Is your sales team making outbound calls? The popular narrative peddled around cold calling is that it’s dead. Cold calling, according to the consensus of many, is a relic of the past and utterly useless when it comes to outbound marketing in today’s modern world. This is entirely untrue, and an extremely reductive way of thinking that eliminates a useful tool for outbound marketing and setting outbound meetings.
Is Cold Calling Dead?
What you shouldn’t do is consider cold calling an end in itself. Cold calling is most effective when it’s used as part of a larger marketing strategy. This could be through emails, social media, or any other aspects of a multi-touch marketing campaign. Cold calling is just another tool you can use to maximize the effectiveness of these campaigns.
In order to get the most out of cold calls, you need to keep some key ideas in mind. First of all, be brief and get straight to the point when cold calling. Second, have a plan in place before you make the call. Don’t just dial with reckless abandon, as many who do this don’t actually know what to say when someone picks up.
Finally, pay attention to your voicemails. Be consistent with them – leave one message for 20 different people, say, so you can see how many callbacks you get and tweak as necessary. If you don’t leave consistent messages, you’ll never be able to tell what’s actually working.
Many people also start their voicemails by stating their name and the name of their company. Don’t do this. Start out with some kind of value proposition, be customer-focused throughout, and only give your name and company at the end of the voicemail. Personalize these messages when applicable so it’s specific to whichever individual or company you’re targeting.
If you’re smart about how you conduct cold calls, you’ll find them to be a valuable part of your overall outbound marketing strategy. Using cold calls as the beginning and end of your marketing strategy won’t cut it anymore. But working them into something larger can prove they still have value in the modern world of marketing.
At OutboundView we help B2B companies implement outbound marketing and appointment setting programs. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about driving qualified sales opportunities.
