“New School” Cold Calling

Not long ago, I saw an article entitled “Why Cold Calling Is Dead”. Around the same time, I came across a another article entitled “10 Things I Love About Cold Calling”. As I was considering these opposing points of view, a local business contact sent me a note saying that he was working on his Sales Organization’s Funnel Management and that he would appreciate me addressing that topic on this blog. Considering that, if Cold Calling fits in with Funnel (Pipeline) Management, it fits in at the top or beginning, in the Prospecting and Qualifying phase, I thought I should examine its viability.


In assessing “Why Cold Calling Is Dead”, I found that the main point was, “Our world of selling is closed off from other areas of business that continue to adopt and embrace new, efficient ideas.” It reminded me of a company I did some work for a few years back that sells software and services to correctional organizations. Their “sweet spot” was County Jails. This business had emerged from a company that was founded as a vending business, coming out of WWII. Believe it or not, I found that the present day company was continuing to have their Sales force work as though they were working a vending route – i.e. the Sales person spent their days driving from County Seat to County Seat, Cold Calling each County’s Sheriff or Jail Manager. Obviously, this is a great example of an organization that needed to “embrace new, efficient ideas”.

Although my experience supports the main point of “Cold Calling Is Dead”, as I considered the reasoning of “10 Things I Love About Cold Calling!”, there seemed to be a disconnect – i.e. each of these “10 Things” seemed legitimate. There was also that troubling Funnel Management consideration … If Cold Calling doesn’t fit in with Prospecting and Qualifying anymore, what does? So, to resolve this dilemna, I thought it might be productive to contrast my view of Cold Calling in the formative days of my Sales career with my current approach.

If you’ve visited this blog before, you may recall an earlier posting entitled “The ‘Tech-Savvy’ Sales Organization”. There I mentioned “Smoke Stacking”, the Cold Calling technique included in my initial training, in my first Sales territory, in the Midwest. “Smoke Stacking” is another great example of the need to “embrace new, efficient ideas”. However, I don’t go “Smoke Stacking” anymore and yet I do find myself regularly doing what I consider to be “Cold Calling”. So, where’s the disconnect?

Perhaps the disconnect is that, while the author of “Cold Calling Is Dead” is correct with their main point, they’re making the mistake of “throwing out the baby with the bath water”. I think its just semantics though. For me, the lesson isn’t that Cold Calling should be “laid to rest”. Like many other “Old School” techniques, it just needs to be applied differently, to fit in with the realities of the “New School”. In this reality, its something I do almost daily. And I teach it to others, encouraging them to look at “Cold Calling” as an exciting “adventure”, rather than letting it be a source of anxiety. But, I don’t teach “Smoke Stacking”. Instead, I teach appropriate ways to use the phone, email, networking events and especially, social media as ways to connect with new Prospects.

I guess it turns out that I sort of agreed with both the articles I mentioned at the outset. In as much as it pertains to “Old School” application, I agree, “Cold Calling Is Dead”. But, given a “New School” approach, I also agree that there are at least “10 Things I Love About Cold Calling!”

How about you? What are your views on Cold Calling? Please pass them along and share them with us.