[JSL23]

Phones have the highest response rates. The best way to utilize them is to have a mechanism (i.e. dialer, hot transfer, voice-mail broadcast, telemarketing company, etc.) in place to pick all the low hanging fruit.

You can always dial by hand but it is not efficient.

Wow, way too soon on the Robin Williams joke!. Yes, inbound-dialer/hot transfer is a pretty efficient way to get the "low hanging fruit", no doubt. With that said, I am still not anti-cold call. I just think that now, in the information age and the industry getting over saturated you have to be a bit more strategic with how you approach it. Take 30 seconds to Google the person you call and maybe copy/paste something about them/their company in your CRM, first of all. If you come prepared that Cold Call gets just a little bit warmer. The days of making 300 dials by yourself without knowing anything about the person you are trying to reach died in the late 90s.

Instead of using the same exact lines every other ISO/Account Executive does, try to engage the person a bit more. Don't start with "Do you need working capital?" because the next thing you will usually hear is a click. Example: you're calling someone in Construction. Maybe start with something like" I've helped Construction companies who specialize in ______ get $_____ this year. If I was able to get you anywhere from 50%-150% of your gross, how would you use it?" OR "How many more projects would you be able to take on with an infusion of capital?" Something that can potentially engage them and IS NOT a (dumb) yes or no question. Yes, it is still a numbers game and you will deal with plenty of rejection, but if you can separate yourself, just a bit it can and does work.

Nowadays CC alone probably won't do the trick. I've only used email marketing a bit in MCA, but we are starting to utilize it a bit more. If you get a 1% response, as the prior poster mentioned it will be a success as long as you convert them to opportunities. Cold Calling, Email, Social and Face-to-Face networking are effective when combined with one another. I'm no Marketing expert, but the data is key, as is making sure these are all "opt in" leads.