© Creativa Images | stock.adobe.com

It’s not unheard of to have a rep maintain that cold calls are, if not a thing of the past, certainly a practice not nearly as common as they used to be. Everything from the ability of potential customers to hide behind their voice and e‑mail and overly efficient gatekeepers have combined to make the traditional cold call more challenging than ever before.

That’s why the endorsement by one rep for this vestige of years ago — the time-honored cold call — was somewhat surprising. Over the course of a lengthy lunch a veteran rep salesman voiced his enthusiasm and dependence upon cold calls for drumming up new business — but with a few caveats.

“I’ve got to be honest in saying that naturally I depend upon my repeat customers and the existence of major projects for the majority of my income. However, whenever I find a gap between regular calls or have the need to fill a hole that’s been caused by a cancellation, I jump at the chance to make contact with a potential customer I’ve never seen before.”

Perhaps the first thing to keep in mind when considering the efficacy of making cold calls, according to the rep, is the cost of a sales call. “Remember, the rep’s time is his major commodity and he should be careful how he manages and spends his time. Keeping that in mind, however, if you look at the cold call as something that could be practical and economical, the cold call can be viewed in an entirely different light.”

There are some steps to follow that allow the cold call to be viewed in that different light. For instance:

• Consider the why and the when of the cold call

“Keep in mind that one of the key benefits of the cold call is its immediacy. I’ve found that no matter how well-organized I might think I am, there’s always going to be some time — some opportunity — when you’re making a lengthy trip for just one sales call. Inevitably during the course of such a trip, there’s going to be an opportunity to knock on some doors that you haven’t knocked on before. And, when you do that, there can be some surprises in store for you.”

The rep continued, “Probably because I’ve got so many years under my belt, I’m not afraid to encounter the ultimate rejection that accompanies the majority of cold sales calls. I see that fear of rejection to be more prevalent in some of the younger salespeople. They want to maximize their time and always hit the ball out of the park. As a result, they’re missing some of the harder-to-find opportunities.”

While this rep is obviously a believer in the benefit of cold calling, he was careful to emphasize that when making cold calls, there has to be a plan in place — it can’t simply be a seat-of-the-pants process. Among many suggestions for profitable cold sales calls, he offered the following:

• Don’t avoid or be afraid of making cold calls

Truth be told, a good number of salespeople simply don’t like to make cold calls. And, if you’re like most good salespeople, you like to plan your moves carefully. If you’re willing to take on the task and the challenge of making cold calls, prepare. Make sure you have all the information you can have beforehand.

• Prequalify cold calls

According to the rep “I always do my homework before making a call. Whatever information I gather ahead of time, I keep with me whenever I make my regularly scheduled calls. That why when one of my ‘confirmed’ appointments doesn’t pan out, I have everything I need with me to make an effective cold.

• Don’t waste time — This is a threefold bit of advice:

1. Don’t waste time with lengthy explanations to number-two people. There are always going to be those times when it seems there are people whose only reason for being is to keep you from seeing the people you want to see. When that happens, provide some information for your call, but don’t get into a lengthy discussion when it becomes apparent that the person is trying to keep you from your task. The very last thing you want to do is to give your sales pitch and have the gatekeeper make the decision for the person you are there to see.
2. Don’t waste time with people who don’t turn out to be prospects. Even if you follow the typical prequalification steps, you are still going to wind up calling on some people who won’t be prospects. If you can’t get an introduction to the right people immediately, at least try to get their names so you can call later.
3. Don’t waste time waiting for someone to show up. Remember that for the rep, the cold call is most practical when you can sandwich it between other calls. When you make a cold call, you are obviously at the mercy of the people you want to see. If someone goes so far as to agree to see you, but then keeps you waiting for an extended period of time in the lobby, don’t hesitate to leave if that’s going to impinge on your other — scheduled — calls.

• Plan for your next visit

It’s highly unusual that you’re going to make a sale on the initial cold call visit. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you don’t leave without trying to make an appointment for some time in the immediate future. Failure to do so results in a good deal of wasted time and effort.

• Don’t rush

If you’re fortunate enough to get to a decision-maker in the course of a cold call, that usually puts the rep firmly in a time-pressure trap. The rep knows they only have a few minutes. As a result, they’ll speed up their regular presentation. This is seldom a very effective way to make a sale. A well-honed presentation must be given at its proper pace. Speeding it up, talking faster than usual and trying to funnel everything into a shorter time frame isn’t going to work. If you plan to do much cold calling, it would pay dividends to create a special presentation that you can give in a shorter time frame; or rather just use the cold call time to set up another meeting when you’ll be provided more time for your presentation.

• Business cards

While everything from agency websites to Twitter to LinkedIn profiles have gone miles to provide contact information, the good old-fashioned business card still fills a need. According to one rep, “We’ve got the same agency name that we’ve had for more than half a century, but what we’ve found to be effective are the names of the principals that appear on our company business cards. That’s what our customers are looking for and that information points in them in the right direction from the get-go.”

In the end it’s up to the individual rep to decide whether cold calls are for them or not. They could be if you set up ground rules to make them productive. We don’t advise that you simply make cold calls; but we do think it’s probably time to question conventional wisdom and see how you can complete them effectively.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].