Cold Calling is it really extinct?

Daily in our jobs and industries we are looking for the best way to sell our services or products. You hear it from several media or marketing firms that cold calling is dying, dead, extinct...
Yes, in the traditional since of the word it is.  When you think of picking up the phone book or a generated list of virtual strangers and calling them one after another then dying would be a good word to use.  So what's left?  Spend thousands of dollars casting a net across your demographics? Sure, if you have thousands to spend.  What if you don't have a budget yet?  Referrals? Absolutely! But, realistically do referrals land on your desk enough to float your business into a profitability stage that makes doing anything else unnecessary? Not normally - so here we are back full circle with the original sales technique 'cold calling'. 

In the traditional since of the word 'cold calling' is definitely gone with the dinosaurs of old.  Let's breath some life back into it for those of us on a budget trying to get the ball rolling or to restart the momentum of our business.  Try calling it 'comfort calling'  - now when I use the word calling think of all ways to connect with a new prospect; social media, phone, email, personal meeting, lunch, at an event & so on. 

Next steps to breathing life back into cold calling changing it into comfort calling:

1) Know your target market - narrow the field so that you can see results instead of casting a wide net into an ocean of industries.
2) Do your homework - withing your target market pick your top 15 and for a lack of a better word Google them.  Ask your direct connections - people who you have passed referrals to or that have sent you clients.
Who are these top 15?
Where do they socialize?
Who do they mix with?
What do they NEED...? (Very important)
3) Craft a plan to get in front of them - focus on specific issues your top 15 are facing whether it is with a product or service that they have & you can offer taking care of their issue or if it is another need that someone in your direct connections sphere can help you provide for them.

4) Now comfort call!  You know who you want, what they need and where you can bump into them or connect with them to offer your issue solving support. 
Become a help to them and the product or service you offer sells itself. 
Comfort calling is very much a needed & useful tool for the intelligent, savvy sales person!
So do your homework and start comfort calling today!

Kristi Kirkland
Answer Marketing Inc

Adding Needed Solutions Working Every Relationship©

Answer Marketing is here to teach you what to say once you are in front of your prospective client, how to generate open ended conversations to create an easy flow to start up dialog, how to write a letter that generates clients calling you to set appointments and more!