospects, rather than how many sales I could get, I found myself literally overwhelmed with referral business.Here's another tidbit: A few years back, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina conducted a study on cold calling, and concluded that over 80% of business executives absolutely, positively will not buy as the result of a cold call.That's interesting, because it means that 20% will. It also means that the "cold calling works" crowd is all fighting for the same 20% of the market, and deluding themselves into believing that cold calling works all because they get a sale now and then from that 20%. If only the 20% would stop responding to cold calls, it would finally go away forever. But I'm not complaining - while the cold callers are fighting amongst each other for the 20%, the rest of us who are using intelligent self-marketing and prospecting techniques are happily getting checks and signed contracts from the 80%. And building long-lasting relationships in the process. Which means lots of referral business, for a long time.And that brings me to the perception aspect of cold calling. My thoughts upon receiving a cold call, along with most others in my position, are of wondering why the salesperson must cold call and doesn't have enough referrals. Why aren't they giving better service to their customers? Take it a step further: Another thought that runs through my mind is, why isn't the company running a marketing campaign to generate leads for the sales force? Are they really that broke? Will they still be in business in one year - or five - to service my needs?But, I'm not going to argue with the "cold calling works" crowd because most won't engage in a logical discussion. They'll just call you lazy for not cold calling; meanwhile, you're laughing your way to the bank while they go out and make some more calls, hoping to hang on to a job for another month, while stopping at some point to send me an email calling me an idiot.In fairness, there are some people out their making their numbers by cold calling. However, they're severely limiting themselves by time. Cold calling is very time-consuming. If they stopped to think about how much more income they'd receive by spending that time face-to-face with qualified prospects, rather than looking for new prospects, they might change their ways.But, as Napoleon Hill said many times throughout his lifetime, 98 out of every 100 people are not willing to go the extra mile, and will be satisfied with the status quo and with whatever life hands them.Well, that's enough of my rant for now. I have to get back to work, secure in in the knowledge that I will be completely uninterrupted in my office and that not a single cold caller will be able to reach me!
- For starters, cold calls never reach me. Why? Because I've set up my office and phone system so I'm never bothered by them. If a cold call comes in, and the receptionist can't easily get rid of the caller, they're transferred to a special mailbox specifically designated for cold calls. And guess what - it's never checked!And I'll let you in on another little secret: This is becoming a common practice among small business owners, executives, and other desirable prospects!
- For starters, cold calls never reach me. Why? Because I've set up my office and phone system so I'm never bothered by them. If a cold call comes in, and the receptionist can't easily get rid of the caller, they're transferred to a special mailbox specifically designated for cold calls. And guess what - it's never checked!And I'll let you in on another little secret: This is becoming a common practice among small business owners, executives, and other desirable prospects!
- Is this rude? I don't think so. Rude is when you're buried under a pile of work and hectic schedule, as I frequently am, and you're interupted by a cold call. To make matters worse, 98% of salespeople, by my estimate, aren't calling because they can give you any real value. They're calling because they desperately need to make a sale, and you can give it to them!
- Is this rude? I don't think so. Rude is when you're buried under a pile of work and hectic schedule, as I frequently am, and you're interupted by a cold call. To make matters worse, 98% of salespeople, by my estimate, aren't calling because they can give you any real value. They're calling because they desperately need to make a sale, and you can give it to them!
- In other words, they're interrupting your busy day in order to take something from you, rather than to give you value.
- Are all salespeople takers? No. Absoutely not. Many, many salespeople give tremendous value, far beyond the cost of their products or services. But, they're in such high demand and so flooded with referrals that they don't have to bother with cold calling. I know that when I reached that stage of maturity as a salesperson where I began to focus on what I could give to prospects, rather than how many sales I could get, I found myself literally overwhelmed with referral business.
- Here's another tidbit: A few years back, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina conducted a study on cold calling, and concluded that over 80% of business executives absolutely, positively will not buy as the result of a cold call.That's interesting, because it means that 20% will. It also means that the "cold calling works" crowd is all fighting for the same 20% of the market, and deluding themselves into believing that cold calling works all because they get a sale now and then from that 20%. If only the 20% would stop responding to cold calls, it would finally go away forever. But I'm not complaining - while the cold callers are fighting amongst each other for the 20%, the rest of us who are using intelligent self-marketing and prospecting techniques are happily getting checks and signed contracts from the 80%. And building long-lasting relationships in the process. Which means lots of referral business, for a long time.
- Here's another tidbit: A few years back, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina conducted a study on cold calling, and concluded that over 80% of business executives absolutely, positively will not buy as the result of a cold call.That's interesting, because it means that 20% will. It also means that the "cold calling works" crowd is all fighting for the same 20% of the market, and deluding themselves into believing that cold calling works all because they get a sale now and then from that 20%. If only the 20% would stop responding to cold calls, it would finally go away forever. But I'm not complaining - while the cold callers are fighting amongst each other for the 20%, the rest of us who are using intelligent self-marketing and prospecting techniques are happily getting checks and signed contracts from the 80%. And building long-lasting relationships in the process. Which means lots of referral business, for a long time.
- Here's another tidbit: A few years back, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina conducted a study on cold calling, and concluded that over 80% of business executives absolutely, positively will not buy as the result of a cold call.That's interesting, because it means that 20% will. It also means that the "cold calling works" crowd is all fighting for the same 20% of the market, and deluding themselves into believing that cold calling works all because they get a sale now and then from that 20%. If only the 20% would stop responding to cold calls, it would finally go away forever. But I'm not complaining - while the cold callers are fighting amongst each other for the 20%, the rest of us who are using intelligent self-marketing and prospecting techniques are happily getting checks and signed contracts from the 80%. And building long-lasting relationships in the process. Which means lots of referral business, for a long time.
- And that brings me to the perception aspect of cold calling. My thoughts upon receiving a cold call, along with most others in my position, are of wondering why the salesperson must cold call and doesn't have enough referrals. Why aren't they giving better service to their customers?
- Take it a step further: Another thought that runs through my mind is, why isn't the company running a marketing campaign to generate leads for the sales force? Are they really that broke? Will they still be in business in one year - or five - to service my needs?But, I'm not going to argue with the "cold calling works" crowd because most won't engage in a logical discussion. They'll just call you lazy for not cold calling; meanwhile, you're laughing your way to the bank while they go out and make some more calls, hoping to hang on to a job for another month, while stopping at some point to send me an email calling me an idiot.
- Take it a step further: Another thought that runs through my mind is, why isn't the company running a marketing campaign to generate leads for the sales force? Are they really that broke? Will they still be in business in one year - or five - to service my needs?But, I'm not going to argue with the "cold calling works" crowd because most won't engage in a logical discussion. They'll just call you lazy for not cold calling; meanwhile, you're laughing your way to the bank while they go out and make some more calls, hoping to hang on to a job for another month, while stopping at some point to send me an email calling me an idiot.
- In fairness, there are some people out their making their numbers by cold calling. However, they're severely limiting themselves by time. Cold calling is very time-consuming. If they stopped to think about how much more income they'd receive by spending that time face-to-face with qualified prospects, rather than looking for new prospects, they might change their ways.
- But, as Napoleon Hill said many times throughout his lifetime, 98 out of every 100 people are not willing to go the extra mile, and will be satisfied with the status quo and with whatever life hands them.Well, that's enough of my rant for now. I have to get back to work, secure in in the knowledge that I will be completely uninterrupted in my office and that not a single cold caller will be able to reach me!