Question: Does effective business outreach cold calling require a background in the industry or markets you are calling?
Answer: Surprisingly, industry specific knowledge about the business segments you are calling is NOT essential.
Your ability to bond with someone --- usually a complete stranger if you're cold calling --- will have more to do with your tone of voice than anything else.
See my post: How To Make A Successful Phone Introduction
But too many sales managers insist only salespeople with deep understanding of the markets they are selling can do business development cold calling.
It's myth based on lack of real-world testing and experience rather than tested cold call business experience.
How QUALITY Appointments Develop
It is by working your prospect list with emails and real-time follow-up calls that your appointments will develop.
Today's business marketing by phone is about building trust...strengthening relationships...and educating your prospects on how you can help them.
Sure, it's a process.
But it pays you back with higher close rates and more repeat customers than one call telemarketing ever did.
You may have overlooked this appointment setting strategy completely.
Or have been hooked into trying it by call centers that are not suited for your particular industry niche.
But sales prospecting with the right personal touch is a practical way to get new customers and keep your existing customers from drifting away.
How to Make Cold Call Business Prospecting Pay Off

To make your cold call business prospecting a success here are five Marketing Direct direct cold call tips tips I think you will find useful.
Give these tips a shot...not all at once, but one here, one there. Be patient... stick with my strategy. You'll see positive results...especially with your cold call phone prospecting.
- Never "Wing It". Always use a script. It keeps repetitions, omissions and improper sequencing out of your pitch. They spell trouble when you prospect new customers.
- Keep It Short. Make your introduction brief and to the point. How brief? Twenty to thirty seconds! That's all you get. So be accurate, concise,and persuasive. Are you starting to see why you need a script?
- Relax. Dialog and delivery in movies, TV, and plays flows from carefully crafted scripts.
Yet these staged conversations sound completely natural and spontaneous.

Effective cold call business prospecting is no different.
Subtle inflections and pauses make your presentation more natural and far more believable.
- Prospect Qualify. Good prospects...weak prospects? Find out who's who by asking specific questions. For example, "Does this interest you?" Or "When would you like me to recontact you"? Make prospect qualify questions part of every script!
- Test,Test,Test ----but control your variables carefully. Be especially careful with key words or phrases. You might think they don't matter, but they do! So once you find a winning script, stick with every word of it!
Improve Your Cold Call Business Prospecting
Get updates on cold call business prospecting to help grow your business ---especially in this economy.
Also, go here for DMA 2012 response rate reports for lead generation marketing media. Plus this Advertising Age update on B2B phone marketing.
Also, for further study:
- Harvard Business Review On Cold Call Sales Prospecting
- 7 New Rules for Prospecting In The Age of The Customer
- Survey of best media for highest QUALITY sales lead generation.