the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke

I dislike cold calling in all its forms, and I know that I am not alone in that feeling. That said I have, over the years, cold called and have had some success, so I know that it does work. If done well.

I have just dissolved my limited company after 23 years. whilst I have had to weed out cold call emails from my mailbox ever since I set it up, for some reason I have been receiving 5-10 emails a day from a variety of suppliers since I started the dissolution process.

It is patently obvious that these are from people who have bought a list and have not sense checked it or done any basic research, they are just firing off emails and hoping. Good luck to them, but I will not buy from anyone who has not done anything to check whether what they are selling is likely to be relevant to me.

An example would be the ones who want to offer me training packages for my employees: I do not have any employees and offer many of these courses myself. Likewise, mentoring. A look at my website would have told them that I do that too. In fact a look at my website now will tell them that the business is no longer trading.

I mentioned that I had had some success at cold calling down the years, and it was because I did a bit of research before making contact. Maybe it wasn’t really cold calling in the strict sense, more warm calling, but the principle was that, when I made contact, I had a bit more chance because I knew something about the potential client.

I have never bought a list of contacts in any of my various roles, employed or self-employed. I don’t trust them, no matter how carefully verified the seller of such a list tells me it is. I could think of better things to spend my money on.

I do have some sympathy with the people making the calls from call centres, after all they are trying to earn a buck and are just doing what they are told to. But would I deal with the company that has engaged the call centre? No. At least not through any such call.

A personal view, and maybe one that you don’t agree with. You can always tell me why.