Don't be fooled by the few well intentioned, but misinformed "experts" who say cold-calling is a waste of time.  Its just not so unless your objective is to crack just a few accounts and, even then, its difficult to do this without picking up the phone.  If you are like most sales prospectors and sellers and you are serious about uncovering the maximum amount of new business in the most effective and efficient way, then cold-calling is the answer.  Tens of thousands of people use cold-calling every day because it works, however there is a huge variability in how well it is performed.  We are going to focus on a sales prospecting approach that is proven to work and, when executed properly, is a cost-effective way to generate a significant amount of new business even in a down economy.   Some of the benefits of this approach include: filtering out bad opportunities early, identifying the most appropriate person or people to pursue, uncovering opportunities earlier in the "buying" process before competition becomes a factor, and developing prospects to envision your offering as the best solution.  Using this smarter process-oriented approach, you spend less time trying to overcome resistance like blockers, voicemail systems, gatekeepers, and rejection, and more time having meaningful discussions with buyers and establishing a "trusted adviser" relationship.  It may even improve your win-rate and shorten your sales-cycle.

Below are the basic steps of this smarter cold calling process, listed in chronological order.  I will elaborate on each step in the future on this blog.  Stay tuned. 

• Identify ALL the "units" in each company that could purchase your offering
• Filter out the units/opportunities that don't match your basic target market criteria
• Identify the highest-level person who would benefit the most from your offering
• Deliver a personalized, anxiety-oriented, message to uncover any level of need or "pain"
• Eliminate the suspects that don't feel pain or reveal need, and pursue the others vigorously
• Build credibility and trust by sharing a success story applicable to the prospect
• Ask qualification questions to filter out opportunities that would not make good customers
• Use leading open, control, & confirmation questions to develop interest in YOUR offering