"How much of my time should I devote to cold calling?"
As a Territory Manager for a wholesale distributor or manufacturer I am sure you sometimes feel like your hands are full with servicing your existing dealer accounts. However, sales managers, sales quotas, new business incentives, and corporate goals keep you concerned about developing new customers. How much time should you devote to cold calling and new account development?
Probably a more defining way of asking the same question is “How much time should you devote to prospecting for new business?, especially since I’ve never met a salesperson that truly loved cold calling.
Cold calling stinks! Everyone hates it, which is why I believe the question was asked and why salespeople find excuses not to do it, such as a lack of time or too busy servicing existing accounts, etc.
I don’t blame salespeople, I hate cold calling too and refuse to do it and so should you!
Let me explain.
The answer to your question of how much time should be spent prospecting is that it something you should be doing all the time. I’m sure that’s not what a salesperson wants to hear, but don’t allow your own biases stop you from reading further.
Prospecting is a component of selling and selling is ALL about relationships. Relationships take time to build. The longer the buying relationship will exist, the more time is required to cultivate it.
In other words, no sale ever takes place immediately upon meeting a prospect. Some time is spent getting to know one another.
For example, a service technician can make a sale in a matter of moments after diagnosing the problem and an in-home salesperson may spend a few hours over a couple of visits and phone calls as these buying relationships are very brief and yield a short sales cycle with the technician or salesperson moving on to the next prospect after the purchase occurs.
A Territory Manager has to find a potential prospect, make contact, establish a relationship, earn the business initially and then continue to service the account in order to maintain the relationship.
In all instances salespeople want to move from introduction to sale quicker than most prospects are willing to make a buying decision. Salespeople want a sale and prospects seek a relationship of trust before making a purchase. Hence the cliché: “People buy from people they like and trust…thus, their friends.” Friendships take time to develop. This may be why most salespeople under perform.
Therefore, you can waste time cold calling and generate very little for your efforts or you can focus your prospecting activities on increasing your business via existing accounts…
- Sell existing accounts more stuff; find new solutions to their customers’ problems; shift the mix to higher margin products; etc.
- Teach current clients how to identify new opportunities and markets to serve and educate them how to do #1.
- Enhance their marketing, sales materials and selling process to improve performance.
- Get current clients to introduce you (a bona-fide face-to-face commitment to meet with you, not just refer you) to others they think could benefit from your products and services yielding a much higher chance of closing. They know you have to grow your business and know the good players and those needing to raise their game. It’s in their best interest to have good competition than to compete against price-driven bottom feeders.
- Identify potential accounts that you desire to acquire and develop a strategic plan to earn their business over time (call or email me for more info.). This won’t happen off a cold call.
Finally, from the above activities you can see you should be doing the first four activities all the time and should allocate about 30% of your time to the last activity in order to keep your prospect funnel full and develop a steady stream of prospects in your pipeline from which you may eventually earn new business, replace lost accounts or upgrade underperforming existing accounts.
Good luck and great selling!
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