Here are more of my thoughts on why I believe cold-calling is important. It is important I first clarify that I do not believe that the only way to develop new customers is strictly through cold-calling. Rather, I believe cold-calling is one of the prospecting techniques you use, in addition to using email, mail, the internet and referrals.

Cold-calling is the only way for a salesperson to allow their real personality to come through with a prospect. Too many salespeople I know believe they can create a business around emailing. They argue that they can email so many more people than they could ever talk to in a single day. I agree that you can email more people, but you have no real gauge as to whether they actually read such emails. You also do not know if the emails even make it through their spam filter.

Calling is the one sure way you can let your personality come through, whether it be in a voice mail message or a live phone call. I strongly advocate every salesperson use the phone as part of their mix in developing new customers. A great example comes from two new salespeople from one of the companies with which I consult. These salespeople took over their respective areas about the same time, and one used email as their primary prospecting tool and the other used the phone and email. After six months, the one who used the phone is doing great, while the other person has few opportunities that could even materialize into business.

The secret as to why the person who used the phone has been successful has been their personality. Yes, the person struggles to get someone on the phone, but when they do, they allow their engaging personality to come through. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In fact, it really is pretty simple, but for some reason, there is so much chatter out there about how the telephone is a dead tool when it comes to developing new customers.

Start today to use the telephone more often as you head toward sales success. Before long, you will see the difference cold calling can make.