Cold Calling During Covid

In a pandemic year, the broad spectrum of sales gave a more detailed limelight to cold calling and over-the-phone sales calls. Covid-19 shut people inside and even the most connected people felt isolation holding their hand, and for many, those unknown numbers went from being an annoyance to a possibility for conversation.

Cold callers for their part have found a very friendly environment. Trained in making quick connections and finding relation points with strangers, their talents have had a different meaning in 2020. Going beyond selling, these salespeople have the ability to take a cautious hello and turn it into an opportunity. When a population finds themselves apart from each other, they look to anything for a chance to act, to live. From baking sourdough bread to taking personal hobbies to the next level, any outlet to express became a haven. Conversations took many different shapes: squares on a screen, anonymous chat rooms, posters in hands, phone conversations with strangers. Empathy and connection became focus points the scarcer they became.

A job in talking has found so much more meaning this year, the impact cold callers have had on us has been marked. Even when we still prefer hanging up to spending money, it has been a noticeable phenomenon, realizing more people have listened longer. The desire to hear another person’s voice has given sellers more opportunity to pitch their work.

Cold calling has throughout sales history had dismal success rates; it is still a very difficult field that faces plenty of rejection. While cold calling competes with robocalls and deals with spam labels, and while we still favor just hanging up, there is no doubt that the salespeople have had their own unique impact on our pandemic year. They added an interesting take on empathetic connection in a year when everyone needed it a little more.