Cold Calling or Networking- which is best? The answer: Yes. The purpose of Cold Calling and Networking is to fill the very front of your pipeline. Both have a time and place, and I think business people should do a blend of each. How you create your blend depends on your skill set. I can make over 300 “cold dials” in a day. My very best day was over 800, but that was on a Friday before a Holiday and almost nobody was picking up the phone. It was also a terrible day to network too, because most of the people with whom I would business network were gone for the day.
The reason most people fail at Cold Calling and Business Networking is because the are trying to Cold Sell and Business Netsell (Neither works very well- and usually back fires). What you are really trying to do is get an introduction to the right person. The goal of either method is to “Buy more time with the right people”.
When I Cold Call, I come up with a 30 second pitch that will hook the listener into giving me five more minutes to explain my pitch. Then I close by asking for 50 minutes for a face to face meeting at a later date. 30 seconds buys me 300 seconds which buys me 3,000 seconds.
When I business network, I come up with a 30 second elevator pitch, which will get the person to ask me a question which will give me 5 minutes to explain further. Then I close by asking for 50 minutes for a face to face meeting at a later date.
Gee Jeff those look awfully similar . . . Of course!!! That is by design. Most professionals skip the 30 second pitch and try to hammer everyone they see with the five minute pitch. An unsolicited 5 minute pitch is the quickest way to kill a prospect’s interest.
The 30 second pitch allows me to see if my listener is the right person. If they aren’t- I want a referral to the right person.
By setting up the 30/300/3000 rule with the first person you meet, they are more likely to introduce you to the other decision makers in the company. The goal is to move down the pipeline by lining up the right people who can sign the contract.
The best thing about Cold Calling and Business Networking is that they very rarely compete for the same hours of the day. Most Business Networking hours occur when most people aren’t at their desk – Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. So you need to develop both skills. Some people have better phone skills. Some people have better in-person skills. Some people have time during the day to make calls at work. Some people have time to network at daily gatherings.
Truth is, most professionals are very good at getting prospects through the sales pipeline and are terrible at finding prospects to get into the pipeline. Mostly, because companies spend a lot of money teaching you how to sell your products and services and not much time teaching you how to fill the pipeline. So you meet a prospect and start selling which ends up failing. They rely on you to find your own external sources to teach you how to network and how to cold dial to get introduced to the right person. Every year, you should learn better networking and learn better cold dialing. And remember the 30/300/3000 rule!
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