4 Reasons Why Cold Calling is Dead
For a modern small business, cold calling is dead — or at least it should be. It may have worked in the days before caller id – when phones were attached to a desk or a wall. But today, sales and marketing channels are fragmented, putting consumers in the driver’s seat when it comes to who they want to engage with.So before you pick up the phone, consider the following reasons why you should give cold calls the cold shoulder:
1. It’s Outdated
According to the International Smartphone Mobility Report, Americans prefer text communication over phone call communication. Nowadays, people are more likely to screen phone calls and avoid unfamiliar numbers. Even random calls from familiar business numbers provoke fear from otherwise willing customers.When it comes to calling business clients, it’s increasingly more difficult to navigate extensions, operating systems, and voicemails. Many people refuse to give out direct lines and refer inquiries to email addresses instead. And, given the myriad communication options available today, cold calling is no longer creative or optimal.
2. It Wastes Time
As the adage goes, time is money; small businesses desperately need to conserve both. In fact the average sales rep makes 8 dials an hour and prospects for over 6 hours to set just 1 appointment
Both as an input and success output, cold calling wastes time. The act itself forces the caller to sit through:
Phones ringing
Dial tones
Gatekeeper blocks
Voicemail recordings
Directory messages
Dropped calls and disconnects
Other technical concerns
Industry statistics indicate that cold calls have an average 2% success rate. Common sense indicates that rate hardly counts as sales success.
3. It’s Irritating
As the world is becoming overloaded by brands due to modern technology, customers are increasingly looking to reputation as a means to sort out their options. Goodwill is crucial in the present business climate and cold calls are a great way to tarnish that goodwill.
Cold calls, by their nature, are disruptive. They take the recipient out of their likely busy day and set them in a state of momentary alarm. Why is someone calling me? Is there a concern I should know about? And how does this interaction actually benefit me?
Even if you’re calling with something they’d likely need, that doesn’t change the initial impression of frustration or alarm.
4. It’s Exasperating for Employees
Not only is cold calling taxing for recipients, it’s emotionally draining for assigned employees. Most everyone has been on the receiving end of a cold call and can understand the annoyance; with every call made, your employee feels the inconvenience being caused and braces for customer backlash.
This very quickly turns into burnout and high turnover. Employees who are asked to cold call day in and day out suffer mental fatigue and a drop in productivity—leaving them feeling that their emotional labor was spent on highly unproductive and tedious tasks.
Marketing strategies in which the business initiates contact with the prospective customer are categorized as outbound or push strategies. Cold calling is a prime example, along with other strategies like direct mail and TV ads.
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