Toops Scoops: How Cold Is Your Cold Calling?

There's a heated discussion about a cold subject going on at the AA&B LinkedIn readers' network.

It all started when a reader posted a link to a blog entry by sales consultant Steve Kloyda about his unpleasant experience with a salesperson who cold called him, then lied that he'd already spoken to him — when Kloyda knew he hadn't.

It sound innocuous enough, but the posting started a debate among several readers about the ethics — and efficiency — of the practice of cold calling, and the right and wrong way to do it. The debate essentially boiled down to what exactly is acceptable in cold calling, and morphed into  a discussion of more controversial cold calling practices, such as dropping in on prospects unannounced, or following a script on a phone cold call that's clearly fake. Even AA&B columnist Chris Amrhein got in on the controversy, defending the practice of the drop-in while reviling the fakery of an aggressive canned pitch, a la the “boiler room” denizens in David Mamet's masterful play (and movie) on the sales mentality, “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

Agents and brokers understandably pride themselves on being professionals, on acting as “trusted advisors” to their customers. Producers practicing overly aggressive cold calling run the risk of compromising that perception and casting the profession back into the image of the hand-gripping, fast-talking used car salesman.

Everyone agrees cold calling is a part of any sales job. But my question to you is, how cold is your cold calling? A sale is a sale, and these are tough times. Would you go as far as the salesman who called Steve Kloyda and lie in your pitch? Do you consider “drop-in” visits to prospects acceptable or anathema? Have you ever crossed the fine line between cold call and telemarketer?

In short, what's OK in this area and what isn't?