Small Business Today Magazine JUL 2014 PHENOMENAL PRODUCTS | Page 24
EDITORIALFEATURE
How to Take the CHILL
Out of Cold Calls (Part 1)
By Jack Warkenthien, CEO of NextStep Solutions
L
ast month, I was invited to speak to
a roomful of Sales and Business Development Professionals that was
sponsored by the National Business
Development Association (NBDA). Their
choice of topics: COLD CALLING! In
Sales, there are few topics as polarizing as
cold calling. Is it a necessary activity or a
complete waste of time?
On this day, I was the Judge, Jury, and Attorney in the Compass Bank “court room”
and all eyes were on me as I made my
opening remarks. Imagine the surprise on
the faces of over 130 of my closest friends
in the room when the first words out of
my mouth were, “Cold-calling does NOT
work, and I try to avoid them”. With pen
in hand and eager to learn how they too
could take the CHILL out of their frequent
“cold” telephone prospecting calls and
door-knocking activities, they didn’t expect
me to say, “Don’t make ‘em”. Wait a minute, Sheriff, everybody makes cold calls-always have and always will. Let me approach the “bench” and provide evidence
against them.
Cold Calling Doesn’t Work
In a study done several years ago at the
Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, it concluded that
four out of every five B2B decision-makers
in the U.S. (that’s 80%) absolutely, positively would NOT buy as a result of a cold
call. More recently in the Fall of 2011, a
study was done by the Keller Research
Center at Baylor University. The numbers
from that study was even more astounding!
The conclusions were based on a group
of 50 experienced Sales Reps who made
a total of 6,264 phone-based phone calls
In a study done
several years ago at the
Kenan-Flagler Business
School at the
University of North
Carolina, it concluded
that four out of every
five B2B decision-makers
in the U.S. (that’s 80%)
absolutely, positively
would NOT buy as a
result of a cold call.
over a two week period. To say the results were dismal would be an understatement. The verdict:
• 72% of the calls were outright rejections. This included hang-ups, people
saying “No”, and so on.
• 28% of the calls were labeled as “productive”. Productive? Yes. These
were people who didn’t hang up
right away, showed some interest,
and asked to be called at a later time,
etc. Before you jump out of your box
and “object”.....
• The 28% totaling 1,774 calls resulted
in 19 (yes, that’s NINETEEN) appointments out of the total 6,264 cold calls
made.
• Success rate of cold calls to appointments: 0.3%. Based on the average
closing rate of 20% or one out of five
deals. That equates to barely four
sales. Four sales from 6,264 cold calls.
In summary Your Honor, experienced
Sales Reps can expect to SPEND (v. invest) 7.5 hours of cold-calling to get ONE
qualified appointment!
22 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ JULY 2014 ]
Since most Sales Reps DO NOT GET
PAID TO PROSPECT, they’re always looking for ways to increase their SELLING
TIME. Sadly, when we do some introspective thinking, most of us, if we’re lucky, are
investing 20% of our time in Sales activities.
The remainder of the time is spent in lower payoff activities such as administration,
marketing, and non-Sales related tasks.
Your Jack’s Snack:
Before you ever pick up the phone again,
do your “3 x 3 Research”. Find three
pieces of relevant information about your
Candidate in three minutes. This bit of research takes the chill out of any cold call
since before you dial you’ve learned something about their business, their potential
challenges, and even about their competition. Understand there’s a fine line between doing too much research and not
doing enough. The co-founder of Vorsight,
a Consulting practice, taught me there are
two (Sales) types: Librarians and Cowboys. Librarians spend all day researching
and they don’t make enough calls. Cowboys are so gung ho about dialing for dollars that they never do any research. As a
Sales Professional, you want to always do
quick and easy research, attack that phone,
and never look back!
Next month, you’ll learn “You Never
Get a Second Chance at a First Impression” and how a little Research converts
your Cold Call list into a Century Club of
Warm and Hot leads. Court is adjourned
for the month.
Jack Warkenthien, CEO, NextStep Solutions, can be
contacted by email at [email protected] or call him at 832-344-6998. You
can also visit his website at www.nextstep-solutions.
com.