Why Cold Calling Isn’t Effective Prospecting

It’s time we banish cold calling.

Randomly calling people is not a strategy that works. But don’t rule out the phone altogether! So, what works?

Let me share with you some ideas and strategies so you don’t find yourself ever having a cold call.

This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!

Calling works.

Too many people wrap cold calling around every type of calling. When it comes to prospecting, calling works. Cold calling doesn’t. 

Calling when you know you’re contacting people who fit your ICP, your ideal customer profile, is anything but cold. You may have never spoken with this person before, but that’s Warm Calling. Reaching out to people who I realize can benefit from what I sell helps me maximize my most valuable resource: time.

I might be a financial planner. Let’s say I’m reaching out to people who are in need of financial planning services, and I’ve gone through and I’ve built out my ideal customer profile, and they fit that profile. I owe it to them to reach out. If I don’t reach out to them, I’m actually doing them a disservice. 

Build out your own Ideal Customer Profile in this masterclass

Random calling does not work. 

Now, I’m not randomly calling people. I would not want people calling me and saying, “Oh, can we set you up with maternity services?” Excuse me, way past that. 

When we think about cold calling, as in just randomly calling phone numbers, randomly texting people, or grabbing people off of social media—that’s not effective. And that’s a waste of not only resources, but also your mental energy. 

Prospecting is about helping others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. 

But if people do reach out and talk to me about something that would be a benefit to me, I want them to. 

Trust me, I have a lot of problems, and if I knew you could help me, I would want you to reach out. And if somewhere later on I found out that you did not help me, I would be upset. 

That’s what prospecting is all about. Because if you knew that I had a problem, that’s not cold calling, that’s very much warm, targeted calling. I would want you to reach out to me. 

Who is your perfect customer?

Who’s your perfect customer? Zero in on those types of people. Where do those people reside? Those are the people who you want to be contacting. It’s now a warm call, because there’s a high probability—albeit not 100%—that they are going to be spot on needing your services. 

Now, they may not need them right now. That’s okay. Because if they’re your ideal customer profile, I’m not going to call them again soon, but I may reach back out to them somewhere down the road. 

Read about How to Contact the Right Prospects.

Effective prospecting is warm, targeted calling, staying in the lane that is your ICP.

What Makes an Effective CTA?

 

+ 4 Essential Parts of Any Call to Action

 

Find Ep. 143 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.

It’s Not About the CRM, It’s About the System.

w/ Phil Gerbyshak

There isn’t any magic, you’ve still got to do the work.

Listen as Mark and Phil share insight into their own sales processes, and what works to close more deals. 

Episode drops Thursday, 10/19/2023

The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.

 

54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.

Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2023, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.

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