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The Secret Cold Calling Conspiracy

A conspiracy exists in the world of selling. A cold calling conspiracy.

What I’m talking about is the requirement by most sales organizations to make cold
calls on your time and at your expense. They say that cold calls equal appointments
equal sales, but that’s not true anymore. All sales managers are guilty of teaching
it, believing it, and using it. “Increase your activity and increase your income” are
the mantra. We’re told to do the sales math to “motivate” ourselves. Have you
heard this one? “If you make five hundred dollars commission per sale and it takes
five appointments to get the sale and twenty calls to get an appointment, then each
cold call is worth five dollars in your pocket.”

Did anyone ever really believe this?

Hey boss, put your money where your mouth is! If that were really true, companies
would pay us the five dollars per call! They don’t because that equation never works
in the real world... for anyone. The simple fact is that we are only paid for
completed sales, not for attempts. Directing salespeople to make more calls and
increase activity is a weak excuse for a sales manager or trainer to justify his or her
job. Cold calling is an expensive waste of your time. The reason companies have
you cold calling is because it is a waste of your time and your money, not theirs.
You only make money when you sell something, yet over eighty percent of most
salespeople’s time is spent looking for someone to sell to.

The bottom line is that we, as salespeople, cannot afford to continue fooling away
our time on low-percentage activities like cold calling. It’s a way for companies to
save money at your expense. We must focus our attention on activities that get real
results in this new Information Age economy, and the effectiveness of cold calling
fell dramatically when we left the old Industrial Age and entered this bold new era.
Forget cold calling and learn how to market yourself intelligently, systematically,
and automatically. Self-marketing is the key to success in today’s selling
environment and the “secret” of all those top producers who obviously don’t cold
call and won’t tell you what it is they’re doing to make those huge numbers every
month. Remember, Napoleon Hill’s great work is entitled “Think and Grow Rich,”
not “Work Harder and Stay Broke.” Don’t become a victim of the Cold Calling
Conspiracy - learn to market yourself successfully and join the elite club of top
producers. I did it and you can too.

New York Times bestselling author Frank Rumbauskas is the author of Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The Information Age, the home study course that has taught thousands of salespeople how to generate endless leads without cold calling. For more information, please visit http://www.nevercoldcall.com

Tags: calling, cold, sales, secret, the

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Comment by Tanel Kookmaa on November 2, 2009 at 2:29am: here are comments on blog-post not for book! Therefore Peter D'Angelo comment quite arrogant...
I also agree with Flyn - we cannot just say cold calling is good or bad (not working), because everything really is in details and in reality what matters how the sales person is making the activities.
I believe this way Frank's headline is confusing and just a way to get attention. Mainly for sales persons who have just started. While for experienced guys, who have been working years and have large network, is easy to re-think and re-arrange the work to use this huge network, built in years. But in order to have this network and connections, this needs basic sales work, to get the things moving.

Comment by Mathieu Powelll on January 28, 2009 at 11:15am: I'm in ad sales. I can tell you cold calling largely IS a waste of time when calling a very busy business owner who picks up the phone to hear me talk to them about their marketing plans and advertising strategies. Most of my sales are through relationship selling and establishing the magazine I work for as a trusted 'branding' tool for advertisers who join us. I'm interested in creating a larger network to attract clients interested in marketing to the 50+ from across North America. I value Frank's work because it has allowed me to do that and it has allowed me to generate ideas that work in conjunction with using the phone to pitch.

Comment by Pierce on January 13, 2009 at 2:14pm: Great Information...

What I have learned through my years of marketing, is that everything works if you do it properly. Cold calling does work but, you have to be trained and you have to fulfill a unique human need or you are going to have to do huge numbers to reach your goals. Furthermore, everyone hates cold calling so it makes for a easy fix for lazy sales people.

Comment by Peter D'Angelo on November 3, 2008 at 6:55am: I have always found it interesting that someone would make comments about a book without reading it. Is that why you are still "cold calling"?

Comment by Flyn Penoyer on August 21, 2008 at 10:36am: The first and biggest problem here is the definition of a cold call. For clarity I will give the definition from which I make my comments.

A COLD CALL is any call which is made to a person that you do not know and who does not know you. I do not consider a direct referral (where the referrer has told the referral about you and with their knowledge referred you to call them.) a cold call.

One point here most of the cold call basher's believe that doing research makes the call warm - untrue, only an introduction does that.

So if you are calling on a person you don't know and who doesn't know you -- it's a cold call.

I have unfortunately not read Mr. Rumbauskas's works so it is impossible to argue the point not knowing his stance.

I would content however that most companies get there leads in a manor that pre qualifies them to some extent -- they are usually inquiries or companies know to have use for the product or service being sold. If you are selling computers you are not typically given leads to senior care centers that don't use computers, you are calling on other companies that use or need the technology which you sell.

That being said, it is my belief that any information you can find about the prospect without taking to him/her is not going to advance your cause very much. I have challenged many to give me a piece of data they could gather without taking to the prospect that would truly advance the call and have yet to have anyone prove the point.

Obviously, when you call on a company you need to know a bit about them and if possible identify the decision maker. This can easily be done on the web.

But you still have to get through the maze of gatekeepers and voice mail and reach the prospect (unless you have a direct referral). And when you get the prospect on the phone you still do not know what his or her needs are no matter what research you have done -- and to assume that the information you have is relevant to that decision maker is valid is a mistake and violates the best practices of "qualifying."

Cold calling is all about the "unique selling proposition" (USP) and secondarily telephone (presentation) skills. If you don't have a strong USP you won't get past gatekeepers, and you won't get your messages to decision-makers returned no matter how much research you have done.

Every salesperson says "I know your company blah blah blah and I have blah blah" using the research they have done or the benefits they provide. The truth is if that USP is note powerful and compelling enough the gatekeeper is not going to help and if you leave that message on the decision-makers voice mail it will only be returned if it is applicable and your judgments based on research as to your value have no validity -- only the decision maker knows what is important.

I have found the only reason people fail at cold calling is they were never properly trained at it and or they don't have a powerful USP.

The bashing of cold calling is a great way to get attention and stir up a rukkus, but thousands succeed with it everyday -- and it is simply not true that it doesn't work. That is not to say that it should be all one does, or that the leads from which one calls cannot be improved through target marketing, research and other means. But you still end up with someone on the phone that doesn't know you and that is a cold call no matter what the research.

And as for the numbers they do work the more calls the more contacts and the more sales -- the quality of the results can't be guaranteed but the fact is that more activity does equal more sales.

I also find it hard to believe that sales managers wish to waste their salespeople's time. If they make the mistake of not helping the reps to do effective cold calling that is one thing, but I find if very hard to believe that they give the rep the task because it would be a waste of their time -- that conclusion in my opinion is absurd.

Any method which would avoid a "cold call" means either direct introduction/referral or marketing that drives the prospect to call you. Marketing is of course a valuable tool, but in most cases the prospect doesn't call you -- you have to call them cold.

Comment by Chuck Ferguson on August 17, 2008 at 4:00pm: Aline, think you have missed Frank's point completely. Cold calling tends to reach people who are being interrupted and really don't want to hear from you (just like the times you get called at home during dinner). Frank's concept is to give away information that shows you are knowledgeable and in a way that it will be read by people who have an interest. Then they call you and they are much more likely to buy.
Good Luck, --Chuck

Comment by aline dinoia on August 16, 2008 at 6:49pm: if you cant afford to pay a telemarketer to do the calling then you have to do it yourself.
simple.