Cold calling is also a victim of Covid
- José Maria Vich
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
Cold calling died with the pandemic. This strategy, which was the central focus of many companies to attract new customers, disappeared overnight. It was already on the verge of extinction, and we didn't even realize it.
Having armies of people on the street knocking on doors or on the phone calling lists with a script they can't deviate from does NOT work.
If you are a salesperson, you have probably been asked the following questions in a job interview or on your first day at a new company:
How many calls do you make per day? How many meetings have you had per day? How many emails have you sent? How many proposals have you presented?
If it was useless years ago, and this is a personal opinion, imagine how useless it is today. Yes, sales have a statistical and volume component that is there; the more opportunities you have, the more CUSTOMERS you will get. That's obvious.
I have led sales teams all my life, and I have been extremely fortunate to work with inspiring leaders who have taught me many things, some of which are still relevant today.
Let me tell you about one case: I worked for seven years at DHL, a company to which I am immensely grateful, and after a while I was promoted from Key Account Manager to Sales Manager in Madrid.
I had to manage a mixed sales/telesales team that was constantly fighting for accounts and focused much more on the ratios they were asked to achieve (again, calls/visits per day) than on sales themselves.
So we asked them a question that still serves me well today:
What are salespeople paid for?
I got answers like “to sell,” “to retain CUSTOMERS,” “to make calls and visits,” and I remember that when we told them what we thought, they fell silent:
Salespeople are paid, and today even more so, to think!
Yes, to think about strategies for attracting and retaining CUSTOMERS; to build robust, sustainable relationships that generate opportunities for all parties. It's about building a solid relationship that turns the CUSTOMER into your best salesperson.
And I firmly believe this, even more so today; we don't want orders, that's the easy part; we want CUSTOMERS, relationships that are beneficial to both parties, where we are continually adding value and making that CUSTOMER recommend us to others.
I start with a quote from the great Ronald C. Stern:
“The CUSTOMER is the one who hires us, pays us, and fires us; simply by stopping buying.” Ronald C. Stern
It makes you think, doesn't it?
Today, social media gives us a unique opportunity to increase our interaction with CUSTOMERS. More is more on social media, but be careful! If you do it right.
It's not about sending spam messages as soon as someone accepts your invitation to connect. No, it's about building relationships based on the value you bring, which generates trust and makes you a resource for your CUSTOMER, rather than the annoying person who calls every week.
It's all about a strategy centered on the CUSTOMER and their needs; building virtual relationships that turn into CUSTOMERS after a while (you have to be patient), as we say in this video, selling in a more elegant, less intrusive, more professional way, where the CUSTOMER and their needs are at the center of everything.
How does that sound?
There is a #different #way of doing #things
Chema Vich wants to CONNECT with every person (or device with embedded technology) he encounters. He has trained with the best: Ronald Stern, Jorge Zuazola, and Jill Rowley, to whom he will be eternally grateful.
You can connect on LinkedIn or @Chema Vich. If you need help with the digital transformation of your company's sales and marketing, you can find out more at www.apasiona-t.co
Chema Vich is a global executive based in Bogotá. He has worked in four multinational companies (three of them Fortune 500) in more than ten countries and three continents, always in management positions. He is now dedicated to helping companies in Latin America sell more and do marketing with greater reach, lower costs, and measurable results.
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