COMMENTS
Great article Al. It's important to distinguish between the varying demographics that salespeople target, as well as pointing out how many attempts it could take. You might also want to check out this article - http://www.omghub.com/salesdevelopmentblog/tabid/5809/bid/4933/Salespeople-as-a-Dreaded-Virus.aspx - where I point out some of the things that have changed in the past 10 years relative to reaching decision makers.
Al, this is very thought-provoking. Although I've made them myself, taught clients how to make them and recommended cold calls as a strategy, I think that your approach better forecasts the effort required, the results expected and the why. Thanks.
Great first post, Al.
I'm a little spoiled nowadays, working at a company that has a lot of inquiries and leads. I'd like to keep my cold calling skills "warm", though.
Where I think I'll be doing more cold calling is calling the decision makers at companies that have expressed interest. I have a lot of leads that are "influencers" and many times the influencer will not pass me through to the decision maker, even when it's in the influencer's best interest.