Last week, I cold-called 90 Community College decision-maker Administrators and spoke with 57 of them. My benefit-laced calling script referenced a website that would quickly answer their questions about an exciting new seminar created exclusively for their back-to-school entrepreneurs. 

This is one of the fastest growing community college student populations.  Most of these are 40+ year old recently unemployed white collar workers who have decided to become self-employed rather than suffer this same job loss during the next Recessionary cycle. Like locusts, they have descended on community colleges in massive number throughout the nation.

I seldom cold call.  As a mail first, call second advocate for 32 years, I seldom break my own rules. I also consider myself a leading edge tactical sales trainer so I cannot afford the luxury of resting on my past accomplishments.

Staying current and relevant means getting my hands dirty, in the sales trenches, experiencing what my b2b sales trainees experience as they go about their daily and weekly sales prospecting activities.

Had I NOT coaxed those of the 57 who were not responding on their cell phones and who had Internet access, at their fingertips, it would have been very difficult to create a visual image or word picture of my calling proposition.  Difficult, but not impossible.

This is the strongest argument FOR mailing first before conducting an initial follow up phone call. An effective mailing sets the stage for the phone call. It never tells the whole story! The mailing should only tease the target prospect to want to hear more during the announced, expected call.

Having a website which features quantified testimonials and very specific program benefits enables one to sell very effectively when cold-calling, since an electronic brochure is a timely tool.

So, if you plan to conduct cold calls, make sure your website is easy to navigate and visitor-friendly. Recently, my website, www.salesprospectingexpert.com was face lifted with this process in mind.

Those who go to my Contact Us page can, by providing minimum information, receive a PDF download with itemized details for whichever program they select. It’s a simple, non-intrusive method for responding to all inquiries. It works well and it’s generating more inquiries than I ever anticipated.