Shannon Goodson and George Dudley wrote a book several years ago called, “The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance“. They interviewed over 11,000 sales people. Here is what they found:
- 80% of all new sales people fail because of call reluctance.
- 40% of all veterans stop prospecting because of call reluctance.
- You will make 5 times less money because of call reluctance.
Many sales people have been told that cold calling doesn’t work anymore. Some of the veterans are saying that cold calling is no longer an effective method of reaching out to potential clients. However, it is interesting to note that according to the statistics 40% of these veteran sales professionals stop cold calling due to the fear of rejection. They are often afraid of picking up the telephone. So how can it be truly determined that cold calling doesn't work? It can't.
Having worked with 1000's of sales people, I can assure you that cold calling still works. If you don't have a warm market or tons of referrals coming in, what else are you going to do? The first call is always the toughest. The second one is a little easier. By the time you have made a half a dozen calls it's really no big deal.
When we were growing up who did our parents tell us never to talk to? Strangers! Isn't that interesting…?
So what's the downside of making a cold call? They yell at you and hang-up. So what?! Are you going to allow that to stop you from reaching your full potential? I hope not. Have you ever had anyone reach through the phone and grab you around the neck? I know if feels like it sometime.
So here's your Action Idea: It starts with a question: What is the upside of cold calling? Make a list of all the positive things that will happen by making the call and I'm sure you will see that the positives outweigh the negatives 5 to 1.