"Anatomy of a Cold Call"
Cold Calling: Don’t even joke about it. Not even on April Fools.
Twice in one day I received emails about cold calling tactics, and even a cold-calling boot camp. One talked about “diffusing resistance,” the other, about “the anatomy” of a cold call. What in the heck does that mean? What don’t they get?
When you receive a referral introduction, there’s no resistance and no gatekeeper. “Anatomy of a cold call”? There is no anatomy. The call is dead. Call the morgue.
It’s not about the “no’s.” When we receive a referral introduction, the yes’s have it. There’s no “no” in referral selling.
Someone was researching referrals and asking for our input. But of course, she was charging for her boot camp and for our input. Who’s kidding whom?
Why is it that when the economy tanks, people who never before talked about referrals come out of the woodwork—and they have no idea what they’re talking about. They think they do and try to convince us to join their campaigns. Don’t be fooled—on April 1st or on any day of the year.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Wheeler. John Wheeler said: Good article by Joanne Black. http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/blog/the-sales-economy/anatomy-of-a-cold-call/ [...]
Awesome post.
People need to learn how to give good referrals. A good referral is not, “hey I saw this guy down the road. You should go see him, I’ll bet he’d love your product.”
Instead a great referral is an introduction that includes how you know the person, what their product is, and why it’s valuable.
Keep up the great work Joanne,
John Wheeler
http://www.ControllersAdvice.Com
John:
You’ve got it right. A referral is only a referral when there is an introduction. Otherwise, it’s a cold call. My definition of a cold call is calling someone who does not know you and is not expecting your call. Ice cold!
Thanks for the comment.
Colleen, please keep repeating the stop cold calling message. We talked to lots of buyers in writing our new book THE BUYING REVOLUTION and clearly they don’t like being cold called. Also they are getting much more adept at evading the it. The kind of steps you have outlined on your site would go a long way to making life easier for both the person making and taking the call.