When people think of sales, a few images are typically recalled. The over excited individual trying to push their latest products on the patrons of a strip mall, the miser car salesperson just looking for a dollar, or one of the most common, the uninvited and dreaded cold call, coming at the most inopportune times.
Most people understand what a cold call is. It is simply the act of calling individuals previously unknown to the caller with the hopes of finding a potential customer. Although this method of reaching customers may have been extremely valuable and honest at some point. The tactic is seen as outdated, misleading, and downright annoying. Many believe the age of cold calling should be over, and they may have a point. In a time where customers can be found easily with analytics, products advertised to those who will use them, and the ability to have more transparent (and devious) marketing, I believe the time for cold calls has almost entirely left. This is not to say that cold calls are useless. The simple fact is that you do not know a stranger until you have met them, and for many, this is impossible to do without a cold call or such tactic. Cold calls still hold great value and illicit far better responses than other options. However, the task is not easy, and I believe that for a cold call to be beneficial to both parties, many typical ideas and presuppositions about marketing and sales must first be changed.
BoweryJE22