--- title: Is It Time to Kill The Cold Call? description: Don’t get me wrong, cold calling has certainly helped me in my sales career. But, I wonder if it hasn’t caused as much harm and it has helped. image: https://www.liftenablement.com/hs-fs/file-361915197-jpg/blog-files/cold-calling-lady.jpg --- ![Award Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%203.png) Award Winning, Amazon #1 Bestseller: The Revenue Acceleration Framework ![Lift Logo](https://www.liftenablement.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Lift-Theme-Dev/images/LiftEnablement%20-%20Logo%20-%20Reverse%20(2).png) HubSpot's Most Trusted Partner for Complex Implementations ![HubSpot Certified Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%204%20(2).png) HubSpot Certified App Partner ![Award Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%203.png) Award Winning, Amazon #1 Bestseller: The Revenue Acceleration Framework ![Lift Logo](https://www.liftenablement.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Lift-Theme-Dev/images/LiftEnablement%20-%20Logo%20-%20Reverse%20(2).png) HubSpot's Most Trusted Partner for Complex Implementations ![HubSpot Certified Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%204%20(2).png) HubSpot Certified App Partner ![Award Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%203.png) Award Winning, Amazon #1 Bestseller: The Revenue Acceleration Framework ![Lift Logo](https://www.liftenablement.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Lift-Theme-Dev/images/LiftEnablement%20-%20Logo%20-%20Reverse%20(2).png) HubSpot's Most Trusted Partner for Complex Implementations ![HubSpot Certified Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%204%20(2).png) HubSpot Certified App Partner ![Award Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%203.png) Award Winning, Amazon #1 Bestseller: The Revenue Acceleration Framework ![Lift Logo](https://www.liftenablement.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Lift-Theme-Dev/images/LiftEnablement%20-%20Logo%20-%20Reverse%20(2).png) HubSpot's Most Trusted Partner for Complex Implementations ![HubSpot Certified Badge](https://49161231.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/49161231/image%204%20(2).png) HubSpot Certified App Partner # Is It Time to Kill The Cold Call? [ Doug Davidoff ](https://www.liftenablement.com/blog/author/doug-davidoff) Nov 8, 2009 3:15:17 PM [![cold-calling-lady](https://www.liftenablement.com/hs-fs/file-361915197-jpg/blog-files/cold-calling-lady.jpg?width=240&height=226&name=cold-calling-lady.jpg "cold-calling-lady")](http://thefastgrowthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/cold-calling-lady.jpg)In my efforts to stay abreast of what is going on in the world outside my office, I follow the thoughts of several sales training and consulting organizations.  Over the last couple of weeks I’ve seen a significant increase in the chatter surrounding cold calling. While everyone has had a slightly different take on the practice, the thoughts were probably best summed up by [@solutionselling](http://twitter.com/solutionselling)’s blog post: [Cold-Calling Beats Aggressively Waiting by the Phone…. EVERY TIME!](http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2009/11/5/cold-calling-beats-aggressively-waiting-by-the-phone-every-t.html) When I first got into selling, I wore my ability to cold call as a badge of honor.  I remember when I started at Merrill Lynch, a good day was when I made 300 calls in a day, and on my “best” day I made 500 dials.  I look back on my “smiling and dialing” days much the way a high school football player looks back at their “great” plays. But, I got to thinking.  I’ve built (IMHO) a pretty good business over the last five years and I haven’t gotten a single client from cold calling.  When I look at the best clients I got when I was at Merrill Lynch, not one came from cold calling.  Don’t get me wrong, cold calling has certainly helped me in my sales career.  But, I wonder if it hasn’t caused as much harm and it has helped. So, I ask you, **Is It Time To Kill The Cold Call?** Here are my thoughts: We first need to define cold call.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a first contact by phone with someone who may not know you.  If you are making that call with purpose, you’ve done some research on the company, you have a least a hypothesis of the problem they have that you can help address and you have a dynamic, multi-pronged account entry strategy to support that call; then I would not define that as a “cold” call. Let’s call these initial calls.  In reality, if this isn’t the sole part of your job, you *may* be able to make 5 of these types of calls a week. A cold call, in my opinion, is where you deliver a generic message to a defined (or not) group of people in an effort to generate interest.  You know little to nothing about the potential customer and you script yourself (whether written or not) to create a “lead.”  With this type of call, you can make a virtually unlimited number of calls.. Now the observations: Pros:   Cons   I could go on, but I think my opinion is becoming clear.  That said, I do realize the underlying, even if un-desired, need for tactics such as cold calling.  So my answer is that it’s not time to *kill* the cold call, but it should only be used as a tactic when absolutely necessary. Here’s my prescription: What do you think?  Is it time to kill the cold call?  What changes do you think we need to make to this tactic? 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