Should You Be Cold Calling When 'Social Selling'?

"Think of the absurdity of it ... and you wonder why your cold calling sucks?"

"You wonder why your 'opportunities' (Hint: they never were opportunities) push or go dark?"

If you're using the phone to prospect, successfully, you're not cold pitching. You are helping buyers either qualify-out or get ready to buy.

What Is a Cold Call?

"If you ever walked up to a stranger at a bar and said 'h=Hi,' that was a cold call. But unless you were a total dunce you didn't say, 'Hi ... want a date?' right off the bat," says Goldman.

There's nothing wrong with cold calling — people do it every day.

"There's a little preamble that is required. And you know that! So why would you treat your sales communications differently?"

Goldman says cold calls:

• serve to move you from unknown entity to known entity...
• do this in a way that is well received...
• over some medium that is well received.

However, he also says we endanger the entire process when we ask for things that are unreasonable — given that level of familiarity.

"So the next time you think of cold calling ... and fear shoots down your spine ... realize that's a sign that, yes, you are doing it wrong," says Goldman.

"You are asking for too much. But when you step back your asks ... and things become more comfortable ... realize that's a sign you are doing it right."

Proof: Calling Works in Most B2B Scenarios

Meet Mark Hunter of Omaha-based The Sales Hunter. He has a story of coaching a large national sales team, where his reps were selling to IT departments:

"We had huge success by integrating the telephone, email, social media and even in-person meetings together. The sales reps who had the most success were the ones that used the telephone the most," says Hunter.