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People continue to say how cold calling is dead and how in today’s environment, it no longer can be cost justified. The answer is both “yes” and “no.” Let me deal with the “no” first.

In the past few months, I’ve watched numerous salespeople shift all of their prospecting efforts to developing social media with such vehicles as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. The problem with this is it becomes a giant time sucker. The payout of social media in terms of developing sales short-term is very poor.

To develop a social media strategy requires time, and I’m a firm believer it must be incremental time. You can’t allow it to take away from your current sales development strategy. Now, I’m astute enough to know that this may change, but we’re not there yet. Salespeople who spend their time dealing in the social media world at the expense of time spent on normal sales development do so at great expense.

Now let me give you a “yes” response to the use of social media and cold calling. First, keep in mind that cold calling is rarely as cold as the term implies. Unless you’re still living in the world of selling via a phone bank sweatshop, then you understand that cold calling is really more about warm calling. More often than not, you are contacting people who already have some sort of knowledge of you or relationship with you. In this context, social media is a great supplemental vehicle — one that must be handled in the context of a marketing strategy. To spend time tweeting away hour after hour or visiting everyone’s Facebook page is not going to get you anywhere but broke.

The solution exists in having a sound sales development strategy that is focused on your core prospects. As an incremental process (on your own time), develop a social media awareness with Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

A key part of your sales development strategy needs to include keeping your web presence tight and focused. Don’t be easily swayed into believing that your best approach is to be part of every social media website available. If you can’t be a strong presence, don’t go there. What I mean by a “strong presence” is that you are an active player who can contribute or monitor the site at least four times per week. For me, this means the only social media sites I use are Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.

One very strict rule to keep in mind is that social media should occupy no more than 15 minutes per day. Only in rare exceptions should you ever access Facebook or Linkedin during your normal workday. Twitter is an exception, but only to the degree that you can have a timely review and distribution of messages. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps you can use to automatically send out pre-loaded tweets during the workday.

Social media has a role in your sales strategy, but not to the abandonment of time-tested elements such as cold calling and meeting face-to-face with customers. Begin today to grasp this so that you do not jeopardize your sales success.

Surviving (and Thriving) With Voice Mail

Voice mail is either our best friend or worst enemy (or possibly a little bit of both). Is it a convenience in sales and critical in our selling skills — or just one more layer sabotaging our sales success as we try to reach clients and prospects?

My suggestion is that instead of lamenting about how frustrating it is to reach people’s voice mail, why don’t you instead commit to improving your voice mail skills and phone skills so that you can strengthen your sales motivation and your bottom line?

• If your goal is to get the phone call returned, don’t leave information that would allow the person to make up their mind. Add a call-to-action to your message by providing a key date or something of interest that will encourage the person to return the call. You have to create a reason for them to call you back.
• Repeat your phone number twice. If the person can’t quickly write your number down, you’ve given them a perfect reason to not call back.
• Avoid asking the person to call you back at a certain time. This provides them with an excuse not to call you.
• Never state in the message that you will plan to call them back. Again, this only gives the person an excuse to ignore your message.
• Messages left on a Friday afternoon are the least likely to be returned. For most people, Monday mornings are very busy and, as a result, only high–priority activities will get their immediate attention.
• Do not leave voice mail messages at odd hours of the night. Most voice mail systems offer a time stamp and the person hearing the message will immediately suspect you really did not want to talk to them.
• The best hours to leave voice mail messages are from 6:45 to 8:00 a.m. and from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Driven people are usually working during these time periods, and the person receiving your message could potentially view you as one, which is good.
• Wisely use time zone changes to make as many calls as possible during the optimal voice mail periods listed in the previous tip.
• Voice mail messages are an excellent way to introduce yourself to a person. Be personable, yet professional, and link your message to something of interest to the person you are calling (such as another person or event). The recipient may view your message as a waste of time if you have no purpose other than getting your name in front of them.
• When leaving a message with multiple points, be sure to immediately disclose how many you will be making. This will prevent the recipient from accidentally fast-forwarding or deleting it before it is completely heard.
• If you can’t say it briefly, don’t say it at all. Voice mail is not “story time.” Leaving a long message is an invitation to have the entire message skipped. The optimal voice mail message is between 8 and 14 seconds.
• When leaving your phone number, do not leave your website address as well. This will give the person an opportunity to make a decision about you without calling you back.
• Leave a “P.S.” at the end of your message. A “P.S.” is a very quick, additional piece of information that will connect with the person.
• Mention the person’s first name at least twice in the message, but don’t use their last name (doing so comes across as very impersonal).
• Refer to a mutual acquaintance in your message as a way of connecting with the recipient. (Caution: Make sure they think positively of that person!)

Voice mail doesn’t have to be your nemesis. Instead, it can be a tool to keep your prospecting and sales motivation on track. Don’t try to wing it. Be conscientious of the way you are using voice mail to its fullest so that you won’t just survive it — you’ll thrive with it!