WHAT DOES COLD CALLING MEAN?
Cold calling, telephone canvassing or customer acquisition refers to making initial contact (usually by telephone) without prior consent with the (ultimate) aim of acquiring new customers. In most cases, the potential customer does not know the contacting company or its products/services. The contact was not requested. The opposite of cold calling is warm calling, where the person contacted already knows the company.
This form of acquisition is only permitted in sales in the business customer sector (B2B) (law against unfair competition) and only if a so-called "legitimate interest" can be assumed. A "legitimate interest" means that the target customer could have a fundamental need for the offer. Cold calling is therefore prohibited for private individuals.
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT COLD CALLING?
For professional cold calling to be successful, it is essential to keep a database with the contact details in which the status and reactions of the potential B2B customers of the cold calling campaign are documented. The aim is to communicate directly but respectfully and, if necessary, to respect the customer's wishes if they no longer wish to be contacted.
THE PHASES OF COLD CALLING
There are different phases in professional cold calling:
The first phase of cold calling involves selecting suitable customers and researching the right contact details. These can be found by researching the respective target group on the Internet, among other things. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can be used here to ensure simple and standardized processing in the next steps. However, this is also possible with an appropriately designed table and spreadsheet program.
Phase 2 of cold calling involves contacting the company in question by telephone (telephone canvassing) with the aim of finding the right contact person and their direct contact details.
In phase 3, a conversation takes place with the right contact person in which the company's own products/services are presented. These should be optimally prepared, especially in the case of a cold call.
In phase 4, an individual offer is submitted. In phase 4 of the cold call, it may also be necessary to follow up (several times) to find out whether the offer is interesting and when a response can be expected (so-called follow-up).
Phase 5 of the acquisition is then the conclusion and signing of the contract by the customer
Further references to cold calling:
https://www.impulse.de/recht-steuern/kaltakquise-verboten/2071289.html
Video on cold calling:
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