I wrote this post back in July 2008 when Paul Taylor and I were in start up mode with 6Consulting, operating out of my converted garage.  One consequence of writing the piece was Radian6 getting in touch with us.  Not long after we became the official re-seller/partner for Radian6 in the UK.  In March of this year we were acquired by Radian6 and they subsequently by SalesForce.

Over the next two weeks I will be revisiting this post, looking at the conversation that surrounded it and seeing where we are today in relation to its theme.

If you want to take a look at the polarising effect this had on the sales community check out this forum : http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=72303

Enjoy!

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Cold calling has been served notice, a new era beckons and with it an altogether different way of working. Social networking has arrived and will soon replace cold calling as the predominant method of prospecting in business.

I have profoundly changed the way I do business and have firmly embraced social media and the networking possibilities it has created. To that end I have reduced to a very small percentage the amount of time I spend cold calling.

As someone who has been in sales all of my working life, has been a sales director and managed large teams of sales people, I know many people will think that there is no replacement for activity, specifically picking up the phone. Yet, no matter how intelligent you are about cold calling, it is what it is – speculative, scatter gun selling, not to mention costly and increasingly ineffective.

Bad image

Cold calling has a bad image, forever associated with double glazing, and I believe the whole process has run its course. Over the years the return on investment from a team of cold callers has gradually diminished; much like the internet killed press advertising revenues so will social networking see the demise of large sales floors with people standing on desks, ringing bells or plucking £10 notes from washing lines (just some of the things I have seen in many years involved in telesales).

No names policy

The corporate climate is changing, businesses are signing up to CTPS, making a clear statement: ‘Do not contact me’. The instances of ‘no names policy’ have increased so, for every 100 calls made, the percentage of pitches are falling. Until recently, companies have tried every strategy possible; re-trained staff in different techniques such as buying-facilitation, fact-finding or SPIN Selling yet the percentages keep falling and cold calling is getting harder and harder to see good results from.

So, cold calling is in its last throes. For some I am sure this will be a welcome relief : I for one get infuriated with the daily stream of people trying to sell me anything from cleaning services to water! I am now better informed as a customer than at any other time in history: I, the client, consumer or customer, control the sales process. I engage with others that have purchased a product to understand why, their selection process and what the experience has been like.

Likewise I comment on Facebook, my blog or other social media platforms about things I have purchased. I champion good service and smash the bad. I can be a brand champion one minute and brand slayer the next. There is a deafening amount of chatter online via social media platforms. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that all of that information is a hotbed of potential opportunities!

Comparison

What helped me conclude that cold calling does not work anymore and that I should serve notice of its termination were the results of a test I decided to run – the results are below.

As it so happened I had a new product to sell. In the test I spent an equal amount of time cold calling and using social media, 9-5.30pm Monday to Friday. I started with cold calling

Cold Calling Results

Outbound calls made 325
Meaningful conversations (pitches) and brand touches 80
Meetings made 4
Sales made (as a direct result of cold calling) 0

From a cold calling perspective I was not surprised with the figures; from experience these are the average conversion ratios. The data cost me 25p per name, phone charges were roughly £100, so all up £180 not including my time. If we took an industry standard salary for telesales of £20K plus, general overhead of office, rates, light, heat, computer etc you will have spent about £1,000 to make four meetings.

Social media

Inbound calls generated 8
Meetings as result of inbound calls 3
Sales as a result of inbound calls 2
Brand touches (from site statistics unique views of content) 422 visitors to my blog alone
Subscribers (RSS) to my content 27 stats from Feedburner)
People following me (Twitter) 12
New contacts 71 (on LinkedIn, Facebook, WeCanDo.BIZ, etc)
Listeners to my Podcast 83
Opportunities to sell found 21
Online conversations had 39
Warm call list (names generated expecting a call) 11

The cost of my social networking blitz to find new business opportunities, other than my time and internet connection are small, if anything at all. Most importantly I made two sales, covering any cost associated with the activity and generating a very healthy return. (I guess it would only be fair to include the cost of your time in this exercise as well – Ed.)

New platform

I used a number of platforms for the social media test, such is the diversity of choice and it is here that companies need to get it right. A great new platform is WeCanDo.BIZ, which takes the micro-blogging idea to new levels and allows companies to register a profile and state what their business need is for all to see. During my test, the site generated inbound calls, traffic to my blog and online conversations. It should be said that WeCanDo.BIZ was the most successful platform I used during the week.

The sites founder, Ian Hendry explains: ‘Where I think WeCanDoBIZ may change the rules is in getting the needs shared up front, so that you can determine much quicker whether a sale is likely. This means you can focus where the money is, rather than waste time with a lengthy qualification period.’

New philosophy

You can’t simply start using social media tools and expect your sales to increase. You have to change your sales and marketing philosophy for your business to get better. Your perception of outbound push selling needs to change. This is the lesson I want to get out to everyone. Social media tools simply enable businesses.

Skills

The central question, however, is do modern-day sales people have the level of skill required to conduct a social media campaign individually? The simple answer is no. Not all salespeople will have the necessary skills, but having a skills gap is nothing new on the sales floor otherwise we wouldn’t have the multi-million pound training industry!

Can the skills be taught quickly and cost effectively? Yes. I have always taught people that sales is a process: follow steps one through five to achieve your aims. Social media networking can be processed as well, giving salespeople clear guidelines on the ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’. We spend millions every year teaching salespeople to cold call better, use the latest CRM (customer relationship management) system, be better team players and so on; and so it must come to pass that companies will need to train all staff to be ‘social media savvy’ as it extends far beyond just sales – marketing and service need to be in on the picture as well.

Resistance

There was a time not too long ago when the need for social media in business was not understood and faced resistance. Much like when everyone started creating websites, people asked ‘why?’, ‘what for?’ and pondered how the web could help their business. People thought it would be a fad.

The same discussion is happening now about social media. Businesses look at social media and think of it as Facebook or MySpace; a universally time-wasting activity that employees should not engage in on the business clock. Indeed, some businesses have banned access to social networking sites altogether.

The future

I have to say that such businesses have got it wrong; rather than it being something employees waste time on, it is the future; it is here to stay and within it lies the evolution of sales and marketing.

Agreed, updating your Facebook or MySpace page with pictures of the weekend, playing silly games, nudging or poking other people is not the best use of your company’s time. But creating engaging, thought-provoking, discussion-opening content, centred around your products or services is.

Social media networking will reduce dependence on cold calling. I am not saying it will eradicate the need for the telephone – that perhaps is to bold an idea. But I am certain it will become the first step in prospecting for new business. Companies around the world need to wake up to that fact and act now or get left behind.