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Cold
Calling Really Sucks |
by:
Daegan
Smith |
There
are many oh so many different ways to market
a product or a service. Among these varied
techniques, there are many good ways to
generate sales and customers. But as many
are the good methods, marketing also has
its fair share of turkeys. Cold calling
is one of the techniques in marketing that
is subject to scrutiny in many ways. Marketers
and other organizations are beginning to
doubt the efficacy of cold calling.
Cold calling is also called blind calling.
The marketer in this case calls up or contacts
a ‘random’ person who might, if the marketer
is lucky, want the product or service want
to buy into what the marketer is offering.
Cold calling is pretty much like blind guessing
who your next customer will be. The caller
then does his pitch talk to this person
even if he or she has not been referred
to by anyone.
This method of marketing has also been used
by honest marketers and has also resulted
in good customer relationships. However,
cold calling has fallen out of fashion due
to the fact that it has been well abused
by many an unscrupulous marketer.
Advantages? It allows you to tap into a
potentially unsaturated market. It allows
you to create a new network of referrals,
especially if yours is running dry. But
do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
1. Irritates the investor
Cold calling has gained the ire of many
a customer. This is because many of the
cold callers usually conduct their business
at nighttime. This is very inconvenient
to potential clients because they generally
want this time to be private. And dragging
a person out of bed in their pajamas to
talk about business is as irritating as
it gets.
Many marketing firms employ boiler rooms
to conduct cold calling. Boiler rooms are
a team of cold callers whose specialty is
spewing out very persuasive scripts on why
you should buy into their product. Unfortunately,
these callers tend to be abusive, and pugnacious.
Many of the clients they get only took up
their offer because they were coerced into
doing so. Their motto is: as long as the
person is on the line, there is still a
chance to badger him or her. This is not
the kind of marketing that gains mutual
trust and respect.
2. Unfocused Marketing
Cold calling marketing is unfocused marketing.
If you cannot focus your energies on better
prospects, you might find yourself using
up resources on people who are not really
interested in your product. It would be
better to use mailing lists or profiling
to know which customers would most likely
avail of your offers.
Cold calling sometimes relies on pure luck
or stubbornness to get their clients. Unscientific.
Unreliable.
3. The law
Believe it or not the law has made steps
to safeguard clients from the wrath of cold
callers. Law dictates that cold callers
only call during working hours. They are
no longer allowed to call from 8:00 P.M.
onwards. Clients can now submit complaints
to the authorities if your cold callers
become abusive or disrespectful. For a business
to be successful, you would like to avoid
tangles with the law such as this.
Unfortunately there have been many reported
scams in regards to cold calling marketers.
As said in the first reason. These callers
are usually annoying and abusive. The people
you call may take offense at this and report
your company to the authorities.
4. Loss of Trust
Since cold calling already has a bad reputation,
affiliating with this kind of service could
have a negative effect on the image of your
business. If you want your business to be
reputable, you will have to use reputable
methods to gain the confidence of your customers.
Remember that you are not merely wishing
to siphon money off of them, you are also
trying to establish a mutually beneficial
relationship with them.
The Verdict
Cold calling can still be a good way to
broaden your client network. However, the
intrinsic dangers that it displays may not
be very appealing to many companies. Before
even considering cold calling as an option,
take a look at the other marketing strategies
that are in existence.
About the author:
Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest
growing team of successful home business
enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we're
creating financial freedom all across the
globe and how to get in on the action FREE
=>http://www.comlev.com Team Blog: http://www.turnkeyinternetbusiness.blogspot.com
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