Why Content Is A Cold Caller’s Best Buddy [Infographic]

By , Published November 8, 201

Why Content Is A Cold Caller’s Best Buddy [Infographic] image sleezy sales dude.jpg

Politicians, used car salesmen, cold callers. What do they all have in common?

Well, they’re the butt of lots of joke, and most people will do almost anything to avoid interacting with them. See, more often than not, the value they claim to deliver never comes to fruition—not the most inspiring of roles.

No little kid wants to grow up to be a cold caller, but it happens.

I started my business development career—later than most—at 27. After moving across the country, I took a job at a well-known tech startup in Boulder to develop my skills and become a selling machine. I learned to cold pitch and deliver qualified opportunities to my inside sales representatives.

The first 2 months felt disastrous. I was the worst performer on the team. But with leadership and coaching, I turned it around. In 6 months, I became leading performer and was promoted out of the role.

Then, the company couldn’t secure funding and restructured. I was one of many casualties.

Why Content Is a Cold Caller’s Best Buddy by @dacontentking

That’s when I followed a friend and leader to Kapost. I wasn’t looking forward to the grind I thought I’d left behind. Back to Sales Development Rep a.k.a. Cold Caller a.k.a. Scum of the Earth.

Do I believe in cold calling?

Yes, it works, but to be extremely successful you need to be able to establish rapport, deliver value, and close quickly.

In my past role (Business Development Rep), I smiled and dialed, pitching the same value prop to every prospect with little to no insight into their businesses—and I was great at it. But I wasn’t delivering any value, simply using their pain and lack of success then promising them the world, all this could be fixed by “speaking with a solutions expert” (a.k.a. a 30-minute demo). Even though I had the highest close rate on the team, my leads felt duped into taking the meeting.

In my current role I expected a deja vu, but we preach a different gospel here.

By focusing on content and using marketing automation, our marketing team transformed my sales role.

No longer would I be a cold caller. My focus wasn’t to trick someone into an appointment, instead to educate digital marketers about content marketing software, identify the value they gain from using our platform, and introduce them to an expert who can help guide a demonstration of our platform to determine if we can help.

Sales development no longer encompasses the profession that I am in. I am an educator that helps introduce new concepts to people who understand the impact that content has on their prospects and potential customers.

I am a content marketing analyst.


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