Is cold calling a waste of time?

The answer is "no" in case you know what you are doing. We can't be all negative about cold calling as it still is a powerful tool of marketing. However, cold calling is having some hard times because of the damage spammers have produced to the very idea of direct marketing. Still we must not disregard telemarketing and cold calling as a tool for achieving our sales targets.

Actually, nobody dares to discount cold calling these days. Do you want a proof? The large marketing companies are spending millions each year to train their staff in direct calling. They wouldn't spend a penny on it if there would be a slightest doubt in cold calling as a mean of reaching the target audience.

Voice broadcast and cold calling.

Isn't delivering automated voice messages in fact another type of cold calling? It is if you are broadcasting an unsolicited voice message - i.e. a message that the recipient is not expecting to receive. However, many businesses do just that and they succeed. Conversion rate of unsolicited messages is much lower than the conversion rate of an advertising campaign aimed at your loyal customers but this is not a reason to avoid voice broadcast as a tool of direct marketing. You must also consider legal matters.

You have to be aware that many potential customers will just hang up on your voice broadcast message but as voice broadcast is cheaper comparing to snail mail direct marketing, you can still achieve good results.

To enhance your success consider broadcasting an interactive voice message - this is a message asking for an input form your customer. He can select different choices using his touch-tone response or giving commands with his voice saying "yes" or "no". For example your voice broadcast message can say something like this: "press button 1 to hear the information about our household products or 2 to learn about the best offers for garden owners."

Some people will click buttons just because they are curious. And don't forget to include a call to action at the end of your voice message.

Cold calling can be very annoying but some of the best products never make it to the regular stores because they are sold very well through the means of direct marketing.