Cold Calling…. when is it acceptable?

Thanks Spacemonkey + alexxx. I was a bit unsure about completely changing URLs as it might look a bit dodgy but something like callbob->bob would be fine as can a bunch of others that might be interesting. Tx

Agree also about sales skills and market research, just I like to be able to confirm what people are telling me. When I’m being told I’m getting 1000s of leads via something I like to check

If you get far enough in the call to give out your domain name I assume you’ll also be getting their email address.

Fire off an email with a link and unique tracking code. Most people will click this rather than typing in your domain and then you have them. You can now track them on this and every visit.

Cold calling is fine B2B! A couple of tips that I’ve found useful.

Try not to sell. People don’t like being sold to, but like to buy. You have to provide them with something they need. So don’t try and sell them a product.

Think of all the reasons why your prospects may need your product, any problem (business pain) they have that your product can solve. Ask them questions to find out if they have any of the problems, then offer up your proposal to help them solve the problem.

If you have competition you need to be able to differentiate why your product can solve their problems better than a competitors.

This might help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_selling the book is worth a read…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solution-Selling-Creating-Difficult-Markets/dp/0786303158

I’d like to admit now that my previous post is probably the w*nkiest I’ve ever posted on an internet forum.

I’ve got to admit hammerite… the graphics on that solution selling book isn’t selling it to me! 😀

haha thanks for your post mate 🙂

Here’s one more in keeping with today’s contemporary look:

Bl00dy good book too.

I used to buy list for around £100 per 1,000 numbers. That was business to consumer marketing. Have a look at MediaLab’s website for an idea the types of ‘targetted’ lists that are available. But that sort of carpet bombing approach needs low costs and high value per sales to make it worth while – call centres, diallers, high volume etc

And you absolutely need to check against the TPS register first.

Like all marketing, there are good guys and bad guys – calling me at 7pm in the evening trying to see loft insulation or PPI Claims services from an office in Spain isnt going to work.