There's a reason why everybody hates cold calling. Because it's more awkward than yelling out an expletive at a family wedding. You don't 'cold call' outside of business hours. For example, you wouldn't call up a restaurant to NOT book a table. 'Hi, just phoning to see how things were with you?' probably wouldn't go down to well with the waiter who picked up the phone...
Whilst working as an estate agent (again, please no hate mail) we were told to call up customers to check they were still looking for property. You can imagine just how happy property seekers were to receive our call, only to inform them that we had nothing new for them and that we just wanted to check up on their progress.
The problem is, when a sales person realises the awkwardness of their call, they stop calling and try and find other things to do to fill up their day. This is why trigger events are so important. It doesn't even have to be a 'massive' event. Knowing someone has just won a local award is enough of a reason to call up and say 'congratulations'. That's far more likely to be greeted with a positive response than 'hey, how are you? Can I sell you stuff?'
How well do you know your customers or prospects? Are they simply a name on a list or do you actively take interest and respond to their business events?
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