Earlier this month, I was in a workshop run by Brynne Tillman of Social Sales Link – I have to give her 100% credit for saying “Random Acts of Cold Calling,” which made me laugh so hard I snorted.
Add to that I’ve been hearing a lot of inside salespeople lately talk about “just making their dials” — and let me tell you, just is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
Because when I ask what their goal was for those dials, I get blank stares. Shrugs. A few mumbled, “Well… pipeline, I guess?”
People, cold calling isn’t a random act.
It’s not some superstitious sales ritual where we sacrifice hours to the CRM gods and hope for results. You’re not shaking a magic 8-ball every time you pick up the phone (even if some days it feels like that).
Cold calling — when done right — is a conscious action.
It’s showing up curious about who you’re calling. Confident in the value of the conversation you’re offering. Connected to why you’re reaching out in the first place.
But here’s what I’ve noticed: a lot of experienced reps fall into what I call “autodial autopilot.”
They’ve done this for years. They know the script. They can do it in their sleep — and some of them practically are.
Here’s the thing, though: intention is the difference between activity and impact.
You can dial a hundred people a day and still be invisible. Or you can dial twenty with purpose and walk away with three solid conversations that actually move.
So if you’ve caught yourself cold-calling just to hit a number — not to create something — it’s time to check in:
- Are you leading with curiosity, or just reciting?
- Are you reaching out to connect, or just to complete?
- Are you calling like you mean it?
Because the truth is, cold calling isn’t dead. But random, lazy, thoughtless cold calling? Yeah… that one’s on life support.
So here’s your challenge for today:
Pull up your current cold call template — the one you’ve been leaning on for months (or years).
- Is the trigger event still relevant to what your target market actually cares about today?
- What’s happening in your industry that you’re actually excited about?
- Are you saying something worth leaning in for… or just blah, blah, blah-ing your way through?
Revise the whole thing.
Not because someone told you to. Because you’re ready to start calling like you mean it — not because you have to.
Now, go talk to people like it matters.
Lynn
ps: because it does