First, no more cold calls! They don\u2019t give enough of a return, and we typically have the wrong people doing them (the new hires). Instead, let’s try Six Degrees of Separation for business. If the world is truly “connected,” — and it is — why make cold calls when we can find connections to people who can deliver business to us? Instead of calling strangers, let\u2019s spend that time targeting two areas: One, who do we know who we’ve done a good job for? Chances are they are connected to people who would also buy from us. Two, who do we want to do business with? We know someone right now (within six degrees) who can introduce us to potential customers.<\/p>\n
By using this strategy, we can shorten the sales cycle. The benefits are many but two stand out: One, your sales team sells with a higher level of esteem. Two, you become much more efficient in your sales effort and increase new business regardless of market conditions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have been debating the merits of cold calling recently here at Select Metrix.\u00a0 My take is that it is an archaic approach that appears active but produces little.\u00a0 I don’t recall the other argument since mine was so persuasive (that ought to get Lee going). Here is another take on cold calling from one of the Inc.com blogs: First, no more cold calls! They don\u2019t give enough of a return, and we typically have the wrong people doing them (the new hires). Instead, let’s try Six Degrees of Separation for business. If the world is truly “connected,” — and it is — why make cold calls when we can… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[264,33,265,232],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-techniques","tag-cold-call","tag-networking","tag-prospect","tag-prospecting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-mw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1847,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/01\/10-cold-calling-nuisances\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":0},"title":"10 Cold Calling Nuisances","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"January 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I hate to admit it, but I'm a fan of Jeff Foxworthy and his, \"You know you're a redneck if....\"\u00a0 Eyes on Sales has an article by Drew Stevens that puts a spin to Jeff's famous cliche, \u201cYou might be a cold calling nuisance if\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Drew has 10 quick tips\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1779,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/11\/14-cold-calling-suggestions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":1},"title":"14 Cold Calling Suggestions","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Eyesonsales.com has a short article that lays out 14 steps in making successful cold calls.\u00a0 With the lengthening of the sales cycle in regards to the economy, it is important to make sure that your salespeople stay on top of their pipelines.\u00a0 This article has 14 points that can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/cold-calling-numbers-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":2},"title":"Cold-Calling Numbers Game","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it me or is the saying \"it's a numbers game\" an overly-simplistic statement regarding a grossly inefficient tactic?\u00a0 Weight lifting is a numbers game.\u00a0 Sales and marketing is not.\u00a0 Some instances where this statement is\u00a0applied: cold-calling networking job searching mailers invitations I'm sure there are other examples but those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1185,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/09\/5-cold-call-basics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":3},"title":"5 Cold Call Basics","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been reading much about cold call techniques this week which is good because I am a lousy cold caller.\u00a0 An interesting discussion occurred at a networking meeting I attended this morning regarding cold calls.\u00a0 There are 5 cold call basics to maintain before each call: 1. What does the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":678,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/the-contradicting-ad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":4},"title":"The Contradicting Ad","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I read a short sales ad for a Sales Rep that was only 7 sentences long. But the brevity of the ad did not stop the author from being unconsciously contradicting. The open: Person must be an achiever, with excellent communication skills. Previous Marketing and Sales experience is a must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52194,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/07\/1-important-change-to-prospecting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":5},"title":"1 Important Change To Prospecting","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KnqadkJmQCI Has anything changed more in recent years than prospecting?\u00a0 Cold calling a business phone number to sell a potential prospect is a marginal task, at best, today.\u00a0 Email is a similar task with similar results.\u00a0 Salespeople who do their own prospecting need an advantage, a shift, in their approach.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/KnqadkJmQCI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}