Sorry it has taken a bit of time to respond.

The article’s point of view is that of the recipient of the cold call (which most often is a very negative point of view)–they haven’t put so many road blocks in the way of salespeople because they want to see who has the stamina to work their way through them.

We as sellers may not like their point of view, but they don’t care. From their perspective we are the one interrupting their day, wasting their time with nothing worth listening to.

And for the most part we sellers have more than earned their contempt.

The point of the article isn’t that we can’t use the phone to connect with prospects, but that we can’t use the phone as we have been. Yes, you’re correct; we have to spent time, money and energy learning how to really connect with prospects. It takes skill.

I’m not trying to sell my cold calling training services because I don’t train in cold calling although I know many great trainers who do. In fact I think there are many prospecting methods that are far superior to cold calling, but I also know there are some folks that are great prospects for us that we just can’t get to without using the phone.

In order for us to break down the barriers and pre-conceived ideas prospects have we must develop our skills and develop approaches that identify their needs and issues without fishing as we typically do and we have to call with clearly defined ideas of how we can impact our prospects. If we don’t, we’re just like every other caller wasting their time.

Paul

Thanks for your input. I agree that a well thought out cold call is still effective, however the problem is that very few (the vast minority) are well thought out. I would also add that bad cold-calling technique (which is rampant) has created a negativity around cold calling especially from the POV of the prospect.

Regards,
Niall