Younger folks still probably think email and social media are the best way to reach prospective customers.

It’s true.

You can achieve unprecedented scale using email and social platforms.

But then there’s

• Email spam filters
• People read and ignore emails
• Most social messages are visible for a minute window of time
• Folks you want to reach, the decision makers, are probably more traditional
• People receive more email than phone calls. So getting people on the phone is sometimes a faster way to qualify a lead

So don’t be shy, give it a go.

Here are 7 quick tips on how to do it well.

7 Tips for productive cold calling

1. Plan in advance – make a list of all the people you want to reach
2. Set targets – e.g.: achieve 20 effective calls, that is, 20 meaningful conversations with a decision maker (more on this, later)
3. Block out 2 hours of time to just burn up the phone
4. Shut down distractions: close all social media and turn off email notifications
5. Mix it up – for best times to call, watch this
6. Always follow up effective calls with an email. It might be confirming a meeting, sending a proposal, or just send some useful information related to topics that came up in the call
7. Send follow-up emails during off-peak times. I find it easier to block out time to just focus on calling. And then block out another couple of hours, after, to focus on the follow up emails. If you send follow-ups immediately after your call, you loose the momentum of the calls.  And more importantly, there’s a window of time, I call “peak calling times” when you’re likely to get people at their desk. You’ll achieve a higher success rate if you use that time well.

Got anything to add to the list?

Happy cold calling!

Come back and tell me how you get on!