I received an email last week from a real estate representative asking if cold calling was dead. If you’re wondering the same thing, ask yourself this question:
Think of all the times you pick up the phone to reach new buyers: those people you see on social media who you think would be a good fit, all the leads your business generates asking for more information, all your customers you call to increase sales, “qualified” leads that you or your business pay for what you call, etc.
Then ask yourself: if your phone was taken away, would it affect your sales? Would you be as successful if you couldn’t reach these prospects and introduce yourself and your company?
If your answer is Yes, guess what? Cold calling is not dead. Oh, you can call it warm calls or prospecting, but the fact is, you still have to reach out to people you don’t know to connect with them, introduce yourself and your company, and qualify them to fit your product or service.
The real question should be: how can you “cold call” more effectively?
In terms of this realtor, one suggestion I had was to do what others in your industry are doing. And that’s calling local homeowners and offering them something of value first, and if they want to take advantage of it, then gently qualifying them to take an interest in a service you’re offering.
For example: many real estate agents have put together an up-to-date free market analysis of comps for other houses in the area and call local homeowners to give them away. They call and ask the owner if they would like an updated report on the value of other houses in their area (including their own).
Now who wouldn’t want that?
After the owner says yes, he collects your email address and promises to send you the report. They then go on to qualify the owner by asking any of the following questions to generate a lead:
“And would you be interested in a personalized, no-obligation appraisal of the current value of your home?”
PRAYED
“Will you by any chance be on the market to sell your home in the next 6-12 months?”
PRAYED
“Are you looking to downsize anytime in the next 5 years?”
And so. If you’re into real estate, I’m sure you may have many other questions. The point is to discover a potential customer, and these questions help reveal who that might be.
Obviously, you can adapt this strategy to any other industry, that is, your own! The point is that you will find this information through cold calling prospects.
So cold calling is dead? Take your phone offline for a month and see if your sales suffer. If they do, then he’s not dead; you may not be doing it right.