The CRAP Report

So I feel like there’s been a lot of blogs lately stating that cold calling is or is not dead, and today I read another one.  Matt Gethins, from B2B telemarketing firm Professional Prospecting Systems, wrote an article yesterday entitled Cold Calling Dead?  Not For B2B Appointment Setting.  Matt makes the common observation that all that is heard today is that all a company needs to do is focus on their inbound marketing and social media efforts, and they’ll be all set in regards to lead generation.  Matt’s response, “This is, in many cases, ridiculously bad advice and completely untrue.”  I totally agree with him.

Matt goes on to share seven reasons why cold calling is not dead, and I certainly think that you should read them.  Of particular interest to me, though, was number six on his list:

“6.  Outbound accelerates Inbound – That’s right, if you have your act together with outbound (cold calling, getting on the phone) you will make more money from your Inbound marketing. I’ve sold inbound lead generation products, the clients that had good outbound always made more money than those that did not, there was no variation in this. As we say in the South, Inbound Marketing is not going to cause the fried chicken to fly into your mouth, you have to get on the phone.”

I’m not from the South, so I really can’t speak to the fried chicken analogy, but I think he’s spot on in adding this point to his list.  I’m a big believer in Inbound Marketing – I love what folks like David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah and their whole HubSpot crew have done for Marketing as a whole.  In particular, Scott and his whole New Rules are all about bringing prospects TO you.  Halligan and Shah have founded a company whose entire mission is to offer software that helps other companies get found.  I still believe that at the end of the day, you still need to utilize teleprospecting to further qualify the folks that find you.  On top of that, I also believe that no matter how great the content is that you create, there are going to be some folks in your target market who you want as a client but must reach out to them through the phone to initiate a dialogue.

I like the phrase that Mike Damphousse has come up with for amalgamating your inbound and outbound efforts – “unified marketing.”  I think cold calling has its place in a unified marketing environment, right alongside blogging, viral videos, and eBooks.

What do you think?

*Photo credit: Liyin the Designer-in-Pajamas via Flickr