Cold calling is a sales practice in which a salesperson contacts potential customers who have not previously expressed interest in a product or service. The goal of cold calling is to convince potential customers to purchase the salespersons product or service. Cold calling can be done over the phone, making it a source of telemarketing, or in-person by door-to-door salespeople.
Cold calling has developed from a form of giving sales pitch using a script into a targeted communication tool. Salespeople call from a list of potential customers that fit certain parameters built to help increase the likelihood of a sale. This modern cold calling, sometimes called "warm calling", tries to "dig deeply to understand" the potential customer.
While cold calling can be used as a legitimate business tool, it has gained some criticism with the development of newer technology and the internet. Cold calling has a low success rate, with perhaps only a 2% success rate even for the most skilled professionals. However, benefits of cold calling include immediate feedback response, personal connection, a lower likelihood of being ignored, and accessibility.
Cold calling is not to be confused with warm calling, which is the solicitation of a customer who had previously expressed interest in the company or product. Cold calling by phone has been on the decline in the U.S. in recent years due to the adoption of cell phones and the decline of landlines. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations forbid telemarketers from calling cell phones without the consent of their users.
