Cold Calling

In personal selling, Cold Calling is the processing of approaching prospective clients, typically via telephone, who have not agreed to such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting the call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by the sales person. It is often very frustrating and difficult for those making cold calls because they are often rebuffed, hung-up on and rejected by those receiving the calls.

Cold-calling is used in many venues outside sales -- the term applies to any situation where one person calls another person or organization without a prior relationship -- headhunting firms, for instance, are notorious for this practice.

However, there are two ways in which cold calls can be effective. One is for the selling organization to start with a high quality, up-to-date database consisting of qualified prospects that have an interest in the product being sold. The other way is to use cold calls as a "step in the door". Rather than using the call to try to close a sale, it should be used as the initial contact in a long-term relationship. This has the effect of removing the sales pressure from calls and making the goal of the call to build trust. Cold calls can also be used to obtain quality sales leads, references, and testimonials.

Cold calls can also be done in person rather than over the phone, but this is rare because of the high cost of face-to-face sales calls.

Cold Call with Autodialers

Using an autodialer can significantly reduce the frustration of rejections. Since your message is delivered by the autodialer, you do not have to personally receive any rebuff and hung-up. You only need to call your prospects who have indicated their interests. (leaving a message with the autodialer system, or pressing a key to transfer the autodialer call to you).

For example, a mortgage broker can send out a pre-recorded message about the latest interest rate using an autodialer, such as Voicent Autodialer. At the end of the message, the person receiving the call is asked to press 1 if interested, press 2 to leave a message for call back, or press 0 to be transferred to a live agent. Essentially, the autodialer is making the cold call on behalf of the mortgage agent.

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