Cold Prospecting: Does knocking on doors work?

A case study, by Tal Paperin

When I started working in international sales, 15 years ago, I lucked out. Not only did I have a great boss excited to teach me (and was a great teacher) but I landed in an industry with relatively low competition and a product that sold itself.

At that first job, after being taught how to identify who our potential clients are, I started sending out personalized "cold emails". The response rate for these well researched prospects was about 20%. I would then pick up the phone and call the others - and at the end of the day, between everyone I contacted, I would close about 20%-25% of those initial cold leads without having to do much more effort than picking up the phone.

A well researched lead was relatively simple to close - but even those that did not close were useful because they helped me generate further leads. So I had emails, a website and the PHONE - and I ended up contacting 100% of the leads - being turned down completely by only 10%-15%. As most of you in sales know, this was an abnormal response rate, and set my expectations for cold calling a little too high.

A new industry and new challenges.

So what happened since that first job?

A decade has gone by. I changed industries a few times

Recently I ended up in a new industry. This one is completely dominated by 3 companies (75% of the market), with additional 10%-15% of the market controlled by another 2-3 players. The big players have their market share because they have a truly great product and a heavy presence on the ground (always a challenge for those trying to sell internationally). I quickly discovered after starting my first round of cold calls on the leads I had generated that the market is oversaturated, meaning that when a lead hears the name of the product category, they lose all interest.

In the past decade, to the usual email + phone, we got Facebook + LinkedIn + YouTube just for starters.

Consider the statistics for this industry, as compared to what I mentioned at my first job above: within the first month I emailed over 600 companies and got less than 5% reply. Undeterred, I called over 100 people who hadn’t responded and about 20%-25% showed interest. I saw first hand why so many Sales gurus tell you to "pick up the phone!" I decided that if picking up the phone was the key to success for most salespeople - I was going to take this one step further and "get on the plane" would be mine.

I compiled a well-researched list of 15 companies and booked myself a flight. I knew what I should say to each company and why - plus I had the all-important swag gift baggie for each - including my catalogs and samples.

The results of "Cold Door Knocking" in a foreign country.

Within a week I have knocked on 12 out of the 15 doors - only one was not interested hearing me out and another apologized he was too busy to meet with me. With the other 10 I managed to sit down, have a coffee, and present my product and its value. The results were as follows:

• 2 politely explained why it wont work for them.
• 4 wont work with me because they are happy with their current contracts and aren’t interested in trying something new.
• The remaining 4 are currently in negotiations with us - and one of those will work with us.

Bottom line: Whether it’s cold calling or cold door-knocking, this approach is still the best way to generate new business. Even in this day and age, many companies (though it varies by industry) don’t have a social media presence, and hence "Social Selling" wont work. But these companies are still businesses, interested in working with a partner who will help them generate more money. While combing for leads on Twitter or LinkedIn might seem like the most efficient way to generate new leads, at the end of the day lead gen needs to be a combination of everything you got, including good old footwork.

What worked for me was combining everything that I could possible think of to get to that prospect, starting from the easy - email, social - and moving up to the phone. When that did`nt do the trick... Well, I`m in Sales - so I will literally come knocking on your door (if you qualify).

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Tal Paperin.

Strategist.

Currently holds the position of VP International Business Development at KSW.Solutions, an Israel based, International Consulting and Advising Company.  

www.KSW.Solutions

Tal Paperin was born in the USSR (1981), moved to Israel in 1990. He married an American, speaks Russian, Hebrew, English and Chinese, and has 3 children. After military service in the IDF/IAF (3 years, Master Sergeant, Crew Leader), he graduated Hebrew University (Jerusalem), 2 BAs (International Relations and Affairs + Eastern Asia studies + Chinese). He has over 12 years of diverse professional experience in International Sales and Marketing (B2B/B2C) - with specialization both in Biotec/Pharma/HiTec (SaaS, IoT etc) and Traditional Industries : DIY, Consumer Goods, Agriculture / Fresh Produce.

KSW`s Specialization is in Complex Sales, Strategic Planning, New Markets, Project Management, Negotiations, Distributors Management, Pre - and Post Sales and much more in EU, FSU/CIS, North America, China and APAC.