B2B Cold Calling: Perceived and Real Barriers to Success

Business to Business (B2B) cold calling is one of the most versatile and effective sources of acquiring prospective business clients, and can produce financial results for almost any firm.

Typically B2B cold calling is used to set appointments or drive prospects to a webinar. Many firms refer to it as “lead generation,” “lead gen,” or “appointment generation.” But the entire process starts with the basic cold call.

Before you go ahead and launch a cold calling program, however, consider these perceived and real barriers to success.

Perceived Barriers

#1: Cold calling is just like consumer telemarketing. Equating B2B cold calling with consumer telemarketing, many managers and cold callers themselves project their own feelings onto their prospects. Their dislike and fear of interrupting or annoying prospects overwhelms them.

Let me tell you, if you truly believe your calls are negative interruptions, you will never be successful. Your callers will not have confidence and your prospects will not respect them.

I personally regard cold calling as an opportunity to present information to individuals who otherwise would not have access to it, and to provide real solutions to actual business challenges. That’s the belief system successful callers have when they make cold calls. Prospects can hear it in their voices and respond positively.