As more and more people enter the sales profession, less and
less are utilizing cold calling as their prospecting technique
of choice.
Why is this happening? Why is cold calling going away?
There are several reasons. First of all, prospects have become
so sick and tired of cold calling that they have reached the
point of total intolerance. Seasoned salespeople know this, yet
many continue to cold call, if only because they haven't been
taught anything different and have become used to the daily
rejection. Rookies, on the other hand, are taken aback at the
reactions they get while cold calling and immediately abandon it
or switch professions.
Second, prospects don't need salespeople to inform them anymore.
Years ago, a prospect would be open to listening to salespeople
who were cold calling, take in the information, and possibly move
forward with a purchase. This is no longer the case because
prospects who are in a buying mode have all of the information
they need right at their fingertips thanks to the Internet. So,
while salespeople are still necessary to carry out the actual
selling process, cold calling is rapidly going away now that
we're in the Information Age.
Third, the Internet has taken business networking to a whole new
level. Only a couple of years ago, it was a rite of passage for
a salesperson to waste lots of time and money attending chamber
mixers and networking groups, only to walk out empty handed.
This was no more effective than cold calling, but was the extent
of networking sophistication for nearly all salespeople. Now
that we have rapidly growing business networking sites with tens
of millions of members, it's easier than ever for salespeople to
make valuable connections without ever cold calling or wasting
time at mixers.
Fourth, younger salespeople are becoming marketing-savvy. It's
no secret that a well-executed personal marketing plan can
generate more than enough leads, so marketing is taking the place
of cold calling as far as prospecting goes. In the last couple
of years, the idea that one can replace cold calling with an
intelligent personal marketing plan has finally been accepted as
reality. Now that sales managers are finally starting to catch
on, cold calling is disappearing quickly.
Finally, cold calling is a morale killer. New entrants into the
sales profession see the drudgery and misery of cold calling, and
realize that it will get them nowhere. You can't be successful
if you hate what you do, so why do something you hate? That's
why cold calling is so detrimental - everyone hates doing it, and
performance suffers as a result.
The bottom line is that cold calling is dead, and is a leftover
relic of a previous generation. Today's successful salespeople
have said no to cold calling and yes to smart marketing.
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