The Cold Calling Poll

I've been asked by Stavros to open a poll, and its a great idea, we could start a poll to get a general consensus on peoples feeling towards cold calling.

Does cold calling still work and does it have a place in the modern marketers toolkit?

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cheers Steve
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I have cast my vote and I think they are a total nuisance and I dont buy anything from them.
The latest round of cold calls I have been recieving are from people who have purchased my details and are then posing as they compant I have purchased the product from.

Example 1:
I recieved a call from 3 the other day saying that I had not had a handset upgrade for 3 yrs and would I like to have my account reviewed, yep not a problem something that I have been meaning to do for some time can you email me some details.
no problem Mr Stavros we will conact you in 24-48 hrs

the above call was well above board they knew what handset how much I spend a month etc etc.

2 days later I get a call from a company posing as 3 they offer me a half decent handset and a very cheap tariff, I ask him to confirm the deal over email.

email arrives and it is not from 3 it is from excel communications 3 have sold on \ outsourced my details, not too bad I thought large companies regulary outsource there back office.

then I start getting an auto dialler calling me several times a day at all hours with no response at the other end.

track the number down and guess what it was Excel communications that were auto dialing me, letter of complaint to them and 3 to get me removed asap 5 days later the phone stops ringing.

1 more week later 3 give me a call Mr stavros you have not had a handset upgrade for 3 yrs, as you can imagine postal was an under statement.

Example 2:
SKY for the love of god what are these people trying to do to me. the week before I was getting called 3 times a day 24\7 either selling sky sports or a maintenance contract for the sky box.

In the end I had to go postal some cocky girls phone me late on the Friday night.
Sky: Hello Mr Stavros this is ******* from SKY.
Stavros: ( In a shocked and condesending tone) oh my god who has died.
Sky: I am sorry Mr Stavros what do you mean.
Stavros: Well for you to phone at this last hour on a Friday night after the crap week I have had someone must have passed away or you must have some bad news for me.
Sky: No Mr Stavros I am actually calling to see if you are...
Stavros: Let me stop you right there I am not intersted in...
Sky: You dont know what I am about to say.
Stavros: Let me guess your are trying to upsell me, therefore I can save you some time as I am not intersted in Sky Sports and I have 3 sky boxes stacked up in the garage as you give me 1 each time I move house. so unless someone has died it I suggest you quit hassling me and taking off your ***** spam list straight away (Phone down)

GRRRRRR, rah, rah, rah.

does cold calling work on me definately not.
do I think it has a place in the modern market place yes but for the correct demographic.
anyway rant over:

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I think it must work, otherwise companies wouldn't drop such vast sums of money into having factories of telephone operators doing hours and hours of cold-calling.

But I think a lot of the time it works because of deception.

For instance, when I worked in the double-glazing call centre trenches, we were told (for a while) to start our calls with "hi, my name is Mary and I'm calling from (well-known insurance company)." This meant that most of the people who would have hung up the instant they heard "Such and Such Windows" would stay on the line. We were then supposed to suggest that getting double-glazed windows fitted - with super-duper special locks - was a security feature recommended by (insurance company) that might, possibly, maybe, perhaps, in addition to increasing your home security, have some sort of effect on either your insurance premiums or payouts.

In retrospect, I'm fairly sure the two companies had nothing to do with each other, as after a couple of months an order came down from on high that we were never allowed to mention insurance or (insurance company) ever again.

I think it goes:
1. Do I have a conscience? If Yes, abort, if No, go to 2.
2. Am I targeting the gullible and/or vulnerable? If No, abort, if Yes, full steam ahead!

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The god of co-incidence...

reading Stavros's reply, and just got a call from Orange Business, and how we are finding the service, told me how many handsets we have, are going to send me latest brochure, let me know when we are eligable for upgrades... blah blah blah...

Put the phone down, penny drops, we're not even with Orange Business, our business account is with Vodaphone!!!

So Vodaphones flogged my details to a marketing company, and I get cold called by their rival

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cheers Steve
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think they called you after i told em where to go steve.
they do my head in!

if i want something i will look for it myself not buy it cos someone fones me and tells me i want it.
i know they are trying to earn a living... but really... they border on stalking

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But pity the poor sods who do the calling. Most of them only do the job because it's that or the dole.

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Yup, half the time it sounds like a warehouse full of noisy school children, can hardly hear the caller, or overseas and you can barely understand them.

But I confess, we did try it. Having engaged a telesales marketing campaign in our early days, it was interesting touring call centres till we found one we liked. The staff were pretty professional, they obviously had quite a high attrition rate as you would imagine, but they were working, it was a job. They were mainly youngsters, and any that had any actual selling ability, normally went onto bigger and better things, so it became a bit of a proving ground.

Even those that couldn't sell, a call centre an be a harsh disciplined environment, which to be honest isn't such a bad thing for the average cocky school leaver with 1 GCSE in TellyTubbies, and is a good wake up call and incentive to move onto bigger and better things.

But I did find the whole thing quite scary and aggressive, as we listened in on headsets while complete strangers representing your company started pressure selling your product.

All part of the learning curve, and we quickly decided it wasn't for us, its not how we wanted to be known, and scrapped coldcalling, moving instead to warm calls only, ie people that have contacted or signed up with us first.

But I can see markets where cold calling does work, and for new businesses, everyone has to start somewhere... even if its just the biz owner with a bought in data set, getting some real world feedback on his products and services.

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cheers Steve
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I got a very poorly targeted cold call yesterday from a company ( well known company too - not going to mention name for fear of being sued!) trying to flog me a Google map placement for £250!

1) I use Google places and am clearly visible on there
2) I'm the owner of a marketing company and therefore know it's free
3) After informing them of point 1 and 2 above i got a *sigh* from the caller and was rudely informed by the said caller "Well aren't you the clever clogs then!" - charming!

So my message to "well known company" is if you are intent on trying to "help" companies got on Google maps - get your targeting correct and research before you call!


have completed poll

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lol, at least the teenager on the end of the phone had a sense of humour

Flogging Google map placements, shocking!

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cheers Steve
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I get crappy calls like that all the time.

The number 1 crap call I get is do you realise that because your servers are not hosted in the UK, Google hates you, your family, your cat, your dog and your guinea pig and you will have sacrfice your first born to the google gods to get registered in the serps.

Of course you could let us let us take over you entire operation and charge you 6 million squids for the privellage and we will spare your first born.

man I am glad it is Friday I have got the serious A******** can you tell.

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