Subscribe for FREE exclusive weekly updates from Michael Cage
Why sign up?
Aggressive Small Business Marketing & Advertising
Showing archives from 04/2007.
Still cold calling for lead generation?
Posted by Michael Cage on Sunday, April 15, 2007When I write about touchy subjects, I get angry E-mails.
In July of 2004, I wrote that businesses and salespeople that rely on cold calling are like functional drunks. They don't grow fully because of it ... in the back of their mind they know it is bad for them ... yet they manage to survive without too many negative consequences. At least for a little while.
I'm glad old posts never get removed, because I got a "best ever angry E-mail" this afternoon from a guy who will remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
He writes...
"As a recovering alcoholic who lived for years as a functional drunk, I'm mad as hell that you'd lump me in with anyone stupid enough to cold call!"
Talk about making my day! 
In all fairness, stupid is way overdoing it. Cold calling takes guts. I know. I cut my teeth as a teen selling fire alarms door-to-door during sweltering Baltimore summers. And people who are taking action and are doing anything to engage their market and grow their businesses have my respect. Far too many sit on the sidelines ... hoping, wishing, and dreaming.
Anyway...
The truth is that most entrepreneurs, salespeople and business owners who drive sales through cold calling simply don't know what they don't know. They see what the competition is doing and copy it. Or they do what they "have always done." Or they have tried another method of lead generation, couldn't get it to work and gave up. Whatever the cause, they simply don't know how to get the many systematic ways there are to generate leads working so that salespeople spend their time selling ... not begging someone to let them get in the door in order to have a chance to sell.
When you know how to engineer effective marketing systems, you flip the roles --- motivated, qualified prospects chase you instead of you chasing them.
These are all topics --- lead generation and business-to-business / b2b marketing (or, my preference, b2e or business-to-entrepreneur marketing) --- that I'll be writing about later this month. If you have any specific questions or comments, now would be a good time to get them in. Oh, and Mr. X, I'd like to thank you for the motivation. 
P.S. I know I haven't posted much lately. Mucho changes happening here, including a launch of a new podcast. Details to follow. Stay close.
There are 26 comments, add your own!Page 1 of 1 pages