Physicis and Cold Calling Align

Time for a physics review: an object in motion tends to stay in motion.  This simple law won’t just help you predict the force of one object crashing into another, but can also provide some insight into cold calling and lead generation. Keep reading and I’ll tell you why.

It takes some time for a cold calling program to start generating leads. A ramping-up period is normal as callers get more familiar with the client’s needs and objectives, leads are followed-up on at the right time, prospects start responding to emails, and so on. A typical program will start slow and then reach a point where appointments are generated consistently. Extra time and energy is needed at the outset, but once a certain threshold is reached, the program takes on a momentum that continues it forward. This is the basis for most of our business; many clients hire us on an ongoing basis, and month after month we are able to maintain that momentum and continue a steady pace of lead generation. Other clients ask us to start and stop, mostly to save money, but that is not an effective strategy for long-term results. In fact it takes more resources in the end because each time we start up again there is some adjustment period before we reach that point of steady lead generation.

Here is an example. A client in the managed services space suspended their campaign during a month-long vacation by one of their sales people for whom we were setting appointments. Upon starting the program back up, VSA increased the amount of time spent on the program for the first month, and then spent an entire 2nd month before we began to see appointments set at the normal pre-break pace. In fact, the first lead we generated was from a record we had begun cultivating 3 months previously. This particular client in fact did not save money by suspending the program, and would have been better served by continuing to make calls during the salesperson’s hiatus.

We strongly recommend a regular, ongoing investment of time and effort on any lead generation program.  It’s not just about a single call, but the entire effort to identify decision makers, finally speak to them, cultivate a relationship and at last set an appointment. Once you put the initial energy into the program, the laws of physics take over and help you maintain a productive lead generation process.