If you are a b2b salesperson or a business owner, then finding new business is an essential part of your job. And deep down you probably know (whether you recognise it or not) that finding new business involves getting on the phone and calling complete strangers.

You know you have to do it, but if you are like 90% of salespeople out there, you will procrastinate and put it off as much as possible because you see telephone prospecting as a chore and really not something that you want to do.

In fact, many salespeople (are you one of them?) will go online and use Google to try to find alternative methods to cold calling. And there are plenty of alternative methods offered.

The popularity of all these “never cold call” type of courses and e-books is a testament to the fact that people generally don’t like to cold call and will do anything to avoid it.

The problem of course, is that if you are not making unsolicited calls to potential prospects in your target market and your competitors are, then you will put yourself at a significant disadvantage (especially if your competitors are making a good job of it!).

Regardless of what the “cold calling is dead” books and websites tell you, the plain and simple fact of the matter is that cold calling does work, because it is the only form of marketing that guarantees you some sort of response from the individuals in your target market.

Now if you are not doing things the right way, a common response may be “sorry I’m not interested”, but if you learn how to cold call effectively, those sorts of responses can be pretty much eliminated.

By following some basic principles and a few simple techniques, you can turn each conversation into a call that the prospect wants to take, rather than a call he is trying to get rid of.

Cold calling is not dead and never will be. As long as people have an ability to talk, to introduce themselves, to have conversations and to do business together, there will always be opportunities to get on the phone and discuss value with someone for whom that value is meaningful.