There’s a war raging right now amongst sales professionals and you may not be aware of it … particularly if you haven’t spent any time on LinkedIn.

There’s two schools of thought when it comes to prospecting:

  • GROUP 1: You should only use social tools for prospecting and
  • GROUP 2: Cold calling

GROUP 1:

Social selling advocates believe you should never, ever pick up the phone and cold call anyone … They are adamant that you should never call them at work and interrupt them, etc.

And you should never ask anyone to buy anything because “you should never be closing.” Instead they use the mantra “always be connecting.”

Social selling advocates explain you should connect and try to “create value.” They tell you to just connect and share information with the prospect/buyer. Their point is “when the buyer has a need, they’ll raise their hand and give you permission to approach—letting you know they are ready to take the next step—even purchase.” Sounds logical, eh?

GROUP 2:

Cold calling advocates say the phone is still an important tool to proactively call targeted clients. You call a prospect and get an appointment so you can get face-to-face to develop an opportunity. Cold callers will also tell you to use the social tools. Moreover, they will also tell you that you should also get referrals. They advocate networking events. They will also endorse conferences and tradeshows. Basically they are telling you to utilize every single method that’s available to you for prospecting. They believe you should have a comprehensive, yet balanced strategy that is customized to specifically fit your business.

The other group on the social selling side will tell you that you could do a lot of things, but cold calling isn’t one of them.

This is the major difference between these two groups.

So who do you think is right?

It has to be the group that says you should cold call because cold calling is faster and is more effective, yes? If you are going to fill your calendar with appointments, you’re going to do it far more effectively employing cold calling rather than social selling. Right?

For you golfers out there, social selling is more of a “long game,” and you should also employ social selling at the same time you are cold calling.

Under no circumstances should you give up the phone, or forfeit the “speed results” that you desire, that your company needs and that your client needs.

Realistically, there is no debate from any serious sales person in the business. Any serious person who is industrious will tell you that you need to use every club in the golfbag to achieve your goal. (Sorry for the golf analogy again).

It’s the best methodology to ensure you will get the results you need and move the sales needle.

Make no mistake, there is power in content marketing, but it’s tough for many sales reps because they can’t possibly generate 400-500 new pieces of content per year and still get paid … much less keep their job. And as i always pontificate … great marketing happens when the execution is flawless.

Your best approach is to do what you need to build your pipeline …

ONE MORE THING:

If you are a younger individual and you don’t ever want to cold call … then you need to get past that fear and get comfortable with the phone. It’s faster and speedier and best of all—over time your confidence will get stronger each and every time.

And if you’re a more seasoned veteran sales person … you need to get over it and put together an insanely great LinkedIn profile that explains how you create “value.” I’m telling you to spend some time doing the research to understand the best tools available and add it to your arsenal. Or better yet, just call 860.621.8866 and make it easier on yourself.

It doesn’t make any sense to only do social selling above the “sales funnel” … Combine social selling and cold calling. It’s a fact that both of them together are significantly more powerful than doing only one of them alone.

I’m Joseph Cekauskas … I want you all to have a very blessed day!