I was at a networking event a few weeks back and after meeting a number of people and explaining what we do at Venture Accelerator Partners, one person asked me if cold calling was still relevant. He had been reading some tips on selling and somewhere in the material it had mentioned that cold calling was dead. Basically the information he read said that cold calling is not a good use of a salesperson’s time and that there are better means of finding leads.

He asked me for my opinion as a salesperson and I think my first answer was… that is “bu..sh.t” . I went on to explain that cold calling is an essential component of any sales strategy, especially those where a business to business sale is the goal.

I did say to him though, that simply calling random numbers for the sake of it, without proper planning, business need identification, value proposition development and target market analysis would be a waste of time and energy. That being said, with the proper target market focus, the particular target contact in the account, the value proposition solidified, the business pain highlighted; cold calling is an effective sales tool to be utilized alongside many others including networking events, trade shows and conferences, leveraging warm contacts, seeking referrals from clients, marketing and advertising.

At Venture Accelerator Partners, we specialize in selling and pride ourselves on the relatively large contact base we have however, even we get through our “warm” leads within a few days when working on a new client. The only way to find new leads is to cold call. You need to knock on doors.

Cold calling is really tough work, probably the toughest part about sales in general. I personally feel that every person in an organization at some point in time during their career development should have to do “sales” and a part of that should be cold calling. It is tedious, sometimes thankless and the sort of work that can grind you to the bone. At the same time, there is no better rush than cold calling and finding someone interested in what you are pitching. Finding that person that you can help and where your product and solution can benefit them. There is nothing more fulfilling (at least in my mind) that cold calling and scoring some interest in the product or service you are selling and are passionate about.

End of the day, don’t believe the hype that cold calling is dead, rather it is alive and well for salespeople who want to excel at their jobs. Happy hunting!