Cold Calling is not generating sales

Cold calling is a fact of business life. Like it or not you are going to have to engage with strangers and get them to buy your products and services. So you have to pick up the phone and start dialling?

That probably won’t work! The people you are trying to reach have never heard of you or what you do. They are working on really important stuff and have deadlines to meet. They don’t want to talk to you and they certainly don’t want to spend any money. Gatekeepers and voicemail will keep you at bay for several weeks. Only the most committed get to speak to the decision-maker. Lead generation experts say it takes anywhere between 10-15 calls to reach a decision-maker within large companies. All too often.

Only when the buyer’s problem becomes so intolerable that it needs to be fixed will they start looking for people who can fix it. Will they be calling you?

Ten years ago sales staff played an important role in carrying information to potential clients. They took the brochures and specifications produced by marketing and turned them into sales tools that generated revenue.

In 2009, websites and other internet sources deliver much of the information a buyer needs. So the sales and marketing people have a new and different role to play.

In today’s Business to Business (B2B) markets success is all about alignment sales and marketing alignment.Businesses which enjoy strong alignment are:

- Outgrowing their competitors by 5.4%
- 38% better at closing proposals
- Churning 36% fewer customers each year

Source: MathMarketing alignment benchmark study 2004/2005: 1400 professionals : 84 countries.