We hosted our first State of the Sales National call yesterday ensure that our community is armed with cutting-edge sales strategies proven to work in this tough economy. I plan on running them each quarter. If you missed the call you can register for the replay here. During each session, we’ll zoom in on a particular topic and review what you need to know right now to put it to work. Make sure you are there and get the edge on your competition!
We will also answer your questions. While I got through many questions on the call, one was missed. Below is the questions and my answer
From anonymous: Do you still feel that cold calling is the best first contact with a new prospect?
From Colleen:
No. Cold calls only represent 7% of all sales made in North American in any given year. So, if you define a cold call as simply a name from the phone book or a random lead list, and as someone who has never heard from you or your company in the past, then cold calls are definitely NOT the best way to make first contact.
You are much better off with any of the following contact methods:
- Reviving past clients
- Asking for referrals
- Attending networking events and following up with leads
- Implementing live chat on your website
- Calling existing customers for up-sell and cross sell opportunities
- Calling warm web or call-in leads
- Calling leads that you (or your sales mates) lost in the past
I’m sure you can think of more ways to replace cold calls with warm or hot calls. What suggestions do you have?