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Is cold calling really dying?

by thet
19 replies
See article:

Inbound Marketing trends
#calling #cold #dying
  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    I think the article is bias based on the type of site its about, content. lol
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      No cold calling is not dead.
      • It will always be needed - and in demand. If you can cold call you can get a job (or partnership) anywhere - with anyone! For example, would you like someone cold calling for your business or product on commission?
      • It's like the tip of the spear for all other marketing.
      • It's the most exciting part about sales, IMO. It takes B*lls to do it. (Not for wimps or sissies).
      • Its the oldest form of sales for a reason ... it works and always will ... if done right.
      Technology or any other "ology" will never replace it, just enhance it!

      Cold calling will just do what it's done for centuries (since the Garden of Eden). It will adapt and use the new technologies of the day to cold call more efficiently and effectively.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandy Berth
    I would like to see any email marketing campaign generate a 9.1% success rate. We do it all, direct mail, email, sem, smm, door knock and telemarket. I like the phone better than anything else. It is more direct, personal and you can actually have bare bone statistics on what is working and what is not coming direct from the owners mouth....Not from false positive clicks.
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by Sandy Berth View Post

      I would like to see any email marketing campaign generate a 9.1% success rate. We do it all, direct mail, email, sem, smm, door knock and telemarket. I like the phone better than anything else. It is more direct, personal and you can actually have bare bone statistics on what is working and what is not coming direct from the owners mouth....Not from false positive clicks.
      I don't really understand this. Are you confused on what the success rate of a campaign is and what the conversion rate is? They are two different things, and email marketing campaigns usually have an extremely high success rate.

      I'm not sure it's more personal than anything else, and the statistics are exactly what you said, bare bone but other methods have more in depth analytics.

      The argument you just made is a little weak, and I'm someone that believes cold calling is an effective method to generate leads.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sandy Berth
        Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

        I don't really understand this. Are you confused on what the success rate of a campaign is and what the conversion rate is? They are two different things, and email marketing campaigns usually have an extremely high success rate.

        I'm not sure it's more personal than anything else, and the statistics are exactly what you said, bare bone but other methods have more in depth analytics.

        The argument you just made is a little weak, and I'm someone that believes cold calling is an effective method to generate leads.
        In that article it states (i believe) that 9.1% response rates are normal in email marketing. This is absolutely not true. Meaning if I sent 11 emails out I would get a response. No way. We send many and we get no where close to that.
        My point is, out of all marketing choices. I like the phone, it works best for us.
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        • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
          Originally Posted by Sandy Berth View Post

          In that article it states (i believe) that 9.1% response rates are normal in email marketing. This is absolutely not true. Meaning if I sent 11 emails out I would get a response. No way. We send many and we get no where close to that.
          My point is, out of all marketing choices. I like the phone, it works best for us.
          I think it's talking about inbound marketing, meaning that the email would have been to someone who has opted in. My response rates for OPT IN emails are actually much higher.

          If you're talking about cold emails, yeah for sure. I agree with you there, but you also have the ability to mass scale with email, so it becomes a volume thing.

          Anyway, I don't disagree about using the phone, it's great.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Stewart
      Originally Posted by Sandy Berth View Post

      I would like to see any email marketing campaign generate a 9.1% success rate. We do it all, direct mail, email, sem, smm, door knock and telemarket. I like the phone better than anything else. It is more direct, personal and you can actually have bare bone statistics on what is working and what is not coming direct from the owners mouth....Not from false positive clicks.
      Yep. Direct and personal make you stand out above your competition. It's also much easier to build relationships.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    It will never die. Never.

    True - according to DMA stats, it is one of the most expensive forms of marketing. That doesn't really mean anything though. It completely depends on your product, margins, and goals.

    According to the same DMA study - cold calling was also the most profitable.

    Also, it would be a huge mistake to depend on any SINGLE marketing channel once the company has volume. It is much better to have an integrated strategy.

    Driving revenue is the #1 priority in any business. The #1 goal of a business is to acquire customers. The #1 focus should always be an increase in revenue.

    That article is intentionally misquoting the facts. They say "cold calling has a 9.1% success rate" and are linking to the HBR graphic below.

    The only place 9.1% appears on the graphic is that 9.1% of sales meetings result in a sale. Has nothing to do with cold-calling. The awesome news from the graphic is that only 37% of salespeople are effective! Do you believe that with a little work you can be better than 63% of sellers? I certainly do.

    As for the Hubspot article - they don't tell us how they sampled the companies and which industries they chose. Also, their only conclusion is that outbound has a higher cost per lead. What we should really care about is profit per sale. I will gladly pay $1 million per lead if I can average $3 million per sale.

    Don't look for reasons to validate that what you don't like to do isn't working. Instead, focus on becoming better.

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    Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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    • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
      I prefer to die right now on the phone, then

      the slow, long coma of waiting for an email response.

      Thanks to Dan for taking the effort and time for his post.
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    • Profile picture of the author thet
      Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

      It will never die. Never.

      True - according to DMA stats, it is one of the most expensive forms of marketing. That doesn't really mean anything though. It completely depends on your product, margins, and goals.

      According to the same DMA study - cold calling was also the most profitable.

      Also, it would be a huge mistake to depend on any SINGLE marketing channel once the company has volume. It is much better to have an integrated strategy.

      Driving revenue is the #1 priority in any business. The #1 goal of a business is to acquire customers. The #1 focus should always be an increase in revenue.

      That article is intentionally misquoting the facts. They say "cold calling has a 9.1% success rate" and are linking to the HBR graphic below.

      The only place 9.1% appears on the graphic is that 9.1% of sales meetings result in a sale. Has nothing to do with cold-calling. The awesome news from the graphic is that only 37% of salespeople are effective! Do you believe that with a little work you can be better than 63% of sellers? I certainly do.

      As for the Hubspot article - they don't tell us how they sampled the companies and which industries they chose. Also, their only conclusion is that outbound has a higher cost per lead. What we should really care about is profit per sale. I will gladly pay $1 million per lead if I can average $3 million per sale.

      Don't look for reasons to validate that what you don't like to do isn't working. Instead, focus on becoming better.

      Again, you did it. Great infographic. Not sure if I am trying to validate. Don't think so Just thought the article was interesting.
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      • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
        Originally Posted by thet View Post

        Again, you did it. Great infographic. Not sure if I am trying to validate. Don't think so Just thought the article was interesting.
        Oh I wasn't talking about you! Just that most people will find any reason to avoid making the calls. They will read every book out there about referrals, email, and networking. They will spend thousands on campaigns. They will do anything to avoid making the calls.

        They work twice as hard avoiding the fastest way to get business.
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        Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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        • Profile picture of the author thet
          Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

          Oh I wasn't talking about you! Just that most people will find any reason to avoid making the calls. They will read every book out there about referrals, email, and networking. They will spend thousands on campaigns. They will do anything to avoid making the calls.

          They work twice as hard avoiding the fastest way to get business.
          Yes. And it never stops.
          I call a lot. However, I see myself finding reasons not to make the call. I am aware of it, so I make the call anyway. It's easy to get sidetracked.
          My next step, is to stop reading forums and other stuff while I am on the phone with receptionists. I should purely focus on the call. Even it's as simple as "Can you pass me trough to.."
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  • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
    The article was written by a guy selling content writing and email services LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author IMAnthony
    No, unfortunately it is not dying.
    But, it would be good if it was.

    I used once or two. But definitely I regret for doing that.

    Cold calling is the worst way to sell a service or product.
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    • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
      Originally Posted by IMAnthony View Post

      No, unfortunately it is not dying.
      But, it would be good if it was.

      I used once or two. But definitely I regret for doing that.

      Cold calling is the worst way to sell a service or product.

      Thet,

      the reason I was "snarky" on my last reply, is this type of reply (above) comes up all the time through the years here.

      it's all just communication.

      I wonder if the member above has a smart phone in which he makes phone calls.
      I wonder when he sells by email, if he then needs to use the phone to make contact.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Originally Posted by IMAnthony View Post

      No, unfortunately it is not dying.
      But, it would be good if it was.

      Cold calling is the worst way to sell a service or product.
      Woh!
      Those are pretty bold and general statements ... without giving us the benefit of a reason why or how you came to those conclusions.
      Care to expand?
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      • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
        Originally Posted by The Niche Man View Post

        Woh!
        Those are pretty bold and general statements ... without giving us the benefit of a reason why or how you came to those conclusions.
        Care to expand?
        thought this was directed to me.

        the member is probably on a beach somewhere or in his pj's, counting his IM Money
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        • Profile picture of the author thet
          Originally Posted by kirbymarketingconcierge View Post

          thought this was directed to me.

          the member is probably on a beach somewhere or in his pj's, counting his IM Money
          It amazes me. I wonder how much experience they have.
          Yes, there are times where the prospect really hates telemarketing.

          Last week I had literally 1 out of 50 conversations I had.
          It went like this:
          *interupts me in the middle of introduction, couple of seconds in*
          ".. Not interested"
          Me: Not now, or never?
          He: Never
          Me: Bye

          WOW, big deal. He must feel soooo bad that he had a 2 second interuption. Terrible! / sarcasm.

          These people that don't believe in cold calling and blabla.. I guess they never had the experience of getting a sincere "thank you, I am so glad you called".
          Which, frankly, I have more then the "**** OFF"
          Even when they are not interested,
          we have a good conversation and figure out how we can do business in the future.
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          • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
            so true Thet.

            you attitude is good.

            positive and sarcastic(in a good way)
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