Follow
Recently, there has been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about the death of cold calls. While there are those who defend cold calls and say they still work just fine, there are plenty of interesting points about why many believe this practice is ineffective and outdated.
It is hard to believe that less than two decades ago, cellphones were still a “newfangled idea.” Not only have many people given up land-lines for cellphones, but more people are primarily using their cellphones for texting or getting online instead of making calls.
In addition to this change in the way many people interact with phones, some of the other reasons that have been linked to “cold calling’s death” include:
Customers Have Higher Expectations: Because of its huge increase over the last decade, most customers are fed up with automated telephone support. The whole reason they pick up a phone is to speak with a real person. This leads to them feeling very frustrated when all they get is a system that only provides a limited number of choices.
Since more customers are getting fed up with this lack of support, they’re not only looking for other options, but are very hesitant to respond to any inquiries that seem automated. If they receive calls that are automated or sound scripted, they’re quite likely to hang up their phone within a matter of seconds.
Has Gotten Expensive: In the past, companies could rely on cold calling as a cost effective way to bring in new leads.
However, research from <a href=”http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5587/Survey-Inbound-Marketing-Cost-Per-Lead-Is-60-Lower-Than-Outbound.aspx”>Hubspot</a> has found that leads obtained through inbound marketing methods like SEO and social media cost 60% less than those acquired through outbound marketing techniques like cold calling.
People Still Want to Talk (Just Through Different Channels): There’s no denying that cold calling has helped build many successful businesses. The reason this was possible is because businesses used the phone to connect with customers who wanted to talk.
While technology has changed significantly over the last two decades, this doesn’t mean human nature has seen a major shift. People still want to talk and connect with each other. However, instead of doing it on the phone, they want to do it online.
This is why middle-aged women spend hours on Facebook and there are more senior citizens than ever using different online chat tools. People care about connections, but they want more control and the ability to have conversations on their own terms.
Because people still want to talk when it’s done through the right channel, posts that declare cold calling is dead state that salespeople don’t need to panic. Instead, they simply need to take their skills for communicating with people and start using them in conjunction with online tools.
Do you think cold calling is dead?